Re: Victor narrow gauge trolley

The car came from Lisbon which has a narrow gauge system. Both Lisboa and Porto had Brill cars and both had Brill copied shop made cars with parts from England and Milan, Italy. Porto cars are standard gauge. McKinney Ave bought a Porto car that was an original Brill 1908 car with a Milan air compressor. I traded the compressor to Karl Johnson for use in San Francisco as they had a Milan air compressor that had been damaged.

Even here in the USA, trolley parts were swapped between cars, as necessary, by shop crews. So, your car in question is a Lisboa Brill copy with truck parts ( and probably other parts as well) from England. Look at the seat frames and you may find Portugese cast parts mixed with American.

When I toured Lisboa and Porto back in 1990, the shops were somewhat modernized in Lisboa. Porto had a shop straight from 1900's and still had a fire ring where tires for the wheels were heated before mounting on the wheel hubs. A great bunch to visit and talk with and were excellent hosts. If you get a chance to go there, be sure to see the hidden car museum at the maintenance depot. Look for the fish cart.

Harry Nicholls