CTA Pullman-built PCC 4281 on Route 36 – Broadway-State. Andre Kristopans: “4281 is on 119th east of Morgan.”
It is fitting that our 200th Trolley Dodger blog post should appear on Thanksgiving weekend. There is always so much in life to be thankful for.
We are thankful for our relative good health (knock on wood), and thankful for friends and family. Since we began this venture in January 2015, we have made many new friends among our readers.
I am thankful to be able to share these classic images with you.
After wandering far afield recently to such exotic places as Milwaukee and Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, we are home for the holidays with an all-new post chock full of Chicago transit pictures.
We wanted to make this one something special. But that is our goal with every post… we want #199 to be as good as #200, and #201 to be as good as this one. We may not always succeed, but it is not for lack of trying.
Enjoy!
-David Sadowski
PS- We threw in a few shots from outside the Chicago area, just because we liked them.
Meet the Author
Incredibly, this building, which served as the terminal for the Logan Square branch of Chicago’s “L” until 1970, is still there, although heavily modified, and now serves as the home of City Lit Books at 2523 N. Kedzie. (Chicago Transit Authority Photo)
FYI, this Saturday at 5 pm (11-25) I will be at City Lit Books (2523 N. Kedzie Blvd., Chicago) to discuss my new book Chicago Trolleys. Additional authors will be there as well. Their books are Cycling in Chicago and The Great Chicago Fire. I hope to see you there.
Recent Correspondence
Wally Weart writes:
David, I want to let you know how much I enjoy your postings. I grew up in Chicago during and after World War II and was able to ride a lot of the streetcar and “L” lines as well as those interurbans still in operation through the 50s and 60s.
Your pictures bring back a lot of memories and show me things that I missed during that period of time as well. Please do know how much your work is appreciated and keep it going.
I appreciate that, thanks! I will do my best.
Another of our regular readers writes:
Creative writing has always been your skill, whether it was the CERA blog, the Trolley Dodger blog, as well as several CERA publications. Some of your postings on the Trolley Dodger blog are mini stories in themselves. Writing seems to come easily to you and you do it well. Such has never been the case for me. Although I have done some writing, maintaining a blog like you do would be boring to me.
I was extremely impressed with your postings on the Fairmount Trolley, the CA&E 400 series Pullmans, and Andre Kristopan’s analysis of the end of the Red streetcars (see our post The Fairmount Park Trolley, November 7, 2017).
Thanks… I think that everyone has a unique contribution to make in life, and we all need to find that “niche” for ourselves. I seem to have found mine with this type of work. No doubt there are other things you excel at that would leave me clueless.
While some might think working on a blog such as this would be a burden, I consider it a privilege and a responsibility. Like many other things in life, you get back out of it what you put in. I hear from so many people who are grateful to see our posts. Like The Beatles famously sang, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
It’s anything but boring to me, because in the process of researching these articles, I always learn so much. And when I do get things wrong, which does happen, our readers are quick to point that out, and I learn from that too. So, we all learn together and I feel that our readers are an integral part of what goes on here. So again, I am thankful to you.
If you challenge yourself to “think outside the box,” you can achieve more in life than you ever dreamed possible. There is so much to learn in life that I don’t see how it would ever be possible to be bored. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to take it all in.
Recent Finds
A westbound Garfield Park “Met” car crosses the B&OCT tracks in Forest Park.
In July 1965, a two-car train of flat-door CTA 6000s is on the ground-level portion of the Ravenswood route, todays’ Brown Line. (Roger Puta Photo)
CSL Small Pullman 891 is on north Lincoln Avenue, running on Through route 3 (Lincoln-Indiana). Cliff Burnstein adds, “The CSL small Pullman 891 is on the northbound track at the end of the line on Lincoln at Peterson near Kedzie. . The poles have been reversed and 891 will shortly cross over to the southbound track. The north suburban gas tower is seen in the distance to the right.”
CTA “Turtleback” 1702 is at Division and California.
CSL 584, a Milwaukee Avenue car, is at Madison and Canal, in front of the Chicago Daily News building.
CTA 6152 at Waveland and Halsted, north end of the Halsted car line in April 1952.
CTA 1801 at Kedzie and 67th Streets on March 28, 1948.
CTA 407, signed for the Museum Loop, is on Roosevelt Road in August 1949.
CTA535 on Milwaukee at Paulina in April 1951 (this is the date that I received with this negative, however it must be wrong). Milwaukee was converted to buses on May 11, 1952. George Trapp: “The photo at Milwaukee and Paulina looks to me to be earlier than 1951, auto at far right looks like it dates to late 1920’s early 1930’s and no post war autos are in sight so I guess the photo is from the late 1930’s early 1940’s.”
