Unexpected Windfall

I've been meaning to write an update for winter/spring 2016, however something has come up that has changed things and takes precedence.

The remnants of the old Chicago, Wheaton & Western have long sat moribund while a reorganization plan was worked out for the refurbishment and rehabilitation of the railroad. Those plans have now been cancelled as the Illinois & Wisconsin Southern has purchased the assets of the CW&W and is now in the process of liquidating parts of the old line. The trolley wire has been removed and, as such, a good deal of rolling stock has now become superfluous.

It is unfortunate about the old road, however the demise of the CW&W has resulted in a tremendous gain for the Dunsel Line: eleven Chicago Aurora & Elgin cars!

Four St. Louis Car Company 450-series cars. The two fitted with Q Car trolley poles (which are actually incorrect for these cars) are powered. The other two are not.

Three Pullman 400-series cars. (One not pictured due to it being unassembled.) All have insulated power trucks. (They came with a spare pair of trailer trucks). One of the two pictured will be 411 and has the correct Baldwin trucks for that car.

Two Niles-built 300-series cars. The one on the left (without trucks pictured) seems to have been through hell. It appears to have all of its parts, but many of them have come loose and/or are severely broken. The parts were stored inside the car body which has a large, rough-cut hole in the floor to permit a large power truck. Neither truck, however, has a motor and one truck is mostly dismantled.

Here we have something of an oddity. This is clearly a Kuhlman 311-series car, but it looks ancient! (Note the arched "rainbow" sash—currently missing the stained glass.) It must have been stored somewhere in the back of Wheaton yard and was never modernized prior to its transfer to the CW&W. This car is a nice little relic that will get a nice Pullman Green paint job.

Another interesting car. This is an ex-Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Jewett-built parlor car that was transferred to the CA&E in the 1930s but for some odd reason, this car never received the standard modifications that the rest of the set got. This will definitely have to get rectified. This car would have been perfect on the Batavia branch.

Many of these cars were clearly never removed from the box prior to today. Well I've certainly got my work cut out for me.