More Buses, Trolleys, and Trains

July 26, 2018December 9, 2020David Sadowski 18 Comments

This amazing photo is from a glass plate negative we recently purchased, and shows a Chicago Union Traction streetcar RPO (railway post office) unpowered trailer car. CUT existed between 1899 and 1908, which helps date the photo. This car may previously have been a cable car trailer, before being pressed into mail service.

Instead of trains, planes, and automobiles, today we have a generous helping of classic bus, trolley, and train images courtesy of noted transit historian William Shapotkin. We thank Bill very much for sharing these with our readers. Even if you are not a huge fan of buses per se, and some electric traction fans aren’t, you still may appreciate seeing some of these locations, which offer views that you typically don’t see here on this blog. Many are contemporary to other streetcar pictures we have run, and show what types of equipment the CTA was running along with the “L” cars and streetcars that we often feature.

On the other hand, if you do like rubber-tired vehicles, then “hop on the bus, Gus!” And even if you don’t, chances are there are still plenty of railed vehicles here to keep you happy.

-David Sadowski

Please note: All photos in this section are from the collections of William Shapotkin.

This photo shows an old wooden Met car on the CTA’s Kenwood shuttle in the 1950s. The view looks east from the Indiana Avenue station. The south side main line continues off to the right. Service on the Kenwood branch ended in 1957.

This image, showing CTA bus 3676 on Route 82A, was not identified, but it clearly shows the Logan Square “L” terminal with connecting bus transfer area in the early 1960s.

CTA buses at the Western and 79th loop.

The old South Shore Line station in Gary, Indiana in July 1984. (Paul Johnsen Photo)

CTA Route 59 bus 5610 is at 59th and State on April 26, 1972.

CTA trolley bus 9392 is at the Montrose and Narragansett loop in 1965. This loop has since been removed.

A Metra train stops at the Mont Clare station on the former Milwaukee Road West Line on April 13, 1999. The original station at this location was demolished in 1964, and my father and I sifted through the rubble. We found several tickets, some dating back to the 1880s, which we donated to a local historical society. As far as I know, these are still on display at the Elmwood Park Public Library.

Chicao, IL: looking south on Holden Court (under teh south side "L") toward grade-separated crossing with the St. Charles Air Line from 15th Street in March 2000. (William Shapotkin Photo)

Chicao, IL: looking south on Holden Court (under the south side “L”) toward grade-separated crossing with the St. Charles Air Line from 15th Street in March 2000. (William Shapotkin Photo)

The Roosevelt Road streetcar extension, crossing the Illinois Central on its way back from the Field Museum and Soldier Field. The date is unknown, but service ended in 1953.

CTA 518 at Halsted and 75th on February 22, 1954. Streetcar service on Halsted ended three months later. (James J. Buckley Photo)

CTA 652 and 678 pass each other at Halsted and 75th on February 22, 1954. (James J. Buckley Photo)

CTA 6148 at Halsted and 75th on February 22, 1954. (James J. Buckley Photo)

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 434 at the Seashore Trolley Museum in July 1963.

A Chicago Aurora & Elgin freight train at National Street in Elgin. The style of Kodachrome slide mount dates this picture to between 1955 and 1959. (Although passenger service ended in 1957, freight continued for nearly two more years.)

CSL 5130. Bill Shapotkin adds, “This is an E/B 31st car, having just crossing under the South Side ‘L’. View looks west (from Wabash).” We ran another picture of 5130 on the same route on our previous post Spring Forward (April 19, 2018).

CSL 5154. Bill Shapotkin adds, “This is a W/B 31st car at State St (South Side “L” in background). View looks east.” Again, we previously ran another picture of this same car on the same route in our post Spring Forward (April 19, 2018).

CTA bus 2566 is at 119th and Western, running on Route 49A.

CTA bus 5723 is at the Western and 79th loop, probably in the 1960s.

CTA bus 6541 is at the Western and 79th loop in 1953. Meanwhile, a postwar PCC (built by the St. Louis Car Co.) goes around the loop. Streetcar service on Western ended in June 1956. Jeff Wien writes, “The caption states that it is 1953 in this photo. I would guess 1948 not long after the loop opened. There is virtually no landscaping anywhere and the sidewalks look like they were recently laid. Later pictures of this loop showed green grass and bushes which was typical of CTA loops until they decided to asphalt over everything (ie: Clark-Arthur loop).” Andre Kristopans: “Bus 6541 at 79th/Western is definitely soon after loop opened. After 79th was converted, this spot is where 79th buses loaded, and 49A’s loaded about three bus lengths back, on the left side of the driveway (see 2578 shot following for new location).”

