Drawing # interurban

Interurban - Combine

In the days long before "light rail," the transportation needs of many U.S. cities were served by interurban lines.  These electric railways were in many cases the precursor to modern public transit buses.  The combine, short for "combination car," allowed one car to haul both freight and passengers.  Like virtually all interurban cars, a trolley pole and operator controls at each end meant that the car did not need to be turned around at the end of the run.  The operator simply raised the other trolley pole, lowered the first one, took his throttle handle to the opposite end of the car and it was ready to go back the way it had come.

My rendition of a generic combine is based upon the lines of the 1201 photographed below at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California and other photographic reference materials.

Photo # 1201

Back to art index page