Owen Davies exhibiting collection of railroad buttons and metal passes in his quaint store at 1214 N. LaSalle St.
Following up on our previous post about legendary Chicago publisher and bookseller Owen Davies (May 13), here is an interview that appeared in the December 26, 1966 Chicago Tribune:
Rail Buff Makes Hobby Pay Off
Need a Silver Pass? He Has a Few
By Sheila Wolfe
Owen Davies said it matter-of-factly. Some people read railroad timetables like others read Playboy magazine.
“I can spend several hours poring over the guide, so engrossed I am unable to put it down,” he said.
Railroad time tables are only one of Davies’ weaknesses. Actually, he is just as partial, if not more so, to railroad passes– the kind which the old railroad barons used to hand out, with a flourish, to each other.
One gaudy fellow, the owner of several railroads in Colorado, issued his passes on paper, buckskin, and silver. Davies once had a fancy solid silver one made out to Jay Gould.
Davies paid $100 for it “just because I wanted it.” But a week later he sold it for $125 to a fellow who never owned a railroad but wrote about and rode them a lot– the late Lucius Bebee.
The transaction, tho hardly anticipated by Davies, was really what the business of railroad time tables, passes, and other Davies collections is all about. It’s business. And then again, it’s genuine, deep down, sheer unadulterated pleasure.
Some Are Too Prized
You can feel that when you walk into the chock-full “casual” (his own description) Owen Davies Bookstore, 1214 N. LaSalle st. Some items are too prized ever to be sold– such as a personal collection of Colorado annual passes, 1880s to 1920s.
But some that are for sale are not likely to move either, Davies has surmised. He is not sure of the exact count, tho it is obvious he has several thousand passes from 600 to 700 railroads.
“I have been fascinated by them,” Davies related. “I’ll never get my money back. I bought too many. I’m just greedy.”
It’s the same way with books. The little shop is divided into three sections. The cluttered first room contains 3,000 books about ships and the sea. The crowded middle room houses 1,500 to 2,000 books about airplanes and 700 to 800 about automobiles, and the jammed third room has about 5,000 railroad books and pamphlets, 15,000 time tables, and the passes.
Likened to “Disease”
“Buying books is a disease, like alcohol or dope,” Davies reflected. “You may take the pledge, but you never really shake it.”
So Davies, admittedly addicted, strays sometimes from his field of transportation. That is why he has, upstairs, a “department of utter chaos,” a room full of books totally unrelated to his business specialty but acquired in spite of that.
Davies, 56, figures he has been a bookseller longer than most others in the city. He opened his first shop when he was 18. That was after he had quit school to work for his widowed mother in her gift shop and rental library.
“I persuaded her to sell her Insull stock and give me $3,000,” Davies recalled. “I didn’t have the experience or the books but I took over a shop at 1352 N. Clark st.
Had Courage of Youth
“What does an 18-year-old know? I had nerve. I was fearless. I wouldn’t have the courage today.”
Books, Davies said, were “just something I gravitated to.” He had always been a reader. So where else would you expect him to meet his wife, Dorothy, but in the public library? Married in 1931, they have twin sons, Jordan and Bevan, 25.
Davies did not begin his pursuit of transportation until the late 1930s, when he had a store at 346 N. Clark st. He bought a “big bunch” of time tables, pre-1900, and shortly afterward, “another bunch” of Pacific railroad pamphlets, around 1860.
From then on, customers kept asking and Davies kept providing railroad material. When he went into war factory work in 1944, he sold his entire stock of 30,000 volumes, but kept all the railroad books. That provided the nucleus for the future.
Has Only One Fear
Now, he says, his stock is unique in Chicago and can be matched by only one other bookstore in the United States (in Carson City, Nev.).
Davies does not concern himself much with the reasons why so many people are devoted to railroad lore.
“It’s not complex,” he said. “There are so many simple things.”
Editor’s Note: This makes a “baker’s dozen” of posts this month. We are grateful to have received over 12,000 page views in June, a new record for us. Trolley Dodger Press has made one of the public domain books that Davies reprinted available once again on a DVD data disc that you can read on any computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. It’s paired with another vintage book put out by the old Chicago Tunnel Company, and also includes a tribute to Owen Davies. You will find that in our online store.
Alan R. Lind’s monumental Chicago Surface Lines: An Illustrated History, was first published by Transport History Press in 1974. This is the expanded Third Edition from 1979.
It is my great sorrow to report that legendary railfan author Alan R. Lind died on May 30 in Park Forest, Illinois, at the age of 75. There is a very brief obituary here.
I can’t say that I knew the man personally, but I think anyone who ever read a copy of the CSL book probably feels as if they have lost a close friend. It’s hard to imagine now, because times have changed, but when I first spotted a copy of the “Lind book,” as people tend to call it, I could hardly believe it was possible. This was a crucial event in my gradual discovery of what Ray DeGroote refers to as the “intelligence network” of railfanning.