CTA bus 2578, running on Route 49A, is at the Western and 79th loop. When PCCs were introduced to Western Avenue in 1948, buses were substituted on the north and south ends of the line, which were spun off into extensions of Route 49. New loops were built, this being the one on the south end of the line.

CTA bus 5066 is turning north from Leland onto Western, running Route 49B in 1958. Here, riders could change to the Ravenswood “L”, today’s Brown Line. The station has since been rebuilt. Jeff Wien adds, “I believe that the photo of CTA 5066 at Western & Leland was taken in 1956 rather than 1958 as stated in the caption. Route 49 was converted to motor bus in June 1956. The photo shows the streetcar tracks still exposed as well as the overhead wires in place. I would imagine that the wires would have been removed by 1958, and I seem to recall that the City paved Western Avenue not long after the streetcars were removed. The City built the obnoxious overpass at Western and Belmont shortly after the streetcars were removed in 1956.”

Passengers board CTA bus 5470 at the Western and Berwyn loop on Chicago’s north side. Route 49B was the northern extension of the Western line.

CTA bus 3528 is on Route 54B (South Cicero) on Cicero at 26th, circa the late 1950s.

CTA bus 2543 is heading east on 103rd Street at Longwood Drive on Route 103 (103rd-106th Streets) in the late 1950s. The building directly behind the bus is now occupied by a Starbucks. Our resident south side expert M. E. writes, “Not showing in this picture (because of the trees) is Chicago’s only castle, on the northwest corner of 103rd and Longwood. (Longwood is at the bottom of the “hill”. Did you know: The land atop the “hill” is geologically called Blue Island? It begins north of 87th St. where the Dan Ryan’s Woods toboggan slide was.)” On the other hand, Stu Slaymaker says, “The shot of ACF-Brill bus that is labeled, 103rd and Longwood, was actually taken at 111th and Longwood. My old neighborhood. Out of the picture behind the photographer, is the R. I. Suburban Line Morgan Park-111th station. The used car lot on the right corner, was a Texaco station in the 1960s. The trees are so lush, you can’t see the Walker Branch Library, at the top of the hill.”

CTA 3449 is on Route 31 (31st Street). Not sure which cross street the streetcar is on.

CSL 3425 is on Route 31 (31st Street) at Pitney Court. However, the date provided (1946) must be wrong, since this line was not converted to bus until February 29, 1948. (Thanks to Daniel Joseph for pointing that out.)

CTA 5493 is heading south from the Western and Berwyn loop, on Route 49B (North Western). This picture was taken after streetcar service ended in 1956, as the tracks appear to already be paved over and overhead wires removed.

On August 9, 1953 CTA bus 5306 heads west on Route 6 – Van Buren Street at Racine, next to new temporary Garfield Park “L” trackage that went into service the following month. at right, you can see the existing “L” structure, which was torn down the following year.

CTA bus 5499 is at DesPlaines Avenue terminal in Forest Park, running on Route 17 – Westchester, which replaced the Westchester “L” in 1951.

CTA 2365 is operating on Route 58 – Ogden at 26th and Cicero Avenue in the late 1950s.

CTA 6814 is on 115th Street at Michigan Avenue on Route 115 in the 1960s. Bill Shapotkin adds, “This view (correctly identified as 115th/Michigan) looks east.”

CTA 2718 and 2734 at 74th and Damen.

CTA 3620 at 54th Avenue in
CTA 3620 at 54th Avenue in Cicero, the end of the line for the Douglas Park “L” (now the Pink Line).

CTA 2603 at 119th and Western, the south end of Route 49A.

CTA 6532 at the Western and 79th loop, running on Route 79.

Chicago & West Towns 848 at the DesPlaines Avenue CTA terminal on August 7, 1980. The second overpass, behind the bus, was for the Chicago Great Western freight line. That bridge and tracks have since been removed. (Ronald J. Sullivan Photo)

Westbound Rock Island train #113 at the 91st Street depot on April 5, 1970. Our resident south side epert M. E. adds, “The caption says this view is “at the 91st Street depot.” Not quite. The view faces north. The train is curving from west (along 89th St.) to south. Notice the railroad crossing signals and gates in the background. That trackage joined with the CRI&P traffic to the east. On that trackage ran the B&O Capitol Limited on its way to Washington DC, as captured in https://thetrolleydodger.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/proofs288.jpg , although in that photo the Capitol Limited is inbound to Chicago.”

The interlocking levers at the 91st Street Rock Island Tower on July 3, 1969.

The lineup board at the Rock Island 91st Street Tower on July 3, 1969.

