Hi folks I'm in the UK and recently stumbled on a couple of old photos from the 1920s taken by father in law when he lived in Michigan for a couple of years. They aren't of great quality but may be identifiable. The first is a steam Loco which I can't even be sure of the wheel configuration although it has a running number on what I think is the Pere Marquette Line and looks like a medium sized freight loco. The number looks like 0419 but the 0 at the beginning could be a D or something else! The tram is, to me, a completely unknown quantity and perhaps someone into trams can identify it. Some even might have fun identifying the cars
The steam engine does appear to show Pere Marquette on the tender. It is an 0-8-0 wheel arrangement. Here is a site with a Pere Marquette Railway steam engine roster: https://www.pmhistsoc.org/stmrostr.shtml
Looks like 1409 to me. Built in Lima, Ohio in 1920. It's a switcher (shunter to you) scrapped in 1951. The trolley car (that translates into tram) was made by Brill. They were used in many, many American cities in the late 1920s, so without being able to read any of its signage, I couldn't begin to tell you where or who. But the Hudson automobile behind it is about a 1926 model; that's when drum headlights were most popular.
Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies so far - very helpful. I have followed up the reference to the PM historical society and it seems this loco may be the same type - it looks very similar. With a further search it seems this was a standard wartime design of USRA 0-8-0 https://www.pmhistsoc.org/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?f=locos-0244-110737 The number suggested by acptulsa above seems about right with the PMHS lists and the date aquired at 1920 looks good. Standardization of steam designs didn't come to UK until the WW2 and the 1950s in peacetime Britain - when Diesel power was the thing in USA!! Many thanks
I don't know much about U.S. street railways, but the car in your photo looks much like this one that was photographed in Detroit around the time of WW-II.
I concur with the Pere Marquette (PM) 0-8-0 switcher identification. PM was merged into Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) in 1947 so predates this date more than likely. Not everything was repainted straight away and C&O did keep so PM branding in some aspect of the "home" region of the PM. The vehicles in the trolley picture look consistent with what you would expect to see in 20s/30s US Thanks for sharing!
Thanks everyone for your helpful contributions - knowing something about family history I think the photos were taken between 1926 and 1934.
That looks like a Ford Model A in the foreground, introduced as a 1928 model. I have a series of books on Eastern Michigan Trams, but I cannot find any similar images of a Brill car painted a light color with a stripe and darker doors like that. Most were a solid color scheme that are much darker (in B/W photos)
