Remembering Newark’s PCCs

December 19, 2015December 19, 2015David Sadowski 2 Comments

PCC 14 outbound at Orange St. Station on March 28, 2001.

Today’s article is by guest contributor Kenneth Gear. You’ve heard his name before, since Ken has generously loaned us many Railroad Record Club and other similar records from his collection, so that we could transfer them to audio CDs. Thanks to Ken, we are well on our way towards our goal of making the entire RRC collection available once again.

But Ken is also an excellent photographer, with a particular fondness for the PCC cars that ran from 1954 to 2001 in the Newark City Subway. I only rode the line once, in 1991, and you can see a picture I took here. Last year, along with Ray DeGroote, I gave a program about the Newark and Rochester subways, which you can read about here.

You will also find an unofficial list there detailing where Newark’s PCCs ended up after they were retired. Newark car 4 (ex-Twin Cities Rapid Transit 323) is now at the Illinois Railway Museum.

All the Newark PCC photos in today’s post are by Kenneth Gear.

-David Sadowski

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 105th post, and we are gradually creating a body of work and an online resource for the benefit of all railfans, everywhere. To date, we have received 103,000 page views from nearly 30,000 individuals.

You can help us continue our original transit research by checking out the fine products in our Online Store. You can make a donation there as well.

As we have said before, “If you buy here, we will be here.”

We thank you for your support.

PS- As we approach our one-year anniversary next month, the deadline for renewing our premium WordPress account comes due in less than 30 days. This includes out domain name www.thetrolleydodger.com, much of the storage space we use for the thousands of files posted here, and keep this an ads-free experience for our readers. Your contributions towards this goal are greatly appreciated, in any amount.

CD Updates

The latest addition to our steam audio CDs (again, thanks to collector Kenneth Gear) features Hi-fi recordings made in late 1964, showcasing the last great days of Mexican steam:

VALLE
Valle del Locomotora de Vapor (Valley of the Steam Locomotives)
Mexican Steam Railroading in Twilight, 1964
# of Discs – 1
Price: $14.95

A decade after mainline steam railroading had largely disappeared from the United States, it was still going strong in the Queretaro Division of the National Railways of Mexico. These Hi-Fi stereo recordings were made in the summer and fall of 1964, just before diesels took the place of steam in some of the last North American holdouts. This two-LP set, originally issued on a long-defunct record label in the 1960s, fits on a single CD and is a remarkable document of a vanished era.

Total time – 75:12

Our Twilight of Steam title (again, made possible thanks to the generosity of Kenneth Gear) has been expanded to three CDs, and now covers four LPs in this series, with nearly three hours of audio:

TOS-123
Twilight of Steam
# of Discs – 3
Price: $24.95

Record #TOS-123:
The long out-of-print, thrilling audio counterpart to the exciting and controversial 1963 book The Twilight of Steam Locomotives by Ron Ziel. (Book not included.)

This collection includes LPs 1 through 4 on three CDs.

Railroads covered include the Reader, Virginia Blue Ridge, Southern Pacific, Bevier & Southern, Mobile & Gulf, Kentucky & Tennessee, Magma Arizona, the Mississippian, Graham County Railroad, Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal, Denver & Rio Grande, East Broad Top, Reading, Canadian Northern, the Strasburg, the Burlington, Buffalo Creek & Gauley, Grand Trunk Western, Alabama Central, Valle de Mexico, Rockton & Rion, Duluth Missabe & Iron Range, and Great Western. These were among the last steam locos in regular service on North American railroads, in recordings made between 1958 and 1966.

Total time – 171:17

Remembering Newark’s PCCs

Most of my trips on the Newark City Subway (excepting fan trips) were not railfan photography outings. I rode for the fun of riding a PCC car on an interesting route. I might ride on the spur of the moment because my Amtrak or NJ Transit train wasn’t due for an a while. Sometimes when I had a free day I took a NJT Raritan Valley Line train from Dunellen to Newark Penn, bought a coffee, and rode to Franklin Avenue and back.

I did on occasion make a photography day out of a trip on the subway. In my opinion there were only a hand full of good photography locations on the entire 4.3 mile length of the line. I tended to shoot these same locations over and over but I wish I would have taken photos at more stations. I went where I knew I’d get good photos and be reasonably safe.

The locations were Norfolk Street, the only station I photographed at that was below street level in the old Morris Canal bed. Still visible was sections of the ramp that carried the Route 23 Central Avenue line up to street level. Buses replaced trolleys in 1947.

Orange Street was the location I went to the most. It is at street level with plenty of room to move around and even take broadside views of the PCCs as they crossed Orange Street, the only grade crossing on the subway. According to the April 1999 issue of RAILPACE both Orange Street and Norfolk Street are “the stops which could pose the greatest safety concerns as the surrounding areas at these locations are blighted”. I never felt threatened at either place, in fact my interactions with locals were always pleasant and usually we chatted about the trolleys and how they will be missed.

My second most photographed location is Davenport Avenue . I always enjoyed spending time here. It is in a nicely kept neighborhood at the entrance of Branch Brook Park. Elevated photos could be taken from a pedestrian walkway and there was a conveniently located set of vintage signals that, like the PCCs they governed, were on borrowed time. Here in March of 2001 I photographed motor flat # 5223, the only time I saw this car out on the line. This work car was made from Public Service composite car # 2683 in 1954. The car was originally built in 1917! The only other railroad equipment of that age I saw in regular service were the steeple cab locomotives on the Iowa Traction. These electrics seem to be able to stand the test of time!

My other photo spot was the end of the line at Franklin Avenue Station. Here was located that wonderful loop track. I really enjoyed the sight and sounds of the PCCs rounding that impossibly tight curve, screeching and clawing their way from being outbound to being inbound. The loop was built around 1940 because the PCCs being single ended, needed a means of changing direction. The loop is now gone, Franklin Avenue Station is now called Branch Brook Park Station and , of coarse, the PCCs are long gone.

On August 24th 2001 I rode the Newark City Subway for the last time. That was the last day of PCC car service. The cars had been running since 1954, but it sure seemed to me that they still had a lot more life left in them. NJ Transit, to their credit, did a nice job of giving these cars a grand send-off. Car # 6 was painted in the grey paint scheme of Public Service Coordinated Transport. It looked great in it’s new shiny paint on that warm sunny day. It was quite a nice gesture for NJT to completely repaint a piece of equipment that only had one more day of revenue service.

This wasn’t only the end of the PCC era this was, after all, August of 2001. We all know what would happen on the 11th of the following month and railfanning the subway, or any place other place would never be the same.

-Kenneth Gear

This batch is from the first time I rode the Newark subway. It is also the only time I photographed the PCCs before they were equipped with pantographs. The occasion was an Electric Railroad’s Association fan trip that ran on May 24, 1987. In the morning we rode a farewell to the PATH K class cars and after lunch we rode the subway and toured the shop at Penn Station. My tripod was accidently left at home so I got very few useable photos of the shop. Somehow I managed to get a fairly good shot of the snow sweeper.

PCC 10 makes a photo stop at Davenport Avenue Station.

PCC 10 at Franklin Avenue station in Branch Brook Park. PCC 10 was built by St. Louis car in 1946.

No. 10 at Norfolk Street. This station is where the connection to the 23 Central Avenue Line once left the subway by means of ramps.

PCC 11, still in the Transport of New Jersey Bicentennial colors, is stopped at the soon to be replaced Orange Street Station. Here the subway crosses over the ex-DL&W Morris & Essex Line and the bridge is in need of replacement. To accommodate this work the station was moved across Orange Street to it’s present site.

PCCs being readied for the NJ Transit “Disco Stripes” paint job.

A going away shot of PCC 15 in TNJ colors, inbound, leaving Franklin Avenue.

PCCs 10 & 11 on the Franklin Avenue loop.

Cars 10 & 11 during a photo stop at the Franklin Avenue station.

Snow sweeper #5246 in the shop area of Penn Station. Number 5426 was built by Russell in 1921. It was built for the Trenton & Mercer County, Trenton Transit as number 51.

Here is the next bunch of photos. Again these are from a fan trip. This time the trip was run by The North Jersey Electric Railway Historical Society. All photos taken on April 22, 2000:

NJ Transit PCC 1 makes a photo stop at Davenport Ave.

A wider shot of PCC 1 at Davenport Avenue.

This is one of my favorite PCC photos. It shows car 15 seen from inside car 1 near Franklin Street. Number 1 is inbound while 15 is, of coarse, outbound.

PCC 23 is outbound at Franklin Avenue, it will soon go around the loop track and become inbound (to Penn Station). The construction work in preparation of the new LRV cars is in evidence along the right of way here.

NJT PCC all electric PCC 1 at Norfolk Street Station “chartered” for a fan trip.

Car 1 is again in front of the fan’s cameras as it poses for even more photos at Franklin Avenue. We made several trips of the entire subway.

Cars 1 and 19 pass at Davenport Avenue.

The famous art deco headlight wings on PCC 25.

After taking tons of photos of car 1, we toured the Penn Station subway shop.
Photos in the next bunch are all April 22, 2000:

Operator’s controls of PCC No. 1

The trolley operator in this photo appears to be all business. He was the person who ran car 1 during our fan trip. He was more likely to be smiling at the end of the day because we passed the hat around and he got a pretty nice tip!

Brand new line car # 5420 (diesel powered)

PCC 1 at Newark Penn Station.

PCC 21 in the shop under Penn Station.

PCC 16 in the shop.

A wide view of car 21 and the surrounding shop area.

Car 25 and friends in the shop.

No tobacco chewing here! The sign in the shop area of Penn Station spells it out quite clearly.

Here is the next bunch. All photos were taken on March 28, 2001 at Davenport Avenue Station:

PCC 12 and motor flat 5223 meet at Davenport Avenue.

Inside car 24.

PCC 12 inbound at Davenport Avenue.

NJT motor flat 5223. Originally built in 1917 as Public Service Composite car 2683. It was converted to a motor flat work car in 1954.

Car 20 outbound at Davenport Ave.

Car 23 arrives Davenport Ave.

PCC 24 inbound and 14 outbound meet at Davenport Ave.

PCC 12 and motor flat 5223 meet at Davenport Avenue.

All photos taken at Orange Street on March 28, 2001:

Car 17 inbound, Interstate 280 overpass in background.

Car 17 rear view as it makes the Orange Street station stop.

Car 17 again, crossing the subway’s only grade crossing– Orange Street.

PCC 20 outbound.

PCC 23 approaching the Orange Street Station. Former Otis Elevator building in background.

Car 24 outbound, showing the entire Orange street Station.

PCC 28 inbound at Orange Street.

Here is the last batch of the PCC car photos. These were all taken on the last day of PCC car service on August 24, 2001:

PCC 6 outbound making the stop at Orange Street.

PCC 28 in a wide view of the Orange Street grade crossing.

Car 28 ’rounds the tight curve of the Franklin Avenue loop on the last day of service for both the car and the loop trackage.

PCC 19 outbound, Orange Street.

PCC 17 amongst the construction work still going on at Franklin Avenue/Branch Brook Park Station.

PCC 17 at Franklin Avenue re-named Branch Brook Park at this point.

PCC 6 head-on at Orange Street.

