Which had a short life span, but I think that is the Topeka depot behind in this 1930s view, which is or is being restored:

http://abpr2.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi? ... 934or5.jpg

Among my grandfather's things that I have is a souvenir coin from this train's Topeka visit, perhaps acquired on this very day.

Is this a "Wind Splitter"?

Not sure what you mean by 'windsplitter', never heard that term before. It is a Streamliner, and the Union Pacific copyrighted that term.

B&O ran a streamlined engine called the "Windsplitter" sometime around 1900. McKeen Rail car also used the term.

There were also some interurban cars built that were known as Windsplitters for their bullet-nosed front ends (Winona Railway photo below from Dave's Rail Pix). None survive, but the body of the car used for testing front end profiles was rebuilt into the Purdue University Test Car now preserved at MOT in St. Louis.

Anyone know the current condition of the Purdue University car at MOT?

Les

Sitting safely indoors in the museum's streetcar building. This building is normally off-limits, but from what I understand, anyone wishing to view the collection can do so if they make an appointment with the museum.

We recently had the building open for the Electric Railroaders Association Convention on Labor Day.

As for the car's condition, it is in pretty good shape. She needs new paint, but from a display standpoint is very complete.

The B&O Wind Splitter was actually noted and shown in an early EMC publicity film called "Diesel's Working On The Railroads".

MX (Obviously not my real name)

David -

Thanks much for the info. Someone once told me that, later in its career, the car was used to transport students on the West Lafayette campus. Perhaps to/from Purdue football games. In any event, I had heard that the car did not have any seats and that students/visitors had to stand. Is that the current inside configuration of the car?

Les

I don't think the car ever had any seats in it.

It had, and still has a workbench on the right side, as you face foward in the car. The bench has a bunch of wiring underneath, and a large board with knife switches for the motors and other equipment. This was for the "test equipment" from its days as the test car. The other side of the car was open, and I assume at one time, maybe it had a few chairs in it, or a simple bench. The inside of the car is rather plainly finished.

Later in its career, the car was used once a year by the electrical engineering students as the "rites of spring." It would be pulled out from its shed, and ran on a line that went through campus, to the electrial engineering building where the car was stored. The line was powered from the Layfayette Street Railway line that went to the Purdue campus. The students would all get a chance to run the car, and it is from these events that you see the car jam packed with students. This was last done in 1940 when the LSR decided to abandon operations. The car wound up in a metal shed in the "back" of campus, along with the locomotives from the Purdue collection, and that's where she stayed until coming to MOT.

At MOT, a couple of display cases were put into the other side of the car, and at one time, the car was one which you could walk through on a visit to MOT.

There is actually good information about the car in CERA B-122 "Fort Wayne and Wabash Valley Trolleys" since the FW&WV went to West Lafayette.