The interlocking levers at the Rock Island’s 61st Street Tower on January 5, 1969.

Tower man Roy Bliss and Assistant Tower man Jack Poehron are flagging all trains by the burned-out Rock Island 61st Street Tower on April 20, 1967. The wooden tower had opened in 1898.

Rock Island train #11 (with engine #621) passes the burned-out 61st Street Tower on April 20, 1967, the day after the fire. 61st was the end of the four-track section running from LaSalle Street Station in downtown Chicago.

Rock Island train #19, as seen from the 61st Street Tower.

Rock Island 61st Street Tower on December 8, 1968. (Looking north at movable point crossing- RI “in” (L), NYC “out” (R).

The Rock Island 91st Street Tower on April 5, 1970.

The Rock Island’s 91st Street Tower, where the railroad crossed the PRR “Panhandle” route, as it looked on August 17, 1974. As you can see, the tower has received a new coat of paint since the last picture.

Baltimore & Ohio #5, the Capitol Limited, passing by the Beverly Junction Tower one hour and 50 minutes late, on April 5, 1970.

CTA bus 8829 is at Ashland and 95th in 1973. Daniel Joseph adds, “If the destination sign is reliable, I believe this bus is on the #45 Ashland Downtown and not on #9 Ashland.”

CTA 2528 is at Ogden and Cermak on Route 58 on April 29, 1961. Bill Shapotkin adds, “Yes, this is indeed Cermak/Ogden — the view looks west.”

CTA 5863 at the Ashland and 95th Street terminal, south end of Route 9, on June 20, 1973. (John Le Beau Photo)

Chicago & West Towns bus 777 at the CTA DesPlaines Avenue terminal on March 17, 1974. The terminal has since been redone. The two sets of stairs on DesPlaines Avenue appear to provide a way for pedestrians to cross a busy street where there are no stoplights. (John Le Beau Photo)

CTA “New Look” bus 9441, running on Route 17 – Westchester, is at the DesPlaines terminal on June 28, 1977. Since the previous picture was taken, the set of stairs on the west side of DesPlaines Avenue has been removed. Since the other stair still appears to be in use, it seems as though the CTA decided to extend the walkway to the platform area, so that commuters would not need to go up and down so many stairs.

CTA 9461 is at Catalpa and Broadway, operating on Route 84 – Peterson on September 1, 1980. (Ronald J. Sullivan Photo)

CTA 8417 is on Route 17 – Westchester in June 1971. (John Le Beau Photo)

PACE 6338 is heading south on Harlem Avenue on Route 305, having just gone under the CTA Green Line “L” in December 2012. (Mel Bernero Photo)

PACE 6225 heads west on Route 309 – Lake Street at Harlem Avenue. To the left, just out of view, is the former Marshall Field’s store in Oak Park, a local landmark. It later housed a Border’s bookstore, now also gone. This photo must have been taken a few years ago, as you would see some new tall buildings if you took the same picture today. Unable to move outward, Oak Park is moving “up.” (John Le Beau Photo)

CTA 2527 is at 25th and Laramie in Cicero, the west end of Route 58 – Ogden. The date appears to be the late 1950s.

Chicago & West Towns buses 839 and 804 are laying over in the middle of the street at Cermak and 47th Street in January 1979. This is near the border between Cicero and Chicago, and also adjacent to the old Western Electric plant.

RTA bus 8107 at the West Towns bus garage in oak Park on April 12, 1981. (John Le Beau Photo)

RTA 8049 at the West Towns garage in Oak Park on May 28, 1978. This is now the site of a Pete’s Fresh Market. (Ronald J. Sullivan Photo)

PACE bus 2092 is exiting from the CTA DesPlaines Avenue terminal in April 1992. Where the bus is, was once the approximate location of Chicago Great Western freight tracks, which spanned DesPlaines Avenue via a bridge and then connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal tracks. That portion of the old CGW right-of-way between here and First Avenue has been paved, and provides a connection to the Prairie Path, which starts at First Avenue.

CTA 1806 is on Route 84 – Peterson at Western Avenue on April 21, 1957. (Michael N. Charnota Photo)

This slide was labeled “Oak Park,” but actually, it’s on the border between Elmwood Park and River Grove. PACE bus 22550 is heading east on Grand Avenue, going over the long crossing of the Metra Milwaukee District West Line on route 319 on May 8, 1993. There has een much talk over the years of grade-separating these tracks, where some accidents have occurred, but so far nothing has come of it. (Ronald J. Sullivan Photo)

RTA bus 496 is at the Brookfield Zoo on December 11, 1977. Andre Kristopans adds, “Bus 496 is on an OSA (Omnibus Society of America) charter. Note the “9” covered with tape.” (John Le Beau Photo)

RTA bus 8044 is at the old West Towns garage in Oak Park in March 1983.

