Back to the boxcars

CERA interurban boxcar with rounded ends

Awaiting the last adds on my Fort Wayne project, I woke up my old Interurban boxcar drawings who were well advanced but eternally unfinished.

First in the list is the rounded end CERA trailer. The double Camel doors and some under-frame is already done.

Ft Wayne Interurban Combine - Unterbody parts

Only few images exists from the Fort Wayne - Lima Interurban Combine, and the unterbody parts are hardly to see on them. Fortunately, better photos exist from the mostly identical Indiana Service Corp cars.

On one side we can see
1 - a fuse box reverser box
2 - a four bloc resistor grid, with perhaps the 3rd position empty
3 - a drawbar
4 and 5 - air tanks

On the other side there are
1 - probably the compressor
2 - an unknown small cubic device
3 - the brake cylinder
4 - an unkown device with a chain
5 - a square box, probably the switch box

Does anybody have further information about this parts? What is the unknown device #4 with his "bicycle chain" ?

Ft Wayne Combine: Last adds on the rear end

Building a roof mat is always a tricky affair. But now it is done.

I installed also a trolley retriever. Can't await to order a first print soon.

Commonwealth truck frames for the Ft Wayne Interurban

The Fort Wayne -Lima Combines had Commonwealt cast steel trucks for small 28" wheels.

The main frames of this truck were slightly incurved upside. Unthinkable to produce this Interurban car without this detail.

As the carbody and frame, this truck frames will be adapted for Bowser drives

Fort Wayne Interurban Combine roof details

Rear view of a Fort Wayne - Lima Interurban combine

There is no known photo about the roof details of this car. Except one. The Bill Volkmer Collection contains a photo of the Fort Wayne Interurban Terminal, taken probably in the late 20ies.

On the right track stands one of the combines that I build.

Even as details are very hard to detect, some interesting features are clearly visible: the long trolleyboard, the position of the ventilators, and the location of the retriever.

Fort Wayne Interurban Terminal