A 1902 Philadelphia built tram car has become a buzzy, busy café, filled with good food, nostalgic 1920s music and sunshine. It has had a long and winding journey from turn of the 20 century US to Ireland’s capital city today via Portugal and a Co Cavan field. It was nearly lost to the scrap heap but was saved by a Welsh museum and finally an Irish business man. The J.G. Brill Company, the original tram builders, was founded in 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Brills initially built all kinds of cars: horse-drawn streetcars, cable cars, and passenger cars for steam railroads. But by the mid 1880s it was concentrating on the booming streetcar market. During Brill’s peak years it was the largest streetcar builder in the US. The Brill tram, which now is the Tram Café, originally accommodated 30 passengers on side facing seats. These were light weight trams generally with two motors and were operated by one person – the driver.
The tram car spent most of its working life as part of the public transport system travelling the streets in Lisbon, Portugal. It had been bought in August 1902 by local tram company CARRIS which had started with horse trams and graduated to all electric via the Brill trams. No 305 was in regular service up to June 1996 when it was scheduled to be scrapped. It avoided the breakers yard as a result of it being donated to a museum in the UK. From Lisbon it was transported to Wales where it was acquired by Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Tram Society. There it was later cannibalised for its bogie and motor. Later it was sold to a buyer in Ireland where it rested in a sorry state in a field near Mullagh, Co. Cavan
The tram was spotted by the current owner around 2012 who by all accounts fell in love with it. It was not immediately apparent who owned it at the time so it took some time to find out so the current oner could buy it. A deal was eventually done and the next task was to find a person or company to restore it. In that restoration process the tram was gutted back to is frame work. Starting from this blank slate it was lovingly restored to its former glory.
In April 2016 the tram café was literally dropped into place at Wolfe Tone Square in Dublin. It is now a showcase of beautiful historical transport demonstrating there can be long life beyond the rails for such a machine.
Sources of information
American-rails.com
Dailyedge.ie
Dublintown.ie
Ernstkers.nl
Midcontinent.org
Swissitalianpaddlesteamers.com
Thetramcafe.com
#irelandmade #thetramcafe #brilltramcompany #carrislisbon # llandudnocolwynbaytramsociety #electrictram
