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Our Flagship passenger car. This edition of this Illinois Traction System Parlor Observation trailer contains vastly upgraded and authentic exterior and interior, redone from photographs and plans of the original car, and its sisters. In addition to the lush interior, there is an absolutely superb view out the rear from the observation platform, as the train moves along, just as though you were there in person. The car includes marker lights with red to the rear and green to the sides, when the headlights are bright.

HISTORY:

Luxurious elegance in the Midwest during the early 20th century reached a peak in the 5 parlor-observation cars put into service in 1910 by the Illinois Traction System on its St. Louis main line. No. 513 "Clinton" had the shortest life, and was never changed from the original.
The cars were built by the Danville Car Company as trailers. (The the original colors are used in this edition: Dark green body, white pine sash and gold leaf lettering.)
Then in 1928, they were changed, when matching combines were re-geared for higher speed. The front trucks were replaced by powered trucks and the colors were changed to tangerine, with black lettering: "ILLINOIS TERMINAL R.R. SYSTEM".
In 1936, the now 4 remaining cars were air-conditioned. They lost the beautiful arch windows and had their rear platforms enclosed. We can only track a a bit of history after that:
No. 512, "Cerro Gordo", was apparently repainted to match the new STREAMLINERS - blue with a light gray roof and sash.
No. 514, "Lincoln" was fortunately de-powered in 1935 and continued to serve in the maintenance-of-way service until the end of the IT electrification service. Nice place to have an office eh?
Except for 514, the others were scrapped in the early 50's. Old 514 sits behind the Railway barns in St. Louis - totally un-restored. 


We hope you enjoy the ITS513 Parlor Observation Car.

3D Graphics and textures by William H. Hall
.wag files and technical research by Paul DeVerter
Bounding box, .wag changes and physics by Chuck Zeiler

Released March 2003



railway@paradesquare.ca
http://www.paradesquare.ca/railway

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