To a young man such as myself, in the basement of the legendary Kroch’s and Brentano’s bookstore on Wabash Avenue in Chicago, Lind’s CSL book looked like something that had come from another planet— a planet where people actually appreciated streetcars, instead of wanting simply to get rid of them and replace them with rubber-tired buses.
The late James D. Johnson (later known as Julie Johnson) had published A Century Of Chicago Streetcars, 1858-1958 in 1964, just six years after the last Chicago streetcar ran. This was a good start, although nowhere near as voluminous or comprehensive as Lind’s singular achievement.
Both Johnson and Lind helped to rescue the Chicago streetcar from the “dustbin of history,” where it had been consigned to oblivion effective June 21, 1958. The Lind book set a standard against which all such later books had to be judged, and it has been a classic for more than 40 years now.
Using the technology of its time, the author was unable to include any color photographs in this handsome volume. Recent improvements in technology have finally made it possible to create an all-color Chicago streetcar book. This has at last been realized with the publication earlier this month of Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: The PCC Car Era, 1936-1958, as Bulletin 146 by the Central Electric Railfans’ Association. I am proud to say that I am a co-author of B-146.
During the course of our research, I wrote Mr. Lind a letter, letting him know what we were trying to accomplish, and asking if he had any useful information he might have learned since the publication of his book that he might want to share with us. Unfortunately, he never wrote back.
So while I am fairly certain he did know that such a book was in the works, he did not live quite long enough to see it come to fruition. I regret he will not be able to give us his opinion about it.
Sir Issac Newton once said that “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Anyone who presumes to write a book about Chicago streetcars can hardly do otherwise.
And of these various giants, there is no one who looms larger in his chosen field than the late Alan R. Lind.
#57 – sderailway says, “rt 22 no. 4276 southbound on S. Clark St. @ 16th.” (Passing under the St. Charles Air Line.)
We received several great submissions to our latest “Mystery Photo Contest” featuring Chicago’s PCCs. Here are the answers we received to date.
Looks like we now have locations for all the pictures. We also got the best captions ever from our keen-eyed readers. Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Andre Kristopans provided the best overall answers, and is therefore the contest winner. Congratulations, Andre!
Thanks.
-The Editor
PS- As noted below, pictures #28 and 29 were taken in sequence, apparently by the same photographer. But we got them from two different sources.
#56 – sderailway says, “a rt 22 Clark-Howard car 4233 heads north near 16th / 15th sts on S Clark St.” (Passing under the St. Charles Air Line.)
George Foelschow says, “Photo #55 I believe the car is on Clark northbound at Diversey Parkway bound either for Broadway or Clark. One hint is the globe on post streetlights on Diversey, denoting a parkway. On the left at Pine Grove is a historic apartment building, notable for its interior court with an open cage elevator.”
Andre Kristopans says, “#54 is on Wentworth, probably around 70th or so.”
#53 – Dan Cluley locates this as Clark looking north from Monroe.
#52 – sderailway writes, “car 7236 will turn north from eastbound on Cermak.” Bill Shapotkin adds, “A chartered car, turning from N/B Wentworth into E/B Cermak. View looks S-S/W.”
#51 – Len Marcus says, “Eastbound on Cermak turning northbound onto Clark Street.” Bill Shapotkin: “A N/B car, turning from W/B Cermak into N/B Clark. View looks West. (By the way — that bridge on the NYC/ROCK (now just Metra’s Rock Island District) is still standing — and looking a good as ever.”
Andre Kristopans says, “#50 is on 81st between Halsted and Vincennes, the bridges are the BRC and Western Indiana. Rock Island bridge is behind photographer.”
#49 – George Foelschow says, “Orphans 4001 and 7001 in storage at 77th Street.”
M. E. writes, “Photo #48 was taken very close to where photos #56 and #57 were taken. The view is Clark St. looking north from roughly 1500 South. You can see that Clark St. ascends to meet Roosevelt Rd. The railroad embankment to the left led into LaSalle St. station, at Van Buren and LaSalle. Railroad companies that used this embankment were the New York Central (but not the Big Four and Michigan Central subsidiaries that used the Illinois Central station), Rock Island, and Nickel Plate. At this particular location, the Rock Island stored its commuter cars between morning and evening rush hour. To the right are freight warehouses being served by Lifschultz fast freight. The opposite side of the freight houses fronted the tracks that led to Dearborn Station at Polk and Dearborn. Those companies included Chicago and Western Indiana; Chicago and Eastern Illinois; Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville, a.k.a. Monon; Wabash; Erie; and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.” Bill Shapotkin says, “looking N/B on Clark St JUST NORTH of the C&WI overcrossing. To the left is the NYC/ROCK. You certainly would not recognize this location today!”
A contemporary view of the same area as #48, looking north from approximately 1500 S. Clark.
Andre Kristopans says, “#47 is at 119th and Halsted. Car just made right turn off Halsted onto 119th and is crossing PRR tracks.”