PCC 6 again crossing Orange Street.

PCC 4 inbound. (Editor’s note: This car is now at the Illinois Railway Museum.)

The star of the show PCC 6 in it’s brand new retro Public Service paint job. Crossing Orange Street.

My last ride. The last time I rode a PCC on the Newark City Subway was in this car, Number 19. inbound to Penn Station. It would all be over soon!

PS- Here are some scans of Newark Subway related documents from my files.
These are all from NJ Transit except the newspaper article:

New Railroad Record Club Discs

November 19, 2015November 20, 2015David Sadowski 2 Comments

Trolley Dodger Records is making considerable progress towards our goal of releasing the entire output of the long-gone Railroad Record Company on compact discs. Today, we announce the availability of six more RRC LPs in digital form. Now there are just seven remaining RRC LPs that we are still looking for (see the list at the end of this post).

We have found several of these titles thanks to the generosity of collector Kenneth Gear.

Most of the 40 or so RRC discs were 10″ records with a running time of about 30 minutes apiece. Therefore, we have paired up various RRC recordings, since two will fit on a single CD. So, today we are offering three new CD collections. One previous release has been expanded.

Perhaps the rarest Railroad Record Company LP of them all is #23, Pennsylvania Trolleys. This disc showcases two of the smaller trolley systems in the Keystone State, as they existed in the early 1950s– Altona & Logan Valley and Johnstown Traction. We are excited to add this to our list of available titles as one of the “crown jewels” of the RRC collection, of which there are many.

This has been paired with RRC #30, Sound Scrapbook – Traction. This includes additional recordings from Johnstown Traction and the Altoona & Logan Valley, and adds to them the Rochester Subway, the old US Senate Subway, Grand River Railway, and Scranton Transit.

It’s worth noting that Johnstown Traction car 311, featured on these recordings, is now preserved at the Rockhill Trolley Museum.

Even by 1953-54, when these recordings were made, it was apparent that the traction era in many of the smaller cities of Pennsylvania was fast coming to an end. The last Altoona & Logan Valley streetcar ran on August 7, 1954, and the final Scranton trolley on December 18, 1954. Johnstown, the smallest US city ever to purchase new PCC streetcars, was the last to go on June 11, 1960.

Today, there is an effort underway by the Electric City Trolley Museum to restore Scranton car 505, an “Electromobile” built in 1929 by Osgood-Bradley. Its sister car 506 can be heard operating in Scranton on these recordings.

The Altoona & Logan Valley recordings on discs 23 and 30 feature car 74, which was also an Osgood-Bradley Electromobile, built in 1930. There is a picure of the car on Don’s Rail Photos:

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0902/alv74.jpg

Unless you are a Canadian traction fan, you may not know much about the Grand River Railway, an Ontario electric interurban. Passenger service was abandoned on April 23, 1955. While we do not know when the Grand River audio was recorded for RRC disc #30, most likely it was around this time. There were two final fantrips, the last of which took place on May 1, 1955. Electric freight service continued until October 1, 1961. According to the Wikipedia, parts of the old Grand River right-of-way are going to be used in the next few years for light rail.

RRC LP #28, with both Charles City Western and Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern, has been added to our previous CD release of #11, Shaker Heights Rapid Transit, a Cleveland area interurban.

Some of the cars on this CD are also preserved. Charles City Western car 50, now 100 years old, still operates in Iowa on the Boone & Scenic Valley Railway & Museum. Box motor OX is at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. SHRT car 306 (formerly of the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric) is now being restored at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Sadly, WCF&N car 100, which survived that interurban operation, was itself destroyed in an unfortunate fire on November 24, 1967 at the Iowa Terminal Railroad. As Don’s Rail Photos notes, “It had been the only car saved from the WCF&N roundhouse fire on October 31, 1954, when the other two cars of its class burned.” While the car itself is gone, at least these audio recordings remain.

Turning to steam, we have paired RRC LPs #03 and 16, since they are both narrow gauge recordings. These feature the Denver, Rio Grande & Western, East Broad Top Railroad, and the Westside Lumber Company.

RRC #20, which mainly features New York Central steam from the early 1950s, was almost entirely recorded in the state of Illinois. Here is where these records bring some unexpected personal stories to light.

The late William A. Steventon, founder of the Railroad Record Club, was the son of a railroad man. This record includes audio of his father operating a New York Central steam engine for the very last time in his career.

Although the RRC was based out of Hawkins, Wisconsin, Steventon himself grew up in Mt. Carmel, Illinois, in the southern part of the state, very close to the Indiana border. Therefore it should be no surprise that Steventon’s voice, as featured in the narration on the East Broad Top recordings, has a decided southern Indiana twang.

The liner notes to the Altoona & Logan Valley recordings were written by Walter Evans, who was blind from birth, but very much tuned in to the sound of Altoona trolleys. His recollections of these streetcars dated back to 1916.

I did some Internet searches and determined that Mr. Evans was born in 1910 and died in 1999, apparently living his whole life in the Altoona, Pennsylvania area. He taught at a school for the blind and retired in 1975 after having done this for 31 years.

RRC #20, which also has steam recordings of the Chicago & Illinois Midland in addition to New York Central, has been paired with an LP called Railroad Sounds. This late 1950s release came from another obscure and long defunct small record label, and includes both steam and diesel sounds from the Illinois Central.

Following up on an earlier post, one of our readers reports that the model of Chicago Surface Lines car 7001 was imported to this country by Ken Kidder. You can read more about his line of models here. Apparently, Mr. Kidder worked in the shoe department of a San Francisco department store. He was, it seems, more concerned with getting these fine models into people’s hands than he was in making money.