CTA bus 4580 heads west on Harrison at Springfield on March 7, 1991.

CTA bus 1112 is at 115th and Perry in February 1983.

South Suburban Safeway Lines bus 702 is northbound at 119th and Western, probably around 1970. Our resident south side expert M. E. adds, “South Suburban Safeway Lines went north on Western to 63rd, then east to Halsted, the heart of Englewood. Actually, east to Union, south to 63rd Place, and west to the L station at Halsted and 63rd Place, where it ended its northbound run. Southbound, it first took Halsted north to 63rd, then west to Western, etc. The other thing to notice in this picture is that Western Ave. was not as wide south of 119th. This is because the Chicago city limit is 119th, and south of that is Blue Island.”

South Suburban Safeway Lines 714 on Western at 79th on October 4, 1975. (Michael N. Charnota Photo)

CTA 871, running on Route 49B North Western, is at the Western Avenue stop on the Ravenswood “L” in June 1973. (Michael N. Charnota Photo)

CTA 5567 is on Western near 63rd Street on April 20, 1972 (Route 49). Our resident south side expert M. E. adds, “Notice Cupid Candies on one corner and Fannie May Candies across the street.” Jeff Weiner adds, “CTA 5567 appears to be at Western and 62nd, as the City maintained a traffic signal there for the Sears store. Until a closed-loop system was installed, the 62nd signal operated fixed-time during store hours, and went on yellow-red flash when the store was closed. After it was modernized, the operation was semiactuated, with coordination to the other signals on Western. Until it was modernized, the median signals were on concrete “blockbuster” foundations, replaced with mast arm signals afterwards.”

CTA 5978 is at the Western and 79th loop on June 20, 1973. (Ronald J. Sullivan Photo)

CTA Pullman 312 on Kedzie. Bill Shapotkin adds, “Car is working #52 — Kedzie-California and is laying over in California at Roscoe. View looks north.”

CTA Pullman 444 at Armitage and California in January 1950.

CTA one-man car 6184 at Lawrence and Luna in 1949.

CTA 336, in June 1952, is on California Avenue at Augusta Boulevard.

Chicago Surface Lines 474 is on Belmont at Clark in May 1947.

CSL 1644 is on Route 6 at Division and California in May 1942. The Divison and Van Buren car lines were through-routed starting in 1937.

CTA 5574 at an unknown location. Jon Habermaas writes, “Photo appears to be on the Halsted route where the line is on private right of way along Vincennes Ave., paralleling the Rock Island mainline… in the background you can see the Washington Heights Rock Island depot and a cross buck along the Pennsy’s Panhandle division, which crosses Vincennes Avenue and the Rock Island just south of 103rd Street. The car would be around 104th and Vincennes Ave.” Our resident south side expert M. E. adds, “Mr. Habermaas’s description is accurate. I will add that this private right of way started at 89th St., just south of the CRI&P Beverly branch viaduct, and ended around 107th St. where Vincennes veered farther west from the CRI&P main line. And more historically, this right-of-way originated for the Kankakee car, which had its barn at 88th and Vincennes and ran on Halsted as far north as Englewood.” Andre Kristopans: “Car 5574 SB at 105th or so. You can just make out the 104th RI station in the back, and PRR crossbuck to the right in the distance.” (Robert W. Gibson Photo)

CTA 1749, one of the few old streetcars repainted in green, is at Cermak and State in January 1954, running on Route 21. Note the steam engine in the background.

CTA prewar PCC 4038 is eastbound on 63rd Street. PCCs ran on this line between 1948 and 1952. If the address on the building is any guide, this is probably 122 East 63rd Street.

Illinois Central Electric bi-level car 1514 at the Blue Island Yards on April 23, 1978.

CTA trolley bus 9553 is on its last run, a fan trip held on April 1, 1973. Here it is on Fullerton Avenue near the Milwaukee Road freight line. This was one week after trolley buses were taken out of service.

CTA Marmon-Herrington trolley bus 535 at North and Cicero.

Recent Site Addition

This photo was added to our previous post More Mystery Photos (July 29, 2016):

BEDT 0-6-0 #16 in Brooklyn, NY on October 9, 1982.