#46 – Dave in NJ says, “southbound crossing the future congress expressway, with MET L Halsted station in the backround.” Bill Shapotkin: “a S/B Halsted car (with a #42 sign?), has just x/o under the Garfield Park ‘L’ and is on the bridge over the abuilding Congress Expressway. View looks north.”
#45 – Len Marcus says, “Looking south on Clark Street, at Southport, northbound Green Hornet and end of the line (route 9 Ashland).” Bill Wasik adds, “Clark & Southport – View south/southwest. The big Pabst roof neon was on top of a Pabst distributorship that occupied most of this triangular block. Of course, it was only a few blocks north of Wrigley Field, where Pabst had an exclusive with the Cubs for many years. Beer hobbyists may note not only the Pabst display, but also the nearly-unreadable red sign on an apartment building on Southport, visible through tree branches at the far right of the photo. This was a sign for Fox DeLuxe, but not the usual circa 1940 “Just Taste It!” signage that still can be seen on several buildings around town, even after 75 years. Instead, the Southport sign was perhaps the last of the Fox painted walls that went up at the dawn of Repeal, when the Peter Fox brewery introduced draft beer in a half-gallon bottle. This ad space on Southport wasn’t good, largely hidden from traffic, which may explain why the sign was never painted over. Back in the mid-1960’s, it was still visible-enough for me to make it the subject of a 35mm slide, one I wish I still had. In any case, Fox DeLuxe fans even today can search 4117 N. Southport on Google Maps Street View to see what traces of this rare ad remain visible today.” Bill Shapotkin: “Looking S/B at Clark/Southport. PCC at left is a N/B Clark St car — at right are Ashland Ave cars in Southport.”
Clark and Southport today. The same view as picture #45.
M. E. writes, “I am quite surprised that no one identified the location of photo #44. The photographer was on the westbound Englewood L platform at 63rd Place and Halsted, looking north to the heart of Englewood, 63rd and Halsted. The old red car on 63rd St. indicates that this photo was taken before the pre-war PCCs were transferred from Madison to 63rd. When this photo was taken, Englewood was almost certainly the largest commercial district outside the Loop. 63rd and Halsted was the center, but the Halsted business district ran from about 59th to 69th, and the 63rd business district ran from Wentworth west to Ashland. Things that are in this photo: — The big building on the northeast corner is Sears Roebuck. In the basement was a Hillman’s Pure Food grocery store. — The three-story building on the northwest corner is the Ace department store. As I recall, it was rather dumpy. I distinctly remember all the ceiling fans that provided the only summertime ventilation — NOT! — On the southwest corner is S S Kresge, the forerunner of K Mart. Kresge and Woolworth’s were 5-and-10-cent (a.k.a. dime) stores. The Kresge store had a doughnut manufacturing line in the windows along 63rd St. They made fresh doughnuts and sold them for 3 cents each. I also remember seeing a lot of store employees, unlike the ensuing K Mart and its ilk. — See the small newsstand on the southeast corner? I helped an older man sell newspapers there. We sold the morning Tribune and Sun-Times for 4 cents, and the evening Daily News and Herald American for 5 cents. I think the Sunday Sun-Times and Herald American cost 15 cents, and the Trib was 20 cents. The Trib was so much fatter than the other two, it was worth the difference. (The Daily News published its weekend edition on Saturday.) We also sold the Southtown Economist, which today is the Southtown Star. Their printing plant was on Union Ave. (700 West) south of 65th St., not far from 63rd and Halsted. — North of 63rd along Halsted are two movie theaters. On the east side of Halsted around Englewood Ave. (a.k.a. 62nd Place) is the Ace theater, a small old place. Across the street from the Ace is the Empress, a nicer newer place. Heading east on 63rd from Halsted, there were four more movie theaters. The easternmost was the Southtown Theater, which had a tall spire and an ornate lobby with a pond inhabited by swans. Its parking lot was surrounded by a cement Art Deco-style fence that was about a foot wide and easy to walk atop.” Bill Wasik adds, “This appears to be the Christmas shopping season on S. Halsted, going by the display in the Sears/Hillman’s window at the right. If this was taken in 1952, the photo sadly was made only days or weeks before six persons were killed in a fire that destroyed the General Furniture store at 6155 S. Halsted. The huge General Furniture sign can be seen in the distance at the right of this photo.” Jeff Wien adds, “Circa 1953, after pre-War PCCs were sent to Cottage Grove and post War PCCs were being sent to SLCC. Red Cars ran the last runs on 63rd Street.”
#43 – Len Marcus says, “Westbound on Chicago Avenue turning south onto Halsted Street during Halsted Street reroute for bridge reconstruction on Halsted, north of Chicago Avenue.” Bill Wasik adds, “This was a favorite spot for the tin sign brigade, with some rarities on display, especially the one for Nectar Beer.” Bill Shapotkin: “A S/B Halsted car turning from W/B Chicago into S/B Halsted. Cars are being detoured due to bridgework on Halsted St. (Approx 40 years later, the Halsted busses would do the same detour for the same work on the same bridge — damn, some things never change.)”
