Car 3618 was built by the Differential Steel Car Company of Findlay, Ohio, for use in track construction on the streetcar lines of the Boston Elevated Railway in Massachusetts. Its job was to carry ballast (crushed stone) to construction sites, and then spread the rock on top of the ties, so that it can be used to raise and level (tamp) the track. This hopper dump car is unusual because most electric railway companies used side dump cars (like our Pittsburgh Railways M551) for this job. In fact, fewer than ten cars of this type are known to have been built by Difco.

Construction work on trolley lines diminished considerably after the Great Depression, but 3618 remained on as a maintenance car. Because of its low clearance and in spite of its all metal construction, it was used for emergency overhead wire work in the trolley subway in Boston. Its last use was in 1959 when a portion of the Boston and Albany Railroad was converted for use as a streetcar line.

The car body of 3618 came to the museum in 1974 from the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. The car was subsequently refitted with wide gauge trucks from a former Pittsburgh work car and completely restored to operating condition. Its ballast spreading ability was used with great success during the Museum’s Arden Valley and East Site extensions.