TRAINS! 1941 last of the interurban

[W2NAP]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5BB6acTrk0

1941 the Indiana railroad interurban came to an end, 15min vid with some cool video of the IR in its last days.

[K7SGJ]

Thanks for the video.

When I watch an old video like that, and see all the old cars, I have to wonder where in the hell did they all go. I sure wouldn't mind having two or three just for fun.

[KG4CGC]

Thanks for the video.

When I watch an old video like that, and see all the old cars, I have to wonder where in the hell did they all go. I sure wouldn't mind having two or three just for fun.

Some of them are resurrected by wealthy land and business owners for personal use on private rails.

[ka4dpo]

Thanks for the video.

When I watch an old video like that, and see all the old cars, I have to wonder where in the hell did they all go. I sure wouldn't mind having two or three just for fun.

Here's a WIK story for you. The year before I went to college I worked for a small oil company in Newport Beach California that was owned by Mohawk Petroleum in Canada. Anyway, one day my boss gave me and another grunt an address and told us to go pick up an old truck they were going to use for a promotional run.

When we got there were knocked out. The guy had all of these beautiful old cars from the 1920's through the 1950's, he must have had at least a hundred cars from the 1930's. I asked him if he was a car collector. He said no, he restored old cars and leased them mostly to movie studios when they needed old cars to film scenes in period movies. one of the more interesting things I discovered was that many of the cars didn't run, theses were the ones they parked on the streets on movie sets. Some other cars were actually towed by cables but the camera angle was such that you couldn't see them. So that turned out to be one helluva interesting day for me.

[n2ize]

Thanks for the video.

When I watch an old video like that, and see all the old cars, I have to wonder where in the hell did they all go. I sure wouldn't mind having two or three just for fun.

Well if they operate anything like the NYC Transit authority then most of them were probably scrapped. The retired cars here in NY, they either scrap them, reef them, use them as work cars, and some they preserve and run for special occasions and/or keep them at various transit museums. One old NYC car happens to be in some guys back yard in Florida.

Since the Indiana system was shut down altogether my guess is most of the cars were probably scrapp Or in some guy's back yard in Florida. ;)

[W2NAP]

Well if they operate anything like the NYC Transit authority then most of them were probably scrapped. The retired cars here in NY, they either scrap them, reef them, use them as work cars, and some they preserve and run for special occasions and/or keep them at various transit museums. One old NYC car happens to be in some guys back yard in Florida.

Since the Indiana system was shut down altogether my guess is most of the cars were probably scrapp Or in some guy's back yard in Florida. ;)

the wiki url I posted, actually tells what cars were saved and where they are. most saved cars stayed in the semi local area.

[n2ize]

the wiki url I posted, actually tells what cars were saved and where they are. most saved cars stayed in the semi local area.

That's good to hear.

[N8YX]

Others are left in the woods to rot...sitting on stretches of track which hasn't been connected to a working railroad in many years.

I know where one such flatcar sits, maybe a mile southwest of me. It would be nice to get permission to ride the abandoned right-of-ways that haven't undergone the Rails-to-Trails revamp and which may have a hidden surprise or two tucked away on them.

[W2NAP]

http://madisonrails.railfan.net/08interurban.html

a good read. tells of the L.E.&W. push west going though northern Madison County. and how 1 man forced the LE&W to honor the agreement they had him.

[W3WN]

Others are left in the woods to rot...sitting on stretches of track which hasn't been connected to a working railroad in many years.

I know where one such flatcar sits, maybe a mile southwest of me. It would be nice to get permission to ride the abandoned right-of-ways that haven't undergone the Rails-to-Trails revamp and which may have a hidden surprise or two tucked away on them.

There's a deadline at least a mile long behind the roundhouse on the New Hope & Ivyland. It's full of old rail cars, box cars, at one time a couple of old ex-Army 0-6-0 switchers (I think those were finally sold off or scrapped about 10 years ago)... all "stored", all left to rot.

Some are (technically) owned by individuals or private groups. Technicalities aside, most appear abandoned.

You'll find stashes of old stuff all over the place, if you look. There was also a lot of stuff stashed on the Black River & Western, at the Ringoes yard. It was very sad to see the current state of the PRR 4666 Doodlebug; it will take a massive overhaul to ever get the poor thing running again.

Now, the good news is that some of the interurban cars are saved and on display at museums. The Trolley Museum down in Washington County, adjacent to the County Fairgrounds, not only has a large display, but a working track that they actually run a lot of the cars on. Really fun to watch!