Sister LSE car

Our friend Laddie Vitek has sent us some photos taken recently at the Mad River & NKP  Railroad Museum in Bellevue, Ohio. All photos below are copyright Laddie Vitek - do not copy without permission.

These show a car that is normally off-limits to the public: Lake Shore Electric 46, a wooden freight motor built in 1906 by Niles as interurban coach 152. As built this car was identical to our own LSE 150 but in 1929 the railway rebuilt it as a freight motor.

Although it's a body, overall the car is not in terrible condition. The body seems quite straight and sturdy. Some restoration work was done on the car a number of years back but the car looks pretty much the same as it was when I saw it some 15 years ago.

Inside the car both its later freight motor number and earlier passenger car number can still be seen!

The car's interior is largely original and apparently it has even retained its original coal stove.

"Electric Railway Freight" lettering still visible on the outside. As can be seen, when the car was converted to freight service it acquired steel sheathing over virtually the entire exterior of the car. This is often a recipe for serious deterioration in the long term but car 46 seems to have fared pretty well.

Car 46 is one of no fewer than five LSE cars from the 140/150 series to survive including 141 (freight motor 42), 149, 150, 151, and 152 (freight motor 46). As built all were nearly identical but two ended up being rebuilt for freight service and a third, car 149, was lengthened by the railroad. Besides car 46 and our own 150 the other three are all at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum.