One of our museum members attended Purdue in the early 1950s. Too late for the trolley line, but he recalls that the university had a steam switcher, along with all kinds of interesting test bed equipment for boilers and electricity generation. He recalls that they used steam for cooking in the dining hall and even air condtioning.

I know that the Purdue trolley is now at MOT in St. Louis. Was there other "stuff" that was or still is on campus?

Many thanks.

Wesley

Do a search on this board and enter "purdue". Back about a month ago there was a string of discussion about the Purdue Test Car and before that there was a string about colleges that gave degrees in RR related field.

The message threads you refer to were the basis for my initial conversation with my friend on this subject. I am looking for additional information.

Wesley

The "Purdue Collection" is at MOT, including several 19th Century locomotives, including a B&O 4-6-0 Davis Camel, a "Eddy Clock" and a C&NW 4-4-0.

Purdue had a test bed, much like the PRR unit at Altoona, where a purpose-built 4-4-0 sat on rollers.

I thought the Test Plant and 4-4-0 were victims of a WWII scrap drive that the historic locomotives and Test Car survived because they were stored in a metal building "Hidden" on campus.

I think the Boston & Providence 4-4-0 at MOT came from the Purdue collection as well.

Tom

Technically yes, the Boston and Providence "Daniel Nason" was originally in the Purdue collection, but was taken back by its owner (The New Haven?) and ended up at the Danbury Fair, where MOT bought it at auction.