J.G. Brill and Company
Encyclopedia
The J. G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars
and bus
es in the United States. The company was founded by John George Brill
in 1868 as a horsecar
manufacturing firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, merged with the American Car and Foundry Company
(ACF) in 1944 to become ACF-Brill and ceased production in 1954. Brill manufactured over 45,000 streetcars (also known in the U.S. as trolleys), buses, trolleybus
es and railroad cars. At its height, it was the largest manufacturer of streetcars and interurbans in the U.S. It produced more streetcars and interurbans and gas electrics than any other manufacturer.
In 1926, ACF Motors Company obtained a controlling interest in J. G. Brill. In 1944 the two companies merged, resulting in the ACF-Brill Motors Company. On January 31, 1946, controlling interest in ACF-Brill was acquired by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation for $7.5 million. Consolidated Vultee was sold on November 6, 1947, to the Nashville Corporation, which sold its share to investment firm Allen & Co headed by Charles Allen Jr on June 11, 1951. In early 1954, ACF-Brill ceased production and subcontracted remaining orders. The properties were sold, and on December 30, 1955, the company was merged with supermarket companies into ACF-Wrigley Stores Inc.
ACF-Brill announced in 1944 that Canadian Car and Foundry
of Montreal
, Quebec
were licensed to manufacture and sell throughout Canada buses and trolley coaches
of their design as Canadian Car-Brill; the firm built about 1,100 trolley buses and a few thousand buses under the name.
The lines that operated interurban passenger cars recognized in the mid 1920s that they badly needed faster and more efficient equipment. Up to that time, both the wood and the steel interurban cars were very large, sat high, and were heavy. Car manufacturers such as Cincinnati Car Co., St. Louis Car Co., and Pullman worked to design equipment for a better ride at speed, improved passenger comfort, and lower power consumption. This included designing trucks to be able to handle rough track. Brill in conjunction with Westinghouse and General Electric worked on a new design. The result was the 1929 aluminum and steel wind tunnel developed slope roof Bullet cars, the first of which were purchased by the Philadelphia and Western Railroad
, a third rail line running from 69th Street Upper Darby to Norristown in the Philadelphia region.[4] This line still runs as SEPTA Route 100. These Bullets were successful and operated until the 1980s, but not many others were sold. Only central New York state interurban Fonda, Johnstown, and Gloversville ordered Bullets. Five were procured in mid-Depression 1932. In 1936, the abandoned FJ&G sold its Bullets to the Bamberger Railroad in Utah where they ran high speed service Salt Lake City to Ogden until the mid 1950s.[2] The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) was a client of Brill's and purchased many buses and streetcars over the years. (See TTC Streetcar roster.) Brill produced many trackless trolleys for U.S. cities.
Three of the SEPTA cars are now at the Seashore Trolley Museum
.
Other companies that built licensed versions of Brill vehicles:
Canadian railway car builder Preston Car Company
was acquired in 1921 and operations were closed in 1923.
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
and bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es in the United States. The company was founded by John George Brill
John George Brill
John George Brill was a co-founder of J. G. Brill and Company, which, at its height, was the largest manufacturer of streetcars and interurban cars in the United States....
in 1868 as a horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
manufacturing firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, merged with the American Car and Foundry Company
American Car and Foundry Company
American Car and Foundry is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names of ACF and ACF-Brill. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri...
(ACF) in 1944 to become ACF-Brill and ceased production in 1954. Brill manufactured over 45,000 streetcars (also known in the U.S. as trolleys), buses, trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es and railroad cars. At its height, it was the largest manufacturer of streetcars and interurbans in the U.S. It produced more streetcars and interurbans and gas electrics than any other manufacturer.