Chicago Subway Lecture

Samuel D. Polonetzky makes a point during his presentation at the Chicago Maritime Museum on July 25, 2018. (David Sadowski Photo)

On July 25 2018, Samuel D. Polonetzky, P.E., B.Sc. gave a presentation before the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, of which he is a member. The topic was “Crossing of the Chicago River by the State Street Subway.” He showed actual motion pictures of the construction of the Subway in 1938-40.

Mr. Polonetzky is a Civil Engineer who served the City of Chicago, Department of Streets & Sanitation for thirty five years, rising from Engineer-In-Training to Acting Chief Engineer. During this tenure he acquired a deep knowledge of Chicago’s public rights-of-way and the underground infrastructure. He is also an active member of the Illinois Railway Museum at Union IL and a Life Member of the American Public Works Association.

The Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago meets in the Chicago Maritime Museum located in the Bridgeport Arts Center, 3400 S. Racine Av. Chicago Ill. 60609.

The film shown is called Streamlining Chicago (1940), and you can watch it here:

Pre-Order Our New Book Building Chicago’s Subways

There are three subway anniversaries this year in Chicago:
60 years since the West Side Subway opened (June 22, 1958)
75 years since the State Street Subway opened (October 17, 1943)
80 years since subway construction started (December 17, 1938)

To commemorate these anniversaries, we have written a new book, Building Chicago’s Subways.

While the elevated Chicago Loop is justly famous as a symbol of the city, the fascinating history of its subways is less well known. The City of Chicago broke ground on what would become the “Initial System of Subways” during the Great Depression and finished 20 years later. This gigantic construction project, a part of the New Deal, would overcome many obstacles while tunneling through Chicago’s soft blue clay, under congested downtown streets, and even beneath the mighty Chicago River. Chicago’s first rapid transit subway opened in 1943 after decades of wrangling over routes, financing, and logistics. It grew to encompass the State Street, Dearborn-Milwaukee, and West Side Subways, with the latter modernizing the old Garfield Park “L” into the median of Chicago’s first expressway. Take a trip underground and see how Chicago’s “I Will” spirit overcame challenges and persevered to help with the successful building of the subways that move millions. Building Chicago’s subways was national news and a matter of considerable civic pride–making it a “Second City” no more!

Bibliographic information:

Title Building Chicago’s Subways
Images of America
Author David Sadowski
Edition illustrated
Publisher Arcadia Publishing (SC), 2018
ISBN 1467129380, 9781467129381
Length 128 pages

Chapter Titles:
01. The River Tunnels
02. The Freight Tunnels
03. Make No Little Plans
04. The State Street Subway
05. The Dearborn-Milwaukee Subway
06. Displaced
07. Death of an Interurban
08. The Last Street Railway
09. Subways and Superhighways
10. Subways Since 1960

Building Chicago’s Subways will be published on October 1, 2018. Order your copy today, and it will be shipped on or about that date. All copies purchased through The Trolley Dodger will be signed by the author.

The price of $23.99 includes shipping within the United States.

For Shipping to US Addresses:

For Shipping to Canada:

For Shipping Elsewhere:

Redone tile at the Monroe and Dearborn CTA Blue Line subway station, showing how an original sign was incorporated into a newer design, May 25, 2018. (David Sadowski Photo)

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 216th 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 over 425,000 page views, for which we are very grateful.

You can help us continue our original transit research by checking out the fine products in our Online Store.

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

We thank you for your support.

DONATIONS

In order to continue giving you the kinds of historic railroad images that you have come to expect from The Trolley Dodger, we need your help and support. It costs money to maintain this website, and to do the sort of historic research that is our specialty.

Your financial contributions help make this web site better, and are greatly appreciated.

More CA&E Jewels

February 9, 2016October 19, 2016David Sadowski 12 Comments

CA&E 309 at Wheaton on a May 19, 1957 CERA fantrip. About two years later the fledgling Illinois Electric Railway Museum referred to this car as the “jewel of the fleet,” when raising money for its purchase. We reproduced that flyer in our post Railfan Ephemera (August 26, 2015).

We’ve been on a bit of a Chicago, Aurora & Elgin kick lately, so here are some more great photos of that fabled interurban. Several of these were taken on Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrips. There were many such trips in the sunset days of the “Sunset Lines.”

We also have some photos of city streetcars in Elgin in the early 20th century. As you can see from the photos, some of these were lightly built lines that I am sure did not offer up the riding quality generally associated with the CA&E.

We also tracked down a photo of a Commonwealth Edison electric loco in service, to satisfy a request made some time ago by one of our readers.

Enjoy!

