An early (turn of the century) view of passengers boarding an Illinois Central Suburban train before the line was converted from steam to electric in 1926. I am not certain of the location, but it may be in Hyde Park.

Indiana Railroad lightweight high-speed car 71 is at the Indianapolis Terminal on August 11, 1940.

Indiana Railroad high-speed car 58 (described as a “parlor car”) is at the Indianapolis Terminal yards on August 11, 1940.

Philadelphia streetcar 8026 is at Church Road in Glenside, PA on February 22, 1941, operating on Route 6.

CTA/CSL 7001 and 4001 at South Shops, circa 1958. This was scanned from a red border Kodachrome slide, and by early 1958, those mounts were replaced by more modern ones. In the last days of Chicago streetcars, there were some PCCs in dead storage due to accidents or mechanical issues. The red car at right is a trailer in the 8000-series. The body of 4001 is now at the Illinois Railway Museum, but 7001 was scrapped in 1959.

North shore Line 721 is at the back end of a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip that is making a photo stop at the Zion station.

North Shore Line freight loco 451. Don’s Rail Photos notes, “451 was built in 1907 by Alco, #44387, and General Electric, #2697. It was retired in February 1948 and sold for scrap in March 1949.”

Ravinia Park was built by the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric, predecessor of the North Shore Line. Here is a view of the original music pavilion.

There was once an A branch on the MBTA Green Line in Boston– the Watertown line, which shared some trackage with the B branch to Boston College. PCC streetcars were replaced by buses on June 20, 1969, and this photo by Robert A. Newbegin was taken that same month. Various reasons have been cited for the change, including an equipment shortage. But this view in the Newton Corner neighborhood shows another issue– the inbound PCC, shown crossing over a highway, is going against the flow of one way traffic. Still, this trackage remained in place until 1994, for non-revenue streetcar access to Watertown Yard.

Kansas City Public Service PCC 535 on the Dodson line. The type of slide mount for this red border Kodachrome dates it to circa 1955-57. Car 535 was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1947, and Kansas City abandoned streetcars in 1957. They have since opened modern streetcar lines.

Illinois Terminal car 415 at the Illinois Electric Railway Museum in North Chicago on February 21, 1960.

The view looking west along Van Bure Street under the Loop “L” on July 24, 1957. The “L” went further west from here until 1955, when a new connection was built through the old Wells Street Terminal a short distance north of here. The Insurance Exchange building is at right.

Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (aka Red Arrow) car 63 has turned north at Llanerch Junction on May 30, 1964. It was most likely operating on the Ardmore line, which was converted to bus on December 30, 1966. Kenneth Achtert adds, “PSTC #63 is indeed on the Ardmore Division (having just turned off of West Chester Pike) probably on a fantrip, as May 30, 1964, was a Saturday (and Memorial Day weekend).”

SEPTA (Red Arrow) double-ended car 19 at the 69th Street Terminal storage yard on August 9, 1971. It was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1949, and although it looks like a PCC car, it is not considered one, as it has standard motor components.

A North Shore Line Electroliner heads southbound at North Chicago Junction on January 12, 1963, just over a week prior to abandonment.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin freight loco 2002 at Wheaton on August 6, 1939. Scanned from the original negative. (LaMar M. Kelley Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 130 (ex-North shore Line) on April 13, 1943. (Malcolm D. McCarter Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 600 (ex-Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis) and line car 5, on a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip.

This time card for the Batavia branch of the Aurora, Eglin and Chicago (predecessor of the CA&E) dates to 1905, when the interurban began running trains to downtown Chicago over the Metropolitan West side “L”.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin steel cars 412 and 416 are at the DesPlaines Avenue Terminal in Forest Park on July 23, 1955. After CA&E cut back service to here in 1953, riders could make a cross-platform change to ride the CTA Garfield Park “L” downtown, after paying another fare.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 416 at the DesPlaines Avenue Terminal in Forest Park on July 23, 1955. This is the view from the opposite direction as the last photo. There were two sets of platforms. The CA&E dropped off passengers at one platform, then traveled a short distance to pick others up at the other platform. CTA trains looped via a wooden trestle that went over the CA&E just west of here. This arrangement continued until the CA&E abruptly abandoned passenger service in the middle of the day on July 3, 1957. The CTA reconfigured the terminal and yard area in 1959, in conjunction with construction of the nearby expressway.

