Gino DiCarlo Collection

The "Berkshire Hills" is an elegant parlor trolley car built for the Berkshire Street Railway in 1903. It served in extra-fare and charter service until 1917, then was a diner in Pittsfield, Massachusetts for many years. It was involved in a structure fire in the 1990's and then donated and moved to Seashore Trolley Museum (Kennebunkport, Maine). Seashore donated the "Berkshire Hills" to us in 2023. They have many other trolleys in line for restoration work, and they felt that SFTM was closer to home for the "Berkshire Hills".

We plan a very long-term restoration, eventually to operating status.

Josh, our Restoration Manager, is leading the restoration of this car. You can reach Josh at josh@sftm.org if you'd like to volunteer to help with this project.

Please make a Donation to the "Berkshire Hills" Fund.

The "Berkshire Hills" has been kept well tarped at Seashore Trolley Museum since 1995. N. Bly photo

According to the website Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars, out of the hundreds of trolley cars to have run in Western Massachusetts (west of Worcester), five survive. Two are lightweight cars built in the 1920s for the city of Springfield, MA. One is the body of a Holyoke Street Railway car, stored in a warehouse in Holyoke. One is our very own Number 10. The final car is the "Berkshire Hills", due to arrive at SFTM in 2024.

The "Berkshire Hills" (it never had a number) was built by Wason in 1903, as a parlor car for the Berkshire Street Railway. The company, formed in 1901, was established to run a trolley line between Adams and Great Barrington, with a connection to the Connecticut State Line. It was the only trolley company known to run in four states - it had routes in Vermont, New York and Connecticut as well as Massachusetts.

"Berkshire Hills" herself was delivered June 12, 1903. She cost $20,000 when new, about five times as much as SF&C's Number 25. The interior was made of mahogany, with carpeted floors and upholstered wicker chairs. The car also had a water cooler and hinged mirrors containing glassware. The car was used in both charter service and in a scheduled summer service between Bennington, VT and Great Barrington at double the price of an ordinary ticket. The scheduled service was discontinued in 1917 due to World War 1, and never resumed. Between 1917 and 1922, the car was only used for charters.

"Berkshire Hills" was retired in the early 1920s, and was out of service by 1923. It was sold in 1932, and converted to a diner for many years, first known as the "Berkshire Hills Diner". In the early 1990s, the interior was badly burned in a fire, and after that it was donated to Seashore Trolley Museum, who have very generously agreed to donate it to us.

As the only other preserved wooden Western Massachusetts trolley car, the "Berkshire Hills" is an excellent contrast to our Number 10. While Number 10 was a workhorse, "Berkshire Hills" shows the elegance of the trolley era, and the superb craftsmanship of Western Massachusetts.

Here is a short description from Transportation Bulletin Vol.79 1972 Berkshire Street Railway by O. R. Cummings: The "Berkshire Hills" probably was the most resplendent of the trolley parlor cars in New England. Built by the Wason Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Mass., for the Berkshire Street Railway in 1903, this car was 46 ft., 6 in. long and was painted a U. S. Mail white with buff trim and gold striping and lettering. The roof was a light drab and the trucks and underbody were painted green. The interior was finished in San Domingo mahogany and there were wicker chairs for 28 passengers.

This deluxe car went into regular service on August 26, 1903, running between North Adams and Great Barrington. Later, the "Berkshire Hills" joined with the "Bennington," a converted passenger car, in providing two daily round trips between Bennington, Vermont, and Great Barrington, Mass. Under the 1912 schedule, cars left Great Barrington at 7:39 a.m. and 1:39 p.m., and arrived in Bennington at 12:15 and 5:45 p.m. Leaving Bennington at 8:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., they arrived in Great Barrington at 12:25 and 6:50 p.m.

Needless to say, an extra fare was charged for the privilege of riding in these deluxe cars, but it must have been well worth it - for the 48-mile trip through the Berkshires certainly was one of the most, if not the most, scenic of any trolley ride in New England.

The "Berkshire Hills" was withdrawn from active service in the fall of 1922 and its body was later sold and rebuilt to a diner in West Pittsfield.

