Posted on the IlliniRail group:


Rich Carlson wrote on 08/29/11 08:22 pm:

Here is a picture of the depot and car in question:

http://g.co/maps/7kkq

Hope it finds a good home!

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 8:04 PM, Paul Burgess <unitlne@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> The new owners of the ITS depot at Harristown are looking to donate the 1911 vintage sleeping car sitting outside the depot. The trucks are at the Monticello Railway Museum and the depot owner said he contacted MRM about them, and they told him they'd give them to whoever took the car. (I have no independent confirmation of that, though)
>
> I was in the car briefly last Thursday (when I stopped by the newly reopened depot, now an antique store) and the owner and I got to talking. The car is gutted but seems reasonably sound in terms of the carbody and roof. Of course, bear in mind I know little about restoring such things. Seems a shame to lose it after all this time, though. The wood floor is a goner--I'd say at least 70% rotted out.
>
> He has several offers to scrap in place, but would like to see it saved. However he does want it out of there sooner rather than later.
>
> Here is his contact info:
>
> John, 217-412-9010
> email: harristowndepot@yahoo.com
>
> I told him I would alert the local rail enthusiast community. Hopefully, someone out there has a trick up his or her sleeve to save this old ITS classic.
>
>

_________________
I am forwarding this post as a FYI! I cannot vouch for its accuracy.

Sincerely,
Gary Drag

Thanks for forwarding the info; hopefully someone can make use of it.

As to the car, it doesn't look like a sleeper to me, at least nothing like what Pullman would build. What it does look like is an Illinois Terminal interurban of some kind.

Didn't that road run interuban sleepers, though? And did any of those cars survive?

Car 535 was built in 1911 by St. Louis Car Company as an interurban coach trailer numbered 527. In 1930 the IT rebuilt it as a sleeper (a bedroom car IIRC), number 501 "Illinois." In 1941 it was again rebuilt, this time as coach 535, and when mainline interurban service was abandoned in 1956 it was adapted for use as a bunk car.

It's not the only IT interurban sleeper remaining; car 504 "Peoria," a virtually complete (albeit rather tired) section sleeper, is preserved at IRM.

In addition, while it was rebuilt to a sleeping car configuration at one point, it was rebuilt from a trailer coach and it still looks like a coach. IRM not only has the Peoria; it also has sister coach 518 in the collection, basically complete.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/IT518

The only logical place for the car in question to go would be the Museum of Transport in St. Louis, but with their current de-accession list, I doubt they want another basket case. These are wood framed cars... if the floor is as rotten as someone says, very likely the bottoms of the car posts are rotten, too. I think this one is just going to go away.

Dennis -

I think a MUCH more logical place than MOT would be the Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello, Illinois. First of all, MRM's museum partially includes old IT r-o-w. So a Illinois Terminal artifact seems logical. Secondly, they supposedly still have the cars trucks. At one time, IT # 535 was apparently owned by the Monticello & Sangamon Valley museum, a predecessor name for MRM. I don't know why it was sold, but perhaps it had to do with low finances at that time. I will assume that the car is in poor shape, but putting it inside one of their buildings until a restoration can be undertaken, seems like something that could be done.

As for the Museum of Trasportation, they already have a number of pieces of Illinois Terminal equipment, so one more seems to be redundant, even if it was in great shape.

Finally, I would hope that the car just doesn't "go away". Overall, there is not a lot remaining from this great system, and the loss of one of the surviving artifacts, would be a shame.

Les

Actually MOT only has five pieces of electric equipment from the IT, of which two are locomotives and two are suburban cars. They only have one mainline passenger car from the IT, combine 241. Not to suggest that they would necessarily want to acquire a car that's as rough as the 535, but it would theoretically make it possible for them to exhibit a (short) train of IT interurban cars, a capability they don't currently have.

Les,

I was just down there last summer to see 401 run. While they might be on the IT ROW, they don't seem to have either wire or electric railway equipment (other than a CTA articulated "spam can" ????) so it doesn't really seem to fit their mission statement. I'm a firm believer that organizations should NOT get something just because its available, unless it supports the story they are trying to tell.

The IT was not an MU operator... they were a classic motor-trailer operation from the first decade of the twentieth century. There have been photos published (perhaps publicity photos) of four car IT interurban trains; a combine motor car, trailer coach, sleeper, and parlor car. IRM can replicate that train, although the 234 is now configured as a business car and the sleeper Peoria is "tired", but someday...

http://www.irm.org/cgi-bin/image.pl?con ... .sized.jpg

MOT has the heavy motor car, but no trailer coach. If This body went to Monticello, it would be an orphan, since they have little hope of acquiring a motor car.

Hi Dennis,

Actually, from what I've heard from the horse's mouth (well, two of them down there anyway) is that having an ITC electric car WOULD be within their scope. Well within, and is indeed on their wish list. If they had an IT electric they'd string the wire and clear the ROW all the way to White Heath, giving them two distinct mainlines. If they did it right (and that museum rarely does things wrong) they could run lower-cost electrics on most weekends, reserving the diesels and steam for special on-season events. Best yet, they'd have the only ITC electric running on home rails.

Unfortunately (or not, depending on your perspective) the museum is earning cash by storing modern and unused freight equipment on that ROW. Dunno if it would be worth it financially to kill off that revenue stream just for more track to play on.

Ray -


Last I heard is that there are no storage cars currently on MRM property. There were a number of them earlier this year on both the IC and IT right-of-ways.

Les