A Lehigh Valley Transit lightweight high-speed car is southbound on the Philadelphia and Western, crossing over Matson Ford Road, approaching Conshohocken Road station in January 1947. (David H. Cope Photo)

A Liberty Bell Limited train leaving Allentown, PA. The interurban ran to Philadelphia until 1949, partially via the Philadelphia and Western. For the last two years, service was cut back to Norristown until the 1951 abandonment.

Some Lehigh Valley Transit freight motors are at the Philadelphia and Western’s Norristown Terminal on a foggy day. The P&W connected with the Liberty Bell interurban route that continued to Allentown until 1951.

LVT 1023 (at left) has just passed another car on the streets of Norristown. The Pennsylvania license plate on the auto would indicate we are in an odd-numbered year (1947, 1949, or 1951). Kenneth Achtert: “#1023 is on Marshall siding with the Reading Railroad Elm Street yard to the right.”

LVT 1030 at the Allentown depot.

LVT 1023 at the Allentown depot.

Lehigh Valley Transit’s Liberty Bell interurban was abandoned in September 1951, but the company still had various streetcar lines in the Allentown and Bethlehem area that continued. Here, we see LVT 357, operating on a stretch of Gillmore Street line private right of way known as the “Race Track.” This picture was taken on October 26, 1952, the last day of streetcar service on the South Bethlehem Division (and there is a notice of the service change on the telephone pole at right). The last LVT streetcar ran in 1953.

LVT 963 passes a Liberty Bell car at the Allentown depot, while passengers board for the trip to Philadelphia.

An LVT Liberty Bell car is on a passing siding in Norristown, adjacent to a Reading Railroad yard for its electrified commuter rail service to Philadelphia. While the Liberty Bell line is long gone, commuter rail service to Norristown continues under SEPTA. Kenneth Achtert adds, “on Marshall siding NB with (Reading Railroad) Elm Street yard to the right.”

LVT city streetcar 908, signed for Fullerton. Don’s Rail Photos: “908 was built by Brill Car Co in February 1917, #20206. It was rebuilt.”

LVT 917, signed for the South Bethlehem route. Don’s Rail Photos: “917 was built by Brill Car Co in February 1917, #20206. It was rebuilt.”

A southbound LVT Liberty Bell car on 8th Street crosses Walnut Street in Allentown.

LVT Liberty Bell car 1005. Don’s Rail Photos: “1005 was built by Cincinnati Car in June 1930, #3050, as C&LE 123. It was sold to LVT as 1005 in 1938 and scrapped in 1952.”

LVT city streetcar 924. It was built by Brill, around the time 1917-1919.

LVT city streetcar 927, signed for Albright. Don’s Rail Photos: “927 was built by Brill Car Co in February 1919, #20706. It was rebuilt.”

LVT city streetcars 908 (at right), and possibly 413 at left.

LVT city streetcar 908, signed for Albright.

This is an amazing photograph. LVT 1001 is northbound in Norristown, passing the Rambo House Hotel. I assume this was a short distance from where the Liberty Bell met the Philadelphia and Western line. There is a circa 1950-51 Ford parked at right. The car sign just says Express instead of Philadelphia Express, as LVT cut back passenger service to Norristown in 1949. Their fleet of second-hand high speed cars was wearing out, in part due to having to climb hills in Pennsylvania, instead of the flat Midwest prairies they were designed to traverse. The car at left may have a 1951 Pennsylvania license plate, indicating this picture may have been taken shortly before the abandonment of rail service.