-David Sadowski

PS- We have the unique and rare opportunity to buy nearly a dozen 7″ reels of 8mm railfan films shot between 1954 and 1971 at a very reasonable cost. These include Chicago rapid transit, streetcars in New Orleans, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Newark and Philadelphia, the Red Arrow lines (including the Ardmore branch), and several CERA fantrips. This opens up the possibility that at some future date, we may be able to offer DVDs of these films. But a lot of work and expense has to go into making that a reality. Your generous contributions towards that goal are greatly appreciated.

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 118th 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 over 122,000 page views, for which we are very grateful.

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.

In our post Trolley Dodger Mailbag, 10-18-2015, Mike Murray asked for pictures of the Commonwealth Edison third rail operation on Chicago’s north side (not far from the former location of Hot Doug’s). Well, we finally found one. Here is electric loco S-4 at California and Addison on January 9, 1949. According to Don’s Rail Photos, “4 was built in November 1911 by Alco, #50284, and General Electric, #3514. It was donated to Illinois (Electric) Railway Museum in 1962.”

“CTA elevated train on loop over Aurora-Elgin track (Garfield Park line, Des Plaines Ave.), August 1955.” (Roy Bruce Photo)

CA&E 454 and 701 at Lakewood on a May 19, 1957 CERA fantrip. This is the same train shown in another picture at Elgin. (Roy Bruce Photo)

CA&E Pullman 405. But is this Aurora or Batavia?

This would appear to be a lineup of rapid transit cars in storage at Roosevelt Road on the Westchester branch, which was owned by CA&E. It was intended to be part of a bypass route that would have gone through what we know today as Oakbrook. Service on this branch ended in December 1951. The only car number I can make out in this photo is 2889. (Dick Rumbolz Photo)

CA&E 421 and 423 street running in Aurora. Since the street running was eliminated in 1939, this photo cannot be later than that date.

A two-car CA&E train, headed up by 434, “at speed.” Not sure of the exact location. (H. L. Younger Photo)

CA&E 314 and CTA 2833 at Laramie on March 12, 1953. I’m not sure whether the 314 is on a storage track. The photographer notes, “this section to be abandoned by CA&E.” The interurban cut back service to Forest Park that September 20th. I believe we are looking east. (Roy Bruce Photo)

CA&E freight locos 2001 and 2002 at Wheaton on March 14, 1957.

CA&E 454 and 701 at Elgin, alongside the Fox River, on a May 19, 1957 CERA fantrip. 701 was a control trailer and had formerly been owned by the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis. As Don’s Rail Photos says, “701 was built by Cincinnati Car Co in 1913 as WB&A 81. It was sold as CA&E 701 in 1938.” It and its brothers had their ends modified by CA&E to fit Chicago “L” clearances.

CTA 6041-6042 at Western Avenue on the Van Buren temporary trackage, February 22, 1955. This rerouting, caused by Congress expressway construction, had a lot to do with the demise of the CA&E.

CA&E 300 and 318 at Batavia on a July 4, 1956 CERA fantrip.

CA&E Pullmans 419 and 403 are taking a photo stop at Glen Oak on a July 4, 1956 CERA fantrip.

A close-up view.

CA&E 321 and 404 at Wheaton on July 4, 1956.

An Elgin trolley.

Photo caption: “Elgin Illinois 1923. 10 cents from here to Elgin via the “Toonerville Trolley,” trolley clog(?) 5 cents extra.”

Photo caption: “Next stop Trout Park.”

The Trout Park roller coaster. Trolley lines often built amusement parks in order to generate traffic.

An Elgin trolley.

Elgin trolleys.

The Elgin Watch factory circa 1910. It closed in the 1960s.

A couple of CA&E woods (including 308) head east, approaching the Des Plaines Avenue terminal in April 1957, a few months before abandonment of passenger service. Another CA&E train is in the terminal, while a train of CTA 4000s, including a “baldy” with the blocked-off center door, turns around on a wooden trestle. This arrangement began when the CA&E stopped running downtown in September 1953.

This undated 1950s photo shows a westbound Chicago, Aurora & Elgin train (cars 406 and 41x) at the Villa Park station. According to the Great Third Rail web site, “The station was rebuilt again in 1929. During this reconstruction, the eastbound platform was moved to the west side of Villa Avenue with the construction of an expansive Tudor Revival station designed by Samuel Insull’s staff architect, Arthur U. Gerber. The westbound platform remained in place and was outfitted with a flat roofed wooden passenger shelter. Villa Park was one of a few stations to survive the demise of the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin. Both it and Ardmore (the next station west) were purchased by the village of Villa Park and refurbished with an official dedication by the Villa Park Bicentennial Commission on July 5, 1976. It is now home to the Villa Park Historical Society which hosts an annual ice cream social on July 3, the anniversary of the day the CA&E ended passenger service.”

