Willamette Shore Trolley Wig-Wag at Riverwood Road

The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society's preserved Portland Traction Company 1932 Brill Master Unit "Broadway Car" #813 on the Willamette Shore Trolley line from Portland to Lake Oswego, Oregon, passing the Magnetic Flagman "Wig-Wag" crossing signal at SW Riverwood Road.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• train
• railroad
• railway
• streetcar
• trolley
• traction
• wig-wag
• crossing
• signal
• Willamette
• Portland
• Oregon

[RDG484]

This car is actually NOT a true Master Unit. According to the J.G. Brill book by Debra Brill, only 78 "true" Master Units were ever made, and a little more than half went to Brazil. They were broken down something like this:

20 to Port Allegre, Brazil

20 to Rio de Janerio, Brazil

20 to Lynchburg, VA

13 to Youngstown, OH

3 to Yakima, WA

2 Demos

The "true" Master Units were distinguished by square corners and tapered, not flat, sides. I understand the Yakima cars are still in existence.

[westr]

Does the book mention 1932-era cars like Portland's 15 Broadway cars or the group that Electric City's #80 came from, and if so how does it classify them? Far be it from me to dispute a book about Brill written by someone named Brill, but I've never seen Portland's Broadway cars referred to as anything else but as Brill "Master Units." I kind of thought that "Master Unit" just referred to a style of car, like Birney's "Safety Car" or a "Peter Witt Car," instead of a specific model.

[westr]

All three Yakima cars were sold to Portland after Yakima's passenger service shut down. At least two of the Yakima cars still exist, and have apparently been returned to Yakima. I don't know about the third.

[Hikikomori013]

@westr Since this video was shot in Portland, could it be the third Yakima car?

[westr]

@Hikikomori013 No, this is one of the group of 15 that Portland bought new.

[RDG484]

Correction: The second lot of 20 Master Units went to Lima, Peru not Rio de Janero.

[Hikikomori013]

@westr Thanks.

[SkipW]

Those are getting rarer every day & Thanks for getting footage of that one in action

[nyshortline]

It's actually a smaller version of the Red Arrow "80" cars.

[italobambino43]

they look like the trolleys that were used on the Sharon hill and Media routes for the Suburban Philadelphia Red Arrow lines

[CherThinksPink]

ooooooooooooooo i went on this trolley for a friends birthday!!! it was so awesomeee