CTA 363 at the Pennsylvania Railroad viaduct at Ashland and Arbor in March 1951. Andre Kristopans notes, “363 Ashland north of Fulton – bridge has three railroads over it, closer behind car is PRR with Milwaukee Road also using the same tracks, beyond is C&NW. Note that street under bridge is much narrower than rest of street. Ashland was widened relatively late, and the bridges were never widened out to this day.”
CTA 415 at Cermak and Kenton. The date given is August 2, 1949, but that must be wrong, since there is a Chicago & West Towns streetcar at left and the 415 still has a CSL logo. So perhaps 1947 would be more like it as the West Towns streetcars quit in April 1948.
CTA Sedan 3358, still sporting a CSL logo, is at Cottage Grove and 115th, south end of the Cottage Grove line, in May 1948.
CTA 6168, signed for Route 38, is on the Wabash Avenue bridge in October 1951.
CSL Sedan 6316 is on Wentworth and 73rd Street, running on Route 22, Clark-Wentworth.
CSL 3318 is at Damen and 74th on November 28, 1946.
CTA Pullman 585 is signed for Halsted and Waveland in February 1954, which suggests it is running on Route 8 – Halsted, which was bussed three months later. Andre Kristopans: “585 is on Emerald south of 79th.”
CTA 6172 is at Lawrence and Austin on February 26, 1950, running on Route 81.
Some passengers are getting off CSL 3312, which is running on the Damen Avenue extension. This gives you an idea of how some men dressed back in the 1940s when it was cold out.
CSL work car S-53. Not sure of the location.
CTA 4380, signed for Clark-Wentworth, on June 30, 1955. This may be South Shops.
CTA Postwar PCC 7053 is signed for Route 38 in this November 1952 view. This designation was used for Route 4 – Cottage Grove cars to indicate they were terminating at Grand and Wabash. As you can see, some postwar cars were used on Cottage, and this one appears to have been converted to one-man operation.
CSL 7054 in the late 1940s, running on Route 22, probably near the south end of the line. Andre Kristopans: “7054 is AT the south end of 22 – 81st and Halsted about to turn north into Halsted.”
CTA 4008, in “tiger stripes,” is on Route 20 – Madison in March 1948. Notice the sign advertising the Chicago Herald-American, which at this time was owned by the Hearst Corporation. It was sold to the Chicago Tribune in 1956.
North Shore Line wood car 300,in the days circa 1939-42 when it was used as the “club car” for the fledgling Central Electric Railfans’ Association.
North Shore Line “Birney” car 333 circa 1947. (Donald Ross Photo) Larry Sakar says this is “southbound at 5th & Chase.”
North Shore Line wood car 201, which looks like it is headed for the scrapper (probably in the late 1940s). (Donald Ross Photo)
South Shore Line car 107 at the South Bend terminal near the LaSalle Hotel in 1954. (Walter Hulseweder Photo)
Chicago Rapid Transit Company “L” car 328 at Indiana Avenue in September 1936. It is signed as a Stock Yards local.
CRT “Met” car 2847 at Canal in August 1938. Riders could change here for Union Station. This station remained in service until June 1958, when the Congress rapid transit line opened.
CTA Pullman 908 is at Navy Pier, east end of Route 65 – Grand.
South Shore Line car 110 is in South Bend, not far from the LaSalle Hotel which was its east terminus until 1970. I presume it is heading into a storage yard.
CSL experimental pre-PCC 4001 at South Shops in 1934. Like its counterpart 7001, it was used in service that year to bring people to A Century of Progress, the Chicago World’s Fair.
CTA PCC 4168 is seen in 1949, signed for Route 42 – Halsted-Downtown (note the side sign says Halsted-Archer-Clark). There is a Route 8 – Halsted car behind it. The location is on Emerald south of 79th.
CTA 7052 appears to be in dead storage at South Shops on June 30, 1955. Note the lack of overhead wire.
CTA 4025 at South Shops on June 30, 1955.
A train of CRT steel 4000s emerges from the brand-new State Street subway in late 1943.
Cable cars are shown here using the LaSalle Street tunnel under the Chicago River some time before they were replaced by streetcars in 1906.
CTA 4035 on Cottage Grove in 1953. Not sure of the exact location. (Walter Hulseweder Photo)
CTA 4004 running on State Street, signed for Route 4 – Cottage Grove, in the early 1950s. (Walter Broschart Photo)
CSL 4039 at the Madison and Austin Loop in August 1941.