I believe this photo shows CA&E freight loco 4006 on the Mt. Carmel branch.

The CA&E station at Spring Road in Elmhurst in the 1950s.

Here is Lackawana & Wyoming Valley 31 as it appeared on August 3, 1952. Passenger service ended on this third-rail line at the end of that year. Some have wondered if the LL rolling stock could have benefited the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin, but the general consensus is these cars would have been too long to navigate the tight curves on the Loop “L”, although perhaps they could have been used west of Forest Park. As it was, there were no takers and all were scrapped. Ironically, some thought was later given by a museum of adapting a CA&E curved-side car into an ersatz Laurel Line replica, but this idea was dropped.

A Cold Last Ride

January 25, 2016January 29, 2016David Sadowski 10 Comments

319-320 in Wheaton. (Mark Llanuza Collection)

Thanks to the generosity of Mark Llanuza, we are today featuring photos from his collection that were taken on December 7, 1958, on the final passenger movement on the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban. This was a fantrip sponsored by the Illini Railroad Club.

As you can see in the flyer reproduced below, the trip started and ended at 5th Avenue in Maywood. This was as far east as CA&E could go in 1958. To get there from the DesPlaines Avenue CTA terminal, fans would have taken the CTA #17 bus (which replaced the Westchester “L” in 1951), got off at Madison and First, and walked about three blocks south.

In a previous post (“The CTA, the CA&E, and “Political Influence,” Feb. 18, 2015) we delved into some of the issues surrounding efforts to save the CA&E, and why they ultimately failed.

In short, CA&E was allowed to “temporarily” abandon passenger service as of July 3, 1957 because, at that moment, it was in the best interests of all the various power brokers who were involved.

The State of Illinois wanted very much to begin expressway construction near the DesPlaines River, so that two segments of highway could be connected. CA&E owned a crucial piece of property where the highway was to be built, and if they had not agreed to sell it, this could have held up construction for two years.

CA&E, in turn, had been operating at a loss since they voluntarily stopped running their trains over CTA trackage in September 1953. They had received a lot of income, on the other hand, through the sale of various parts of their right-of-way. For example, the CTA bought CA&E’s infrastructure between Laramie and DesPlaines Avenue (but not, apparently, the terminal itself) for $1m. Instead of using this money to purchase new equipment, the railroad distributed the proceeds from this partial liquidation to their shareholders.

These kinds of actions invited speculators to purchase CA&E stock and helped hasten the eventual liquidation of the entire railroad. It was worth more dead than alive. Operating, it lost money, but liquidated, it meant a handsome profit to the shareholders.

A CA&E stock certificate issued in 1956 to Curtis M. Wylie (1890-1958), a Michigan businessman. The stock was redeemed in 1959 after his death. Wylie left a bequest of $6.2m to the Grand Rapids Foundation, which continues to benefit the community today.

If CA&E had wanted to continue operating passenger service, it would have been possible to build a temporary track connection with the CTA Forest Park terminal via the Chicago Great Western starting at First Avenue using overhead wire. But CA&E was only interested in either selling the entire railroad (to the State or the CTA) or liquidating it. The highway project became an expedient excuse for abandonment. Meanwhile, CA&E insisted on being reimbursed for the operating losses they had incurred since 1953, and this appears to have been folded into the amount they were paid for their right-of-way between First Avenue and DesPlaines.

There were, in fact, additional portions of CA&E right-of-way that were needed for highway construction elsewhere. In retrospect, it would have saved the state money if they had simply purchased the entire railroad for $6m, as they nearly did in 1956. But this would have made the state responsible for maintaining service.

Likewise, it did not benefit the CTA to keep the CA&E running. Better to let them abandon service, in case it would have been possible for the CTA to resume service over a portion of the interurban (to Wheaton) later on. In any event, CTA did not want to operate any service over former CA&E trackage until and unless their additional operating expenses would be paid for. And nobody stepped forward to make that happen.

So, once CA&E had distributed the proceeds from various land sales to their shareholders, there was little or nothing left in the till to pay for a resumption of passenger service in 1959. And although there was a modest increase in freight traffic after the 1957 abandonment of passenger service, the railroad was still losing money. Without a firm sale or an additional funding source, the railroad’s choices were to either dissipate all their remaining assets, or simply go out of business.

It was hoped that the December 1958 fantrip would help generate interest in a resumption of passenger service on the CA&E. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

If service had been resumed, there likely would have been continued short-term losses in passengers due to completion of the Congress (now Eisenhower) expressway in the suburbs. But over time, this trend surely would have reversed itself and passenger counts would have once again increased as the western suburbs became more and more built up.

