There's a new item in FLIMSIES stating that the trolley (self-propelled) has been restored and service will start up again from West Baden Springs into French Lick. The story says it will run on the "original track". When the Indiana Railway Museum resurrected the service out of the old Southern/Monon depot in French Lick in 1987, the trolley only ran on the old Monon track and stopped outside the entrance to the historic West Baden Springs hotel. That abbreviated run by INRM ended in 2002. The original track turned into the hotel property, running perhaps an additional quarter mile or so right up to the steps of the hotel. Can anyone advise if this restored service is, in reality, going to use that original right-of-way directly to the hotels steps?

Thanks.

Les

Les,

Can't help you with that, but I believe I read/heard somewhere that they rebuilt the round-roof ex-Libson car they had to be self propelled, no overhead wire. Can anyone confirm this detail?

I think the car body is from the Oporto car that was at the Waterfront Railway in Toledo at one time.

Wesley

David -

Indiana Railway Museum's operation of the ex-Lisbon, Portugal car was via overhead wire. You are right that the new car will have some type of self-propelled power; no overhead wire. I am not sure if the original car was used, or if it was used as a pattern for the new car. Info on that aspect would also be welcome.

There was a rather long discussion on the Indiana Railroads Bull Session website about the original electric streetcar operation between the two locations, without a lot of firm resolution.

Les

Link: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34105&hilit=waterfront+electric

Made a visit this week down to the French Lick/West Baden Springs area where I was able to ride and photograph the car. The new route does run right up to the magnificent hotel at West Baden Springs and the first photo shows the car after it makes the turn and heads toward the little "depot" at the hotel. At the other end, the car stops at an area that is kind of "in between" the hotel at French Lick and the Casino there. There are a couple of other on line places you can board, including one next to the French Lick tourist train near the old joint Monon/Southern passenger station. The self-propelled car appears to be the original streetcar from Portugal, modified to resemble the old number 1 that ran on the original trolley line there.

Les

Nice job, Les. But how is it powered???

From this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGo0Cr9voW4

It appears to be a small gas motor powering some sort of hydrostatic (lawnmower) drive on one of the axles.

In the video they say 'diesel'.

Thanks for the video! It's the details of how they provided the transmission and control, and integrated it with the 'historic fabric', that I want to see. Surely someone out there has views and a description!

I looked for it on the Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars website, but since the original car is from Portugal, it doesn't qualify (same goes for ex-Melbourne trams in various places).
I was reminded of the Rockford, Ill. "trolley" that ran through a park along the riverfront, only I think the Rockford cars was "scratch built". One of the stories behind that car was that the original undercarriage was underbuilt, and local businesses answered the call and helped build a more robust truck for it. Does anyone have recent info on Rockford?
Another internal combustion powered "trolley" is the one in El Reno, Okla. that began life as Philadelphia & Western "Strafford" car 165 and became El Reno 145 with a propane-fueled GMC 454 V-8 and a custom hydraulic drive system. Late reports from Oklahoma indicate that 145 is either temporarily or permanently out of service.

Rockford? I was out there maybe two years ago, and the car was running on Sunday. It lives in a tiny carbarn in the park right where the C&NW trackage (which it uses) swings into the street. I also had a fan trip over the line courtesy of the UP, but that's a different story. I understand there are still a couple active customers north of the street running, so the operation should be safe for now.

On edit:

Here's a link to their web page. It appears it's running Thursday through Sunday this summer.

http://www.rockfordparkdistrict.org/trolley