Our Latest Book – The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railway

June 23, 2025June 24, 2025David Sadowski 5 Comments

Two Chicago Aurora and Elgin cars (both from the 450-series) cross the Chicago River on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated in 1949.

We are back with an all-new Trolley Dodger blog post, our 315th. We are heralding the impending arrival of our fifth book, The Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railway. Ordering information is below.

Arcadia Publishing shipped my initial book order on June 21st. I expect to receive them by Wednesday, the 25th, and will begin sending out all the books in our pre-order immediately.

I believe this is my best book, out of the five I have written. It’s an important and still a somewhat controversial subject. It was the most difficult to write, and required the most work, but I am very pleased with the results. I hope it will find favor with you as well.

Author William S. Burroughs once remarked, “Excuse me, there is no accurate description of the creation of a book, or an event.” That being the case, I will try anyway.

I have been fascinated with the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin interurban since I was a kid. We lived on the west side of Chicago, and among my earliest memories, I recall seeing a few CA&E trains crossing First Avenue in Maywood prior to the July 3, 1957 abandonment of passenger service.

After reading in the newspaper that the line was not coming back in 1961, I persuaded my family to take a Sunday drive to Wheaton Yards to look at the old cars. I noticed they did not have broken windows, unlike many of the wooden “L” cars that had been stored by the Chicago Transit Authority at Lockwood Yard on the Garfield Park line.

Once my last book (The North Shore Line) was published in 2023, the CA&E was a natural follow-up subject. As with my other books, I started out having some of the photos I needed, and had to hunt up and find the rest. The entire process took well over two years.

Researching these books is quite expensive, and the costs far exceed any potential future revenue from book sales. But there are other reasons for doing this. Books are our gift to the future. It’s as if we are leaving bread crumbs for future generations to follow, in tracing back our past.

Once my research was far enough along, I made a pitch for the book to Arcadia Publishing. They approved it, and that set the deadlines in motion that have now resulted in a finished book.

Determining how to organize the material is one of the most difficult aspects of book writing. There are three different considerations for a book like this– chronological, geographic, and thematic. Ultimately, the method that works for me is a combination of all three. It can take some time even to figure out the chapter titles for a book.

A lot of hard work was put into this book, in terms of research. But it was also hard work paying for all of it. I am very appreciative for the donations made by our readers, and for your purchases of the items we sell that help make all this possible. None of this would be possible without your help and support, for which I am grateful.

When starting a book project, it is impossible to determine everything that is needed to complete it. It’s like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle, without first knowing what the pieces look like.

Each book finds its own path towards completion. Fortunately, for this book, I was gradually able to find many excellent, rare images. And by taking a “deep dive” into the history of my subject, I also reached conclusions that help make this book different than the ones that have come before it.

This is a book from the perspective of 2025, which makes it different from one written say, in 1965. The world has changed a lot in these many decades, perhaps not always for the better, but we have access to many photos and more information than it was possible to have then.

Now that my book is finished, you, the reader, will have the final say on its merits and ultimate value.

But wait, there’s more in this, our 315th post. We have continued to collect rare and interesting traction photos all this time, some of which are featured here. In addition, we have some South Shore Line news to share. Exciting things are happening there now.

Finally, on May 15th, WTTW, Chicago’s Public Television station, interviewed me in Kenosha, Wisconsin for a documentary they are working on, covering the history of railroads in Chicago. More information follows towards the end of this post.

Enjoy, and keep those cards and letters coming in, folks.

-David Sadowski

PS- You might also like our Trolley Dodger Facebook auxiliary, a private group that now has 2,200 members.

Our friend Kenneth Gear has a Facebook group for the Railroad Record Club. If you enjoy listening to audio recordings of classic railroad trains, whether steam, electric, or diesel, you might consider joining.

FYI, the Hoosier Traction Facebook Group celebrates electric transit in Indiana and the Midwest. It also supports the activities of the annual Hoosier Traction Meet (although not affiliated with the North American Transit Historical Society, which organizes that event).

Our Latest Book, Now Available for Pre-Order:

The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railway

FYI, my latest book will be released by Arcadia Publishing on July 8, 2025 and is now available for pre-order. I expect to have books prior to that date, and they will be shipped out as soon as I get them.

The Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railway (CA&E) ran electric passenger and freight service from 1902 until 1959. Although classed as an interurban, it was a hybrid of rapid transit and commuter rail. CA&E trains ran to downtown Chicago via the Metropolitan West Side “L,” ending at the Well Street Terminal. This was a high-tech endeavor funded by industrialists from Cleveland, Ohio, who wanted to open Chicago’s western suburbs for development. The result was a high-speed operation, built to steam road standards, with an electrified third rail powering the trains. It thrived until World War I, was modernized in the Roaring Twenties, weathered the Great Depression, and did its duty during World War II. A privately owned railroad, without subsidies, the CA&E began losing money in the 1950s due to highway construction that stopped it from running into Chicago. Efforts to save the railroad failed, and passenger service ended in 1957, with freight following two years later.

David Sadowski is the author of Chicago Trolleys, Building Chicago’s Subways, Chicago’s Lost “L”s, and The North Shore Line and runs the online Trolley Dodger blog. Photographs shown are from the author’s extensive collections and archival sources such as the Chicago History Museum, Forest Park Historical Society, and Lake States Railway Historical Association.

Each copy purchased here will be signed by the author, and you will also receive a bonus Chicago Aurora and Elgin track map. Books will ship by USPS Media Mail.

Chapters:
01. The Fox River Line
02. The Third Rail Line
03. On the “L”
04. Main Line to Wheaton
05. Aurora and Batavia
06. Elgin and Geneva
07. Electric Freight
08. Forest Park
09. Into the Sunset
10. The Legacy

Title The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railway
Images of Rail
Author David Sadowski
Edition illustrated
Publisher Arcadia Publishing (SC), 2025
ISBN-10: 146716254X
ISBN-13: ‎978-1467162548
Length 128 pages
The price of $24.99 includes shipping within the United States via USPS Media Mail.

For Shipping to US Addresses:

Recent Finds

CA&E 432, seen here in Wheaton, was built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1927, part of an order for 15 cars. 431 and 434 were the only cars saved by museums. (William C. Janssen Photo)

CA&E car 404 seems a bit lonely in this picture taken on June 13, 1957 at St. Andrews, on the line between Wheaton and Elgin. You can see how much of this branch did not have (and in many places, still do not have) large population centers. This was only about three weeks before the end of passenger service.

This picture, looking west at the CTA’s Forest Park Terminal, was taken on July 5, 1957, just two days after the interurban abruptly stopped running passenger service in mid-day, stranding thousands of commuters. Note the neon CA&E sign still hanging at right, which had once been downtown in front of the Wells Street Terminal. An inbound Garfield Park “L” train, made up of 4000-series cars, is at left. This terminal was reconfigured in 1959, while the Congress (now Eisenhower) expressway was under construction just south of here.

The Chicago Great Western Railway ran parallel to the Chicago Aurora and Elgin for several miles west of First Avenue in Maywood. Here, we see an eastbound freight train in Maywood (possibly near 11th or 9th Avenue) on March 14, 1957, when the CA&E still ran passenger service. Locomotive 111C was an F3 diesel, built by the Electro-Motive Division in March 1948. The Chicago and North Wesern, a CGW competitor, purchased the railroad in 1968. C&NW retained any long-haul lines CGW had, and abandoned all the short-haul ones such as this, as they were not profitable. Parts of the CGW right-of-way have become the Great Western Trail, much as the CA&E is now the Illinois Prairie Path.

CA&E steel cars 415 and 407 make up part of a five-car train at Wheaton.

After the CA&E officially went defunct as a railroad in 1961, its fleet of cars were put up for sale. The ten 450-series cars almost went to Cleveland for use on a planned rapid transit extension to an airport. But the project was delayed for several years, and the line finally opened in 1969 with the new Airporter cars seen here. Ultimately, only four of the ten cars were saved.

From 1908 until 1922, the Forest Park Amusement Park operated between the Aurora Elgin and Chicago (predecessor of the CA&E) tracks and the Waldheim cemetery. This real photo postcard view looks to the southwest. This was a major operation, with what was said to be the largest roller coaster in the US at that time, plus other rides including a Chute-the-Chutes. It was a major traffic generator for the interurban and the Garfield Park “L”, which also ran here. After Prohibition went into effect in 1920, the park could not make money and soon closed. The Eisenhower expressway runs through here now.

This advertisement, which appeared in the August 17, 1910 edition of the Chicago Evening American, shows how the AE&C used promotions to try and drum up business on the interurban. People worked a six day week then, and there was a need for more ridership on Sundays.

By 1906, the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago (predecessor of the CA&E) operated local service in Aurora and Elgin as well as an interurban along the Fox River connecting the two cities. Here, we see some local streetcars at Fountain Square in Elgin, circa 1907.

