Trolley Thursday 1/16/20 - The Council Crests

Pacific Electric had the Hollywood Cars, Oakland had the Bridge Units, but if you were to ask any Portland native what their iconic streetcar was, almost anyone with the knowledge would say that it was the "Council Crests". Made as intense hill-climbers for a world's fair, these cars would go on to serve Portland for almost 50 years, and a few even longer into the 21st Century in some small pockets of neverending nostalgia.

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Apologies for the nightmare fuel
(PDXHistory.com)

Named for their route up to the same-named Amusement Park, the original order of 10 cars ran on Cape gauge track (42 inches, or 3'6") and were manufactured by the American Car Company of St. Louis in 1904, just in time for the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. The line to Council Crest's peak would be completed in 1906, and the cars' ubiquity on the route, some 1150 feet above the city in Portland Heights, soon earned them the nickname with their climbing ability granted by low gearing. (And keep in mind, they were replacing a cable car line.)

Council Crest 502 showing off the steep grades on
SW Montgomery Drive, 1949
(CafeUnknown)

The cars were also, mechanically, products behind their time, as they lacked any kind of Westinghouse air brake like any other contemporary streetcar and instead used magnetic and hand brakes to stop. (If you want to see what disaster magnetic brakes can bring, click here) Nevertheless, the cars operated the three narrow-gauge lines without incident (the other two traveling through Goose Hollow to reach Union Station at 5th and Irving) until 1950, when incoming bus traffic replaced it. 

It has a caption already.
(HeritageTrolley.org)

Car 503 would end up de-wheeled and donated to a local Portland Boy Scout troop as a clubhouse. In 1960, the car passed hands into the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society (OERHS), who put it on display at their Glenwood Trolley Park heritage line. By 1976, the trolley was restored for operation, complete with new standard-gauge trucks from an Australian donor car. In 1980, for Trimet's 10th birthday, it was placed on display in Downtown Portland.

In the intervening years, Car 503 would visit San Francisco twice for their summer trolley festivals that would eventually birth the F Market and Wharves line. and serve as a testbed for the Willamette Shore Trolley and the Portland Vintage Trolley. Age proved to be a factor in retiring 503, as its end platforms were determined too weak for further heavy use, so in 1997, 503 left Glenwood Trolley Park to move into the new OERHS museum in Antique Powerland, Brooks.

Council Crest 506 being trucked to its new plinth atop the park, 1950
(PDXHistory)

Its younger sister, 506, was as lucky but still endured its own hardship. After retirement, it was donated to the Oregon Historical Society and plinthed at Council Crest Park in 1950. There it would stay, proudly overlooking its former city of service until Halloween Night, 1972, when it was heavily vandalised. With its former home at the PTCo Central Street Shops planned for demolition, 506 was then trucked to Glenwood to join 503. It also joined 503 in Brooks, but considering it still kept its original narrow gauge trucks, it's safe to assume 506 will need help being restored.

Council Crest 503 and 506 under cover and undergoing restoration at Antique Powerland, Brooks

(Placepages)

While 503 and 506 remain the only original Council Crest cars left, four replicas manufactured by Gomaco have also been made to recreate the original services under the new Portland Trimet's MAX light-rail system. Between 1991 and 1992, these four cars (511-514) were built with certain considerations to the modern system and construction practices. This would include steel frames under wood cladding and what can safely be described as a "pantograph pole" for the new light rail wire, combining the stiffness and rigidity of two trolley poles with the wide collection of a pantograph.

The fab four, ready for service
(Gomaco)

Car 512 meets an outbound MAX Blue Line car to Gresham
(NYCSubway.org)

With the slogan proclaiming "See Portland from Council Crest", the cars began service in November 29, 1991 under the auspices of Trimet and Vintage Trolley, Inc as the "Portland Vintage Trolley". As a non-profit, the cars operated for the public with no fare, aside from a discretional donation. The Vintage Line itself was 2.3 miles long, between the Lloyd Center across the Willamette to the west end of Downtown. This was changed in 2009 to stay within the west side of Portland, going from Union Station to Portland State University (PSU).

Car 511 meets a Portland Streetcar at one of the steep grades
on the North-South line
(Dan Haneckow)

The cars would operate solo, with one car set aside for spare service, with no intentions of having them compete or even supplement the busier, bigger MAX light rail or the smaller, yet still busy Portland Streetcar loops. The cars would also endure many changes and operating/maintenance difficulties to themselves, gaining side mirrors and turn signals in 2001 for safety, and the new Streetcar extension from PSU to the Riverplace district had a grade too steep for the Gomaco motors to handle.

By early 2013, Council Crest 513 and 514 were sold to the Willamette Shore Trolley (originally tested by 503), where they still run today. both cars had not moved since the Vintage Trolley ended on the Portland Streetcar system. They do run with battery boxes similar to the Astoria Waterfront Trolley, but are still electric through and through. Cars 511 and 512, the workhorses of the Vintage Trolley, were sold to a group in St. Louis that created the disastrous and short-lived Delmar Loop Trolley. Both cars would leave in 2014 and commence new operation in 2018, but the system would close in 2019 due to lack of ridership.

Council Crest 513, now lacking poles, trundles past the
New Sellwood Bridge in 2018
(Steve Morgan)

Ex-Council Crest 511 (now Loop 002) on the former St. Louis Delmar
Loop Trolley, sporting a new pantograph.
(St. Louis Public Radio)

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Today, you can still ride Council Crest 513 and 514 at the Willamette Shore Trolley, with cars 503 and 506 enjoying visitors at Antique Powerland in Brooks. I advise you to visit both of them, and show your support to the OERHS at their Shore Trolley or Oregon Electric Railway Museum (or as I call it, OERM-North). Thank you for reading! (I promise next Tuesday I'll do the OTHER Portland streetcars)