Indiana Railroad - Inherited Rolling Stock

Inherited Rolling Stock

IR inherited a very large fleet of interurban cars from its various predecessor companies, totalling perhaps 100-150 interurban cars (of which about 60 were retained), probably 200 or so streetcars (of which about 150 were retained), around 50 pieces of freight equipment and about 55 work cars of various types.

The interurban cars varied considerably in age and design. A number of pre-1910 very large arch windowed wooden combines that had survived in service on ISC and THI&E were disposed of within the first couple of years of IR's existence, leaving a fleet predominantly made up of heavy steel single-ended combines. There were about half a dozen 400 class ISC combines, 30 UTC steel combines including 15 modern cars only five years old, and nine of Interstate IPS's handsome heavyweight combines, parlor and sleeping cars. A few of these former Interstate cars were still operated by a British Columbia railroad in the 1990s. (Classic Trains Magazine, Sept 2008.)

The city cars, excluding earlier wooden types that were scrapped, mainly consisted of single-truck Birney cars inherited from UTC and THI&E. The only exceptions were a handful of double-truck cars left over from UTC and from IPS's suburban Louisville operations.

The freight and work equipment was a hodgepodge of mainly homebuilt designs, outdated passenger cars converted for alternate use, and secondhand equipment. Most of this equipment was quite old, but even some equipment dating to before 1905 remained in IR's employ for years. Some of the retired better shape passenger coaches were rebuilt into box motors and utility cars.