M. E. writes, “Photo #42 has to be on Madison St., east of Canal, facing west. Madison ran along the south side of North Western Station, which is clearly identifiable in the picture.” Chuck Amstein adds, “Photo #42 is at Clinton and Madison, looking NNE, facing the SW corner of North Western Station. You can see the trainshed (still there today) to the left, which heads north. The raised portion on the roof of the trainshed in the distance is where Washington crosses under and where streetcars entered the Washington streetcar tunnel. Compare this photo with current streetview images.” Bill Shapotkin adds, “car 4018, working MADISON ST TEN CENT SHUTTLE (Hope I got the name right) is N/B in Clinton at Madison. The car will momentarily turn into E/B Madison. The LaSalle (right) stood into the 1970s — had the best damn apple pie you could eat!”
Andre Kristopans says,”#41 took some real figuring. Looking west towards Madison and Fifth. Taken on a Sunday as Fifth is a one-man shuttle car connecting with the main route.” Bill Shapotkin got this one right also. Note there is a Kaiser-Frazer dealer at right, Parkside Motors, then located at 2810 W. Madison. In later years, Joseph Colucci, the guy who ran it, also owned the Division Street Russian Baths. Bill Shapotkin adds, “Note the safety island in Madison St (the E/B Madison car is P/U psgrs there). This safety island, which continued in service for the #20 — Madison bus, remained in-service until approx 1980. (It may have been removed in advance of the cul de sacing of 5th Ave.) Believe this was one of, if not the last streetcar safety island to see continued transit use in the City of Chicago. (When VInce Dawson worked night cars on Madison St, I would ride with him frequently and recall seeing the safety island in use.)”
#40 – Jeff Wien says, “Devon Station (Ravenswood and Schreiber).”
#39 – sderailway says, “4071 passes the Civic Opera Bldg on Madison at N. Wacker, June 1950.”
#38 – Dan Cluley identifies this as Madison looking east at Wacker, during construction of Lower Wacker Drive.
#37 – George Foelschow says, “Orphans 4001 and 7001 in storage at 77th Street.”
#36 – Dan Cluley identifies this as Madison looking west at Wacker, during construction of Lower Wacker Drive.
#35 – Len Marcus identifies this as “State and Wacker Drive, Southbound on State Street.”
#34 – sderailway says, “rt 4 car 4015 forms a line-up with three other pre-war PCCs as they wait to turn from Cottage Grove Ave onto E 115th St.”
M. E. writes, “Photo #33 was taken on the southeast corner of 95th St. and the part of Cottage Grove Ave. that goes south from 95th St. (The part that goes north is on the other side of the tracks.) The ad atop the viaduct is for the IC’s train to Florida, which Wikipedia reminds me was called the City of Miami. Photo #4 has already been identified as being at the same location.” Bill Shapotkin: “A S/B COTTAGE GROVE car turns from E/B 95th into S/B Cottage Grove — just as the replacement bus still does today! Hey — about that ad sign for the IC to Florida! View looks west.”
M. E. writes, “Photos #32 and #9, I am guessing, are of the 69th and Ashland barn. Streetcars shown here include the pre-war PCCs assigned to 63rd St., the post-war PCCs assigned to Western Ave., and the old red cars assigned everywhere else.”
M. E. writes, “Photo #31 was taken from the southeast corner of Wabash Ave. and Lake St. At that time, Cottage Grove streetcars went through the Loop northbound on State to Lake, east to Wabash, then south. In this view the streetcar is turning from eastbound Lake to southbound Wabash. On the L structure you can see the State / Lake station.” Bill Shapotkin: “A S/B COTTAGE GROVE car turns from E/B Lake into S/B Wabash. View looks west.”
M. E. writes, “Photo #30 is on Cottage Grove Ave. south of 95th St., but I don’t know exactly where. The Illinois Central railroad embankment is behind the trees to the west. Possibly this location is opposite the old Pullman plant and the Florence hotel.”
#29 – Andre Kristopans says, “Cottage Grove at about 96th looking south where PROW started. Note same guy in both shots!”
#28 – Andre Kristopans says, “Cottage Grove at about 96th looking south where PROW started. Note same guy in both shots!”
M. E. writes, “Photo #27 had to be taken facing north from the Van Buren and State inner Loop platform. It shows a pre-Christmas scene. The big store on the right was Goldblatt’s. Apparently State St. was shared by both the CTA and the Chicago Motor Coach company. This is unusual because the Motor Coach company stuck to the city’s boulevard system, and used Michigan Ave. downtown. This photo pre-dates 1952, when the Motor Coach company merged into the CTA.” Bill Shapotkin: “Looking N/B on State St from State/Van Buren “L” station.”
#26 – Andre Kristopans says, “Western at the North Branch – old bascule bridge that was replaced about 1968 or so.” Bill Wasik adds, “View north toward the old red towers at the Riverview entrance. The Pair-O-Chutes tower can be seen at the left.”
#25 – Jeff Wien says this is “Devon Station (Ravenswood and Schreiber).”