This picture was taken at the same location, and same time, as the previous image. We are in Norristown on Swede St. with Airy St. in the background, not far from the point where the LVT Liberty Bell line met the Philadelphia and Western. LVT 1002 is an outbound Allentown Limited. Kenneth Achtert: “#1002 is not yet headed to Allentown, but is backing up on Swede St. about to turn onto Airy St. (note that the front-end pole is up). These single-ended cars would unload at the Norristown Terminal (after through operation was halted) then would back up the 3-4 blocks on Swede and Airy Streets to Rink Loop, back around the loop, then back to the Terminal (now facing north) for the trip to Allentown.”

LVT 1021 is operating as a northbound Allentown Limited. Most of the Liberty Bell route was single tracked, with passing sidings. This is Acorn Siding, located by Normandy Farms in Blue Bell, PA.

The photographer took this picture while riding in a southbound Liberty Bell train on Markley Street in Norristown. Most of this was single track and we are on a passing siding. The northbound car approaching us could be 1021, and the picture probably dates to 1949-51, as the sign on the approaching car does not say Philadelphia. The Reading Company’s Elm Street commuter train station is off to the right.

This LVT Philadelphia Limited car is at Nace Siding, which Wikipedia says was “in open country just north of Souderton and the Souderton carbarn.”

Another picture at Nace Siding. The car is LVT 1008.

This LVT car is signed as a Norristown Local, which dates the picture to circa 1949-51. Not sure of the exact house number location on Airy Street in Norristown, but it has just crossed Cherry Street.

A rear end view of LVT 1030 on Airy Street in Norristown, about to turn onto Swede Street towards the Philadelphia and Western station. As this car originally came from the Indiana Railroad, it was slightly different than the other lightweight high-speed cars, which started out as Cincinnati and Lake Erie “Red Devils.” The IR cars were designed for multiple-unit operation, while the C&LE cars were not. Therefore, car 1030 had a more squared off back end. The C&LE cars were more rounded.

Another shot of LVT 908, signed for Fullerton.

