Union St. Ry. 34

The New Bedford & Fairhaven Street Railway began horsecar service in New Bedford, MA in 1872. It became the Union Street Railway in 1887. The company began converting to electric streetcars in 1890. The Feigel Car Company of New Utrecht, NY built No. 34 as a 7-bench horsecar for New Bedford. Various sources give construction dates between 1873 and 1886 while the Seashore roster has settled on 1878 as the build date. Union Street Railway electrified No. 34 about 1894. Union Street Ry. extensively rebuilt No. 34 to a railway post office car about 1906. In 1906, No. 34 began operating as an RPO between Fall River and Onset. As a railway post office car, two postal clerks on board the car sorted and cancelled mail while picking up and dropping off mail at points along the way. This RPO route ran over the Union Street Ry. from Fall River through New Bedford and Fairhaven and then farther east over the affiliated New Bedford & Onset Street Ry. to the Onset section of Wareham, MA. Mail cancelled on the car received a “WARE & FALL RIVER RPO” postmark. After mail service ended in 1927, No. 34 went into storage and was used occasionally as a work car. The great New England hurricane of 1938 flooded the carbarn where No. 34 was stored and damaged the car’s motors. No. 34 did not run after the hurricane. Seashore acquired No. 34 in 1947. Seashore briefly stored the car at the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, MA before bringing it to Maine. In 1980, Seashore restored one motor on No. 34. No. 34, along with Portsmouth Dover & York No. 108, ran as an active railway post office on October 8, 1983 for the streetcar postage stamp first day of issue ceremony officiated by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Postmaster General William Bolger. Union Street Ry. No. 302, another RPO car, is preserved at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, CT. Based on the 1878 construction date, No. 34 is the oldest rail car in the Seashore collection, although only some components are from the original construction. At Seashore, only the horse-drawn Suffolk County Sheriff’s wagon and sleigh are older. At the museum, No. 34 joins Union Street Ry. No. 10, another early horsecar whose build date is also uncertain but which is probably a few years after No. 34’s construction