Dan Cluley writes, “I think #24 is Western & Van Buren. Going over the detailed map in the Lund CSL book, Van Buren is the only line to cross Western with a single Wbd to Nbd connector, and there was an L station there until they tore down the line in 1953.” If you compare this view to photos on pages 327-328 of CERA Bulletin 146, you’ll see that they match pretty well. This picture must predate construction of the Van Buren temporary trackage for the Garfield Park “L”, which probably dates the picture to no later than 1951.
#23 – Jeff Wien says, “Cottage Grove-115th.” Bill Shapotkin: “line-up of COTTAGE GROVE cars and end-of-line at Bumtown (oh, excuse me — Kensington), 115th/Cottage Grove. View looks north.”
Andre Kristopans says, “#22 is looking north on Western Av about 54th. Boulevard is on right. Note the appalling condition of the street, half brick, half patches. Must have been absolutely awful to drive on! At the time, going from Avenue to Blvd at 54th meant a full right and a full left, not the 45-degree connection there now.”
#21 – Len Marcus says this is Western and Berwyn. Bill Shapotkin: “Berwyn/Western Loop. View looks west.”
The Western-Berwyn loop as it looks today.
M. E. writes, “Photo #20 could be the south shops at 77th and Vincennes. It seems that all junked streetcars were there at first before being shipped out for scrap.”
M. E. writes, “Photo #19 was taken along Madison St. from the south side of the street, west of the Chicago River. In the distance can be seen the Loop L along Wells St. To the right of the photographer was the old eastern half of Union Station that paralleled the river. To the left of the photographer was the old Chicago Daily News building at 400 W. Madison. Underneath the photographer were tracks used by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (a.k.a. Milwaukee Road) into Union Station, two blocks south between Adams and Jackson. Those tracks are still used today by Metra.” However, George Foelschow opines, “Photo #19 is not Madison Street. The Civic Opera House would show in the background at the left. There would be a multi-story building on Wacker on the northeast corner. I believe it is on either the Monroe or Adams bridge, most likely Monroe.”
#18 – Andre Kristopans says, “NB car on Western, looks like around Chicago, probably closer to Grand.”
#17 – sderailway says, “on the museum loop in Grant Park,” near Soldier Field and the Field Museum of Natural History.
#16 – sderailway says, “Madison and N. Wacker looking west, June 1950.”
#15 – Andre Kristopans says, “on 120th between Halsted and Morgan EB, note #119 bus turning right off Morgan in background heading west down 120th towards Vincennes and 111th.”
#14 – M. E. writes, “Judging by the curvature in the street, this could be on Wabash Ave. just north of the Chicago River. The photographer’s location would be where the combined Sun-Times / Daily News building stood, which I believe is now a Trump building. If I am correct, then the 36 Broadway-State streetcar was being detoured on Wabash, perhaps during a reconstruction of the State St. bridge.” This is also near the future site of Marina City.
#13 – Jeff Wien says this is “Museum Loop at Roosevelt & Michigan westbound.”
#12 – Andre Kristopans says, “looking north on Western at Bross (roughly 33rd) just south of South Branch in the area that was totally rebuilt in 1941 with new bridges.”
#11 – Dan Cluley says this is State looking north from the “L” at Van Buren.
#10 – Dan Cluley ids this as Roosevelt passing over State.
M. E. writes, “Photos #32 and #9, I am guessing, are of the 69th and Ashland barn. Streetcars shown here include the pre-war PCCs assigned to 63rd St., the post-war PCCs assigned to Western Ave., and the old red cars assigned everywhere else.”
#8 – M. E. writes, “This must be along Halsted St. during construction of the Congress Expressway. The view is facing northeast.”
#7 – Jeff Wien says this is “69th Street Station (not 77th, PCC ran on Western, Red Cars on Ashland).”
Andre Kristopans says, “#6 is about a block south of #12, NB car about to go under Western Blvd overpass.”
#5 – Andre Kristopans says, “now here is a weird one. This is a car turning into Western and 79th terminal. Google Earth streetview confirms building behind rear of car is still there with the odd corner treatment. However, car has a “Wentworth” side sign. Most likely a pullout from 77th, and motorman has forgotten to change side sign!”
The same location as picture #5 as it looks today.
#4 – sderailway says this is east 95th and Cottage Grove looking north.
According to Andre Kristopans, “#3 is looking west on Division at Crosby. Cars are on detour via Halsted-Division-Crosby-Larrabee-Chicago-Halsted.” The Ogden overpass, since demolished, is at rear.
#2 – Jeff Wien identifies this as “63rd Place near Narragansett.”
Andre Kristopans says, “#1 is on Cottage Grove, looks like about 101st looking north.”
Last Saturday (June 20th) was Chicago Day at the Illinois Railway Museum, and I am glad to have made the trip in spite of the lack of sunshine for pictures (well, there were maybe a few seconds of sun in the afternoon). They were running lots of Chicago equipment, naturally, including PCC 4391, to mark the 57th anniversary of when the last streetcar ran in Chicago (the actual anniversary was Sunday, the 21st).
