This photo popped up on the EBT email group which I’d never seen before. (We were discussing how/where the Gas-Electric M-1 was fueled.) It’s a fascinating project - clearly a literal Rail-Bus.
Apparently it was built by the ET&WNC:
"The railroad took an old Johnson City streetcar body and mated it to a White truck running gear to make a jitney to run back and forth to Elizabethton and the new rayon plants. Well, it refused to stay on the track. Somebody sold it to the East Broad Top Railroad up in Pennsylvania (which still exists) and they had the same results. "
Here’s how it looked in its Tweetsie days:
The East Broad Top (I presume) still had the need to haul US Mail and REA parcels even though passenger traffic was declining. They extended the body to the front, with (I presume) a baggage compartment where the driver used to sit, and the driver’s seat got moved to the front fender area.
So, my first thought was a Bachmann Railtruck and a Bachmann combine. But they are 2 different scales. I think the Railtruck is definitely needed - I can move the back axle further back and drive it with a chain. Anyone have a Railtruck in any condition they would like to sell?
The body could be taken from a Bachmann trolley but that doesn’t have the right windows and is too small. Any thoughts?