COLESVILLE, Md. — A unique predecessor to the renowned hi-rail vehicle has recently hit the road for a renewal in its preservation odyssey. The National Capital Trolley Museum announced in a Sept. 17 post on Facebook and Instagram the acquisition of Evans Auto-Railer No. 109.
The 1936-built vehicle was transported on Sept. 9 on a lowboy trailer from Clark’s Bears Amusement Park in New Hampshire to interim storage. Final movement to the museum in Colesville is expected later in the year. “A&F109 has survived decades of outside storage and neglect, but retains nearly all of its parts that can either be restored or used as patterns to return the car to its original appearance,” the social media post states. “This vehicle is the only complete example of an Evans Auto-Railer known to exist.”
Designed by Edwin R. Evans, the Auto-Railers were equipped with highway tires next to their rail-guided wheels for both road and rail operations. They were gasoline-powered with an engine from Chevrolet.
No. 109 was set to work along the Arlington & Fairfax Railroad in 1937 to connect Rosslyn, Va. with Fairfax City and Fort Myer (just outside Arlington National Cemetery). At Rosslyn, the rail-to-road feature would come into play as the railroad wheels would be raised up and the Auto-Railer then operated as a bus to cross the Key Bridge into Georgetown and Washington D.C. Capital Transit won an injunction in 1938 to prevent this type of service, leading to the A&F’s death knell in September of 1939, according to the National Capital Trolley Museum.
Many of the railroad’s Auto-Railers were scattered to new owners by 1941. No. 109 found its way to Clark’s Bears (formally Clark’s Trading Post) in the late 1950s and was stored outside since the 1960s in a carousel of private owners. A 2021 thread posting on the Railway Preservation News forums by Nick Jobe caught the attention of the vehicle’s existence by the museum, prompting an inspection by volunteers and eventual arrangement in acquisition and transport.
Visit the National Capital Trolley Museum website for more information on Evans Auto-Railer No. 109.
It makes me thnk of an Airstream RV or trailer from the 50s or 60s. What a cool vehicle.
There is a discussion on rypn.org Interchange on whether this vehicle became South Shore Line hi-rail line car 50. CSS&SB 50 certainly was/is an Evans Auto-Railer.
Here’a an article on the Evans Auto-Railer:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/for-both-road-and-rail-the-evans-auto-railer/
Also, PCC cars are steel and the PCC Committee did not design a bus.
Very interesting concept. Anyone know where else they might have been used and how well they worked. As I read this, they never actually got tested in DC. David, you have any info?
That Evans’ Auto Railer is so reminiscent of the 1930s beginning of aluminum fuselage construction, such as Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra, PCC busses and trolleys, prewar Airstream and Spartan travel trailers, various “pie”wagons, etc. I recall the old Evans look-a-like aluminum Jitney busses dedicated to Pacific Ave in Atlantic City, which ran N-S, parallel to the trolleys on Atlantic Ave., one block away.