As first reported on August 5, 2003, the Edwards Rail Car Company restoration of Brill Car M-55 has now been completed. The completed unit was leased to the Mount Dora & Lake Eustis Railroad where it was in operation until March of 2004. It was then transferred to the Black River and Western in Ringoes, New Jersey for excursion service.
M-55 at Carpentersville, NJ
The car was originally built as a Brill Model-55 Freight Motor Car, not a passenger car, in 1930. It first did duty for the Sperry Rail Car Company and was used as track detector car until the 1940's. It was then sold to the Remmington Arms factory and used to haul munitions around the plant.
The car was retired in the late 1960s and made its way to private owners who converted the car into a Brill Model-55 "passenger" car in the mid 1980's. This was done for intended use on the Valley Railroad in Exxex Connecticut. Unfortunately, plans never moved forward on the Valley Railroad and in 1999 the car made its way to the re-born Edwards Company for restoration.
(Hume Kading, compiled from information from Edwards Rail Car and the Mt. Dora & Lake Eustis website)
