Union Traction interurban No. 437, built for intercity passenger travel via electric railway with frequent and numerous stops, is considered one of the last great electric railway cars built from steel. No. 437 was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1925 to hold 44 passengers and was given the name “Marion” for the small Indiana city along Union Traction’s route. At 500 horsepower, cars like No. 437 were said to be able to rapidly accelerate at 1.25 MPH, per second, making them well-suited for the frequent stops and starts of interurban travel.
This car was absorbed into the Indiana Railroad, a consolidation of numerous interurban lines by Samuel Insull. In 1936, the car was re-configured for one-man operation (previously two - a conductor and a motorman) in an effort to reduce staff cost in the face of growing competition from automobiles.
Indiana Union Traction 437, then Indiana Railroad 437, sits in the Indianapolis Traction Terminal at a date unknown.
The car ran until approximately 1940, prior to the end of interurban service in Indiana in 1941, when the system dissolved. No. 437 is one of two cars remaining in existence of its kind - the other being Union Traction No. 429 “Noblesville”, which is also in the Hoosier Heartland Trolley Co. Collection. The car was acquired from the Indiana Transportation Museum in 2018.