Texas Electric box motor added

Thanks to Phil R, who alerted me to the find, and John Meyers, who provided updated information, Texas Electric 507 has now been added to the PNAERC list. Pictured above, it's a wooden freight motor built in 1907 by St. Louis for Texas Traction. Out of service in 1949, it was recently found on a farm in Ellis County, Texas and earlier this year was purchased by the City of Waxahachie. It was recently moved into protected storage in that city while plans are put together to cosmetically restore it and place it on display.

Car 507 is the 11th Texas Electric car known to be preserved. Freight equipment is unusually well represented among surviving TE cars; those 11 cars include three freight motors, three freight trailers, and two locomotives. With luck Waxahachie will fix up car 507 into a nice display piece like Southern Traction 305 in Corsicana or Texas Electric 360 in Plano.

Electric locomotive leaves Noblesville

Bob Harris has confirmed that yesterday, the 26th, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City 55 left the former Indiana Transportation Museum site in Noblesville. It has been moved to the nearby Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company site where usable components will be salvaged for use on interurban cars owned by HHTC and also for use on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73, which is not part of the HHTC collection. The locomotive's trucks are close to what was used by the Union Traction 427-series combines and will be placed under Union Traction 437.

CRANDIC 55 was built in 1926 by Detroit United and is one of only three extant pieces - all freight or non-revenue equipment - in existence from that system. It later went to the Eastern Michigan and then, in 1935 when it was only nine years old, to the CRANDIC in Iowa. It ran there for 18 years, until the wires came down in 1953, but it remained stored on the property until the mid-1960s when it was noticed and acquired by members of the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication, later ITM. It was moved to Noblesville but never ran and garnered little attention. In recent decades its condition has deteriorated badly to the point where it would be a major project just to make the locomotive presentable. Only three electric cars now remain in Forest Park: Indianapolis Railways 153, North Shore 172, and Lackawanna MU car 4328.

The exodus continues

In a recent post on RyPN, the Ironhorse Railroad Park of Chisago City, Minnesota has confirmed that the most recent departure from the old Indiana Transportation Museum site in Noblesville is Twin Branch Railroad 4. This fairly unique locomotive was one of two built in 1928 to operate a one-mile-long railroad serving a power plant in Mishawaka in northern Indiana. Both locomotives were built as battery locomotives, but later on they gained rooftop pantographs and acquired the ability to operate as normal electrics. It's thought that they retained their batteries for off-wire operation though. Upon retirement around 1970, TBRR 4 was acquired by ITM (then IMOTAC) and moved to Noblesville. During the 1970s and 1980s it was occasionally used for switching but for the last couple of decades has been on static display.

Ironhorse Railroad Park is an unusual destination for this unusual locomotive. IRP hadn't been on the PNAERC list at all until now; it's a small railroad museum in Minnesota mainly devoted to steam railroading. Other than a superficial resemblance to large steeplecabs used in mining operations in northern Minnesota, TBRR 4 has little local significance. But it's thought that the engine was acquired in part to prevent it from going to scrap, and for that we can be grateful it has found a new home.

There are now just four electrics left in Forest Park: a Lackawanna MU car, an interurban, a locomotive, and a streetcar body. At least some - and perhaps all - are likely to leave shortly.

South Shore car leaves Noblesville

The rapid exodus from the former Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville continues. On Wednesday the car to leave was Chicago South Shore & South Bend 205, which departed for a temporary storage location where it will be stripped for parts and scrapped.

Car 205 was built in 1927 by Pullman and lengthened in later years. Its preservation-era history is a little muddled but it was acquired first by the National Park Service and then later by ITM. It's been stored static in Noblesville for many years. Of some half a dozen South Shore 200-series trailers initially preserved, 205 is the second-to-last. Soon only car 203 at East Troy will be left as an example of the type. Components from car 205 will go towards the restoration of Lake Shore 73 as well as other preserved cars from the South Shore Line. Thanks to Bob Harris for the information.

I should also mention, in connection with car 205, that a correction has been made to one of the organizations listed in PNAERC. RAIL Foundation, which has been listed as the owner of several pieces of equipment, is actually not an active organization any more. Equipment listed under their ownership in recent years is actually owned by one person who was a principal of the former organization. That equipment has been updated to "Private Owner - Michigan City."