June 20th actually was a different abandonment anniversary, however, as it marked exactly 50 years since the last Milwaukee trolley bus ran, thus ending the traction era there. Fittingly, IRM ran the Milwaukee coach, for the first time in six years, now that the overhead has been put back in. If you have never ridden on a trolley bus, they zip right along and were very popular with the public. I have many fond memories of riding the Chicago versions. (An ex-Seattle trolley coach was also running.)
Unfortunately we did not have a chance to ride the CA&E train or the two-car train of Chicago wooden “L” cars that was running. But with the 4th of July and the annual Trolley Pageant just around the corner, you can be sure that we’ll be back.
-David Sadowski
PS- This our 50th post on this blog, and we would like to thank everyone who has read it. To date we have had 41,576 page views and have been visited by 12,462 individuals, so I’d say we are off to a good start after our first five months.
We’ve also just set a new record for page views in one month. By the end of June, we expect to have more than 11,000.
The Skokie Swift, or Yellow Line as it is now called, doesn’t make the trip between Howard and Dempster in 8 minutes right now, since the embankment gave way last month. Press reports say it will be out of action until October, but meanwhile this old sign is a reminder of swifter days that once were.
The Milwaukee trolley coach prepares to loop.
Half of a 2000-series married pair, currently separated, is stored at 50th Avenue station.
The articulated Seattle trolley coach.
The conductor’s station on Chicago PCC 4391.
Interior of the 4391.
Taking tickets.
Enter at rear, exit at the front.
A two-car CA&E interurban made up of 431 and 409.
CTA 41 heads up a two car train of single car units. I used to ride these cars on the Evanston Express.
Operator’s station on car 41. When fares were collected on board the train in Evanston, there would have been a farebox installed here.
Steam is alive and well at Union.
Back end of the “L” train.
The “blind side” of 4391.
4391 almost looks ready to back into traffic at the “wye” at 81st and Halsted.
Three sets of doors allow for lots of people to board the streetcar quickly.
CTA wooden “L” car 1024, being restored to its original condition as #24.
Facts about car 1024.
Since this was the 50th anniversary of the end of Milwaukee traction, I thought it would be fitting to include a picture of Milwaukee car 972.
While in general railfans like to take pictures without anyone in them, this shows that people enjoyed riding the Milwaukee trolley bus.
Now a shot sans visitors.
Dark clouds started approaching late in the afternoon. Soon it began to rain, and closing time at the museum was near.
A close-up view, showing a classic C-165 controller.
This shows the differences between CA&E cars 409, the sole Pullman saved in its class, and 431.
With bad weather approaching, we bade farewell to IRM. Maybe next time we’ll get to ride these cars.
To take note of the 57th anniversary of when the last Chicago streetcar ran, we’re having another “Mystery Photo Contest” featuring Chicago’s PCCs. The actual anniversary is today (June 21st), and we have enough pictures to do this in two parts. Part One was posted yesterday.
Tell us something interesting about these photos– the who, what, when, where and how. We will print the most interesting answers once the contest is finished.
You can send in your submissions as comments to this post or via e-mail to: thetrolleydodger@gmail.com
The deadline for Part Two of this contest is midnight Chicago time on Tuesday, June 23rd. There may be separate winners for both parts of the contest. The photos are numbered (i.e., #1, etc.) in the captions, so please refer to these numbers in your answers.
As always,clicking on each picture with your mouse should bring up a larger version in your browser.
To take note of the 57th anniversary of when the last Chicago streetcar ran, we’re having another “Mystery Photo Contest” featuring Chicago’s PCCs. The actual anniversary is June 21st. You can find Part Two here.
Tell us something interesting about these photos– the who, what, when, where and how. We will print the most interesting answers once the contest is finished.
You can send in your submissions as comments to this post or via e-mail to: thetrolleydodger@gmail.com
The deadline for Part One of this contest is midnight Chicago time on Monday, June 22nd. There may be separate winners for both parts of the contest. The photos are numbered (i.e., #41, etc.) in the captions, so please refer to these numbers in your answers.
As always,clicking on each picture with your mouse should bring up a larger version in your browser.
Laerry says these pictures were taken with a Yashicamat twin-lens reflex camera on Kodak Tri-X black and white 120 roll film. This would yield a 2 1/4″ by 2 1/4″ square negative. By comparison, a 35mm film image measures 1″ by 1 1/2″. Tri-X (ISO 200 when introduced, later 400) was first introduced in 1954 and was a refinement of the Super-XX (ISO 100) film which preceded it. It quickly became the film of choice for photojournalists.
While you’re at it, checkout more of Larry’s photo artistry here:
I am proud to be co-author of this book, and am very grateful to CERA for publishing it, especially at such a bargain price. I have seen many other books sell for about the same money as this, but offering only half or even one-quarter of its pages.
On top of this, each copy comes with the Chicago Streetcar Memories DVD, produced by Chicago Transport Memories, LLC, as well as a reproduction of the 1936 Chicago Surface Lines brochure that introduced the “Streamliners.”
