Brookville Equipment Corporation

Brookville Equipment Corporation, based in Brookville, Pennsylvania, United States, manufactures railroad locomotives for industrial and light capacity switching needs. The company also builds and restores streetcars. The company used to be known as Brookville Locomotive Company.

Brookville Equipment Corporation
TypePrivate
IndustryRail transport
Founded1918
FounderL. A. Leathers
Headquarters
Brookville, Pennsylvania
,
United States
Key people
Rick Graham (President)
Productsunderground haulage equipment, locomotives and mass transit applications
Number of employees
approx. 300 (2012)[1]
Websitewww.brookvillecorp.com/

History

The company began in 1918 by installing flanged railroad wheels on Ford trucks (Road–rail vehicle). The company soon began building gasoline-powered locomotives of their own following World War I. Brookville's locomotives were the first to include planetary drive axles rather than chain drives.

Products
Brookville locomotive for the Central California Traction Company

In 2007, BEC unveiled its CoGeneration locomotives with up to 2,100 horsepower (1,600 kW), generated through the use of three low-emission diesel engines. The use of three clean-burning Tier-3 engines offers a "Power on Demand" feature where engines come on-line as power needs are realized. This feature reduces emissions and fuel consumption. Individual water-cooled IGBT electronic switches for each traction motor improves rail adhesion.

Brookville manufactures equipment used in mining, tunneling, and industrial and switching applications. In 2008, Brookville built its first road switchers for the Metro-North Railroad. The locomotives are given the model designation of BL20-GH.

BEC's Railwalker re-railing devices can also put its locomotives back on-track without the risk of injury to the operator.

Streetcars

The company began manufacturing trucks for streetcars in 2003 – for use in vintage-style cars being newly built by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority – and since 2002 it has had a streetcar division, working mainly on restoration, refurbishment and remanufacturing of existing streetcars.[1] The first such contract was one to rebuild 18 PCC streetcars for SEPTA Route 15 in Philadelphia.[1] The cars, known as PCC IIs, entered service in 2005.[2] Later work has included restoring PCC cars for use on San Francisco Municipal Railway's F Market & Wharves line and manufacturing replicas of 1923 Perley Thomas streetcars for New Orleans.[1]

On September 14, 2011, Brookville announced plans to develop a low-floor, articulated tram.[3] The design was later named the "Liberty" model, and features the ability to operate away from the overhead electric power wires for a limited distance, using batteries.[1][4] In early 2013, the company received a $9.4-million[4] order for two Liberty streetcars from Dallas Area Rapid Transit.[5] They are for Dallas's new Dallas Streetcar,[5] which opened for public service on April 13, 2015. The company also built a pair of replica "Red Car Trolley" streetcars for Disney California Adventure in 2012.

2008

Metro-North Railroad ordered 10 units, numbers 110-115 in Metro North paint and numbers 125-130 ordered for Connecticut Department of Transportation, painted in New Haven scheme. The order also includes two multi-engine CoGeneration locomotives for MTA Capital and four (115ton) locomotives for the Staten Island Railway.[6] The SIR locomotives are known as BL20G.

2010

Brookville was involved in the building of a low-emissions genset locomotive for the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad that was commissioned in July 2010. The single locomotive was built through a partnership with several local and federal agencies, as well as the railroad and BEC.[7] A second genset was produced for the Buffalo and Pittsburgh, which entered service on December 10, 2010, as well as one for the Ohio Central Railroad, both of which contained an engine kit from Brookville.[8]

2011

Tri-Rail, a commuter rail line in Miami, ordered 12 BL36PH passenger locomotives from Brookville on February 25, 2011, at a cost of $109 million.[9]

2013

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) ordered two Liberty streetcars, with options for two more at a cost of up to $9.4 million, for operations on Dallas' streetcar line.[10]

2015

In March, the first of the two DART streetcars was delivered.[11] In April, two 1,200 horsepower (900 kW) BL12CG genset locomotives were delivered to the Central California Traction Company.[12] In June, the M-1 Rail Line in Detroit, Michigan ordered six streetcars at a purchase price of $32 million. The M-1 cars are equipped with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and will run on battery power over 60% of the line.[13] In November, Brookville was awarded an $18.6 million contract by the city of Milwaukee for four streetcars for service on the Milwaukee Streetcar, with deliveries planned to begin in late 2017.[14][15]

A Brookville Liberty model streetcar for the Milwaukee Streetcar

2016

In March, the Oklahoma City Streetcar ordered five streetcars, with an option for a sixth, at a cost of $24.9 million.[16]

2017

In June, Valley Metro Rail ordered six off-wire capable Liberty Streetcars for the Tempe Streetcar, at a cost of $33 million.[17] El Paso commissions the restoration of six PCCs for use on the El Paso Streetcar lines.[18]

See also

References
  1. Simons, Vic (September 2012). "Brookville: The viable alternative for small systems". Tramways & Urban Transit magazine, pp. 335–337. UK: LRTA Publishing.
  2. "Philadelphia, PA (Route 15 - Girard)". American Public Transportation Association. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  3. "Brookville to produce modern tram". Railway Gazette International. October 4, 2011. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  4. "Dallas signs Liberty deal" (May 2013). Tramways & Urban Transit magazine, p. 166. UK: LRTA Publishing.
  5. "Brookville wins Oak Cliff [order]" (March 2013). Tramways & Urban Transit magazine, p. 86. UK: LRTA Publishing.
  7. "Buffalo & Pittsburgh to unveil low-emission locomotive". Progressive Railroading. July 8, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  8. "Genesee & Wyoming commissions second GenSet for Buffalo & Pittsburgh". Progressive Railroading. December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  9. "$109 Million Tri-Rail Contract Awarded After Challenge". Sunshine State News. February 25, 2011. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  10. "Brookville Awarded Contract to Manufacture First American Designed and Produced Off-Wire Capable Modern Streetcars for City of Dallas". March 8, 2013.
  11. "DART takes delivery of first streetcar for new service". METRO Magazine. March 25, 2015. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  12. "Central California Traction acquires two genset locomotives". Trains Magazine. April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  13. "M-1 Rail buying 6 off-wire streetcars for $32M". Detroit News. June 8, 2015. Archived from the original on July 31, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  14. "Brookville streetcars for Milwaukee". Railway Age. November 16, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  15. Sean Ryan (August 19, 2016). "Milwaukee hires lead streetcar contractor, allowing work to begin as early as fall". Milwaukee Business Journal. Retrieved August 19, 2016. The streetcar vehicles are being manufactured by Brookfield Equipment Corp.of Pennsylvania, and the first one will arrive in Milwaukee in December 2017.
  16. "Oklahoma City OKs $24.9 million contract to buy five streetcars from Brookville". Progressive Railroading. March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  17. "Brookville catches $33M Tempe streetcar contract". RailwayAge. June 19, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  18. "El Paso Streetcar Project complete, to open soon". KTSM-TV. November 4, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
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