Brattleboro St. Ry. 8

Brattleboro Street Railway, a subsidiary of Twin State Gas & Electric, operated a small streetcar system in its namesake city. In 1917, pressed with wartime shortages and lacking funds for expansion of its fleet, the company acquired three cars, including No. 8, from Wason. These cars were equipped with whatever electrical gear was available, and survived only six years until buses were substituted in 1923. These single truck trolleys were forerunners of the Birney Safey Car. No. 8’s Brill 21E truck was a difference from later Safety Cars. It is uncertain whether No. 8 was equipped only with hand brakes. The Brattleboro cars may have been among the last cars built with only hand brakes. After retirement, the carbody of No. 8 became a tool shed on a farm in West Dummerston, VT. Its owner, Maud Taft, donated the car to Seashore in 1957. No. 8 is one of the first of Seashore’s “chicken coops” – cars that had served other uses after retirement from transit service. It is Seashore’s only representative of the State of Vermont. No. 8’s acquisition gave Seashore vehicles from all six New England states.