CSL 7018, a Madison-Fifth car, heads west near Union Station in August 1941.
CTA 7067 at South Shops on June 30, 1955. The “Enter at Rear” sign indicates this was a two-man car and was thus not one that had recently been assigned to Western Avenue. However, chances are the date I received is wrong, since George Trapp notes: ” The photo of PCC #7067 at South Shops shows the car brand new, note CSL logo, so should be dated around May 18, 1947 when that car was delivered, for some reason St. Louis Car cranked the side signs to HALSTED on there first order of Post War cars when shipping. I have a photo of car #7089 just delivered with same side sign.”
CTA 7225 at South Shops in 1956.
Don’s Rail Photos says that North shore Line wood car 131 “was built by Jewett Car in 1907. It was rebuilt in 1914 and rebuilt as a plow in 1930. It was retired in 1935 and scrapped in 1942.”
CTA 7060 on June 30, 1955, possibly in dead storage.
CTA 7041, possibly in dead storage at South Shops on June 30, 1955.
CSL 7025 is downtown and signed for Madison-Fifth, which was a branch line of Route 20.
CSL 7090 is at 81st and Halsted, south end of Route 22, in the late 1940s.
CTA 7156 is signed as a one-man car (but appears to be convertible to two-man) at South Shops in October 1956. (Walter Hulseweder Photo)
CTA 4022 heading east on 63rd Street in the early 1950s.
CTA 4094 in dead storage at South Shops on June 30, 1955. Postwar Pullmans were an endangered species by then, practically all having been scrapped as part of the CTA’s “PCC Conversion Program.” I believe the date is correct; however George Trapp says, “Last Pullman PCC’s to be sent off to St. Louis were the oldest while the newest were sent first, 150 cars in series 4172-4371 went in 1953 with the rest in early 1954.”
CTA 4401 on October 21, 1950.
CTA 4401, with 4376 trailing, is heading north on Dearborn via Route 22 in 1955.
CTA 7268 is signed for Route 36 – Broadway-State and appears to be near Devon Station (car barn) in 1955. (Walter Hulseweder Photo)
CTA side dump car N-1 at South Shops on May 16, 1954. A CERA fantrip was held on that day, over the last remaining streetcar lines that used the old red cars, which were retired from service two weeks later. (James C. Barrick Photo)
CTA side dump car N-1 at South Shops in October 1956. (Walter Hulseweder Photo)
Capital Transit Company pre-PCC 1053 is on line 42 – Mt. Pleasant in Washington, D. C. on September 26, 1948. This was probably on a fantrip.
CTA 6163 is at Lake and Austin in the early 1950s. The Park Theater has already been closed, which would probably date this to circa 1952-54. (Walter Hulseweder Photo)
Lehigh Valley Transit car 702 is part of a three-car fantrip circa 1950 or 51 at stop #96 in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. This was in the waning days of the Liberty Bell Limited interurban between Allentown and Norristown. The “Bell” stopped running on the Philadelphia & Western’s Norristown High-Speed Line in 1949.
CTA salt spreader AA-105 (ex-2854) at the North Avenue car barn in February 1952. Don’s Rail Photos: “2854 was built by South Chicago City Ry in 1907 as SCCRy 340. It was rebuilt in 1907 and became C&SCRy 839 in 1908. It was renumbered 2854 in 1913 and became CSL 2854 in 1914. It was later converted as a salt car and renumbered AA105 in 1948. It was retired on February 17, 1954.”
CTA Pullmans 482, 584, and 518 on the scrap line at South Shops in March 1955. (Walter Hulseweder Photo)
CSL R-202 was a single-truck sand car. It is seen here on February 20, 1943.
CSL 4000 was a 1920s experiment in articulation that did not work out. It is seen here on the scrap track in the early 1940s.
With gas and tire rationing during World War II, CSL 2840, which had been in storage for ten years, was put back into service. Here, we see it on September 13, 1942.
CSL 2779 at South Shops on October 23, 1938. On this day, the Surface Lines held a fantrip that helped garner new members to the Central Electric Railfans’ Association, which was just getting started. (LaMar M. Kelley Photo)
Chicago Aurora & Elgin 407 and 432 in Forest Park in April 1955.
CA&E 413 at Wheaton on July 26, 1942.
