Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern 50

Built in:1904 by Laconia Car Company (ord#381)
Out-of-service/Retired:1933 (1932)
Type of car:interurban (combine)
Current Owner:Illinois Railway Museum(Union, Illinois)

Car History by Frank Hicks

Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern 50 This car is representative of the standard type of car used by many of the Ohio-Indiana interurban lines, particularly those of the Schoepf-MacGowan syndicate. Between 1900 and 1910 dozens of interurban lines ordered long, single-ended wooden combines of the same general design, but most of them were gone by the late 1920's when the interurbans were in decline. Car 50 was unusual because Laconia was mainly an eastern streetcar builder and constructed relatively few interurban cars. During the 1920's, the cash-poor THI&E began modernizing some of its aging wood cars with steel sheathing. Car 50 was one of the cars so modernized: its upper-sash windows were plated over and it was given a flashy chrome yellow livery along with a name, "Clinton." Most of the old wood cars were retired when IR took over the surviving central Indiana interurban lines, though, and car 50 was no exception. In 1933 it was stripped of useable parts and the body was sold to an individual who moved it to the eastern shore of Lake Shafer in northwestern Indiana for use as a cottage. There it remained until 1996, when it and two other THI&E cars were acquired by IRM and moved to Union. Since that time it has been in storage awaiting restoration.

Ownership History:Indianapolis & Northwestern #50 1904-1907 / Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern #50 1907-1930 / Indiana Railroad #50 1930-1933 / Illinois Railway Museum(Union, Illinois) 1996-present

Facts and Figures

Status:stored inoperable		Gauge:4'8.5"
Construction:wood	Roof type:RR	Ended:SE
Length:62'0"	Width:8'8"	Weight:80000#
#Seats:56	#Wheels/Conf.:8 (B-B)	Total HP:300
Trucks:[Peckham 36B]	Brakes:AMM [(M15C)]	Compressor:[DH-25]
Motors:[GE 73C (4)]	Voltage (if not 600DC):

Notes

Body only, on trucks; "Clinton"
PHOTO