We are still looking for the following Railroad Record Club recordings, which are needed to complete our collection:

#19 – Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range
#21 – Duluth & Northeastern
#22 – Buffalo Creek & Gauley
#31 – Sound Scrapbook – Steam
#32 – New York Central
#33, 34 – South Shore Line (freight)

All other RRC recordings, including LPs #1-19, 20, 23-30, 35-36, plus Special releases 1-6, are available now in our Online Store. These come with free shipping within the United States.

-David Sadowski

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 96th post, and we are gradually creating a body of work and an online resource for the benefit of all railfans, everywhere. To date, we received more than 91,000 page views from more than 26,800 individuals.

You can help us continue our original transit research by checking out the fine products in our Online Store. You can make a donation there as well.

As we have said before, “If you buy here, we will be here.”

We thank you for your support.

RRC #23 and 30
Pennsylvania Trolleys
Sound Scrapbook – Traction
# of Discs – 1
Price: $14.95

Record #23:
Car No. 311 of the Johnstown Traction Company running in city streets, going over switches, and the thump of the compressor. You can almost “feel” the sway of the car over low joints! Side Two is car No. 74 of the Altoona and Logan Valley on track work in Altoona.

Johnstown Traction car 311 is now preserved at the Rockhill Trolley Museum in Pennsylvania.

Record #30:
A wide selection of traction sounds including Rochester Subway, Senate Subway, Grand River Railway, Scranton Transit, Altoona & Logan Valley and the Johnstown Traction Company compressors, air horns, flange squeal, and even trolley seats being turned.

Total time – 61:22

RRC #11 and 28
Shaker Heights Rapid Transit
Charles City Western
Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern
# of Discs – 1
Price: $14.95

Record #11:
Shades of the past with Shaker Heights Rapid Transit Nos. 30 and 306 sporting air horns and whistles from the Lake Shore Electric and Cincinnati & Lake Erie. Box Motor OX on rusty rail with lots of whistling. Even line car 101 puts in its appearance! If you like traction, you’ll like this.

Record #28:
An “on train” recording of Charles City Western No. 50 on the Colwell branch. A whistle that varies in pitch, controller notching and motor hum. Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern city car 381 leaving the Waterloo station for Cedar Falls. Also loco 184 and compressors on No. 100.

Total time – 64:45

RRC #03 and 16
East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company
Denver and Rio Grande Western
Westside Lumber Company
# of Discs – 1
Price: $14.95

Record #03:
Trackside recordings of the East Broad Top while it was still a common carrier. Scenes from Rockhill Furnace to Robertsdale, including an upgrade struggle near Kimmel. Side Two is a trackside scene of No. 499 and 481 fighting upgrade at Cumbres Pass on the Denver and Rio Grande Western.

Record #16:
The exhaust of a Shay is soft and rapid. Here are soft, stuttering exhausts and whistles echoing along rocky hills. This is lumber transport in rough country with Westside Lumber Company Nos. 8, 9, and 10 picturing the indestructible Shay in action!

Total time – 68:48

RRC #20 and RRS
New York Central
Chicago and Illinois Midland
# of Discs – 1
Price: $14.95

Record #20:
New York Central locomotives 5382, 1599, 3140 and an “on train” switching scene at Cairo, Illinois on the 1441. Side Two is Chicago & Illinois Midland No. 701 southbound, and the No. 540 switching. Gulf, Mobile & Ohio diesel No. 1110 presents an unusual program with the 540.

Record #RRS:
The steam and diesel sounds of a vanishing era… they become dimmer and dimmer as the sounds of a new and greater power age grow to be more of a reality with every passing day. They are part of the romance of America that will always be with us, in spite of atomic power and new technical wonders. for here, through the process of full frequency range recording, every nuance of this sound world of railroading is captured with earth-shaking dynamism. Here is a galvanic auditory experience for high fidelity enthusiasts to enjoy as they contemplate the rich pageantry of railroading and its mighty impact on the growth of an industrial world. Featuring the sounds of the New Orleans Division of the Illinois Central Railroad.

Total time – 55:37

Revisiting the Railroad Record Club

July 20, 2015July 21, 2015David Sadowski 2 Comments

An RRC insert, found inside a vintage 1965 LP.

Following up on our earlier post about the Railroad Record Club (April 12), we found some interesting documents inside one of the many steam and traction LPs they issued in the 1950s and 60s. These date to late 1965.

The RRC Newsletter shows that record #32 came out late in 1965, and the five “special” pressings were also out by then. There is a mention that the company that pressed their records (RCA) was getting out of the business soon, but this may simply mean that they no longer wanted to make 10″ records, which were going out of favor.

The remaining four RRC tiles #33-36 most likely came out in 1966, since the club had been putting out four records per year. Those were also issued on 10″ LPs, but after that, the Railroad Record Club only put out reissues on 12″ vinyl.

There is also a description of a pressing error, where RCA apparently mismatched some of the two Nickel Plate Road LPs. RRC sold these to the public but unfortunately did not mark them as such.

Some recordings that were never issued are mentioned, including one of the Queensboro Bridge trolley, which last ran on April 7, 1957. Perhaps there is still rare traction audio out there waiting to be rediscovered.

Here is a video of that trolley*:

In response to your requests for more RRC titles on CD, we have added eight more steam titles to our Online Store. Nearly all of these have two RRC titles together on single compact disc.

To give you an idea of the relative value of cost, fifty years ago versus today, we made a comparison using one of those online inflation calculators. Each 10″ LP cost $4.00 in 1965, which is the equivalent of $30.30 now.

By comparison, we are offering two RRC discs in most cases for just $14.95.