History
J. G. Brill began fledgling operations in 1868 and operated with the Brill name until 1956.In 1926, ACF Motors Company obtained a controlling interest in J. G. Brill. In 1944 the two companies merged, resulting in the ACF-Brill Motors Company. On January 31, 1946, controlling interest in ACF-Brill was acquired by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation for $7.5 million. Consolidated Vultee was sold on November 6, 1947, to the Nashville Corporation, which sold its share to investment firm Allen & Co headed by Charles Allen Jr on June 11, 1951. In early 1954, ACF-Brill ceased production and subcontracted remaining orders. The properties were sold, and on December 30, 1955, the company was merged with supermarket companies into ACF-Wrigley Stores Inc.
ACF-Brill announced in 1944 that Canadian Car and Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry also variously known as "Canadian Car & Foundry," or more familiarly as "Can Car," manufactured buses, railroad rolling stock and later aircraft for the Canadian market...
of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
were licensed to manufacture and sell throughout Canada buses and trolley coaches
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
of their design as Canadian Car-Brill; the firm built about 1,100 trolley buses and a few thousand buses under the name.
Products
- FageolFageolFageol Motors was a U.S. manufacturer of buses, trucks and farm tractors.-History:The company was founded in 1916 to manufacture motor trucks, farm tractors and automobiles in Oakland, California....
/Brill Twin Coach 44S. - BirneyBirneyA Birney or Birney Safety Car is a type of streetcar that was manufactured in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s. The design was small and light and was intended to be an economical means of providing frequent service at a lower infrastructure and labor cost than conventional streetcars...
safety car - by subsidiary, the American Car CompanyAmerican Car CompanyAmerican Car Company was a streetcar manufacturing company based in St. Louis, USA. It was founded in 1891 by William Sutton and Emil Alexander, who had previously founded the Laclede Car Company in 1883 also in St. Louis, and had both got their start working in the streetcar business at St...
. - Traditional arch windowed all wood interurban cars. 1890-1920s.
- Steel heavy interurban cars built 1920-1930s. The Brill "Center Door" car was typical of suburban trolleys and interurbans built around 1920. These tended to be large, heavy, double-end cars, with passengers entering and exiting via doors located at the center of the car. Many rebuilt into one man cars.[Springirth,p86-100]
- Brill "Master Unit," built 1930s. All steel, had standard controller stand, capable of 70 mph.[p86-100]
- Brilliner - Brill's competitor to the PCC (Presidents' Conference Car) looked somewhat like the first PCCs. The Brilliner was not successful when compared to the PCC. Underpowered. Few were sold whereas PCCs were well sold world wide. Twenty four built for Atlantic City's Miss America Fleet.[Springirth p86-100]
- Brill "Bullet" car. 1929-1932. For suburban/interurban use.[Springirth, p86-100]
- Peter Witt streetcarPeter Witt streetcarPeter Witt was a Cleveland Railway commissioner, who designed a model of streetcar known by his name, and used in many North American cities, most notably in Toronto and Cleveland.-Features:...
- Large cars with trailers
- Small cars
- Numerous models of trolleybusTrolleybusA trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es, including T30, T40, 40SMT, 44SMT and, as ACF-Brill, TC44 and T46/TC46 - C-36 city bus
- IC-41 intercity bus
The unique Bullet cars
Philadelphia and Western Railroad
The Philadelphia and Western Railroad was a high-speed, third rail-operated, commuter-hauling interurban electric railroad operating in the western suburbs of the U.S. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of its lines is now SEPTA's R100 Norristown High Speed Line; the other has been abandoned...
, a third rail line running from 69th Street Upper Darby to Norristown in the Philadelphia region.[4] This line still runs as SEPTA Route 100. These Bullets were successful and operated until the 1980s, but not many others were sold. Only central New York state interurban Fonda, Johnstown, and Gloversville ordered Bullets. Five were procured in mid-Depression 1932. In 1936, the abandoned FJ&G sold its Bullets to the Bamberger Railroad in Utah where they ran high speed service Salt Lake City to Ogden until the mid 1950s.[2] The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) was a client of Brill's and purchased many buses and streetcars over the years. (See TTC Streetcar roster.) Brill produced many trackless trolleys for U.S. cities.