The AE&C station in Elgin was adjacent to a theater. Cars were boarded behind the building, as the interurban to Chicago did not have any street running in Elgin.

The CA&E’s end of the line in Elgin ran along the Fox River, rather than the street running it had in Aurora until 1939. The tracks here were directly behind the buildings seen in the previous picture.

AE&C car 202, built in 1906 by the Niles Car Company, is running in Elgin, on the interurban that connected Carpentersville on the north and Yorkville on the south. Following the AE&C bankruptcy in 1919, the Fox River line was reorganized into the Aurora Elgin and Fox River Electric. Passenger service ended in 1935.

The AE&C station in Aurora was located in this building, from 1915 to 1935. The Traction Terminal building, now the Hotel Arthur, still stands. Until the end of 1939, riders boarded in the street in Aurora.

A street scene in Aurora in the early 1900s.

Fox River Park, originally called Riverview, was located south of Aurora and was a major generator of traffic for the Aurora Elgin and Fox River Electric until it closed in 1925. It had to change its name after Riverview Park in Chicago became popular.

The AE&FRE interurban ran right to the entrance of Fox River Park.

After the AE&FRE ended passenger service in 1935, freight continued on a small portion of trackage in South Elgin, serving the State Hospital there.

The AE&FRE ran electric freight until 1946, when it purchased this small General Electric diesel engine #5. Here, it is seen running freight at the State Hospital in South Elgin in November 1972, shortly before that location stopped using coal, which ended the need for freight. The freight operation had shared trackage for a few years, starting in the mid-1960s with a trolley museum, originally called RELIC. That is now the Fox River Trolley Museum. Diesel engine #5 remains in their collection. The AE&FRE may still exist as a corporate entity. (Mike Schafer Photo)

Railroads typically gave passes to certain employees of other railroads, as seen here.

After the Chicago Aurora and Elgin quit operating freight service in June 1959, there were a few places where other railroads wanted to continue it. Elgin was one such place. This map shows how the Milwaukee Road purchased a short stretch of former CA&E trackage, already connected to it via an interchange, for access to the McGraw Edison plant there. As you can see in this map dated September 28, 1962, they purchased just enough track to service the plant.

In August 1957, an inbound Lake Street “B” train departs from the Marion Street station at South Boulevard. The outer portion of Lake (between Laramie Avenue and Forest Park) ran on the ground until October 28, 1962. Crossing gates were manually operated, and you can see the gateman’s shanty in the foreground (and who is that holding a stop sign?). The area has become much more built up in recent years, as there is nowhere to go but up.

This C. R. Childs real photo postcard, postmarked in 1907, shows the Lake Street “L” running left-handed at ground level. The view looks west along Lake at Central Avenue. The postcard says this is South Boulevard, but that name is used west of Austin (6000 W.) in Oak Park. This picture was taken prior to the construction of the Chicago and North Western’s embankment, located just to the right (north) of the “L”. The Lake and Northwestern elevated lines ran left-handed until the Loop was reconfigured to operated unidirectional (counter-clockwise) in 1913, when the north and south lines were through-routed to increase capacity. This section of Lake Street was renamed to Corcoran Place in the mid-1960s after the local alderman, a close friend of Mayor Richard J. Daley, died suddenly from a heart attack. We ran a colorized version of this photo in a previous blog post.

We are used to seeing pictures of Route 22 – Clark-Wentworth streetcars here at 81st and Halsted taken in the 1950s, when the line was operated with PCC cars. But prior to the arrival of the postwar cars, Clark used 1929-era Peter Witt cars (some call them “Sedans”) such as the 6286 you see here. This picture was taken in either 1940 or 1941, as that’s Chicago Surface Lines car 2802 right behind it. That would date the picture to either June 12, 1940 or July 13, 1941, as the same car was used on both CERA trips. Single-ended streetcars like the Witts and the PCCs had to make a backup move into traffic to proceed north from here, as there never was a turning loop at this location.

John Hallman generously donated this real photo postcard to us, which shows extension of the Grand Avenue streetcar line through the Mont Clare neighborhood in 1911. One of the men in the picture may be Thomas A. Rutherford, who donated land in 1915 that now makes up part of Rutherford Sayre Park. Extension of streetcar service to Grand and Harlem spurred the rapid development of the area. Streetcars were replaced by buses in 1951.

