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Matt Cosgro photo, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
No. 31 of the Biddeford & Saco Railroad, is the museum's first streetcar and oldest open car. Built in 1900, this car has 12 benches and a seating capacity of 60 passengers, five persons to a bench. No. 31 rides on a pair of Brill's patented 22E "maximum traction" trucks. This design featured two large wheels mounted on the axle driven by the motor and two smaller "pony" wheels. The truck was designed to throw more weight on the motored axle so that maximum traction might be obtained without spinning the wheels. It also allowed the use of two motor control systems like those on four wheel cars, yet permitting larger carbodies with swivel trucks. Four motor systems were just being introduced, and were both uncomfortably complicated and expensive at the time. Although the pony wheels on No. 31 face toward the center, maximum traction design trucks were popular with some systems where carbodies could be made shorter by allowing pony wheels to run to the outside under drop platforms.
History from Historic Cars: The National Collection at the Seashore Trolley Museum by Ben Minnich
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