Even if you only have a passing interest in streetcars, you still may enjoy this book. It provides a very thorough and detailed record of what Chicago was like between 1936 and 1958. Students of “urban archeology” and the “Forgotten Chicago” should have a field day with this book.
The modern streamlined streetcar was itself a beautiful piece of architecture on wheels. The wide variety of settings it traveled through, captured in so many wonderful photos, produce a winning combination.
Kudos go to my co-author Jeff Wien, who originally conceived of this book some years ago, and to Bradley Criss, who put in a superhuman effort to match the color and density on hundreds of different pictures, and to remove thousands and thousands of scratches and other imperfection from 60-year-old images. Some individual pictures had more than a thousand scratches on them, each in need of removal. The photo reproduction in this book is the best of its type that I have ever seen.
If you are already getting a copy of B-146, then you too will soon enough know what I am talking about. It is one thing to talk about a book in the abstract, and another thing entirely to hold the finished copy in your hands. It makes a tremendous impression.
If you do not already have a copy on order, I urge you to purchase one. You can buy yours online directly from CERA. I would not wait too long, otherwise a book of this quality and value will most likely sell out before too long. Many past CERA publications are now collector’s items, and this one will likely be one too.
At CERA’s 75th Anniversary Banquet in September 2013, when we first announced this book, I said that we wanted to put it out within the living memory of those people who were fortunate enough to actually ride on Chicago streetcars. The publication of B-146 makes good on that promise.
In addition, some of the photographers whose work is featured in its pages are still alive, and can enjoy the fruits of their labors on the printed page, side by side with the work of many other legendary figures who are unfortunately are no longer with us. I would like to thank everyone who took pictures for the book.
Lastly, I would like to thank the members of Central Electric Railfans’ Association for making all this possible, and for their patience during the time it took to produce it. This book, which is the first full-length bulletin about Chicago streetcars put out by CERA, which was founded in 1938, gives the modern Chicago streetcar its due and rescues it at last from the dustbin of history.
Fortunately, you can ride the last surviving example of a postwar Chicago streetcar, CTA 4391, at the Illinois Railway Museum, a true “museum in motion.”
-David Sadowski
Chicago’s streetcars had a great champion in the Chicago Surface Lines. We celebrate the Chicago PCC by quoting from this CSL brochure, published in November 1939:
Vital to You!
What is–what always has been–the greatest single factor in the growth and development of Chicago?
One of the popular radio quiz programs might well pop that question.
And the answer is easy:
CHICAGO’S STREET RAILWAY SYSTEM is the greatest single factor in the growth and development of the city– and you can check that with the experts!
Many things have happened in the 80 years that have passed since the first horse car line brought the benefits of public transportation to the modest city that was Chicago.
In the romance of surface transportation there is the history of today’s great city. The first car line was the forerunner of State street’s famed shopping district of today. The city had growing pains and the transportation lines were extended, improved, and extended again and again. These extensions made possible the growth of all the important business and residential districts that now dot the city. Wherever the extensions were built there were big increases in property values.
Today, Chicago’s busy population of 3,600,000 requires extensive transportation– good transportation. The Chicago Surface Lines provides it. Its street cars and buses carry more than three-fourths of the people who use local transportation facilities. Its role today is the role it has played through all the years– the dominant transportation service of the city.
The Chicago Surface Lines provides transportation for 2,000,000 riders daily. It is the carrier of “His Majesty”– the Chicago Citizen. If its service were halted for a day chaos would reign, business would be paralyzed. Happily, there are no interruptions of this vital service.
Its gridiron of track and bus routes covers the city so thoroughly that 98 per cent of the people of Chicago live within three blocks of one or more Surface Lines routes. More than 3,500 street cars and 300 gasoline and trolley buses roll over the 1,260 miles of routes to serve Chicagoans day and night.
The Surface Lines is among the largest employers in the city. It carries more than 15,000 persons on its rolls and last year paid more than $27,847,436, which played a significant part in the business of Chicago. More than 60 cents of every dollar collected by the Surface Lines goes out in the form of pay checks and thence into the pockets of the butcher, the baker, the grocery man, the landlord– to the benefit of all Chicago.
The Surface Lines is essential to not only one of the many communities in Chicago. It is important to ALL persons and to ALL communities.
All sections of the city are served by one, two, three or more lines. It is possible to go from one section to another quickly, conveniently and economically on payment of a single fare.
THE CHICAGO SURFACE LINES IS NOT ONLY THE BIGGEST STREET CAR SYSTEM IN THE WORLD– IT IS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE AND THE BEST.
This amazing picture is taken from a postcard, which the seller identified as Chicago. The general consensus is that it’s Herald Square in Manhattan, with the 33rd St. station on the old 6th Avenue El, and that’s a streetcar powered by conduit.
Not every post has to have an over-arching theme. Today we offer a “Mulligan stew” of various pictures that interest us, in hopes they will have the same effect on you. (Mulligan stew was something hobos prepared. Anyone who wanted to eat had to put something into the pot.)
