Maintenance-of-Way

Motor Car Roster

Order

Builder

Motor

Notes

1st

Fairbanks Morse

3 cylinder

Purchased in 1919 for $784. Noted as in poor condition in 1930. Dismantled.

2nd

International

4 cylinder

Outfitted with imitation leather and a side seat. Dismantled.

3rd

Northwestern

1 cylinder

"Casey Jones" model. Dismantled.

4th

Northwestern

4 cylinder, Ford Model B

Purchased for $447.75 in 1927. Casey Jones Model #551 Heavy Duty Extra Gang Motor Car. Equipped with an HDX turntable. 10 man capacity. This car had been stored in the engine shed since 1940. That summer, Fred Grant used it to go to Springfield while he was painting the depot. Retired on June 16, 1953.

5th

Northwestern

4 cylinder, Ford Model B, 50 HP

Purchased new for $598 in 1934. Model #561-B Heavy Duty Motor Car. Only used in the summer after the arrival of the 6th car.

6th

Northwestern

8 cylinder, Ford

Purchased new for $1,038 in July 1942. Serial #5773. Harry Williamson painted this car with a thick coat of red paint in the summer of 1943. He loved to see equipment kept slick. The car had originally been painted a thin coat of orange. George Clark and Carl Nees had some small discussion over the gearing. Nees said that four wheel drive cars sometimes got in bad spots and hopped the iron. They resolved to leave it with a free wheel. In Summer 1943, part of American Concrete Pipe Co. in Union burned down. Nees raced this car to Branch Junction to tell the crew to head up there quick to get some cars out of the place before they burned up. The company had called Kenilworth. Nees went around the curves above Kenilworth in nothing flat warning his son, Sharon, to be ready to unload if they hit anything or met the train. They didn’t and were able to warn the crew. The crew got up there in time to get the cars out. This car was retained at least through 1961.

7th

Kalamazoo

8 Ford Model V8, 85 HP

Model 39 enclosed motor car complete with top. Serial #4876. Purchased secondhand from Road Contractors Equipment Co., Inc. 675 Garden St., Elizabeth, New Jersey on May 9, 1949 for $300. This car was retained at least through 1961.

8th

Northwestern

Ford Model V-8-100 HP

Purchased new. Measured 113" x 65". Complete with top, hump type body, lighting equipment, and 4-wheel drive. Noted on the 1958 and 1962 tax assessments. 

Other Equipment

Type

Builder

Notes

Hand Car

Sheffield

Model No. 1. Unknown vintage or origin. Still extant as of 2014.

Velocipede

Buda

Model No. 2. Purchased new for $69.50. Used briefly by George Clark to commute to work. Still extant as of 2014.

Miscellaneous - Dump car purchased for $150, home-built pushcar constructed in 1928, Northwestern Model No. 561-B Heavy Duty Motor Car purchased 1934, and two Northwestern Model 500-A12 Heavy Duty Push & Work Cars purchased in 1936 and 1946, respectively.

The 6th motor car is spotted on the Lock Joint Pipe Co. siding in Kenilworth. (Richard J. King collection)