South Shore Line cars 109, 39, 353, and 103 are on west Chicago Avenue at Northcote Avenue in East Chicago, Indiana on July 16, 1956. Not long after this, street running in East Chicago came to an end, as the South Shore began using a new bypass route parallel to the Indiana Toll Road. (James C. Barrick Photo)
South Shore Line “Little Joe” freight loco 803, with a train of 25 cars, is in the 1100 block of west Chicago in East Chicago on July 9, 1956. (James C. Barrick Photo)
South Shore Line cars 107, 37, 27, and 5 are on east Chicago Avenue at Whiteoak Avenue in East Chicago on July 16, 1956. (James C. Barrick Photo)
CRT 294 is signed as a Kenwood Local on July 21, 1934.
CTA 4109 at Madison and Austin in August 1948.
CTA 4383, I would assume, is turning from Clark onto westbound Devon as it is to run on Route 49 – Western.
CTA Sedan 6317 is running on Route 4 – Cottage Grove in the south Loop.
CSL Birney car 2000 in 1927.
CRT 1048 is a Jackson Park Local on July 21, 1934.
CRT 1763 is at Cermak Road on September 19, 1934.
CRT 337 at Indiana Avenue in September 1936.
Queensboro Bridge car 534 on January 16, 1949.
Queensboro Bridge car 534 on January 16, 1949.
North Shore Line 719 is northbound on the Loop “L” at Adams and Wabash in June 1940.
North Shore Line car 181 in Winnetka.
North Shore Line car 409 at the Milwaukee terminal yard in February 1952. (Donald Ross Photo) Don Ross adds, “North Shore 409 at the Milwaukee station yard is interesting. That car had no smoking area and it was completely open. We used that car for our ERA meetings and the North Shore people helped to make sure it was set up.”
North Shore Line cars 720 and 747 in Milwaukee on October 12, 1941.
North Shore Line car 725 in Milwaukee in June 1940.
North Shore Line 170 at the Highwood Shops on July 5, 1949.
North Shore Line 250 in Wilmette on July 11, 1939.
CSL 3210 on the 51st-55th route, probably in the late 1930s.
North Shore Line Electroliner 803-804, which was new at the time, on a February 8, 1941 fantrip, making a photo stop at South Upton Junction.
Updated Posts
FYI, new material has been added to our post The Other Penn Central (May 9, 2016). Several additional pictures have also been added to The Fairmount Park Trolley (November 7, 2017).
Chicago Trolleys
On the Cover: Car 1747 was built between 1885 and 1893 by the Chicago City Railway, which operated lines on the South Side starting in April 1859. This is a single-truck (one set of wheels) open electric car; most likely a cable car, retrofitted with a trolley and traction motor. The man at right is conductor William Stevely Atchison (1861-1921), and this image came from his granddaughter. (Courtesy of Debbie Becker.)
Check out our new book Chicago Trolleys. Signed copies are available through our Online Store.
-David Sadowski
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4281 is on 119th east of Morgan
363 Ashland north of Fulton – bridge has three railroads over it, closer behind car is PRR with Milwaukee Road also using the same tracks, beyond is C&NW. Note that street under bridge is much narrower than rest of street. Ashland was widened relatively late, and the bridges were never widened out to this day.
585 is on Emerald south of 79th
7054 is AT the south end of 22 – 81st and Halsted about to turn north into Halsted
Thanks!
North Shore 409 at the Milwaukee station yard is interesting. That car had no smoking area and it was completely open. We used that car for our ERA meetings and the North Shore people helped to make sure it was set up.
Thanks… thanks also for taking some of the pictures in this post.
The picture of car 1053 may have been in service in 1948. It wasn’t until May 1, 1949, when the Benning Line went bus, that car requirements went down, and all of the conventional cars, except for car 765, and the 1000’s went into either storage or the scrap line. Car 1053 was a survivor from the 1000’s, but it was lost in a car house fire at the National Capital Trolley Museum in the early 2000’s.
A wonderful set of photos, Keep it up.
Thanks!
This is one of your greatest collections. The CSL small Pullman 891 is on the northbound track at the end of the line on Lincoln at Peterson near Kedzie. The poles have been reversed and 891 will shortly cross over to the southbound track. The north suburban gas tower is seen in the distance to the right.
Glad you like it, thanks!