Three of the SEPTA cars are now at the Seashore Trolley Museum
Seashore Trolley Museum
The Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's oldest and largest museum of mass transit vehicles....
.
Clients
- Philadelphia Rapid Transit Street car system.
- Philadelphia and Western Railway Suburban interurban line.
- Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (Red Arrow Lines) Suburban interurban line.
- Toronto Transportation CommissionToronto Transportation CommissionBefore 1954, the Toronto Transit Commission was called the Toronto Transportation Commission.-History:Toronto's first public transportation company was the Williams Omnibus Bus Line and owned by undertaker Burt Williams. The franchise carried passengers in horse-drawn stagecoaches along Yonge...
- Hamilton Street RailwayHamilton Street RailwayThe Hamilton Street Railway Company is the Transit Division of the City of Hamilton, Public Works Department in Ontario, Canada. The name is a legacy of the days when the majority of public transit vehicles were streetcars; the present-day Hamilton Street Railway is in fact a bus operator...
- Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia RailwayTennessee, Alabama and Georgia RailwayThe Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railroad was created through a reorganization of the Chattanooga Southern Railway in 1911. A few years later, in 1922, the line's name was changed to the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway and was also known as the TAG Route. The TAG ran from Chattanooga,...
Pigeon Mountain Scooters 1922-1951 - Erie RailroadErie RailroadThe Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
- South Australian RailwaysSouth Australian RailwaysSouth Australian Railways built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 to the incorporation of its non-urban railways into the Australian National Railways Commission in 1975, together with the former Commonwealth Railways and the former Tasmanian Government Railways...
- Invercargill Tramways (until 1950) The world's southernmost light railway system.
- Tranvía Municipal de Bogotá-Colombia (first was called the Bogotá City Railway Co. and then Tranvía Municipal de Bogotá) The Tramway 1884-1947
- Numerous U.S. interurban and street railway systems
Companies
The American Car & Foundry Co. controlled, as of January 26, 1926:- The Brill Corporation, which controlled:
- American Car & Foundry Motors Co: owned Hall-Scott Motor Car Co (owned 100%) and Fageol Motors (Ohio) (controlled 90%)
- The J. G Brill Company, 62nd and Woodland Streets, Philadelphia. Absorbed and owned American Car Co.American Car CompanyAmerican Car Company was a streetcar manufacturing company based in St. Louis, USA. It was founded in 1891 by William Sutton and Emil Alexander, who had previously founded the Laclede Car Company in 1883 also in St. Louis, and had both got their start working in the streetcar business at St...
(not American Car and Foundry), Kuhlman Car Co.G. C. Kuhlman Car CompanyThe G. C. Kuhlman Car Company was a leading American manufacturer of streetcars and interurbans in the early 20th century. The company was based in Cleveland, Ohio....
of Cleveland, Wason Mfg. Co. of Springfield, MA., Stephenson Car Co. of Elizabeth, NJ, Hall-Scott of San Francisco. In Europe, Cie. J. G. Brill of Gallardon, France, which was sold to Electroforge in 1935.
Other companies that built licensed versions of Brill vehicles:
- Canadian Car and FoundryCanadian Car and FoundryCanadian Car and Foundry also variously known as "Canadian Car & Foundry," or more familiarly as "Can Car," manufactured buses, railroad rolling stock and later aircraft for the Canadian market...
- Peter Witt streetcars, trolley busTrolleybusA trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es and motor buses
Canadian railway car builder Preston Car Company
Preston Car Company
The Preston Car Company was a Canadian manufacturer of streetcars and other railway equipment, founded in 1908. The company was located in the town of Preston, Ontario...
was acquired in 1921 and operations were closed in 1923.
External links
- History of J. G. Brill Company
- The J.G. Brill Company Records, including approximately 16,000 photographs, are available for research use at the Historical Society of PennsylvaniaHistorical Society of PennsylvaniaThe Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...
. - Brill Bullet
- Photos of Red Arrow Trolleys, including Brill cars
- Iron Horse 1/29
- The Tramways of Colombia