"Streetcar Available"

Our old friend Ron Smolen informs us that a streetcar body inside a spaghetti restaurant in Columbus, O. is available, because the building is about to be demolished, after part of the roof collapsed.  This body didn't appear on either PNAERC or the "chicken coop" list, but from the two pictures at this link it looks like it might have been legit.  I certainly want nothing to do with it, but there it is for the historical record. 

 

Though if you want it, you'd better act now!  :)

Frank adds...

It is indeed legit, or at least parts of it are. I'm reasonably certain it's an ex-Dallas Railway & Terminal 111-115 series double-truck Birney that was built by American in 1922 for Texas Interurban Railway as part of the TIRy 100-104 series. I'm not sure how much of the wood is original; these spaghetti restaurant cars vary a lot, from cars with mostly original wood to cars that look like they were torn down to a steel skeleton and all the original wood replaced by house construction-grade wood.

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.

An unusual interurban

Our friend Laddie Vitek recently sent along some photos he took on a recent visit to Dayton and gave his permission to post them.  They're not directly IRM-related, but they show a pretty unique car that doesn't seem to get much press.  All photos here are copyright Laddie Vitek - do not re-post, distribute, etc etc without permission.

Dayton & Western 602 is the last surviving car from that line.  It was built in 1903 by Barney & Smith (making it extra rare, as only three B&S-built interurban cars are preserved anywhere) as a parlor car numbered 273.  B&S was located in Dayton so I suppose using the home town builder was an easy choice.  When Ohio Electric was formed in 1907, the D&W was one of the component lines and car 273 joined the OE fleet.  That company foundered in 1921 and was split up into its constituent companies, so car 273 went back to the newly-independent D&W.  They sent it back to Barney & Smith to be lengthened and rebuilt as a coach trailer, but during this work B&S went bankrupt so the work was completed by the Oakwood Street Railway of Dayton.  As a trailer, now numbered 602, the car remained in service until about 1931 (click here for a photo) after which it was sold for use as a house near Troy, OH.  In 2005 the car body was bought and moved to a bus garage in Dayton.  Here's what it looked like in 2007 - what a difference nine years makes!

Unfortunately I don't know much about who actually owns the 602, the group that restored it, or what their plans for the car are.  It looks very nice (the paint scheme it wears now looks odd to my eye but I haven't a clue what D&W cars were painted in service) and it's obvious that a tremendous amount of work has gone into this car.  Hopefully a good indoor display spot somewhere near Dayton is found for it.

Mark Twain Zephyr

The story of the Mark Twain Zephyr is a distressing history of preservation gone awry, with the train passing through several well-meaning hands but ending up an empty shell.  You can find some details on Wikipedia, but the bottom line is that the prime mover was scrapped, all interior fixtures have disappeared, and what's left of the train is now in storage awaiting a new owner.  While in the Alton area, I was graciously allowed to take some pictures of the train by Gateway Rail Services. 

Starting at the front, we have the power car Injun Joe.   At one point, the prime mover was cut in two to make a display of some sort.

The bodies appear to be structurally sound.  The interiors were stripped out by one or more of the previous owners, and all these parts appear to have been lost.

Next is the baggage (and/or RPO?) car Becky Thatcher.

The first coach, Huckleberry Finn.

And the obs car, Tom Sawyer.

 Looking in through the end of the car.

And then there's an extra car for some reason, Effie Dean.

The complete set of trucks for the train is still in existence, stored nearby.

It's really an interesting train.  Among other things, it's striking how small the cars are when compared to the nearby standard-size passenger equipment stored at Gateway.

 Gateway has a large assortment of passenger cars of various sorts and conditions, and can rebuild any of them to the purchaser's specifications.

And I really don't know which of all these cars any of our readers might find most interesting, so I took only a few sample shots.

 

Our thanks to Roger Verbeeren (sp?) and Gateway Rail Services for making this photo tour possible.

Carbody at La Salle

While sightseeing along the Illinois River, we happened upon the body of this old heavyweight near La Salle, which was turned into a yard office at some point and put on a concrete foundation.

It's even open to the public. Actually, I'm surprised it isn't more deteriorated than this. But at least it can't be moved, so we're safe.

Mystery Car (Updated)

The date is April 17, 1982. We were in Pennsylvania on our way from Strasburg to Orbisonia when I happened upon this streetcar body spanning a small creek; I just don't remember exactly where this was. Does anybody recognize this car?

Update: That didn't take long. Our friend Joel Salomon at Rockhill identified it as Harrisburg Railways #811, a 1917 Brill steel car which was acquired by Seashore in 1991, where it is now stored, probably under tarp. I can't find any current pictures of it, but Joel forwarded me a couple of photos of Harrisburg #710 at Rockhill, a 1914 Brill wooden car. Thanks!

Cleaning Up Lake Shafer

I found this snapshot in my collection the other day; it's dated Sept. 29, 1996. Four wooden interurban car bodies from the THI&E had been converted into summer cottages on the shore of Lake Shafer in central Indiana back in the thirties, and now they were about to be scrapped. IRM decided to try to preserve them, so a crew traveled down there to prepare them for shipment and remove parts for storage. The car behind us was too badly deteriorated to move, but the other three are now in storage in Barn 10.

From L to R, Dave Diamond, Jim McAlpin, J. Johnson, myself, Tim Peters, and Brian Harp. There was lots of junk lying everywhere, among it the "Johnson Realtors" sign. Somewhere I must have pictures I myself took of the place, but I haven't found them yet.

Ever wanted a Summer Cabin?

Ever wanted that summer cabin located between Alton and Grafton, Illinois? Ever wanted a place just yards from the Mississippi River? Ever wanted to live in an Illinois Terminal Carbody? Boy, do I have an opportunity for you!

It appears as if the remains of Illinois Terminal 103 are for sale! IT 103 is a sister to IT 101 at IRM and IT 104 at the Museum of Transportation, and it can be yours! I forgot to take down the phone number on the for sale sign out front, and it did not list a price.