The "Brills" were a unique aspect of the Baltimore Transit picture of the late 1940's.  In an NCL-Dominated organization, the Brills were a change from the prototypical GM standards rapidly emerging as the sole vehicle of choice among NCL properties - a quirky testament seen by many as part of Baltimore's determination to be unique in an era when most National City Lines outfits were following the conversion program to a strictly regimented uniformity.  They were in some cases the only postwar buses that any streetcar fan could hold a mild liking for, as they were products from a J.G. Brill descendant, as well as something of an Anti-NCL bus if anything could be considered so.
 

In the closing days of, and following World War II, BTC embarked on a plan to convert 58% of its streetcar trackage to bus (and trackless trolley) routes.  This would generally involve the conversion of lighter to medium density lines, such as routes 1-11, 2, 5-33, 6, 16, 17, 20, 25, 29, 30, and 34.  This ambitious maneuver would be no minor undertaking, as it would require some full scale changes in equipment, as well as facilities.

General Motors found itself swamped with diesel bus orders following the War.  At first, BTC placed orders in July of 1946 for 400 GM Diesels, at a cost of $14,990 each.  For reasons that have never been completely explained, this order would later be rescinded, and a follow up order would be placed on August 9th for only 200 GM coaches at a slightly higher cost.  Though the indications from GM seem to indicate that they were willing to deliver the original order in a timely manner, this may not necessarily be so.  However, it may more likely be that the size of the GM order was contingent on a more rapid conversion plan, which wound up having a harder time making it through the PSC hearings than the NCL backed BTC management had originally hoped.  Thus, they may have decided to be more conservative in their order, instead of having a glut of new buses with no place to assign them.

When it was finally decided to go ahead and purchase an additional 200 coaches the next year, the order was placed with ACF-Brill in what was thought a surprising move by many.  Perhaps by this time, the GM plant was overburdened with orders, or just maybe, NCL, sensing legal inquiries into the then-alleged NCL trust, placed the order with Brill as a means of throwing off the otherwise familiar pattern.

Interestingly, the Brill coaches were not diesel, but rather gasoline powered, observing another departure from the postwar trend towards large diesel powered coaches.  The ACF's were almost every bit as capacious as the GM's then being produced, seating just one less person, and offered a fresh change from the GM standard body design ubiquitous in the postwar period.  The design carried more glass than the GM body, letting more light from outside illuminate the coach, as well as offering slightly better visibility to the Operator.

Before delivery however, the Brill order's numbers had been reduced to 162 units, perhaps due to BTC reassessing its equipment needs, possibly as a result of declining ridership following the war.  Throughout 1948, the first 160 buses, numbered 2500-2659, began to be delivered to the BTC, followed in 1949 by coaches 2660 and 2661 which rounded out the order.  Their first use was in June of 1948, when Streetcar route #5-33 was converted to bus operation, numbered 5-7.  This move would prove to benefit BTC in some interesting ways.  First, the car line had been converted as desired by BTC.  In addition, the replacement line would be quartered at Belvedere "Car House", whose bus facilities were only set up to accomodate Gasoline coaches at that time.  Thus, little facility modification was required to accomodate this conversion.
 

