Combine 105 was built in Cleveland for the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway. This line ran between its namesake southwestern Ohio cities. A combine is a car that combines the role of baggage car and passenger coach into one body. This is an economical way to meet multiple needs. This car was part of a set of cars ordered in 1927 from the Kuhlman Car Company in an effort to revitalize the failing line. The cars were of steel construction with comfortable leather seating and were equipped with Tomlinson type couplers featuring pneumatic and electrical buss connections for multiple unit use. Of the set, seven were built as single end combines like 105, the rest were double ended coaches. The combines were built with the operator’s compartment at the freight end with three standard windows, and a vestibule at the rear with two standard windows and a center train door to allow passage between cars. They were used in head end service in two and three car trains with the coaches and had no front couplers. In later years 105 was rebuilt for single man operation and the car’s configuration was reversed, placing the freight section at the rear and vestibule at the front. These modifications included removing the train door on the new cab end and replacing it with a third center window and a curved dasher panel below similar to those on the line’s popular Red Devil speedsters.
Combine 105 joined the Cincinnati & Lake Erie fleet when the line was formed by the consolidation of other failing lines in 1929. When the C&LE shut down, the car body of 105 was sold and used as a pottery shop and storage building across the street from the line’s Moraine, Ohio shops. The museum acquired the car body in 1977, it is the only interurban combine in our collection.
| Builder | Kuhlman Car Company |
| Type | Interurban Car |
| Description | Single End Double Truck Arch Roof Steel Combine |
| Year Built | 1927 |
| Retired | 1939 |
| Acquired | 1977 |
| Seats | 48 |
| Length | 54′ 7″ |
| Width | 8′ 11″ |
| Height | 12′ 2″ |
| Weight | 57,380 |
| Trucks | Shop AB (temporary) |
| Motors | |
| Control | |
| Brakes | |
| Compressor |