The traction collection in Noblesville now stands at eight cars, down from 24 at the beginning of ITM's dissolution.

Syracuse Lake Shore & Northern 200

Many thanks to Thomas Mafrici, the owner of Syracuse Lake Shore & Northern 200, who has sent several photos showing the car's current condition and its original appearance. He has also provided some additional information about the car.

Car 200 is quite historic, as it is the only known survivor from the famous Beebe Syndicate of interurban lines radiating from Syracuse, New York. It was built by Cincinnati in 1906 as a classic heavy interurban coach. According to Mr Mafrici, it was originally built with L-control, which would make it only the second car known to be preserved that once had that type of control. (It's thought that later in life it had MU control, as cars on the SLS&N were known to run MU.) Edit: Bill Wulfert points out that a third car, Northwestern Elevated 24, was also built with L-control but was later rebuilt with GE Type M control.

Though it wasn't a terribly long line, the SLS&N was built to very high standards and photos taken along the line could almost have been seen along the Skokie Valley line of the North Shore which was built 15 years later. Anyway, car 200 was retired in 1931 when the SLS&N was abandoned and was made into a house or shed. Sometime in the 1990s it was salvaged for preservation and knocked around between a few different organizations, always in outdoor storage and increasingly decrepit, until Mr Manfredi acquired it in 2014 and put it inside a building.

To say the car is rough is a bit of an understatement. The photo at the top of this post shows its best side; the other side (top photo above) is much less complete and both ends (lower photo above) are missing. However Mr Mafrici intends to rebuild the car and restore it, at least as a non-operating display. It will be a big project but this car is certainly deserving of some attention.

Third car moved to Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company

Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company, which was formed earlier in 2018 for the purpose of acquiring for preservation several pieces of traction equipment from the Indiana Transportation Museum, moved its third car from the ITM site in Noblesville to its own property on Friday. This car is Union Traction 429, the "Noblesville," and it joins identical car 437 which was previously moved by HHTC.

Car 429 was arguably the jewel of the ITM traction collection, such as it was. The car was built by St. Louis in 1925 and ran into the 1930s under UTC and later Indiana Railroad. In 1968 it became the first piece of electric passenger equipment from Indiana acquired by ITM, which at the time was known as the Indiana Museum of Transportation and Communication: IMOTAC. Though always a body, ITM acquired the correct trucks and other electric equipment for the car and did a rather nice cosmetic restoration. It was the only piece of electric equipment to go into ITM's barn when it was built and to stay there until the present day. Overall it would have been a strong candidate for full operational restoration, had ITM's traction program not collapsed in the 1980s and 1990s. It is thought that HHTC intends a full, but non-operating, restoration.

There is one oddity about the 429: it's not certain that it's the 429. When the car body was acquired by IMOTAC it was very quickly sand-blasted, with all original traces of lettering erased, and painted as the "Noblesville" - the city that was home to the museum. Whether that's a fortuitous coincidence or a bit of historical revisionism is probably lost to history.

The ITM collection, as listed on the PNAERC roster, now stands at nine cars: four Lackawanna MU cars, two locomotives, two interurban cars, and a streetcar body.

EDIT: Through other sources HHTC has stated that they do intend an operational restoration of car 429, which is good to hear, and which also suggests they plan on building an electrified demonstration railway on which it can operate. Presumably plans for full restoration also apply to their other cars including UTC 437, THI&E 81, and Indianapolis Railways 153, the last of which is still in Forest Park in Noblesville.

Progress on CLS&SB 73

Many thanks to Bob Harris, who has sent along several photos showing recent restoration work on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73, the last surviving wood car from the South Shore. The car is currently undergoing a major restoration from "chicken coop" status at a facility in Murphysboro, Illinois.

A lot of recent work has concentrated on the interior, particularly bulkhead seat frames. Note the finished bulkhead and wall woodwork.

Here's a newly-built seat frame adjoining the restored toilet compartment.

The amount of work that goes into accurately replicating woodwork like this is incredible.

Doors have also been a recent focus. Here's the train door at one end of the car.

Gary, one of the project workers, looking out one of the side doors. Primer has been applied to portions of the car's exterior.

Here Glenn, the project foreman, uses a hand planer to shape another door, just like the way it was done in the old days.

