After the failure of the C&LE in 1939 they saw service with the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway (CRANDIC) and the Lehigh Valley Transit Company.

The riveting of aluminum plates to a steel frame produced an electrolytic reaction that gave rise to corrosion in the side panels and the front and rear dashers.

The Red Devils ran Cincinnati to Dayton, then to Toledo, and finally to Detroit, a trip close to 270 miles in length.

[8][9] Competition with the growing population of automobiles riding on a constantly expanding paved state highway system plus the devastating negative financial impact of the Depression led to a decline in C&LE passenger business starting in the early 1930s and continuing through the rest of the decade.

[11][12] and the innovative Red Devils were sold after abandonment: six to the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway (CRANDIC) and thirteen to the Lehigh Valley Transit Company.