WABASH #1238

Builder: American Car & Foundry
Built: 1927
Type: Coach
Status: Restoration

Wabash No. 1238 is a coach (called a “chair car” on the Wabash) designed for use on the Wabash Railroad’s various passenger trains. It is one of several Wabash passenger cars that the Monticello Railway Museum is fortunate to have in our collection. No. 1238 regularly operated through Monticello, particularly in it’s later years when in regular use on the Orland Park Commuter train, which saw the cars and locomotive running through Monticello to Decatur on Friday nights for servicing and inspections, and back north in the wee hours of Monday mornings to be in place at Orland Park for their regular commute schedule into Chicago.

In 1964, the Wabash was absorbed by the Norfolk & Western (N&W) Railway. The N&W renumbered No. 1238 to No. 1807, and the car continued in Chicago-area commuter train service between Chicago’s Dearborn Station and suburban Orland Park, Illinois. The car was retired on May 14, 1970, and subsequently sold to the Sol-Tick & Company scrapyard in Decatur, Illinois, along with many other similar former Wabash coaches. Of the dozens of these cars that were sent to the scrapyard, only a handful escaped the cutting torch, including No. 1807, which was acquired from Sol-Tick by an individual who was attempting to put together a steam powered excursion train in the Quad Cities area of Illinois. All the ex-Wabash coaches remaining in the Decatur scrap yard were purchased and moved to the Quad Cities before funding ran out and the project died. No. 1238/1807 never made it past Monticello due to a hot journal bearing. This same bearing had also required a change at Milmine, just east of Cerro Gordo, IL. After a new bearing was installed at Milmine, the car made it only about 12 more miles, and and was again set out, this time at Monticello, for the same reason. Museum members at the time inspected the car, and convinced the owner that, due to the condition of the axle, the car would not be able to make the trip without undergoing an expensive field repair to replace the affected wheelset. A Monticello Railway Museum member then purchased the car from the owner, saving him the trouble and expense that was going to be required. The new owner then started work to get windows resealed to keep weather out, but other priorities intervened and work stopped. For many years, No. 1807 was stored outdoors in the museum’s Camp Creek Yard. The car changed hands again between two museum members, and some additional work was done on the car, but again work stopped due to other projects consuming all available time. The car was later donated to the Museum. Recently the car was moved into our shop facility to be fully restored to operating condition for use on our excursion trains. When complete, it will once again appear as Wabash #1238, and look just as good as it did when it rolled out of the American Car & Foundry factory in St. Charles, Missouri, nearly 100 years ago.