Second car to Hoosier Heartland

The Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company is growing again. Yesterday their second car, Union Traction 437, was moved from the old Indiana Transportation Museum site in Forest Park in Noblesville to HHTC property. Photos are available on their Facebook page, which is also where the above photo is from. Car 437 is the second of the four electric cars that HHTC purchased from ITM before that organization's eviction.

The car is one of two identical Union Traction cars in existence, the only existing cars from that line. It was built by St. Louis in 1925 and while running for Union Traction was named the "Marion." It's been stored outdoors at ITM since it was acquired in 1981 and is in rough, but potentially salvageable, condition. For its part, the ex-ITM collection in Noblesville is now down to six cars - including the other two cars purchased by HHTC - plus some Lackawanna MU cars.

Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern car leaves Noblesville

News comes from Facebook that the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company, a newly-formed private group of individuals from central Indiana, has made its first acquisition. Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern 81, shown above in a photo from HHTC's post, was moved out of Forest Park in Noblesville yesterday. It was moved to private property near Noblesville.

Car 81 is really pretty historic, though its condition obviously leaves a lot to be desired. It was built in 1902 by Jewett as Indianapolis & Martinsville Rapid Transit 61, making it the oldest Jewett-built interurban car in existence and the eldest of the three extant THI&E cars. In later years it was painted in the THI&E's flashy chrome yellow livery and gained the name "Central Normal." It's been in Noblesville since 1978 and has been stored indoors for perhaps the last 10 years or so. As for HHTC, it was formed for the specific purpose of saving several electric cars from the Indiana Transportation Museum collection being evicted from Forest Park. Car 81 is the first to be moved; the plan is to follow it up with Union Traction 429 and 437 and Indianapolis Railways 153.

ITM's shrinking collection, according to the PNAERC list, now stands at 11 cars, of which four are Lackawanna MU cars. Of course for many of these cars it's a bit of a misnomer to list ITM as the owner, since the nine cars still in Forest Park are technically owned by the City of Noblesville, but for simplicity's sake they're still listed under the ITM name.

Jersey Shore Street Railway 4

Surely one of the more obscure streetcars on the PNAERC list is Jersey Shore Street Railway 4. It's an ancient single-trucker, built by American in 1894, but its early history is uncertain - it's thought to have originally been built for either Buffalo or for one of the New York City streetcar lines. Either way, in 1903 it ended up at the JSSR, a system - and town - most people haven't even heard of. Jersey Shore is in Pennsylvania and the JSSR was a tiny system. This car ended up as part of a house and made its way into private ownership in the 1970s. I vaguely recall seeing the car on a visit to the owner's house about twenty years ago, at which time it was just another tarped body.

But it's not anymore! Thanks to Wesley Paulson, Joel Salomon, and the car's owner (who I won't name here), we now have current photos of JSSR 4. Unbeknownst to me, it's been the subject of a major restoration. When it was a house (see below) it was missing both of its ends, but it appears that these have been recreated and the body of the car has been fully restored.

I'm not entirely certain what the plans for this car are but the owner apparently has a rare Peckham 7E single truck for this car complete with early GE 59 motors. Truck and motors are both unique, to my knowledge, in preservation and I'm now curious where they came from! Regardless, the car no longer qualifies as a body and I've changed its status to "undergoing restoration."

This is what the car looked like when it was discovered, back in the 1970s I believe. It's rare for private owners to have the resources to conduct major restorations like this but it's exciting when it happens. Many thanks to Wesley and Joel for the update!

Fifth rebuilt El Paso PCC completed

The fifth of the six El Paso prewar PCC cars being remanufactured by Brookville for use on the yet-to-open heritage streetcar line in El Paso is now en route home from Pennsylvania. Car 1515, built in 1937 as San Diego Electric Railway 524, has been in Brookville since 2016 and leaves with all-new trucks, motors, control, and brakes, plus air-conditioning and a pantograph. The six El Paso rebuilds wear three historically accurate liveries, two cars per livery, from their home city. Car 1515 is the first to wear the third of those liveries: classic National City Lines "fruit salad" colors of yellow, green, and white. The only car yet to be completed, car 1511, will also wear these colors. Meanwhile the earlier cars to be completed have been operating on test trips in El Paso prior to the start of service.