As it turned out, the state and CTA wanted to be the “good cops,” who would resume some partial level of service on the interurban if DuPage County would cover the costs, and were perfectly happy to let CA&E act as the “bad cop” who discontinued service. And in this, they rose to the occasion, with an abrupt midday shutdown that stranded thousands of riders on July 3, 1957. They were content to “take the money and run,” so to speak.

The great majority of images in this post were shot by one unknown photographer who went on the 1959 fantrip. Mark Llanuza purchased them from the man’s daughter after he died.

Film speeds were much slower in 1958 than they are today. Kodachrome was ISO 10, meaning it was mainly usable only on sunny days. However, Kodak had also introduced Ektachrome, another slide film with an initial speed of 32. I believe this is the film used on that day.

These images have a larger grain structure than is typical for Kodachrome, and are, in general, underexposed. This was a day when ISO 400 would have been a better choice, if such a thing had existed. Even the most popular black-and-white film of the time, Super-XX, only had a speed of 200 ISO.

Many railfan photographers were turned off to Ektachrome because the version available around 1956 faded badly to red in a short period of time. (Technically speaking, the red layer stayed the same, while the green and blue layers faded.) This problem appears to have been solved by 1958, when these pictures were taken.

Under the circumstances, we can be glad that the pictures turned out as well as they did. Since the film was somewhat underexposed, there are reciprocity shifts in color, which generally gave these images an overall blue cast which is unnatural. We have attempted to correct for these color shifts as best we could, but it was not always possible to eliminate all of them without increasing the contrast in each image to an excessive degree. In other words, if there is snow in the picture, you want the snow to look white and not blue, yellow, or gray.

Looking at these pictures, it’s possible to figure out somewhat the itinerary for the trip, including the photo stops and where there were staged run-bys for the benefit of motion picture cameras. Presumably, if there weren’t any freight movements on that Sunday, the fantrip had the entire railroad to itself and didn’t have to worry about any meets.

The flyer mentions a “speed run” back from Elgin but I do not know offhand to what extent CA&E’s automatic gates were still in use at this point. Freight service continued for but a few more months after this before it, too, was abandoned forever.

Thanks again to Mark for sharing these rare images with us, the last gasp of the legendary “Roarin’ Elgin.”

-David Sadowski

PS- You can hear rare audio recordings of the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin on Railroad Record Club LP #36. This recording has been digitally remastered onto compact disc, along with RRC 35, and is available in our Online Store. Along with the CA&E, this disc also features recordings of the CTA Garfield Park “L”, the North Shore Line, and Milwaukee city streetcars.

Mark Llanuza writes:

You did a really great job putting this together for your fans and members. I talked to Norm Carlson who rode this trip on a very cold December 7th 1958 trip. He said it was cold and damp, then started to rain and got colder and snow came. They ran five photo run bys– one at Elgin station, Lakewood, Wheaton Golf club, Price Crossing rd., Glen Oak, and a grand tour of the Wheaton shops in the snow storm.

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 114th 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 over 116,000 page views, for which we are very grateful.

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.

http://www.greatthirdrail.org/images/ROW_despl_br.jpg
When the fantrip took place, the CA&E’s former right-of-way near the DesPlaines River was torn up for expressway construction. As you can see in this photo, the bridge was in the process of being shifted to the north, with a new track alignment. This process was not completed until the second half of 1959, by which time the railroad was unable to resume service even on a trial basis. The new track connection to the CTA Forest Park terminal was never used.

The Chicago Tribune weather forecast for December 7, 1958 called for cloudy and cold conditions, with a temperature between 12 and 20 degrees.

The flyer for what became the final passenger movement on the CA&E. Freight service lasted a few months into 1959 before it too was abandoned. Various efforts to revive the interurban failed, and it received government permission for complete abandonment in 1961. (William Barber Collection)

A CA&E pocket map made by Roy G. Benedict in 1958, when the “Roarin’ Elgin” had already abandoned passenger service (except for charters) but was still running freight. Roy mimeographed these and sold them to aspiring railfans. He has made many additional maps since, and has had a successful career in the publishing industry.

When the fantrip began at 10:00 am, it had not started snowing yet. By the time it ended, at 5:00 pm, a substantial amount of snow was on the ground.

On December 7, 1958, CA&E wood cars 319 and 320 operated the last passenger train on that venerable railroad as a charter. Here, we are at Fifth Avenue station looking east. After the CTA abandoned the Westchester branch, this station was repainted in CA&E colors, and the interurban took over all service here from 1951-57.