USA – Arlington-Fairfax Evans Auto-Railer 109

Arlington & Fairfax Railway "Auto-Railer" 109 was designed in 1935 and built in 1936 by the Evans Products Company of Detroit as a hybrid bus/railcar with retractable steel wheels to run on rails and rubber tires to run on roads. It initially interested several interurbans and shortlines but was short-lived in revenue passenger service. The Arlington & Fairfax Railway in northern Virginia wanted to compete with Capital Transit streetcars, but Capital Transit had the rights to cross the Potomac River into Washington DC and the A&F was blocked by injunction. After the A&F went out of business in 1939, Auto-Railer 109 was sold to the Arcade & Attica Railroad in New York. It later sat at Clark’s Trading Post in New Hampshire until it was brought to the National Capital Trolley Museum in Maryland in 2024. I saw this “hi-rail” bus on temporary display at the museum before it went to the museum workshop for restoration.