ACF-BRILL PHOTO GALLERY
	As originally delivered, the ACF-Brills wore a variation of  the NCL derived Fruit Salad paint scheme.  Here, coach #2609 holds down the all too typical assignment on the 5-7 lineat Belvedere Loop around 1950.  Photo from the Transit Archives Collection.
	In the 1950's, the paint scheme was modified to the ever-standardized Transportation "Orange" scheme that was carried across the fleet by the mid-1950's.  Here, a handful of coaches rest between runs on a rainy day at Bush Street around 1960.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	In peak hours particularly, ACF's still hauled a lot of people thoughout the 1950's.  Routes 3 and 22 carried a large share of the load to City College and Eastern High School on 33rd Street at Loch Raven Road.  Photo from the Transit Archives Collection.
	By the 1960's, School duties were a big part of the Brill's daily duties.  Coach #2508 has just made the "u-ie" on Sinclair Lane and will head West towards Downtown from Herring Run School.  Jack Bloodsworth Photo.
	Coach #2587 lets off morning peak riders in front of Lexington Market on Eutaw Street while working a trip on the #5 line from Park Heights Avenue.  Date is about 1966. Donald Evans Photo.
	By the early 1960's, the Brills witnessed another metamorphosis into the two toned mint and pine green scheme that was applied to buses starting in 1959.  Here coach #2598 makes a stop for an inquiring passenger on the #20 line at Baltimore and Calvert Streets.  Evans photo from the Transit Archives Collection.
	Between Erdman Avenue and Sinclair Lane, coach #2600 pulls the slight grade south on Belair Road while carrying a load enroute to Walbrook Junction on the #15 line on April 14, 1967.  Thomas Dorsey photo.
	Route #23 ran occasional Brills rather often.  Here, coach #2618 lays over at North Bend Loop in 1966.   The house situated to the right burned down several years ago.  Donald Evans Photo.
	One of the interesting spots to catch a Brill in later years was on the #15 line, on which they rode for only the last four years of their careers.  It's unlikely that any brill scrolls ever carried the destinations for this line, such as "OVERLEA," as evidenced by the card in the window of coach #2617 at Gardenville in 1966.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	Just a few blocks further South, Brill #2648 makes the stop at Frankford Avenue in 1965.  One must wonder how the Brill managed on the hilly grades of the East end of the #15 line.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	In their last years, the Eastern Division Brills could be frequently spotted holding down school trippers from the Patterson High School.  Here, coach #2581 boards for the journey to Armistead Gardens on Route #6, much as coaches on the #49G do today.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	The site of Brills at Patterson tends to foreshadow the role the Neoplans played in their later years.  Coach #2614 is seen here at the school, before making a trip to Dundalk and Holabird on the #20 line.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	Bush Street's Brills could be often seen on the #51 line, which numerous students used to travel to Carver, Douglass, and Lemmell Schools.  Here, #2636 has just dropped off a number of students at Lemmell in 1967.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	Time was definitely running out for the Brills when Jack Bloodsworth captured this - among the last shots known of the Brills in service.  Here, #2620 pauses at the Monroe Street Loop before heading North on the #51 line on June 13, 1967.  Note how sharp and clean the aluminum body remains on this 19 year old coach!
	Coach #2524 models a Brill paint variation seen only on a couple of the coaches.  With small numbers and white roof, it prepares to turn from Clareway onto Federal Street while performing duties on Route #5.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	Kirk Division's very last operating Brill was #2554, seen here in March of 1967, shortly before bidding farewell.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	Coach #2598 makes a trip from Patterson in 1967 on route #23.  Stopping one of these beasts with a load of students aboard must surely have been a task.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	On June 11, 1967, time was running out for coach #2632, seen here at Bush Street Yard.  Careful inspection of the photo will reveal a lineup of Brills already retired in the background.  These coaches would wear ugly streaks of black spraypaint upon removal from the roster.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	Bush Street yard rostered a handsome roster of Brill buses until their ultimate retirement.  Here, coach #2624 poses between runs at Bush Street on March 15, 1965.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.
	The #20 line became a reasonably safe bet to find Brill buses by their later days, and they could even be witnessed making long trips, such as the jaunt from Edmondson Village to Colgate Creek that #2618 is about to do here in 1966.  Donald Evans photo.
	"THIS BUS IS LOST" - So said the sheet hanging from the back of coach #2547, as it performs a Farewell charter on Howard Street near 22nd Street.  This charter would even trek to visit the Lake Roland site of the Streetcar Museum.  It was another of the few coaches receiving a white roof, and had been earmarked for preservation.  Sadly, it no longer survives.  Jack Bloodsworth photo.

Though the 5-7 was the largest single line using the Brills, other lines would become Brill mainstays in the early years of the coaches.  By 1950, Brills were familiar sights on routes 3, 25, 29, and 36.  By 1951, they could also be spotted on occasion on routes 22, 44, 53, and 56.  As the 1950's progressed, the Brills would find their way throughout the system, as by 1957, each division had a quantity of Brill buses - EXCEPT FOR HARFORD ROAD, which never rostered the coaches.  As a result, they would find their way onto routes such as the 6, 20, and 23.

By the advent of the 1960's however, the Brills began to become less useful to the BTC - orphans in an ever increasingly Diesel, increasingly GM fleet.  Their Gas engines were worn, but continued to soldier on, as 153 of the coaches remained on the roster 16 years after delivery in mid-1964. However, their numbers would rapidly dwindle as the BTC continued to press on the onslaught of orders of Diesel powered "New-Look" coaches during the mid-1960's.  By the end of 1964, Retreat's Brills had moved on to either retirement or reassignment at other bases.  By the middle of 1965, the roster of brills showed a gap-toothed pattern in which only 95 coaches lingered on.  Though 1966 was relatively quiet for Brill retirements, the final blow would come for certain in 1967, as the GM built 2200s were delivered.  Kirk Division would be the next all-diesel facility starting in March of 1967, followed quickly by both Bush and Eastern Divisions once the school year ended, relaxing the vehicle requirements.  Effective July 1, 1967, the Baltimore Transit fleet was, for the first time in its history, both 100% bus, AND 100% diesel as well.

Still, there are numerous recollections of the quirky fleet of gasoline transit buses that boomed and banged their way across the city, unique to the National City Lines operation as the Baltimore system itself was.