The special South Shore Line 3-disc box set cost $12.49 when first issued, which would be nearly $100 in today’s money. We have the same title on two discs for only $19.95.

In addition to the Railroad Record Club recordings, we have also transferred a few other public domain recordings to compact disc.

We are still looking for a copy of RRC #23, which features Pennsylvania traction. There are vintage 1950s recordings of both the Johnstown Traction and the Altoona & Logan Valley streetcars on that disc. If you have a copy of this rare title that you would be willing to share with us, we would be glad to transfer it to compact disc and send you back your original along with a copy.

Thanks.

-Ye Olde Editor

*The narration is by prolific author Vincent F. Seyfried (1918-2012). He does get one thing wrong, however. The trolleys used on the Queensboro Bridge operation in its last days were built in 1930, not 1948.

Car 601, an “Electromobile” built by Osgood-Bradley, survived until 2009. It had been allowed to deteriorate for many years in storage, but at least parts from this car will help restore others.

The RRC Newsletter from late 1965.

The RRC Order Form from late 1965. LPs cost $4.00, which is the equivalent of $30.30 today. The $12.49 cost of the 3-disc South Shore Line recording would equate to $94.62 now.

RRC sold more than just records.

There was a pressing error in 1965, and some of the two Nickel Plate LPs got mixed up. RRC sold these errors to the public and left it up to the purchaser to take note of the mistake.

Several new RRC steam titles are now available in our Online Store.

Mulligan Stew

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015David Sadowski 6 Comments

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.

-David Sadowski

The next three images are from the Tipton Genealogy photostream on Flickr.

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)

A Railroad Record Club Discography

April 12, 2015March 9, 2016David Sadowski 21 Comments

The Railroad Record Club was started in the early 1950s by William Steventon (1921-1993), a farmer living near Hawkins, Wisconsin. He issued a total of 37 10″ records (each containing about 30 minutes of audio) in his original series between about 1955 and 1965. In most years, four titles were issued.

One fan reports, “The Railroad Record Club was a hobby operation. Bill would edit tapes either sent to him by his friends, or from his own work, make a master tape, and send it off RCA’s custom record plant.”

Most records featured steam locomotives, but there were some traction recordings as well. All of these included sounds that were once familiar to all, but were already fast disappearing from the American scene. The recordings of the Railroad Record Club are an important part of the historical record, and supplement the films and photographs taken at the time.

Eventually, some of the original discs were reissued on 12″. There were also some samplers made.

Hard information about the RRC seems to be lacking on the Internet, but I did find this article from the March 6, 1958 issue of the Milwaukee Sentinel:

TOWN STILL HEARS TRAIN ‘CHUG-CHUG’

HAWKINS, Wis., March 5 (Special) – The chug-chug of coal burning locomotives pulling up steep grades and the lonesome wail of the steam whistle can still be heard in this Rusk County village. This is despite the fact that Soo Line train engines running through Hawkins have been dieselized for a number of years. These sounds, instead, come from some 200,000 feet of tape recording made by William A. Steventon, manager of the Cream Valley Telephone Co. here.

200 CLUB MEMBERS

Steventon is the organizer of the Railroad Record Club, which has some 200 members throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. During 1957 he sold 1,000 records in America, New Zealand, Australia, England and Canada.

Steventon got into this fascinating sideline in 1953 when his bride-to-be gave him a record of railroad sounds for Christmas. It was of imitation noises, recorded in a studio. This sounds like an unusual gift, until you learn that Steventon is the son of a locomotive engineer and climbed up on a chair to watch the trains go past his home in Mt. Carmel, Ill., as soon as he could walk.

TOY TRAINS AT 4

He got his first toy electric train when he was four years old. As a teenager in the 1930s, he started building scale model electric trains. Electric trains particularly fascinated Steventon. He collected pictures of interurban lines throughout the country, also visiting as many of them as he could.

He now has seven complete model train sets and is working on another. He hopes to get into steam locomotives later. When he finishes building his new home east of Hawkins, Steventon plans to set up a system of tracks for his train.

When Steventon, working then for the government in Washington, D. C., got the sound recording for Christmas, he decided to record the real McCoy.

VISITED 15 STATES

Since then he has recorded steam and electric trains in 15 states– from New York to California, even in Chicago’s smoky Loop. As you sit in Steventon’s office listening to the huff and puff of the engine and the clickety-clack of wheels over rail joints, you almost feel the sway of the cars.

Some recordings offered by Steventon to club members include sounds no longer heard on railroads such as the Illinois Terminal, Johnstown Traction, Potomac Edison, Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern, Shaker Heights Rapid Transit, Denver and Rio Grande Western, New York Central and the Duluth, Mesabi and Iron Range. Club members are required to buy three of four records offered each year at a reduced rate.

ONE DESCRIBED

Here is his description of one record:

“One side will consist of locomotive switching at Spooner, Wis. Did you ever ride a sleeper and stop at some division point in the wee hours and listen to a nearby switch engine doing yeard work in a misting rain? This is just such a recording.

“The other side will have the last steamer on the Wabash doing yard work at Bluffs, Ill. This recording was made from the train and captures all the thrilling sounds of the air pump, clanging firebox door, exhaust and whistles. This steamer has been retired since the spring of 1955, but lives on in this recording.”

Steventon said one woman in Maine wrote him that records her son has purchased “were so realistic that smoke from the trains got my curtains dirty.”

So, it appears Steventon dated the founding of the club to Christmas 1953, although I don’t think any records were issued before 1955. The first introductory record was unnumbered, and the ones that followed ran from 1-36. There were at least six special pressings in the early 1970s, and various samplers that presumably gave club members and record dealers some idea of what they could order each year. Some records were reissued in 12″ format, and the club seems to have kept going until around 1986.

