PRSL MP-54 "Red" MU coach No. 6787

My HO-scale model of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines MP-54 MU coach No. 6787, one of 2 such cars in my collection. In 1906 Pennsylvania RR subsidary West Jersey & Seashore electrified some 75 miles of track from Camden to Newfield and Millville, NJ, and the branch from Newfield to Atlantic City, NJ with a 650 volt DC third rail system. However due to many grade crossings the 6 miles from South Camden to Gloucester City had to be done with overhead wire. Opening the newly-electrified service were 66 wooden MU's including some baggage/coach combines, built jointly by J.G. Brill in Philadelphia, and Jackson & Sharp in Wilmington, DE. They were joined some 6 years later by 20 steel MP-54's built by the Pennsylvania RR in their own Altoona Shops. Following interurban practice all MU's used trolley poles in addition to third rail shoes, though the WJ&S was NEVER considered an interurban. However the PRR-owned Atlantic City & Shore was considered as such and actually shared the same tracks as the MU's from Atlantic City to Pleasantville, NJ, where the interurban went off on its own to Ocean City. During the height of the Great Depression in 1931 the electrification on the Atlantic City line was discontinued between Pleasantville and Newfield, leaving the remaining third rail from Atlantic City to Pleasantville only for the AC&S interurbans. A year later WJ&S merged with arch-rival and Reading-owned Atlantic City RR to become the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. In 1948 the electrification on the Millville line was cut back to Glassboro after the ICC ruled the wooden MU's could no longer be used. A year later all electric service was discontinued and the remaining "Reds" all went to scrap. Soon afterwards Budd RDC's took over the Camden-Glassboro-Millville runs. In 1969 all rail service between Camden and Glassboro-Millville was discontinued. At least two third rail MP-54's have been preserved at trolley museums in the eastern U.S, though both are from the Long Island RR. None of the WJ&S MP-54's were preserved.

Category:

Science & Technology

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• Seashore
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• Pennsy
• PRR
• RDG
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• West
• Jersey
• WJ&S
• MP-54
• Reds
• Red
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• coach

[AG3304]

Nice,has the same solid look as the old Wickerliners did in New Jersey.

[nyshortline]

@AG3304 Thanks. The old "Reds" were a fixture wherever there was 11kv catenary or third rail. They could be found from NY to Washington DC and from Harrisburg PA to Atlantic City NJ. Two of the third rail versions are preserved at the Connecticut Trolley Museum in Warehouse Point CT, and at the Seashore Trollley Museum in Kennebunkport ME. To my knowledge one 11kv version is preserved at the RR Museum of PA in Strasburg PA. There may be another preserved somewhere in northern NJ.

[AG3304]

@nyshortline Good to think of the preserved ones,l expect the third rail ones still go!

[nyshortline]

@AG3304 The one at Warehouse Point, CT has had trolley poles installed on it and it did run a few times but is now in storage. The one in Maine has just been sitting and deteriorating. There are still other MP-54's that have been depowered and used as coaches on tourist lines in the Eastern US.

[nyshortline]

@tazamack That's because my cell phone video recorder is only good for 37 seconds. lol  I use a digital camera nowadays.

[AG3304]

l did notice your points about the wooden MU cars,which the lCC banned.lt seems paranoid idiots are in the US as well as here in the UK! All they seem to have acheived is to shut down the electric operation.Another own goal,and hopefully voters remembered it!

[AG3304]

@nyshortline lt's sad to think of these electrics resting and rusting.As you know,they really need to be run,or things sieze ep,the motors get damp,and that sort of undesirable stuff.l always think it's sad too when they take out all the traction equipment-it'll never run as an MU again if they do...