Carl Patrick ‘Buster’ Hughes, a streetcar restorer and gay rights advocate, dies

Dec 16, 2023

Carl Patrick "Buster" Hughes, the Baltimore Streetcar Museum restoration chief who as a neighborhood handyman and electrician fixed broken doorbells and leaking pipes, died of an aneurysm March 7 at his Abell Avenue home. He was 78.

Born in Palm Beach, Florida, and known variously as Charles or Buster, he was the son of Joseph Hughes, a steelworker, and Florita Zadany, a bookkeeper. He grew up on Montpelier Street and on Gorsuch Avenue in Waverly.

He attended Montebello Elementary and Woodbourne Junior High schools before graduating from Baltimore City College in 1963.

He developed a fascination with Baltimore's then-surviving streetcar system. As a 10-year-old, he drew route maps on his school notebooks and rode the Baltimore Transit Co.'s cars and electric-powered trackless trolleys.

Friends said he traveled from his home to Towson, Catonsville, Dickeyville, Lorraine Park Cemetery in Woodlawn, Parkville, Hamilton, Overlea, Dundalk and Sparrows Point. He rode the Parkton local, a Pennsylvania Railroad commuter train that ceased running in 1959.

John Engleman, a lifelong friend, recalled their taking a No. 8 streetcar to Catonsville and returning on Frederick Avenue, where they got off at an old rail station and boarded a commuter train to Penn Station.

He spent his Friday and Saturday nights in the early 1960s riding streetcars and having a midnight supper at the White Coffee Pot restaurant at Baltimore and Howard streets.

"Buster loved the old Pennsy Tuscan red cars, one a half baggage and coach. It was car 4549," Mr. Engleman said. "Buster was one of a kind who didn't have an enemy in the world. He would do anything for you or anybody. He is irreplaceable as a restorer ― and as a friend."

After riding the final Sparrows Point car in 1958, he rode the last streetcar to operate in Baltimore on Nov. 3, 1963, a trip chartered by transit fans.

Mr. Hughes was among the founders of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. He became the head of restoration for the fleet of transit vehicles the museum operates along Falls Road.

"He was in the restoration shop just about every day. He spent hours and hours there. Anything at the museum that needed to be done, Buster was there with his screwdriver," said John J. O’Neill, the museum's president.

Carl Patrick "Buster" Hughes was a self-employed handyman and electrician. (Handout / HANDOUT)

"Buster was a kind soul," said Christopher M. McNally, a friend. "He was unassuming, humble, hardworking and methodical. He was wickedly funny and had a dry, hilarious sense of humor. He did not seek any recognition for his accomplishments."

Mr. Hughes did not own or operate an automobile and rode public transit. Friends said they often observed him waiting for buses on street corners.

After working for the old E.J. Korvette department store on Joppa Road until it closed, he became a self-employed handyman and electrician, skills he picked up on his own.

He did not advertise his services. He worked extensively in the Abell and Charles Village communities, and was known as a gifted painter and restorer of windows that operated on sash weights.

"Buster was one of the most truly gifted and talented carpenters, painters and restorers of our precious collection of vintage streetcars at the museum," Mr. McNally said.

"There is not a car at the museum that doesn't have a mark of his expert hand in either a complete rebuild or just a small touch-up of paint."

Mr. Hughes was a regular on trips to other museums and volunteered extensively at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.

"He also loved old streetlights, vintage light bulbs and vintage traffic signals," Mr. McNally said.

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Mr. Hughes also collected Christmas tree electric lights and annually decorated a tree in his living room.

"His tree was a perfect 1930s re-creation," said Scott Netro, a friend and fellow collector. "It was magnificent."

Mr. McNally described his friend's home as a "magical place — restored as it looked in 1914 the year it was built. Buster loved old vintage Edison light bulbs, old bubble lights and Christmas lights of early vintage. His house was a winter wonderland."

Mr. Hughes was an early advocate for gay rights in Baltimore. He was a founder of the Baltimore Gay Alliance and worked on the maintenance of the Baltimore Gay Community Center.

"He was a good photographer and he documented the early gay demonstrations and block parties we had," said James "Jim" Becker, a friend for 53 years.

Dave Wilson, a fellow museum member said: "Buster once told me when I was running late and he was waiting for me in the restoration shop: ‘Don't worry. There is no place else where I would rather be.’"

A life celebration will be held at 11 a.m. April 15 at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum at 1901 Falls Road.

Survivors include his two sisters, Jenny Reeber of Rome, Georgia, and April Prachniak of Dundalk, and nieces and nephews.