An early view of 43rd Street in Chicago, looking west from Langley Avenue (700 E.). Streetcar 5317 was built by Brill in 1907 for the Chicago City Railway.

This view, probably circa 1907, looks west along 43rd Street at Forrestville Avenue (528 E.). Streetcar 5370 was built by Brill-Kuhlman in 1907 for the Chicago City Railway.

This C. R. Childs real photo postcard view of the back of the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric (later the North Shore Line) station in Lake Forest indicates that this was taken prior to its 1910 completion.

An early view of the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric (later the North Shore Line) station in Zion, Illinois, apparently taken from the back of a moving train.

Chicago and Milwaukee Electric car #25 has stopped at the Chicago and North Western station in Highland Park in this early view. While the interurban (later known as the North Shore Line) attempted to eliminate as much street running as possible on what was eventually known as the Shore Line Route, a few sections remained– including this one.

Chicago Lake Shore and South Bend Railway car #74 was built by the Niles Car Company in 1908. Cars like these were replaced by new all-metal ones when successor company the South Shore Line began operating directly into Chicago in 1926 over the Illinois Central’s tracks. Prior to that, these coaches were hauled partway by steam. Sister car #73 is now owned by Bob Harris, who has already spent $1m of his own money to restore it back as close as possible to original condition.

Perhaps the timetable information from the back of this postcard can help date the photo.

Chicago Railways car #4352 presents a bit of a puzzle, as streetcar rosters only list numbers like this as having been used decades later by PCC cars. But it may be that car #4352 was originally bought by the Chicago Union Traction Company, which Chicago Railways took over in 1908. Some CUT cars were renumbered by CR in 1909, which probably helps date this photo. Chicago Railways became one of the underlying constituent companies of the Chicago Surface Lines in 1914. This car is shown operating on the Blue Island line.

South Chicago City Railway car #321 is parked by the South Side “L” at 63rd Street in the early 1900s. Don’s Rail Photos: “2841 was built by Jewett in 1903, (order) #148, as South Chicago City Ry 321. It became Calumet & South Chicago Ry 826 in 1908 and renumbered 2841 in 1913. It became CSL 2841 in 1914 and rebuilt as one man service in 1926. It was later converted as a salt car. It was renumbered AA93 in 1948 and retired on May 17, 1958.” So, this picture was taken between 1903 and 1908. If that’s the Englewood branch of the “L”, at Halsted, that station opened on December 24, 1906. That would suggest this picture dates to around 1907. See additional comments by Frank Hicks below.

After I obtained this image, I wrote to Frank Hicks:

FYI, this is a scan of a real photo postcard I recently purchased. As you have written about these cars on your Hicks Car Works blog, I thought it might interest you. I already did some restoration work on this one, but am not finished by any means.

This picture must have been taken somewhere along 63rd Street (Englewood “L” at Halsted?). Interesting that it survived until 1958.

His reply:

Thanks for sending this! That’s a great photo showing these cars as they appeared when new. This is the “front” of the car, as they were considered single-ended even though they had poles and controls at both ends. The coal-fired water heater was located on the front platform and that’s its smoke jack over the motorman’s head. Other neat details that were changed or removed later in the car’s career include the bracket for a hang-on headlight; unusual rope guard on the roof; the fender; peanut whistle; spikes on the roof to hold a removable sign board; and truss rods.

One thing I’ve never noticed before is the trucks: unfortunately it’s hard to see much detail, but they definitely aren’t the Taylor HSB2 trucks these cars had for nearly their entire service lives. I’ve even seen a different photo of car 321 in this paint scheme and it has HSB2 trucks, so what’s under it in this photo must not have lasted very long. Looking through my truck book, this design closely resembles a Peckham 18CX truck, though there are a few differences. Peckham was notorious for a wide variety of oddball designs, many rather similar to each other, so my guess is that the trucks under the car in this photo are Peckham 18’s of some description. Very cool!

Best regards,

Frank Hicks

There aren’t a lot of pictures from Evanston Railways, as streetcar service ended in 1935. Hence, this real photo postcard view of the car barn must also be considered rare.

This early real photo postcard view shows Chicago streetcar #1293, running on the Ashland Avenue route. This would be a sister car to “Matchbox” car #1374, which has been restored to operating condition at the Illinois Railway Museum. Don’s Rail Photos says that the cars in series 1101-1423 were “built by St. Louis Car in 1903 and 1906 for Chicago Union Traction Co. They are similar to the Robertson design without the small windows. Cars of this series were converted to one man operation in later years and have a wide horizontal stripe on the front to denote this. Two were used for an experimental articulated train. A number of these cars were converted to sand and salt service and as flangers.”

