CLS&SB 73

I found a couple pictures of #73, does anyone know how bad of shape it's in now? I hope that when they get that South Bend line up and running that this car will be operating also.

Here she is as #73

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/cls73.jpg

Here she is as #73

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/cls73.jpg

Here she is as #73

Here she is as #73

Whoops...


And here she is as CSS&SB 1126, a work motor.

About 20 years ago, there was a CLS coach body in the restaurant in SOuth Bend now called the Bistro. At the time, it was an italian restaurant. Both the former establishment and the coach are gone. Any connection here?

The story that i read about was that after CSS retired it, someone turned it into a house in Michigan City. I think that the "Rail" foundation got ahold of this car somewhere around 1984 but I could be wrong.

PRRGuy wrote:The story that i read about was that after CSS retired it, someone turned it into a house in Michigan City. I think that the "Rail" foundation got ahold of this car somewhere around 1984 but I could be wrong.

Bob Harris has that car and will be restoring it.



he sent me this pic of it.

Its in Illinois being restored.

Tadman wrote:About 20 years ago, there was a CLS coach body in the restaurant in SOuth Bend now called the Bistro. At the time, it was an italian restaurant. Both the former establishment and the coach are gone. Any connection here?

The only car I know was parked in the old CSS yard in South Bend. The SJV club installed an O scale model Railroad in it modeling none other than the South Shore in it as well as NYC. An article in Traction and Models I have on it.

If I recall right that car is scrapped.

A quick look in the CERA book doesnt show anything.

Its not unusual for old carbodies to find uses elsewhere, locally here the local interurban line cars found their way to a farm for housing, now long gone.

I will poke around and see if I can find anything, prolly try to find a history of restaurants...

I trampled the South Bend Library for a quick check on the Bistro, no such luck.

I think if that were true we railfanners would have known about it.
I've been involved in a local railfan club and something like that never came up, and plenty of knowledgeable folks there.

Another CERA book look on south bend car rosters isnt saying anything either.

I've read that Former CLS&SB # 72 was converted to Line Car 1101 for the "new" CSS&SB, then retired when the 1100 was built..scrapped in 1947...could that be the car body?

I've got the lowdown on more info, but not the specified car.

The car , 74, at the Suth Bend yard used as a yard office became home for the SJV club and built an O scale layout, but members went off to WW2 so the CSS crews kept watch, during the war the trucks were removed. on return from the war the members decided to abandon it and salvage materials. After that the body was moved to the St Joe Airport and used as Joes Diner for 10 years till a fire destroyed it. Car 77 went to Kokomo and used as a diner as well.

This is from Eugen Van Dusan's article in Traction and models
about the layout in 74. Has pics, I may try to scan them sometime.

Eugene is still alive I could try to ask him about this.

More info on the car I was speaking of - I don't know if it's real or a mock up, but it was at a restaurant called the Spaghetti Works, mid 1980's, on Niles avenue. This was a hop skip and jump from the CSS yard on Hydraulic street. Today the restaurant there is called the Bistro, owned by the same interests that own Parisi's by ND. In between it was Basil's and Eastern Pacific Grill, neither of which had the CLS coach or mock up there. If you're familiar with Sunny Italy, that's just up the street from Basil's. BTW, if you're into good blues, Easy Ed Wright plays some weekends at the Bistro.