Here is what I assume to be a more or less complete Railroad Record Club discography. As far as I know, this is the first and only such discography that you will find online.

-David Sadowski

RAILROAD RECORD CLUB TITLES
0 Soo Line, Illinois Central (Introductory Record)
1 Wabash Railroad, Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha
2 Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern, Southern Iowa Railway
3 Denver, Rio Grande & Western, East Broad Top
4 Baltimore and Ohio
5 Denver & Rio Grande Western
6 Potomac Edison (Hagerstown & Frederick)
7 Norfolk & Western, Illinois Central (Also includes a bit of Illinois Terminal Railroad)
8 Canadian National (aka Canadian Railroading in the Days of Steam)
9 Winston-Salem Southbound
10 Pennsylvania Railroad
11 Shaker Heights Rapid Transit
12 Duluth Missabe & Iron Range
13 Nickel Plate Road
14 Pacific Electric
15 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
16 Westside Lumber Company
17 Minneapolis & St Paul, Sault Ste Marie Railway
18 Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee
19 Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range
20 Chicago & Illinois Midland – New York Central
21 Duluth & Northeastern
22 Buffalo Creek & Gauley
23 Pennsy Trolleys
24 Canadian Pacific
25 Illinois Terminal Railroad
26 Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee (freight)
27 Capital Transit Company
28 Charles City Western – Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern
29 Nickel Plate Road
30 Sound Scrapbook, Traction
31 Sound Scrapbook, Steam
32 New York Central
33 Chicago, South Shore & South Bend (freight)
34 Chicago, South Shore & South Bend (freight)
35 Milwaukee & Suburban Transport, Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee (Disc says No. 36)
36 Chicago, Aurora & Elgin, Chicago Transit Authority (Disc says No. 35)

Special Pressings
SP1 The Silverton Train
SP2 Northern Pacific 2626 Memorial Album
SP3 Whistle ‘Round the Bend
SP4 Chicago, South Shore & South Bend Railroad (passenger)
SP5 Soo Line, Illinois Central
SP6 The Milwaukee Road (electric freight)

Samplers
S1 1st & 2nd Years -1-4, 5-8
S2 3rd & 4th Years – 9-12, 13-16
S3 5th Year – 17-20
S4 6th Year – 21-24
S5 7th & 8th Years – 25-28, 29-32
S6 9th year – 33-36

PS- Eric Bronsky writes:

As it turns out, I acquired a bunch of recordings many years ago and still have my copy of that Club’s 1965-1970 catalog. Scans are attached. The detailed description of each record should help you to fill in any gaps. You’re welcome to share these images through your blog.

I recall Bill Steventon’s apology for having to raise the price of all 10″ records to $4.00 (postpaid)! In those days the price increase seemed steep because I was earning only $3.00/hour.

I also saved several Record Club newsletters from various years up to 1986 and a 1971 catalog from Mobile Fidelity Records, which produced the original Interurban Memories album. All-Nation Hobby Shop once had a “record department” which sold RR sound recordings from several sources. “Traction Ted” Seifert was in charge of this.

Railroad Record Club disc #13.

PS- You can now purchase some of these historic recordings on compact disc through our Online Store. We also posted a follow-up article about the RRC that you can read here.

Stephen L. Meyers, 1925-2015

April 11, 2015June 3, 2015David Sadowski 3 Comments

Steve at Trainfest with his wife Sandy.

Steven L. Meyers passed away on April 8 after a brief illness. He was born in New York City in 1925 and became enamored with the streetcar lines serving the various boroughs. During WWII he served in the Pacific. He moved to Evanston, IL in 1963 and enjoyed a long career in exporting and customs.

Over the years, Steve assembled a substantial collection of New York streetcar photos and documents. He authored three popular books:

Breezers: A Lighthearted History of the Open Trolley Car in America

Manhattan’s Lost Streetcars (Images of Rail)

Lost Trolleys of Queens and Long Island (Images of Rail)

Steve was involved with several railfan organizations. An HO traction modeler, Steve was a member of the NorthWest Traction Group.

-Eric Bronsky

PS- While I cannot say that I knew Mr. Meyers well, we had corresponded a bit and talked on the phone a few times. He was part of that “Greatest Generation” of railfans, whose contributions to our hobby will be remembered for a long time to come. Steve was a longtime member of both the Electric Railroaders’ Association and Central Electric Railfans’ Association.

He was a curmudgeon who did not suffer fools gladly, and gave as well as he got, and it is our loss that he is gone. He also wrote three excellent books that I have enjoyed reading, and amassed a tremendous collection of information on New York-area traction lines that I hope will find a good home.

Before his death, Steve wrote an extensive history of the Metropolitan Traction Company (later called Metropolitan Street Railway Company, which became part of New York Railways Company), which remains unpublished. I hope that it will eventually see the light of day.

Mr. Meyers had agreed to participate in a slide program that I have been working on, but sadly, it was not meant to be.

When I traveled to the Seashore Trolley Museum last summer, I was able to purchase a copy of Mr. Meyers’ book Breezers in their gift shop. It turns out to have been a presentation copy that Mr. Meyers gave to another notable author, the late O. R. Cummings, who wrote perhaps 50 books specializing in Northeast traction. Sadly, both men have departed, but they have left us a legacy that will remain.

Those of us transit historians of today should never forget that we are standing on the shoulders of giants like O. R. Cummings and Stephen L. Meyers.

-David Sadowski

Superman in the Subway

March 3, 2015March 3, 2015David Sadowski 1 Comment

Superman vs. third rail. Guess who wins? Special effects here are some squiggly lightning bolts painted onto the film.

