page_title: Lehigh Valley Transit Company
section_title: The Golden Calf coach
hierarchical_section_title: Lehigh Valley Transit Company / History of the Philadelphia Division / Equipment of the Philadelphia Division / The Golden Calf coach
caption_attribution_description: Indiana Railroad interurban car 65 at the Illinois Railway Museum
context_page_description: The Lehigh Valley Transit Company was a regional transport company, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that began operations in 1901 as an urban trolley and interurban rail transport company. It operated successfully into the 1930s, struggled financially during the Depression, and was saved from abandonment by a dramatic ridership increase due to the Second World War. In 1951, the LVT, once again financially struggling, ended its 36-mile interurban rail service from Allentown to Philadelphia. In 1952, it ended its Allentown area local trolley service. It operated local bus service in the Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, Pennsylvania, areas until going out of business in 1972.
context_section_description: Similar to the 1930 formation of Ohio's Cincinnati and Lake Erie interurban, a number of struggling Indiana interurban lines were combined to create the new Indiana Railroad. In 1931, the IRR ordered interurbans from the Pullman and American Car and Foundry based upon the Cincinnati Car Company Red Devil design but with improvements. More aluminum was used, and a heavier Commonwealth truck design was adopted to allow more stability at speed. The IRR operated multiple car coupled trains from Indianapolis south to Louisville, so the new IRR lightweights had couplers and a rounded rear end, unlike the Red Devil's squared rear end. The round end allowed coupled car operation around tight curves in town streets. IRR abandoned operations in 1941, and LVT purchased IRR parlor car #55 to replace former Red Devil car 1004 lost in a fire due to 1004's malfunctioning electric car heater at Philadelphia and Western's King Manor station. (The fire also burned the station.) Car 55 arrived on the LVT property in IRR's bright "traction orange" paint scheme and LVT's Fairview shopmen humorously labeled it the "Golden Calf."  The shop crew changed the former parlor seating to coach seating and repainted the exterior with LVT's white with red trim (called by the LVT a dramatic "Picador Cream and Mountain Ash Scarlet") and numbered it LVT 1030. It stood out from its former C&LE Red Devil brothers by having more tapered front windows and the round rear end. LVT also replaced the IR Commonwealth trucks with the Cincinnati Car Company's ABC-74D trucks (bogies) salvaged from the 1004. They retained the interior club arrangement, but installed a refrigerator at the first left side window. Transit company officials introduced No.1030 to the public on September 14, 1941 and on October 3, 1941, the luxury car entered the revenue service on the Liberty Bell Route. Passenger traffic increased steadily during World War II and more passenger capacity was needed, so December 1941 and May 1942, several side-facing individual chairs were removed and replaced by forward and rearward facing sofas in order to increase the seating capacity from thirty to thirty-six. The original IR car design placed the motorman's controls on the left side, but the controller and brake stand were moved to the center by the LVT and a passenger loading door was added at the left front to provide southbound passenger access to the left side Norristown platform. This door was also used at Lansdale and Souderton on northbound trips to allow passengers to unload curbside rather than into the street. Although the frequent stops and occasional steep grades (the climb from Souderton's Broad Street to Summit street was severe) were more demanding on traction motors than Ohio's had been, the former Red Devils and the 1030 performed well until LVT abandonment in 1951. As company earnings severely declined due to post World War 2 diminishing ridership, seriously disabled cars were often set aside, not repaired, and cannibalized for parts for other equipment. Car 1030 is now preserved and operating at the Seashore Trolley Museum.
caption: Car number 65, now preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum, was built for IR by Pullman in 1931.
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