Chicago Union Traction car #4911 is on Clark Street in this early real photo postcard. The address here, 4362 North Clark, threw me off for a bit until I recalled that Chicago’s street numbers were changed at some point. The Chicago History Museum notes, “In 1909, street numbers changed, with a general rule of thumb that odd numbers became even and vice-versa. Madison was used as the baseline for numbering north and south while State was used as the baseline for numbering east and west.” So, 4362 N. Clark became 6335 N. Clark in 1909, some time after this picture was taken. That makes more sense, as the Devon Car House was located just north of 6400 N. Clark. Another version of this image appeared in one of our earlier posts in 2021, courtesy of Jeff Marinoff, but now we have an original in our collection. This car was later renumbered to 1382, making it a sister car to the Matchbox at IRM (if my math is correct).

This picture was labelled Baltimore, since there is a sign for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. But it’s actually Chicago, and that’s the Travel and Transportation building at the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair (A Century of Progress).

This view of a CTA Stock Yards shuttle looks east from the Exchange Avenue station, and was taken between 1955 and 1957. This type of wooden “L” car was originally used on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated. A similar, although not identical, picture appears in my book Chicago’s Lost “L”s.

Chicago street railway RPO (railway post office) car #8 is shown in 1908. There is a similar car, now numbered 6, at the Fox River Trolley Museum, but that car may have been renumbered when it was rebuilt in 1942, so there is some possibility this may actually be the same car. Below the caption, you can read what the Fox River Trolley Museum has to say about car #6.

General
At least eight or more US cities had street railway post office cars in service on their streetcar systems with Chicago being one of them. Mail was moved between the central post office and branch stations and mail was actually sorted on the cars which had mail slots in the sides where a person could actually deposit a stamped letter. There were at least five different routes in Chicago, each with its own distinct post mark. On board sorting stopped in 1911 and use of the SRPO’s to transport bagged mail finally ended on November 22nd, 1915, as motor trucks and pneumatic tube systems took over the task.

History
The mail car has a murky history, but the best guess is that it was built as a double truck streetcar for the Cicero & Proviso Street Railway and that about 1900 through the consolidation of Chicago streetcar companies, it was converted to a Street Railway Post Office car at that time and was placed on a four-wheel Brill truck. When its use as street railway post office ended in 1915 the car was converted to work service and painted dark green like all service cars to distinguish it from the red and cream passenger cars. In 1942 our car was selected to be restored back to its Street Railway Post Office configuration. Its two traction motors were removed for use as spares for the system’s snow sweepers, so the car had to be towed by another streetcar. Its first known outing was in a street parade on October 16th, 1943, celebrating the opening of the Rapid Transit’s State Street Subway which had been constructed by the City of Chicago. Its next known event was on August 22nd , 1946 for the American Philatelic Society’s 60th annual convention where it was towed around the loop and once again special postcards and mail were cancelled on the car. Subsequentially it was brought out for special events and even after the conversion of the last streetcar line in 1958 it was occasionally trucked to special events. It was stored at the old Lawndale car house with other historic transit equipment for many years. When CTA decided to disburse this equipment, it was held for the Smithsonian’s then being planned Post Office Museum in Washington DC. When the Smithsonian declined to use it, the car was deeded over to the Fox River Trolley Museum where in the 1980’s and 90’s it would annually be used by the South Elgin Post Office to cancel mail during what was known as “Trolleyfest”. As USPS budgets tightened this finally ended and the car has been in storage ever since.

Photo Restoration

This Ektachrome slide was taken by William C. Hoffman on March 30, 1958, looking north along Wabash Avenue just south of Adams Street in Chicago. The North Shore Line had a station inside a building, with a direct connection to the Adams and Wabash “L” station. Unfortunately, the first version of Ektachrome had unstable dyes, and the dye layers other than red have faded badly. This problem was corrected in 1963 when the film was replaced by a new version. Using modern computer technology, it is sometimes possible to restore the color to a scan of such an image, sometimes not. The next photo shows how I was able to somewhat improve the picture. The only other option is to make a black-and-white version, which follows.

As you can see, parts of the image are too red, and other parts are too cyan. Since those are opposite colors, this is as far as the restoration train will go.