I have enjoyed watching the 1951-57 Adventures of Superman TV series since I was a small child in the late 1950s, and for me and millions of other people my age, there will never be a better Superman than actor George Reeves.

While Superman co-creator Joe Shuster apparently based the fictional city of Metropolis on Toronto, where he lived as a child, the TV Metropolis looked a lot like Los Angeles, where the series was filmed. The iconic LA City Hall stood in for the Daily Planet building, and exterior scenes were filmed throughout the area, and also on the RKO Forty Acres back lot later used as Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show.

In episode 30 (“Jet Ace”), first aired on October 10, 1953, the Daily Planet crew make a short trip to an Air Force base in the vicinity of Metropolis, where there is a large map of California on the wall. So, as far as the TV series was concerned, it looks like Metropolis was located in California.

That is, except for the Metropolis subway, as featured in episode 31 (“Shot in the Dark,” October 17, 1953). That looks just like the New York City subway.

Truth be told, in 1953 there were hardly any subways west of the Mississippi. The only US cities with rapid transit subways were New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Rochester, NY (which shut down in 1956). Newark had its streetcar subway and there were short stretches in San Francisco.

Los Angeles had about a half-mile of subway downtown for the fast-disappearing Pacific Electric interurban network. The old Subway Terminal, which operated from 1925 to 1955.

I have always found the depictions of transit systems in movies and TV shows to be quite interesting and informative, in part because they reflect the public perceptions of their time. For example, streetcars are quite commonly seen in movies made prior to World War II, but rarely seen afterwards.

By the time they started appearing in films again, such as Avalon (1990) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), a streetcar/light rail renaissance was well underway. But trolleys were so unusual that these films sometimes got the technical details wrong- the ersatz PE cars in Roger Rabbit had both trolley poles up at the same time.

It’s as if people had forgotten what streetcars were like, just as America had apparently forgotten how to build streetcars after 1952.

Chances are, the producers of the Superman TV series could just as easily filmed scenes in at the PE subway terminal, so why didn’t they? That would have involved the use of streetcars and interurban cars, which were considered old fashioned in 1953. Public officials in Los Angeles desired a new rapid transit system for the region, and figuring the Pacific Electric could not easily be upgraded into one, they were content to simply let it die.

Los Angeles now has Metro Rail, an extensive and growing network of rapid transit subways, first opened in 1990. These function as indirect descendants of the former PE and LA Railways lines. In some places, rail transit has been put back where it once had been before, as in the case of the old PE line from LA to Long Beach, now the Blue Line.

Getting back to “Shot in the Dark,” the writers and producers apparently did not know a lot about actual rapid transit operations, since the story has a few mistakes in it. In this episode, the “Valley Local” and the “Valley Express” are apparently running on the same set of tracks, whereas in New York, they would likely be relegated to different ones.

In the plot, Jimmy Olsen runs away from a crook holding a valuable photograph that turns out to be evidence that a crook, thought to have died, is still alive. He gets on a subway train, and the doors close just ahead of his pursuer.

Clark Kent overhears the telephone conversation between the criminals, who decide to take over the following local train and have it smash into the express train that Jimmy is on. Then, in the confusion, they plan to steal the photograph.

Oddly enough, subway trains in 1950s Metropolis seem to have two sets of streetcar-type K-controllers, one for the motorman and one for the conductor. One crook knocks out the motorman and pushed the controller handle, after giving two rings to the conductor. The other crook pushes forward a second K controller, which then makes the train go.

After Clark Kent thinks up a way to ditch Lois Lane, he changes into Superman and flies ahead of the out of control train, where he smashes the third rail and saves the day. While the special effects in these shows look pretty hokey today, reliving these “thrilling days of yesteryear” is something I hope to do long into the future.

-David Sadowski

The 1951-57 Adventures of Superman TV series was shot in Hollywood and used the Los Angeles City Hall building at right as the Daily Planet building. Unfortunately, there’s no rapid transit line in the median of this freeway.

In the Superman episode “Jet Ace,” aired just before “Shot in the Dark,” the Daily Planet crew are shown at a California air base that is supposed to be in the general vicinity of Metropolis.

The “M” train approaches.

A rather basic subway set was built for this episode, with a small stairway, a vending machine, a phone booth, and some subway tile. Looks like Metropolis has a 34th Street station just like Manhattan does.

The doors are closing… and the camera is panned to simulate the movement of a subway train.

Jimmy Olsen gets away on the “Valley Express.”

Lois detains Clark Kent and keeps him from chasing the bad guys.

The Valley Local, after being sabotaged, is supposed to catch up to the Valley Express and crash into it after about three stops, meaning they are traveling on the same set of tracks.

The first crook konks the motorman, then throws the K-type controller forward before leaving the train.

The second crook pushes forward a second K-type controller. Apparently the Metropolis subway cars do not have a “deadman switch.”

Apparently, Metropolis has a subway system that looks just like New York’s, as this picture of an “M” train shows. (I guess the M here is supposed to stand for Metropolis, although the trains in this episode are called the Valley Express and the Valley Local.)

To simulate flight, actor George Reeves would jump on some sort of springboard just out of view at the bottom of the screen, then leap over the camera and land on some mattresses. He got very good at this sort of thing.

Due to the limitations of 1950s special effects, here Superman is literally “flying by wire.” Two wires holding up actor George Reeves are visible against the dark background of Superman’s cape.

Superman lands in the subway tunnel.

The Chicago World’s Fair, by Streetcar

February 6, 2015February 14, 2015David Sadowski 4 Comments

In this Chicago Surface Lines brochure, visitors were encouraged to see Chicago by streetcar, trolley bus, and, apparently, Zeppelin.

