Better late than never

As I mentioned in my last post, it can sometimes take me a while before a change is reflected on the PNAERC roster. And so it goes with Arkansas Valley Interurban 12.

I came across a KAKE article, which included the photo above, about this combine-turned-box-motor-turned-chicken coop. The article dates to 2017 and indicates that AVI 12, which I knew had been deaccessed by the Great Plains Transportation Museum back in 2013, had been transferred to the expansively named Historic Preservation Alliance of Wichita & Sedgwick County. Sure enough, recent photos suggest that it's gone from the GPTM site in downtown Wichita, so my best guess is that it's stored with HPAWSC's other two car bodies in a warehouse southwest of the city.

AVI 12 is a fairly historic piece. One of only two surviving cars from Kansas' most famous interurban line (the other is in private ownership and virtually nothing is known about its condition), car 12 was built by American in 1917 as a fairly attractive combine. In 1938 it had large baggage doors cut into its sides and was rebuilt into a freight motor; just two years later, when the wires came down, it became a freight trailer. It only lasted another two years in that role before its body ended up on a farm in Bentley, KS. The car was acquired by GPTM in 1988 but just sat by the fence at the north end of the museum's site until the decision was made to get rid of it. It's taken me a while to figure out where it went, as GPTM doesn't seem to have publicized the sale/donation and HPAWSC has a minimal online presence, but the PNAERC list has finally been updated. If anyone figures out exactly when the car was moved, let me know.