Interurban to Villa Park

On my recent trip out west, I also had a chance to examine the other preserved car from the Denver and Intermountain, this one a complete wooden interurban car which has been restored and kept in pristine condition.  It now belongs to the city of Lakewood, another Denver suburb, and is stored under cover on the grounds of a large federal facility.  Of course, I had to laugh when they opened the door and I saw how it was signed:

The facility, now used by federal office workers, was a Remington Arms plant during WWII and for several years after.  The plant was switched by a Diesel housed in this shed, now used by the 25.

And outside is the generator on a cart which powers the 25, since they can't install overhead wire:

K-35G controllers.  

All of the car cards looked strangely familiar.

Woeber Carriage was indeed originally a carriage builder, and seems to have sold railway cars only to Colorado roads.  Most of the preserved cars from Colorado were built by Woeber.  As Wally pointed out, for this order of three interurban cars, they seem to have copied Niles designs.  

There are no electrical cabinets.  Switches and fuses are attached to any available surface.  This is probably not unusual; it appears that the CA&E shorties were built without cabinets and were probably arranged this way.  The drawbacks are obvious.

In addition to the original equipment, controls have been added for the generator cart and the marker lights, which have been converted from kerosene to electric.

They have a nice collection of tools and parts for minor repairs:

The original doors:

And part of the original siding:

Mathematically, it's surprising that the two cars preserved from this railroad are inverses of each other.  What is the probability of that?  (Be sure to show your work!)

The upper sash windows have this nicely etched pattern:

The car was probably built with straight air, but later converted to automatic, with the triple valve mounted on the brake cylinder, and an automatic slack adjuster.  I didn't get the model number.

When the D&IM ended passenger service in 1950, this car was acquired by the Rocky club, and stored on a siding in an on-line lumber yard.  For the next three years, freight service continued with electric power, and the club could occasionally bring the car out and run fan trips on the main line.  After that, it was stored in various places until the current arrangement was available.  The largest part of the restoration was done by one man, Darrell Arndt, who put in at least 5,000 hours, as well as helping fund the restoration by the club and its foundation.  The car now belongs to the City of Lakewood, in cooperation with the club, and once a year they run the car back and forth on about a quarter mile of track for the citizens.  Otherwise, normally it's not accessible to the public.

The car faces an uncertain future, however.  The federal government could decide they wanted the land for other purposes at any time.  The city, in cooperation with the Rocky club, has investigated some interesting proposals for locating the 25 where it could be operated under wire occasionally, but these have all been shot down by NIMBY's.  Sad!  We can only hope something is worked out.  This situation certainly underscores the importance of owning your own property.

Our thanks to Pete West, Wally Weart, and Betty from the city of Lakewood who took the time to open the carbarn and show us the car.  This visit was greatly appreciated!