Chicago’s second World’s Fair took place in 1933 and 1934, and celebrated “A Century of Progress” since the city’s founding. Coming, as it did, in the depths of the Great Depression, this was a bold (and successful) venture, under the able leadership of Lenox Lohr (1891-1968). Chicago’s fair made a profit, while the later 1939-40 New York World’s Fair lost money.

Getting the 48,469,227 fair visitors back and forth to the lakefront site was a tremendous undertaking, and the Chicago Surface Lines played an important role. The fair opened on May 27, 1933, and it quickly became apparent that transportation needed improvement.

Two streetcar line extensions, among the last ones in Chicago, were hurriedly undertaken. The Roosevelt Road extension was the more elaborate of the two, since there were more obstacles in its path, namely the Illinois Central train station and tracks. The IC tracks were below grade, since they were built at the original ground level Downtown, which was raised several feet after the 1871 Chicago Fire.*

Chicago’s new Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly (1876-1950) took the controls of the first streetcar over the viaduct on August 1st, and posed for a good many press photos along the way. The two line extensions, from Roosevelt and Cermak, were retained for about 20 years, and continued to serve the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, and Soldier Field. They both had turnaround loops, to permit the use of single-ended as well as double-ended cars.

CSL had two modern experimental streetcars built, and used them to shuttle visitors to and from the fair. Of the two, at least part of car 4001 has survived to this day, while 7001 was perhaps more influential on the eventual design of the highly successful PCC cars, starting in 1936. The general configuration of this single-ended car, and its door arrangement, were followed on Chicago’s 683 PCCs.

Today, we present a Chicago Surface Lines brochure touting their service to the World’s Fair and all parts of Chicago. Along with this, we have some additional photos showing the Roosevelt Road extension. You can find some additional pictures of this operation in later days in one of our earlier posts. There is also a photo showing car 7001 on State Street in 1934, in World’s Fair service.

After the CTA converted the Roosevelt Road streetcar line to bus, the extension to the “Museum Loop” operated as a shuttle between August 12, 1951 to April 12, 1953, when it was abandoned, and eventually demolished. There’s a picture of the route 12A shuttle operation on the CERA Members Blog, here. (The same blog also shows the last known picture of car 7001, shortly before it was scrapped in 1959.)

The last route 21 – Cermak streetcar ran on May 30, 1954.

PCCs occasionally did run to the Museum Loop during special events, for example, on April 26, 1951, when General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) made a personal appearance after his dismissal by President Harry S Truman. You can read more about that historic event here.

Northerly Island, the site of A Century of Progress, was built on landfill. After the fair, it was used as Meigs Field, an airport for small planes, from 1948 to 2003.

Now that planning is underway for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to be built in the “Museum Campus” area, various ideas have been floated for improving transit in this area. These proposals include a streetcar line.

So, when it comes to Chicago’s lakefront, what goes around may yet come around- especially if it’s a streetcar.

-David Sadowski

*This is approximately correct. It would be difficult to determine what “ground” level truly was when the City was first settled, since Chicago was built on a swamp. Ground level was raised 10 feet downtown in the 1860s to permit the easy installation of a sewer system, and there have been numerous additions via landfill, especially east of Michigan Avenue, which was originally the shoreline. You would apparently have to go as far south as Jackson Park before the Lake Michigan shoreline is in its pre-development location.

For more information, go here.

1939-40 New York World’s Fair

It’s worth mentioning that when New York put on their World’s Fair in 1939-40, they built a rapid transit extension of the IND subway system to reach the south end of the site. This operation was called the World’s Fair Railroad, and required payment of a second 5-cent fare. This branch line was constructed at a cost of $1.2m.

This extension ran partly through Jamaica yard, and went 8,400 feet beyond it, for a total length of just under two miles.

The privately owned BMT and IRT subway/elevated systems shared service on what is now the 7 line, and fairgoers could get there via the Willets Point station, which now serves Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The regular fare was charged, and these trains reached the north end of the site.

The Long Island Rail Road opened a station along their line adjacent to Willets Point, which remains in use today.

After the fair closed, the World’s Fair Railroad spur was dismantled and removed, the only such IND service to suffer this fate. During the course of the fair, New York City took over operation of both the IRT and BMT, unifying the three subway operations under municipal ownership.

No rapid transit extensions were provided for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, which took place on the same location. However, there was a monorail for moving people around within the fair site itself.

A CSL map showing how the Roosevelt Road and Cermak Road streetcar lines were extended to new loops serving A Century of Progress.

The Roosevelt Road extension to the World’s Fair site is under construction in this June 24, 1933 view. The Illinois Central station lies between here and what we now call the “Museum Campus.”

From the looks of things, this picture was also taken on June 24, 1933.

It’s August 1, 1933. The World’s Fair extension along Roosevelt Road is now completed, and Mayor Edward Kelly (posing for pictures) is at the controls of the first service car. Kelly had succeeded Anton Cermak as mayor earlier that year after the latter was assassinated in Miami.

A close-up of the previous scene.

The first service car over the Illinois Central viaduct, with Mayor Kelly at the throttle, in a picture taken at 9:30 am on August 1, 1933.

An artist’s rendering of CSL experimental pre-PCC streetcar 4001, built by Pullman. It entered service in 1934 and was retired in 1944. Its body shell is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum.

An artist’s rendering of CSL experimental pre-PCC streetcar 7001, built by Brill. It entered service in 1934 and was retired in 1944. It was scrapped in 1959.
Note that the car is signed for Clark-Wentworth, the busiest line on the Chicago system.
Ironically, while this design resembles the PCC car of 1936, Brill refused to license the patented PCC technology, and as a result, was driven out of the streetcar market within a five years, after building but a few dozen “Brilliners.”