Pictures 81.2, 81.3, 81.4, 81.6, and 81.8.

The NORTA Melbourne cars 452, 454, and 455 (originally Melbourne numbers 626, 478, and 331, respectively) were sold to the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) and restored by Gomaco Trolley Company before entering service in Memphis using their New Orleans numbers.  The top picture shows restored car 452 in service on Main Street in Memphis.  The second picture again shows car 452, in Riverfront Line service at the south end of the Main Street Line, followed by ex-Rio de Janeiro open car 1794, and a former Oporto, Portugal single truck car.  Car 1794 was also an ex-New Orleans car, although it never ran in New Orleans, and has been rebuilt as a closed car for Memphis service.  The next two pictures show streetcars 454 and 455 in their Memphis livery about to be shipped from the Gomaco factory in November and December 2003.  They have not yet been equipped with pantographs, which the Memphis cars use in place of trolley poles.  Gomaco also constructed for Memphis a new streetcar, a replica of a double-truck Birney, which was given Memphis number 453.  This car is shown in the bottom picture in service in Memphis in February 2004, at the north end of the Main Street line, where the track branches off to the right to the Memphis Riverfront Loop line.  MATA cars are painted in various colors, but share a characteristic pattern of striping, as seen here.  Note also how the configuration of the doors of the Melbourne cars has been changed from two on each side to one. — Top two photos by Earl Hampton, others by Gomaco Trolley Company, used with permission

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