Indiana Railroad - New Rolling Stock

New Rolling Stock

IR purchased two series of modern interurban cars during its life, and it was the first - the famed Indiana Railroad High-Speeds - that always symbolized the railroad. When IR was created, its owners knew that they would have to modernize their fleet of interurban cars if they hoped to prevent further erosion of their ridership. In 1930 and 1931, IR designed a series of lightweight, low center of gravity, high-speed interurban cars that could operate quickly and economically on the far-flung IR network. The new cars owed much to the Cincinnati and Lake Erie lightweight cars built a year before. They were single-ended, low-floor cars designed for operation by a single man and were built largely of aluminum to save weight and, therefore, require less power to operate. The biggest difference with the C&LE cars was in the trucks: whereas the C&LE cars had smaller arch-bar trucks, the IR cars were designed with heavy Commonwealth cast steel trucks designed specifically for high-speed service and to cope with poor light rail track.

A total of 35 cars was ordered. The first 14, cars 50-63, came from American Car and Foundry and were deluxe cars with coach seating at the front and parlor car chairs at the back. The remaining 21 cars, numbered 64-84, came from Pullman and had all coach seating with a small baggage section at the rear. Delivery of the new high-speeds began in July 1931 and they were an immediate success, making it possible for IR to reduce running times on some of its routes and economize on its operations.

The second series of new cars was a group of ten Cummings-built lightweight cars that were bought in 1935. They were not brand new; they had been constructed in 1930 for the Northern Indiana Railway but had been seized by Cummings when the Northern Indiana couldn't pay for them. These cars were numbered 90-99.