Philadelphia, PA

Looking much like a railroad boxcar, car 402 is a freight motor or box motor. It is actually a light locomotive and was used as such in eastern Michigan. It could operate by itself or haul a railroad freight car or two. It is similar to Hagerstown & Frederick 5 which used to be in our collection, although car 402 is an all-steel car and #5 was wood. The builder and date of construction for 402 are still being researched, but we believe it was built in the Detroit, Michigan, area in the 1920's as a single-ended car.

Car 402 was acquired by the Philadelphia & Western in 1943 to replace a work car destroyed by fire. It was converted to double-ended operation and used on the P&W to maintain tracks and right of way, and retrieve broken down passenger cars along the line.

Car 402 was acquired by our museum in 1990. Due to the large size of this car, nearly two days were needed to transport the car from Philadelphia to central Pennsylvania, using a very special and large trailer. Car 402 is fully operable and capable of pulling several cars behind it.