York Utilities Co. 82

The Birney car was designed by Charles O. Birney of Stone & Webster's engineering staff for use on the many street railway properties owned by that firm. It was also licensed to numerous carbuilders for general sales. The Birney car had a relatively small seating capacity (30-32 passengers) and was designed for one man operation. With only a single, light-weight, two axle truck, the Birney cars had a tendency to gallop on anything but the smoothest track. Some 6000 Birney cars were built from ca. 1916 - 1930, and the cars operated in many cities across the U.S., Canada and overseas. Their economical operation extended the street railway era in numerous cities. One company which acquired such cars was the Denver & South Platte Ry., which operated between Englewood and Littleton, suburbs of Denver, Colorado. This short-lived company operated two Birney cars for about 8 years, after which they were sold to the York Utilities Co. of Sanford, ME, for operation on their lines from Sanford to Springvale. The cars were renumbered 80 and 82 and were regauged from 3’ 6” to standard gauge at the company’s Town House Shop just before it was closed in 1927. YUCo. operated a fleet of eight Birney cars along with two larger cars until it closed its Main St. line in 1938, after which it retained the two ex-D&SP cars as spares until 1946. York Utilities was the residual operation of the Atlantic Shore Line, which ran a system to trolley lines in the Seashore Trolley Museum’s area, including the route now used by Seashore’s demonstration railway. Seashore acquired the two former D&SP cars, less motors, in 1946. In the 1970s, Seashore restored YUCo. car 80 as D&SP No. 1 and used it as a shuttle car to Highwood Barn. At one point, Seashore volunteers decided to restore No. 82 in the style of a Birney car operated by the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway. Seashore equipped No. 82 with moulding, dome ceiling lights and “leather” seats salvaged from a 7000-series EMSRy car. Seashore applied an EMSRy paint scheme. Later, Seashore did exterior repairs and repainted No. 82 back to York Utilities colors prior to its use in 1993 as an outdoor display on the Antiques USA property at the corner of U.S. 1 and Log Cabin Road. Car 82 moved back to the museum in 1997. In 1980, the National Park Service has placed No. 82 on the National Register of Historic Place along with nine of the museum’s other Maine cars.