The Berksy Trolley has the distinction of being the only piece of passenger equipment that was not restored, but actually created by WK&S volunteers around 1971. The Trolley began as a two-axle chassis from a brakeman's jitney car. This de-motored car was acquired from the Reading Company along with another powered car. The pair of cars would have been used to shuttle brakemen in hump yards that lacked automatic car retarders. The pair briefly offered passenger rides at the WK&S before the Trolley was built. Otherwise, I don't recall that the powered car was ever much used for anything and I believe it was disposed of in the mid 1990s.

Starting with the jitney car, WK&S crews, led by early WK&S volunteer Al Walker, added a straight-six engine and automatic transmission from a 1962 Chevy Nova. A trolley-like body was fabricated from steel. The Berksy featured a trolley control stand at each end, vacuum brakes and seating for 15-20 passengers. The Trolley mostly operated weekends during the early spring and late fall when ridership numbers didn't justify the steam train. For a time during the 1970s the Trolley also operated summer weekday service. With weekend steam service, the WK&S was a seven day a week operation. Also the Trolley was the only piece of equipment to regularly operate on the rare trackage south of Kempton. I have fond memories of the Berksy Trolley. I particularly remember operating the Trolley through the cool autumn forests and fields of late September. Unfortunately my enthusiasm wasn't shared by the other volunteers. Most considered the Trolley to be a mundane piece of equipment. By the late 1990s the Trolley was due for a major overhaul. Instead, the Trolley was replaced by diesel locomotive #7258 and standard passenger coaches in 1997. In 1999 the Trolley was sold to the Coastal Heritage Society of Savanna, Georgia. The picture above and the three below are from the mid 90's. The pictures were taken by my grandfather and show me and my grandmother.

This is a general interior shot of the Berksey. The box in the middle covers the engine and transmission.

I have no confirmed information on the current disposition of the Trolley. The source of the above picture is unknown; however, it may be a 2001 picture of the Trolley undergoing a rebuild at the Coastal Heritage Society's Roundhouse Museum in Savanna. If so, the Trolley bears little resemblance to how it appeared when owned by the WK&S.

An early shot of the Trolly on the pit track in Kempton.

This picture shows a work gang repairing the track at the south end of the old passing siding in downtown Kempton. The mainline through downtown Kempton was scrapped and the switch was salvaged for the new pit track. Here the passing siding is being reconnected to the mainline after the switch was removed. I believe the car behind the workers is the powered car mentioned above. WK&S crews referred to the car, which was green, as the "Green Hornet".