The Brill bogie tram of 1904

In 1904 from J G Brill Philadelphia an order was done for a Brill patent “grooveless post” semi-convertible car on Brill 27G bogies. The car was intended to be used on the “Marginal” (line 1) and got four Siemens motors because of the 10% incline at the East side of the Jardim do Infante. The car had seats for 32 and open platforms. The original number was 90, since 1907 it was 190 and about 1913 it became 191.

The Brill built bogie tram likely short after it was assembled after arrival. The windows at the right are complete open, apparently to demonstrate the advantage of the Brill semi-convertible car system.

From 1918 until 1924 the car was used as a trailer on the Marginal. During this period it had the no.100.

The bogie tram in use as trailer in Rua Brito Capelo, Matosinhos, about 1915. Detail of a postcard.

In 1924 this got two GE 270 motors and the number 226. Probably at this time also windscreens were provided. With only one motor in each equal wheel bogie the tram had to little traction to ascend steep slopes. That ruled out its use on line 1 and all lines using Rua dos Clerigos and Rua de Santo António (31 de Janeiro) From now on the car was only operating on line 9.

The STCP gave the tram the number 249 and used it mainly on line 16.

The Brill-bogie tram about 1948 at Boavista.
Brill-bogie STCP no.249 in Matosinhos about 1960.

In 1967 the equal wheel bogies with 55 hp motors were replaced by maximum-traction bogies with 68 hp motors. It is likely that the bogies and motors originated from two cars (Belga 281 and Brill-32 257) that were scrapped in 1967 after having accidents. In 1972 the car was sold to the Shade Gap trolley museum in Pennsylvania USA.

Brill-bogie STCP no.249 on Praça Almeida Garrett, likely between 14 June and 17 September 1967.

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