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Ex-Key System 182 at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista CA on July 5 1980.
The car next to Key 182 is an ex-NY el car from the Manhattan Railway Co. The car was built in 1882 as a steam drawn trailer and electrified in 1903.
When the 2d Ave El stopped operating in June 1942, 90 cars in the 800 and 900 series were shipped, paid for by an arm of the US Govt to the Key System for use on the temporary Richmond Shipyard Ry.
After adaptation and renumbering into the 500 series, they ran from 40th and Shafter in 4 and 6 car trains to the Kaiser shipyard where Liberty and Victory ships were built.
High level platforms were needed at the terminals while Key system cars performed local service on this highly successful line which ran for only a little more than two years from 1943-1945.
They were semi-permanently coupled in pairs on Key, one car with a pantograph and the other being fed from the 600v bus line.
Caption data from Bill Volkmer photo courtesy the Joe Testagrose collection
