Sumpter Valley "Casey Jones" Car

Many of us have heard of the RioGrande Southern and their "Galloping Geese" rail cars which were built up from automobile chassis. They built these units to haul passengers, mail and parcels in lieu of a steam powered train and crew, in order to economise and survive the great depression. Here is Sumpter Valley Ry's. answer to the same economic problems. In this case it was the Sumpter Valley's extension from Austin to Prairie City that posed a financial hardship and this lash up was constructed to haul the mail, parcels and what few passengers needed to move between the two towns. Though only about 20 miles, this was not an easy piece of railroad to operate on because between Bates, which is one mile west of Austin, and Prairie City, the railroad climbed over Dixie Mountain. Both sides of the mountain had a 4% ruling grade, with a lot of the line 3% or more. Between Bates and Dixie Summit the line climbs 1185 ft. with a decent of 1715 ft. to Prairie City. There were a great many 24 deg. curves not to mention two switch backs. It is hard to imagine that this 22hp. model T Ford powered unit could have been up to the task. The powered chassis was built up by the SVRy shop from a Northwestern "Casey Jones" model 551 section motor car. The trailer was a "Casey Jones" model 500 section car also with a body constructed by the SVRy shop. The car and trailer went into service in 1929 and were retired two years later in 1931. One anecdote related to this little contraption was that it of course had a crew of one. At some point, a large shipment of cash was part of the lading passing over the SVRy destined for the bank in Prairie City. The one man show had a little heartburn over his cargo, but thankfully no desperado's showed up to rob the little "train". The second photo attached is of a diorama featuring this car and trailer built by a late friend of Garrie Tufford, and donated to SVRR by Garrie. It is on display in the Sumpter Depot. The scans are from the SVRR Archive.