While on vacation this week, I had hoped to photograph and eat at Sisson's Diner, a 1926 Wason trolley, which has been a restaurant in Middleboro, MA for years. However, driving any where near Cape Cod on Labor Day weekend seemed foolhardy. So I improvised: I ate at a real diner and then went in search of what I thought was a static trolley car display a few blocks away at Lowell, MA's Boott Mill. It was a lucky day; I got two cars that it turns out actually run in this city, and an antique diner to "Boott".
Featured are: the Cameo Diner (builder unknown); a 1924 New Orleans Perley-Thomas-built trolley; an accurate reproduction open air trolley; and the 1930s Paradise Diner (Worcester Lunch Car Co.). Now I understand why the Trolley Stop Diner's makeover from a streamliner train to a trolley in the previous post is a big deal in this city.
Enjoy!
Tomlinson Run Railroad
First, brunch in a real neighborhood diner:
Across the river and a few blocks away, the 1835 Boott Cotton Mills, a National Park Service trolley stop:
The trolleys are coming (open-sided repro on the left, New Orleans Brill on the right):
Changing direction:
This stop has an intriguing second track and a trolley siding that goes past a 1930s diner, across a steel and wooden bridge over the canal, and into the rear of the mill building. Very interesting. Any ideas as to its original function? It was clearly electrified once.
Many real diners have this stained glass detailing on the transom window -- often in orange. Is there an equivalent motif on railroad car transom windows?
"Art shot" with canal, trolley, and a "green monstah" building:
This green open air building along the trolley track, opposite the mill, and the "power canal" is now set up for outdoor performances. It struck me as: 1. once having housed a facility for generating electrical power 2. a modern creation made to look old and 3. very steampunk in nature. I have no clue. Do you?