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad 1974 Original 35mm Kodachrome Slide
Subject: CRI&P 652-610-654 and 14 cars on train 5, intercity service to Rock Island, IL
Location: Chicago IL
Date: May 4, 1974
Photographer: James J. Buckley
This is slide EBA030 in our internal filing system.
From the Wikipedia:
By the time Amtrak was formed in 1971, the once-proud Rock Island was down to just two intercity trains, the Chicago-Peoria Peoria Rocket and the Chicago-Rock Island Quad Cities Rocket, both of which now operated entirely within the borders of Illinois. However, the Rock Island opted against joining Amtrak, in part because the government assessed the Amtrak entrance fee based upon passenger miles operated in 1970. After concluding that the cost of joining would be greater than remaining in the passenger business, the railroad decided to “perform a public service for the state of Illinois” and continue intercity passenger operations. To help manage the service, the Rock Island hired National Association of Railroad Passengers founder Anthony Haswell as managing director of passenger services.
The last two trains plied the Rock Island’s Illinois Division as the track quality declined from 1971 through 1977. The transit times, once a speedy 2½ hours in the 1950s, had lengthened to a 4½ hour run by 1975. The State of Illinois continued to subsidize the service to keep it running. The track program of 1978 helped with main-line timekeeping, although the Rock Island’s management decreed that the two trains were not to delay freight traffic on the route. By this time, both once-proud trains were down to just two coaches, powered by EMD E8 locomotives entering their second decade of service. With the trains frequently running with as many paying passengers as coaches in the train, Illinois withdrew its subsidy, and the two trains made their final runs on December 31, 1978.
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Santa Teresa Tram Rio de Janeiro Original 1974 35mm Kodachrome Slide
Subject: CTCG 6
Location: Carioca (R10)
Date: March 17, 1974
Photographer: James J. Buckley
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Amtrak Conrail Train Valpo Local 1971 Original 35mm Kodachrome Slide
Subject: CR 5780-5603 plus 3 commuter train to Valparaiso, IN
Location: Chicago IL
Date: May 14, 1977
Photographer: James J. Buckley
From the Wikipedia:
The Calumet, also commonly called the Valpo Local, was a 43.6-mile (70.2 km) passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Chicago and Valparaiso, Indiana. Despite Amtrak’s mandate to provide only intercity service, the Calumet was a commuter train. Transferred from Conrail in 1979, the full route was shared with Amtrak’s Broadway Limited until 1990; the Calumet was discontinued the next year.
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Bolton Tram 66 Original 1985 35mm Kodachrome Slide UK
Subject: Bolton Tram 66
Location: Fleetwood (on Blackpool Tramway, UK)
Date: July 14, 1985
Photographer: James J. Buckley
From The Bolton News:
The Bolton 66 tramcar was built in 1901 as an open top eight-wheel double deck bogie tram by the Electric Railway and Tramway Carriage Works in Preston.
Bolton 66, the only tram in Blackpool Transport’s Heritage Tramcar fleet which does not originate in Blackpool, is well over one hundred years old and is still in good running order but that has not always been the case.
At the beginning of the 1960’s, Alan Ralphs and Bolton-born Derek Shepherd took the decision to attempt to restore the Bolton tramcar.
After more than 40 years serving the people of Bolton, the tramcar spent twenty years as a semi derelict bodyshell on a farm on the moors above Bolton.
However, with lots of enthusiasm, a group led by the duo, professional electrical engineer Derek Shepherd and supported by Alan Ralphs, spent many hours to completely restore the tram to a new condition taking them 18 years to complete.
In June 1981 the tram was moved to Blackpool and started to operate on the seafront, where it has remained for the last 41 years, due to Covid the 40th anniversary was postponed until this year.
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Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad 1971 Original 35mm Kodachrome Slide
Subject: CRI&P 664 and 6 cars, commuter train to Blue Island
Location: 47th Street, Chicago IL
Date: September 8, 1971
Photographer: James J. Buckley
From the Wikipedia:
Chicago commuter service
The Rock Island also operated an extensive commuter train service in the Chicago area. The primary route ran from LaSalle Street Station to Joliet along the main line, and a spur line, known as the “Suburban Line” to Blue Island. The main-line trains supplanted the long-distance services that did not stop at the numerous stations on that route. The Suburban Line served the Beverly Hills area of Chicago as a branch leaving the main line at Gresham and heading due west, paralleling the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad passenger line before turning south. The Suburban Line made stops every four blocks along the way before rejoining the main line at Western Avenue Junction in Blue Island.
From the 1920s on, the suburban services were operated using Pacific-type 4-6-2 locomotives and specially designed light-heavyweight coaches that with their late 1920s build dates became known as the “Capone” cars. The suburban service became well known in the diesel era, as the steam power was replaced, first with new EMD FP7s and ALCO RS-3s, with two Fairbanks-Morse units added later. In 1949, Pullman-built 2700-series cars arrived as the first air-conditioned commuter cars on the line.
