The following month, Brill introduced its own "improved" version of Miss Springfield at the American Electric Railway Association convention in Cleveland. The car, which came to be known as "The Pink Lady" because of its "old rose" or "clover club" color, was officially designated the Brill 1928 model. It had been built during the summer by another Brill subsidiary, the Kuhlman Car Company of Cleveland. Though somewhat boxier, The Pink Lady strongly resembled Miss Springfield, and incorporated a new truck with Westinghouse-Nuttall drive, said to be three years in development. (Was Adams playing possum when he stonewalled the Journal's criticism a year earlier?) The new drive incorporated a bevel-gear drive instead of worm-gear drive, but like Miss Springfield's truck, it relied on two fully spring-supported Westinghouse 300 volt high-speed motors for power, with universal joint connections between motor and drive gear assembly, and used roller axle bearings and Westinghouse air brakes. The wheels, however, were reduced to 22 inches in diameter, enabling a 28 3/4-inch rail-to-floor height throughout the car (not just at the vestibules, as in Miss Springfield). The body, constructed in more traditional fashion, weighed 30,000 pounds, despite having the same overall dimensions as Miss Springfield.

Brill's Pink Lady, based on Miss Springfield. Photo: Alfred Barten collection.

After the convention, the Brill model was tested in the streets of Cleveland, then Brooklyn. After some modification, it was reintroduced as the Brill 1929 model, officially the first of the well-known Master Unit series of cars that continued to be built into the mid-thirties. All the many variations of this series bore an aesthetic family resemblance to Miss Springfield.

Following initial test runs, Miss Springfield was tried on the Springfield Street Railway's various routes. In October, the car was shipped to Cleveland for the AERA convention. Later, the story and details of the car were presented to any group or organization willing to listen. In 1928, Miss Springfield was placed in service as car number 554.

Miss Springfield on the 29 route in West Springfield. Photo: Ken De Celle collection.

New England trolley historian and chronicler of Western Massachusetts trolleys, the late Donald E. Shaw, noted that Miss Springfield was "found [to be] unsuitable on hills." Writing the "Local Transportation" section of the four-volume work, The Story of Western Massachusetts, he reported: "As the Springfield Street Railway had few trolley lines without appreciable gradients, the car was relegated to service on the practically gradeless West Springfield line, after having been tried experimentally on other routes on the Springfield system." (Whether Miss Springfield's difficulties were caused by poor traction, stemming from the car's unusually light weight or from slippage in the differential gearing, or by some other factor, we are not told. But the car was said by others to have had a tendency to derail and to have been generally disliked by shop personnel because of its nonstandard components. Repairs and adjustments, to say nothing of further experimentation, thus were given a low priority and the car spent most of its days languishing in the yard.

Miss Springfield in Hooker Street Yard. Photo: M.D. McCarter.

Despite the negatives, Miss Springfield's genes could still be found years later in elements of the PCC truck design, which used light-weight, high-speed 300-volt motors, automotive-like propeller shaft and universal joint drive, and oil-bathed gearing. In March of 1936, severe flooding disrupted most service on the Springfield lines. The West Springfield route was the last to return to service, on April 27; and on November 14 it was abandoned to buses. Homeless, Miss Springfield was retired to the Hooker Street yard for good and was scrapped in 1940 when, on June 22, Springfield trolley operations ended. Four months later, on October 27, C.V. Wood, 77, passed away.