STEPHENSON/LISBON TROLLEY
Early in 1997 the car was trucked from Lisbon to Leixoes by road and was put aboard feeder vessel M/V M. Fjodorov for Gothemburg, Sweden. There it was transferred to M/V Atlantic Compass of Atlantic Container Line for delivery to Elizabethport. Member James Greller got Maher Terminals to waive port handling fees for "Friends of New Jersey Railroad & Transportation". Maher lifted our car onto Joe Supor's truck and Supor moved it gratis to their yard and later their building, at Harrison.
That Spring Friends moved the car to Hoboken for the NJ Transit Hoboken Terminal Festival. Later car No. 346 was entered in the annual Portuguese parade in Harrison by Joe Supor. Supor has been storing the car gratis for Friends since that time. We anticipate moving the trolley to Phillipsburg just as soon as a building to house and secure it is available. Our plan is for it to have its own small carbarn and to install dedicated narrow gauge track for it. We have the needed trolley wire, insulators and hangars. The route would be point to point along the river side of the upper yard, alongside the Centerville & Southwestern Railroad which will be closest to the river.
The Lisbon 343 to 362 series cars were built to operate on 900mm gauge track, with double trucks, powered by four Brill 27GE1 motors and were the first in Lisbon to have air brakes. Car #346 was one of only two cars of the series retaining their original clerestory roofs. Ours has been only moderately altered from original appearance, although doors and some sheet metal was upgraded. It is 39.56' long, 7.83' wide, 11.5' high and weighs 19.5 tons.
John Stephenson began building carriages in NYC in 1831 and produced the Worlds first street car a year later. It was the famous John Mason built for the pioneer New York & Harlem Railroad. However, Stephenson focussed on stage coach and omnibus production for another two decades. The firm became a car builder during the great NYC street railway boom of the 1850's. In the latter part of the 19th century Stephenson became a major builder of horse, cable, and - lastly - electric cars, producing some 25,000 streetcars for the US and abroad between 1876 and 1891, including a full line of single and double trucks for street railway service.
The Stephenson plant was moved from NYC to Elizabeth in 1898. The original buildings remain at what is currently #2515 to 2541 Brunswick Avenue, now in the Bayway section of Linden. The structures were occupied for many years by the Simmons Bedding Company, and is currently a warehouse but, some rail remains in the floor.
In 1904 Stephenson was acquired by the J.G. Brill Co. of Philadelphia, although production continued under the Stephenson name. However, the plant was never equipped with machinery for the manufacture of steel cars and Brill discontinued car building at Elizabeth in 1917. At that time it was the oldest car builder in the world.
Stephenson also built interurban cars for many systems, including the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin; the Springfield, Troy & Piqua Railway; the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway; the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railroad; as well as for the Atlantic City & Shore Railroad Co. and the Camden & Trenton Railway in New Jersey.