In the 1960s, the Rock Island tried to upgrade the suburban service with newer equipment at lower cost. Second-hand Aerotrains, while less than successful in intercity service, were purchased to provide further air-conditioned accommodations that had proven popular with the 2700 series cars.
When the Milwaukee Road purchased new Budd Company stainless-steel, bilevel cars in 1961, the Rock Island elected to add to a subsequent order and took delivery of its first bilevel equipment in 1964. Power for these new cars was provided by orphaned passenger units: three EMD F7s, an EMD E6, and the two EMD AB6s. The engines were rebuilt with head end power to provide heat, air conditioning, and lighting for the new cars. In 1970, another order, this time for Pullman-built bilevel cars arrived to further supplement the fleet. To provide the power for these cars, several former Union Pacific EMD E8 and EMD E9 diesels were also rebuilt with head end power and added to the commuter pool.
The outdoor passenger concourse and platforms of LaSalle Street Station as built and operated by Metra. The trains shown are commuter runs to Blue Island and Joliet, Illinois.
The commuter service was not exempt from the general decline of the Rock Island through the 1970s. Over time, deferred maintenance took its toll on both track and rolling stock. On the Rock Island, the Capone cars were entering their sixth decade of service and the nearly 30-year-old 2700s suffered from severe corrosion due to the steel used in their construction. LaSalle Street Station, the service’s downtown terminal, suffered from neglect and urban decay with the slab roof of the train shed literally falling apart, requiring its removal. By this time, the Rock Island could not afford to replace the clearly worn-out equipment.
In 1976, the entire Chicago commuter rail system began to receive financial support from the state of Illinois through the Regional Transportation Authority. Operating funds were disbursed to all commuter operators, and the Rock Island was to be provided with new equipment to replace the tired 2700 series and Capone cars. New Budd bilevels that were near copies of the 1961 Milwaukee Road cars arrived in 1978. New EMD F40PH units arrived in late 1977 and, in summer, 1978, briefly could be seen hauling Capone cars. The Rock Island’s commuter F and E units were relegated to freight service or the scrapyard.
With the 1980 end of the Rock Island, the RTA purchased the suburban territory and remaining Rock Island commuter equipment from the estate, while the Chicago and North Western Railway took over operations for a year before the RTA began operating it directly in 1981. LaSalle Street Station was torn down and replaced with the Chicago Stock Exchange building, with a smaller commuter station located one block south of the old station. The RTA gradually rebuilt the track and added more new equipment to the service, leaving the property in better shape than it was in the Rock Island’s heyday, albeit with less track. The Rock Island District, as the Rock Island’s suburban service is now known, now operates as part of Metra, the Chicago commuter rail agency.
Our resident South Side expert M.E. adds, “Your (or maybe the Wikipedia) text says
“The Suburban Line served the Beverly Hills area of Chicago as a branch leaving the main line at Gresham and heading due west, paralleling the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad passenger line before turning south.” The wording “paralleling the B&OCT RR passenger line” is not precise. On a sheet of paper, maybe the CRI&P and the B&OCT ran parallel, but in reality, they shared the ground-level trackage for about a mile. The CRI&P’s first station on the Suburban Line (after leaving the Main Line) was at 89th and Loomis (1400 W.). It was (and still is) called Brainerd. One block of Loomis, between 89th and 90th Sts., became a business district. Just as the commuter lines to the north and west saw the development of business districts around commuter train stations, the CRI&P Suburban Line brought about business districts at Brainerd, 95th St., 99th St., 103rd St., and 111th St.
At the western end of that shared mile, about a block west of Ashland Ave. (1600 W.), the B&OCT turned north while the CRI&P turned south. At the eastern end of the shared mile, a few blocks west of Vincennes (which at that point was about 1000 W.), the B&OCT kept going east while the CRI&P Suburban Line ascended to the Main Line and turned north.
Way back (I’m talking about 1950 and earlier), the Halsted St. streetcar line went south on Vincennes, eventually ending at 111th and Sacramento (3000 W.) where it served a row of cemeteries along 111th. Southbound along Vincennes, at 89th St., having just gone under the CRI&P overhead Suburban Line junction with the Main Line, the streetcar line diverged from the street itself onto its own private right-of-way adjacent to the CRI&P Main Line. So 89th and Vincennes was at one time a nice place to watch railroad and streetcar activity.”
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Amtrak Turboliner RTG 1978 Original 35mm Kodachrome Slide
Subject: Amtrak RTG 6715, train 334
Location: Chicago, IL on route to Milwaukee
Date: April 15, 1978
Photographer: James J. Buckley
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mtrak RDC Train 1974 Original 35mm Kodachrome Slide
Subject: Amtrak RDCs 31-30-10, Train 370
Location: Cicero, IL (between Dubuque and Chicago)
Date: June 24, 1974
Photographer: James J. Buckley
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