Dave,
Congratulations on your 200th post. This is a really great collection of photos. I enjoyed the CSL/CTA/CRT photos and, of course, the great Don Ross’ NSL pics. I particularly enjoyed Don’s photo of C&ME RR Birney 333 southbound on S. 5th St. I’m not entire sure what street is being crossed but it has to be a non-major street by which I mean not streets like National, Greenfield, Lincoln or Chase Aves. because those would have had stop and go lights. This intersection has only a stop sign. I know there was a building like the one at the right just as trains entered the Harrison St. shops area and the stop sign would fit because Harrison Ave. is not a major thoroughfare. The one story building just north of the NSL shops was the Rik Son Machine shop according to the Milwaukee city directory of 1960. It did not say Rik & Son but Rik Son. For anyone interested in minor trivialities the address of Harrison St. shops was 2600 S. 5th St. What was really interesting that the 1949 Milwaukee city directory then showed “CNS&M Ry. freight terminal 2602 S. 5th St. I’m guessing that this might have been when NSL was still running piggy back freight. I seem to recall reading that they gave that up in 1949. One other strange thing is that from 1955 to 1963 when the NSL was abandoned the city directories do not list the shops as though they had somehow disappeared. I thought the address might be listed after 1963 and “Vacant” would appear after it. But the directories continued to not list 2600 S. 5th. That is what made me think the shops building had been torn down until one day in 1968 I came home from school and on the Milwaukee Journal editorial page was an editorial cartoon. It showed a dilapidated slum-like building that was labeled “Old North Shore shops”. An accompanying editorial urged demolition as the building presented an unfavorable view of the city to people driving by on I-94 which runs alongside the east end of the property.
In his book, ”North Shore South Shore” Russ Porter has a color photo taken from just past the crossing of the C&NW Ry. mainline to Madison which was at the north base of the bluff on which the shops stood. The shops are in the background looking like a burned out building ready for the wrecker’s ball. Mr. Porter says in the caption that he took the photo in 1970. I made my one and only visit to the former shops on a bitterly cold and windy day during Christmas vacation in 1968. Other than the shops there was no trace of rail or anything else to suggest the North Shore line had ever been there.
From whenever the shops were razed until just 2 years ago the property sat vacant where the shops had been. Then a sign suddenly appeared on the southeast corner of S;. 6th St. & W. Harrison Ave. announcing the soon to be built St. Augustine’s preparatory high school (a private, charter school). The school will begin accepting students next fall (2018). It consists of 2 large 6 story buildings built along the west side of the property about where the mainline tracks would have been. As best I could determine when I stopped by for a look a couple of weeks ago where the shops had been is about where the east side of this huge athletic field and ,believe it or not, stadium now stands. The area in between is a driveway and parking lot for the school. One thing I did take note of. That house seen in so many of the photos of Harrison shops which faced south (it is on the north side of Harrison Ave. at S. 5th St.) is still there and looks as good as it did in the days of the North Shore Line.
Thanks for sharing!
Larry adds:
I looked on Don Ross’ website to see if he identified the location for that shot of C&ME Birney 333 and he did. I had said I did not think it was several major streets and named Chase Ave. as one of them. I was wrong. It is southbound at 5th & Chase. Chris and I had that location in our recent NSL in Milwaukee posting you ran. It is Silverliner 751 northbound at the same location.
William D. Middleton (I think most of us knew who he was) has a photo of a single car train northbound at 6th & National in his book, “North Shore America’s Fastest Interurban. It’s stopped at a red light on a rainy evening. On the street lamp post to the right of the car it says “Car Stop”.
In the caption he explains that the sign was a remnant of the days when NSL operated city cars between Oklahoma Ave. and downtown Milwaukee. I remember seeing it on that post long after the NSL disappeared forever in 1963. The post has since been replaced. At first, I thought the sign applied to TM streetcars on 6th St. which I thought turned east at National. Later on I discovered that the 6th St. line paralleled the NSL only as far north as Mitchell St where Rt. 16 streetcars turned east and followed KK Ave. S. 1st, S 2nd and Plankinton Ave for their trip downtown. TM streetcars did not go across the 6th St. viaduct.
Here’s a bit of trivia regarding TM. There are 4 viaducts across the Menomonee River valley in Milwaukee; 6th, 16th, 27th & 35th St. Of these TM streetcars crossed only 2. 6th was NSL’s exclusively. the 35th St. viaduct was the last one built and by the time it opened TM had already begun bustituting streetcar lines. The 35th St. viaduct never had streetcar tracks. So only the 16th St and 27th St. viaducts had streetcars crossing them.
TM always used mounted vertical blue signs for streetcars and trackless trolleys. Mounted vertical green signs for buses. Where all three classes of service sometimes ran along the same streets there were two signs, one blue car stop and one green bus stop.
The state of Wisconsin did not require registration fees for streetcars captive to their rails and later in the 1930s they did not require that trackless trolleys, also captive to their overhead wires were free of registration fees and licensing. TM internally and in service advertising never referred to their trackless trolleys as buses, Never!
They were always to be called trackless trolleys, trackless trolley cars to ever remind Madison that they were not to be taxed. To the average rider they were still trolley buses or often just bus.