Photo of the Week: 5/14/2011

Today is Saturday, and time for another Photo of the Week. I usually do this post on Friday, but due to some technical difficulties, it is coming a day late. I apologize for the delay, but here it is.

It's been a while since I posted something from the Seashore Trolley Museum. The museum just opened for the season this month, so I think it's time to spotlight them again. The car in this photo is Manchester & Nashua car 38 waiting for a red signal during a parade celebrating locomotive 100's inaugural run in September 2009:

As I mentioned above, this is car 38 from the Manchester & Nashua Street Railway. It ran out of Manchester, NH with lines to Nashua, Derry, and Goffstown. It was built in 1906 at the Laconia Car Company in Laconia, NH. It was the second car the museum acquired in 1940.

This car has an interesting history. It was built as number 4 in 1906. It has five windows along the side, some of its sisters had six windows. The six window cars had even numbers starting with 10, the five window cars were even numbers below 10. The car and its five window sisters were renumbered to even numbers starting with 30, with the number 4 becoming number 32. In the 1930s, car 38 was involved in a wreck and was scrapped, and for some reason car 32 was renumbered as 38. 38 was retired a few years later in 1940 when the Manchester Street Railway stopped running, and found its way to Maine.

The line between Manchester and Nashua was owned by the Manchester Street Railway but leased by the Manchester & Nashua Street Railway. The Manchester & Nashua owned the cars, known as the "rapids," and had them painted in a green paint scheme. When the Nashua Street Railway closed in 1931, so did the Manchester & Nashua, and the "rapids" were sold to the Manchester Street Railway and put in a different paint scheme. It was during this time period that the 32 became the 38, so the trolley museum has a correct paint scheme and a correct number for the car, but it never wore the green paint scheme as the 38. There is talk of renumbering the car back to 4, its original number, since it is in its original paint scheme.

I think I should clarify, this photo was taken by me at the trolley museum. It is in black and white and it is smaller than photos I usually post, but it is not a vintage photo. This was taken from the field at the Meserve's Crossing station at the museum during a parade. There is a good book I bought at the museum called "Manchester Streetcars" that is full of old photos of Manchester trolleys, including the 38 shown here and the other "rapids." Every photo also has a caption, and it is an excellent book that I would highly recommend to anyone that wants to know more.