Indiana Railroad "Highspeed" in HO scale

Having an Indianan Railroad car in HO scale was a longtime dream. Virtual railroading is tricky and not always relaxing.

Recently, I had the chance to buy a Customtraxx/Bowser Indiana Railroad "Highspeed" for a very moderate price. The car - actually out of production - was announced on Ebay as "not working", the trolley pole missing.

After shipping to Europe for half the buying price of the car, I found that the body shell, based on a cast probably 40-50 years old is still a good reprodction of this lightweight interurban cars.

A second look showed that a mecanism of a new Bowser PCC would match exactly. So I unmounted the old motor with a saw (no other way to put him out) and adapted a "cannibalized" Bowser PCC drive.

The car runs very smooth through a 14 cm radius (5 1/2 in), I think he could even turn tighter.

The car will be equipped with functional head and tail lights, the holes are alread drilled. Next step : cleaning, smooth sanding and painting of the shell.