Visit to Car 1218

Cleveland Railways car 1218 is a center-entrance streetcar built in 1914 by Kuhlman, a Cleveland car builder.  When the streetcar lines were abandoned, it was used in suburban service on the Shaker Heights line, and was then preserved by Gerald Brookins.  It eventually came to IRM in 2013; as Frank points out, this was the first time it had been more than 25 miles from Terminal Tower.   Due to lack of indoor storage space, it's been sitting outside, carefully shrink-wrapped, but that will change soon.  This is what it looks like, taken while it was in storage in Cleveland.

Photo by Jim Vaitkunas

The interior is in very good shape, compared to most of the equipment we acquire.  There's a lot of nice woodwork, most of which is still in excellent condition.   This is looking towards the front of the car.  There's a full-width motorman's cab.

The cab includes the contactors for the MU control system.  

The side windows drop down into the wall.  Notice that the drop sash have lift pockets in the top rail.

The rear end of the car has this rounded observation-style end.  

Specially-made ventilators in the ceiling identify the railway.

And inside the cab, Frank put the doors back over the control system, and with the pocket door closed, it looks like this.  

There's some work to be done, to be sure, but we're hoping to put this important example of a regional streetcar into regular service in the near future.  We'll keep you posted as work progresses.  And I should mention that we have a complete history of the car already on file.