In golf parlance, to “take a Mulligan” means to get a do-over without penalty. How this term originated is not known, but perhaps you will be able to help us solve a few mysteries without needing more than one shot.
A Tipton interurban from the Indiana Union Traction of Indiana, June 29, 1909.
Indiana Railroad car 407, the “Winchester.” This heavyweight interurban was built by Cincinnati Car Co. in 1913 for the Union Traction of Indiana.
Indiana Railroad lightweight high-speed car 55 in Indianapolis on June 29, 1940. The Indiana state capital is in the background. This car survives at the Seashore Trolley Museum as Lehigh Valley Transit car 1030. Railfan George F. Kuschel (1910-2010), who took this photo, was originally from Michigan.
What a difference a year makes. The same car (but a different end), now restyled for LVT service on the Liberty Bell Limited in September 1941.
A turn-of-the-century view of Washington, D. C., showing how streetcars were powered by an underground conduit. From a glass plate negative.
DC streetcars at Washington Union Station, designed by Daniel Burnham. It opened in 1907. From a glass plate negative.
Before the invention of Kodachrome in the mid-1930s, sometimes the only way to tell what color some cars were painted is by looking at old postcards such as this one, showing the Lake Street “L” in Chicago.
A station along the Stockyards “L” branch in 1915. Note the use of signs to indicate where cars of different lengths should stop. Not sure how widespread this practice was at the time.
This old Chicago Daily News photo is identified as being at the end of a cable car route, where horses were used to move the cars around. However, the Chicago Auto Show is being advertised, which would help date this photo.
Not sure when this Chicago Surface Lines ticket dates from, but CSL only existed from 1914-1947 so that does narrow it down a bit.
A new 5000-series Chicago rapid transit car being delivered by truck in March 2015. (Diana Koester Photo)
Following up on our earlier post Lost and Found: Chicago Streetcar #1137, I found this 1946 article in the Chicago Tribune archives. It gives some of the “back story” to how a Chicago streetcar body could end up being used as part of a house in the middle of Wisconsin.
Perhaps the people who bought car 1137 read this article, since the Tribune was distributed throughout the Midwest, and as a result, purchased one of the streetcar bodies. The one pictured in the article is part of the same series as theirs.
Given that the article says that 100 streetcar bodies were sold to the same scrap dealer for potential resale for use as sheds, chicken coops, and cottages, it’s possible there may still be a few more of these out there, waiting to be discovered in the future.
Over the years, several streetcar and interurban bodies have been unearthed in such fashion, and a few have even been restored and are once again in operable condition. Chicago & West Towns car 141, now at the Illinois Railway Museum, is but one such example.
These cars were superfluous because plans were already afoot in 1946 to eliminate all the old red streetcars in Chicago and replace them with buses. In some cases, the Surface Lines had retired some of these cars many years previously, and there was no chance they would be used again, not even in work service.
You can read a History of CSL car 2843 on the excellent Hicks Car Works blog. That will give you some idea of how a few of these old streetcars have somehow managed to survive to the present time against all odds.
Some Chicago area residents turned to discarded street cars yesterday for a solution to their housing problems.
Within a few hours after the first street car offered for sale was displayed at the scrap metal yard at 1220 Lake st., the proprietor, Frank Steiner, reported 21 had been sold, mostly to persons who will convert them to living quarters.
Steiner said he had arranged to buy 100 of the discarded cars from the Chicago Surface lines. They are offered for sale without mechanical equipment, wheels or seats at $300 delivered in Chicago. Out of town purchasers must pay $1 a mile from the Chicago city limits to the destination.
The First Purchasers
The first purchasers were James and Elsie Neykodem, Downers Grove, who plan to live in the car until they can build a home. Then the car will become a chicken house. At present they are living with relatives in Downers Grove.
Another buyer explained she had sold her home and was unable to find a place to live. She’ll put the street car on 1 1/2 acres of ground she owns and live in it until more suitable quarters can be found.
Six cars went to a buyer who will offer them for rent in his trailer camp. Two will become lunch stands and one a gasoline storage building at a factory.
The car put on display yesterday had been hauled by truck from the Surface Lines’ car barn at North and Cicero avs.
Court Denies Injunction
Circuit Judge Philip J. Finnegan refused yesterday to grant a temporary injunction, asked for by property owners, to restrain the city from placing trailers and prefabricated houses in Edison Park Manor, at the southwest corner of Touhy and Overhill avs. Atty. Walter V. Schaeger, representing the Chicago Housing authority, said the first temporary dwelling unit there probably will be ready for occupancy in 10 days.
In effect, Judge Finnegan upheld action of the city council which approved temporary housing at the site at its meeting Thursday. No date had been set for the petitioners’ request for a permanent injunction, and he denied theor request for immediate denial of the permanent injunction so that an appeal could be filed.
The petitioners had contended the temporary homes would depreciate the value of established residences and that the city zoning ordinance would be violated, but the judge held no permanent injury would result.
