By Justin Franz
Massachusetts’ Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum is expanding its car barn to protect and restore two newly acquired pieces of equipment: a maintenance of way “line car” and a rare Berkshire Street Railway parlor car.
The museum was founded in the 1990s after a local man donated Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway Car 10 to a local group. The group offers rides aboard the trolley in the summer and fall. In 2016, the group expanded its car barn but according to Restoration Manager Josh Redenz they have since outgrown that space.
“Every time I walk into the existing barn, I wish we had more room,” he said in a press release. “When this is finished in the spring we will have room for more trolleys as well as a more organized shop space for our restoration activities.”
This former MTA line car was recently acquired by the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum. Courtesy Photo.
That extra room will be quickly filled by the Metropolitan Transit Authority line car (acquired last fall) and “Berkshire Hills,” a rare streetcar parlor car that once worked on the Berkshire Street Railway, which ran in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The car was built in 1903 and retired in 1923. The “Berkshire Hills” was beautifully appointed inside and out, with large windows, wicker chairs, carved interior embellishments and carpeted floors. Passengers could ride the “Berkshire Hills” from Bennington, Vt. to Great Barrington, Mass., for double the price of a ride on a regular trolley car. The “Berkshire Hills” was sold in 1932, and converted to a diner. It served for many years, first known as the “Berkshire Hills Diner.” In the early 1990s, the interior was badly burned in a fire, and after that, it was donated to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine. Seashore has since donated it to Shelburne.
The car barn expansion is being funded in part with a $50,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Cultural Facilities Fund, as well as donations from the Amherst Railway Society and Massachusetts Bay Railway Enthusiasts.
For more information and to learn how to donate to the effort, visit www.sftm.org.
A model of the “Berkshire Hills” parlor car that will be restored at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.
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