Here is another short history from Frank Hicks and the Preserved North American Electric Cars Roster:
Very few electric parlor cars were ever built and, as they had mostly been retired by the Depression, fewer still survive. The "Berkshire Hills" is one of the few that does. Berkshire Street Railway (BSR) was a sizeable conglomerate of smaller lines that had been organized between 1901 and 1903; at its peak, after it had been acquired by the New Haven in 1904, it operated 170 miles of street railways in four states. The company ordered the "Berkshire Hills" for use on charter outings and on extra-fare scheduled trips. The car, described by historian William Middleton in his book "Traction Classics, Vol. II" as "the largest and most elegant of all trolley parlor cars in New England," was painted white, had large windows for sightseeing, and was fitted with wicker furniture and drapes. Use of the car in regular service ended in 1917 but it continued in charter service until it was stored in 1922; in 1932 the car was sold and the body made into a diner in West Pittsfield. There it remained until a fire in 1994 damaged the car's structure, after which the diner's owner donated the carbody to Seashore Trolley Museum. It was moved to Kennebunkport in 1995 and has been in storage since then.

The elegance of the "Berkshire Hills" attracted the interest of modelers.

This O Scale model of the "Berkshire Hills" was scratch built by the late Kinsley Goodrich and loaned to SFTM by his family.

From Traction Prototype and Models, vol 4, no. 3, issue 21. From around 1993/1994.
Click here for a higher resolution image of the drawing above.

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The Berkshire Hills' life as a diner
Postcard showing the "Berkshire Hills" as a diner on West Housatonic Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

A Berkshire Eagle article described the car, with a focus on its life as a restaurant. Or you can get the pdf version of that article and an earlier article, both with some nice pictures. The more recent article also has information on Kinsley Goodrich, who helped us get No. 10 restored and running, and whose family loaned the "Berkshire Hills" O-Scale model pictured above. Kinsley was also instrumental in getting the "Berkshire Hills" donated to Seashore Trolley Museum and moved to Maine.

Historic Images

Postcard image from Ray D. Applegate.
The cupola and smokestacks are not part of the "Berkshire Hills".

Moving the "Berkshire Hills" from West Pittsfield to Seashore Trolley Museum, 1995 R. McDonnel photo.

Gino's Railpage has a good collection of

Dave's Rail Pix has a nice collection of "Berkshire Hills" exterior and interior shots. Start here at this picture as a diner, and click Forward to see the rest.

Josh, our Restoration Manager, is leading the restoration of this car. You can reach Josh at josh@sftm.org if you'd like to volunteer to help with this project.

Please consider making a Donation to the "Berkshire Hills" Fund - with your help, we hope the "Berkshire Hills" can serve the museum for years as an ongoing example of our restoration work.

The next set of pictures, taken in fall 2023, shows what we are starting with. We believe that the frame is sound, but much of the interior was damaged by the fire.

This interior shot shows the original elegance of this car, as well as the amount of work that will be required to bring the "Berkshire Hills" back to its original appearance. N Bly photo

We temporarily removed the tarps for a better view. K Buffum photo

The woodwork in this car was very ornate. You can also see the fire damage in this section of the car. K Buffum photo

In this section of the car, some cleaning and routine stripping of old finish is all that is needed before it can be refinished. K Buffum photo

Through the soot you can make out "Wason Mfg Springfield Mass." K Buffum photo

This is about all that remains of the many once-ornate glass windows. K Buffum photo

Here is some inlaid details in a window post. K Buffum photo

Firefighters hacked their way through the roof to get at the fire, causing much of the major damage to the car. K Buffum photo

The frame and underbody of the car seem to have survived well. K Buffum photo

In late 2023, we moved a pair of trucks from Seashore to SFTM. These are not the original trucks but are similar models, also donated by Seashore. The trucks came from underneath a snow sweeper that was at Illinois Railway Museum. We are starting our project by overhauling the trucks. Then we will send the trucks back up to Seashore, jack up the "Berkshire Hills" and put the trucks under her so we can roll her onto a road trailer for the move the SFTM. We are in the process of extending our two-stall Car Barn so we can untarp the car and keep her under cover.

Some of our volunteer Restoration Crew are seen here disassembling the trucks that have been acquired for the "Berkshire Hills".

January 2024.

January 2024.

January 2024.

February 2024 - Volunteers are cleaning up the truck parts for priming and painting.

The more portable parts were taken to Orchard Equipment Supply for donated blasting and priming. White Oak was acquired from a local saw mill for the wooden bolster pieces. Now reassembly can begin!

April 2024 - The frame of one truck is being dry-fitted together, upside down.

The restoration of the "Berkshire Hills" will take a lot of time and money. We have already received a generous donation of $10,000 to cover the expenses of moving the car from Kennebunkport, Maine to SFTM.
Please make a Donation the "Berkshire Hills" Fund.

Josh, our Restoration Manager, is leading the restoration of this car. You can reach Josh at josh@sftm.org if you'd like to volunteer to help with this project.

Please send any additional information or corrections or pictures to Sam Bartlett.