Today's news comes from Robert Macdowell of the Southern Michigan Railroad, a diesel-hauled tourist line in rural southeast Michigan which already owns a pair of South Shore interurban cars. Penn Central car 1291 (former New York Central 4331, built by Standard Steel in 1929) has been acquired by the SMRR from the Carthage Knightstown & Shirley. The CK&S, which curtailed operations a couple of years ago I believe, is a small diesel-hauled tourist line in east-central Indiana.
Car 1291 is really pretty historic. The NYC had a sizable fleet of MU cars that ran north from Grand Central Terminal starting in the first decade of the 20th century. None of the first generation cars was preserved but three 1920s-era heavyweight cars were saved. However the other two, currently stored on the Toledo Lake Erie & Western in northeastern Ohio, had all of their electric equipment stripped off. Of the pre-lightweight-era NYC MU fleet, only car 1291 is complete and original. The Southern Michigan is aware of its historical value and, judging by the relatively intact state in which their South Shore cars have been kept, it's likely that car 1291 will remain an intact artifact.
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