1955 Red Car Fantrip

There was a Farewell to the Red Cars fantrip in May 1954, sponsored by the Central Electric Railfans’ Association, held two weeks before buses replaced the older streetcars on several lines. After this, the CTA kept ten such cars for emergency use, and the rest were scrapped. Even so, it was found that ten were too many, and ultimately only 144, 225, and 460 were retained for a time, the latter becoming part of the CTA historical fleet of old equipment. That left but two cars for other uses, and this December 18, 1955 fantrip appears to have been the first in a series of excursions that continued up until the end of PCC service in June 1958. On this particular trip in 1955, I believe that was the one where it was promised it would use 144, and car 225 was used instead, with a piece of cloth that had the number 144 over the actual number. The pictures below are snapshots from that trip that I recently purchased. They are not very good pictures, but they do give a bit of the flavor of the event. A PCC car was typically sent along with in case of a breakdown, and such trips were usually held on a Sunday, when buses were substituted for streetcars on some of the remaining lines.

The South Shore Line Today

A westbound train at the 11th Street station in Michigan City.

I spent the weekend of May 18-19 in Michigan, and on the way back to Chicago, stopped off in Michigan City and Beverly Shores to take a few pictures of the South Shore Line. The street running in Michigan City has been replaced by a double-tracked private right-of-way. The facade from the old station has been incorporated into a parking garage. The new station is very nice.

There are now two sets of tracks at Beverly Shores as well. The historic Insull Spanish station, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, now hosts a gift shop and an art gallery. There are machines to purchase fares on the interurban. It is still a flag stop– one of only three left on the line, the others being Hudson Lake and Gary/Chicago International Airport.

Lots of good things are happening on the South Shore Line. The new branch line, which runs just on the Indiana side of the border with Illinois, is expected to begin service later this year. Since my visit, the 11th Street station has been dedicated.

The facade of the old station (designed by Insull staff architect Arthur U. Gerber) has been incorporated into the new one.

Looking west from the 11th Street station in Michigan City.

The view looking west along the right-of-way.

The Beverly Shores station was designed by Insull staff architect Arthur U. Gerber, and was built in 1929. There was originally one other such station on the South Shore Line (Lake Shore, built in 1927). It was demolished in the 1980s.

Originally, a ticket window would have been here. The rest of the building had living quarters for the station agent.

The current art exhibit.

The waiting room.

Carol Ruzic, the woman pictured here, spearheaded the effort to save the station in the 1980s, when it was threatened with demolition. She died earlier this year at the age of 96.

The nearby Beverly Shores Administration building has a tiled roof, just like the station.

This is how the Lake Shore station looked in November 1966. Unfortunately, it was not saved.

North Shore Line electric loco #455 is about to pass the Northbrook station on March 11, 1960. This was one of nine such “Insull Spanish” station on the Skokie Valley Route, all built in 1926. Briergate is the sole survivor.

Rails in Chicago Documentary

Geoffrey Baer with retired Kenosha master mechanic Brad Preston.

Here are some pictures from my WTTW taping session from May 15th. Our PBS station has begun filming a documentary about Chicago railroads. This was the first of twelve weeks of filming. Host Geoffrey Baer says we probably won’t see the finished product for another year.

After the crew finished their lunch break at the nearby historic Franks Diner, Kenosha’s Chicago tribute streetcar #4606 (originally from Toronto, although it has wheels and motors from an actual Chicago streetcar) became our set.

Once the lighting and cameras were set up, and our microphones were attached, the WTTW crew filmed Geoffrey Baer and yours truly while we talked, as the trolley went around the two-mile long loop a few times.

He has lots of experience doing this sort of thing. His method is to not talk much about the questions he has prepared before the cameras are recording, because your first answers are usually best. But sometimes he would ask me the same question again, in hopes of getting a bit more in the answer.

He’s an excellent interviewer, and his excitement about finding things out rubs off on the audience when you are viewing at home.

When we weren’t talking, they were still recording so they could have background audio they can use if needed. And before I even got there, they were out on the line filming exterior shots that they call “B roll footage.”

Even if fifteen minutes of fame gets distilled down to a fifteen seconds, it was a very interesting experience, and I hope they got what they were looking for. And it was nice to meet Geoffrey Baer, after seeing him host so many wonderful shows on WTTW.

The Franks Diner started out as a prefabricated structure in 1926, brought here by horsepower. It was later expanded and enclosed in brick.

Here, you can see the original exterior of the diner. This predated the more modern looking streamlined diners that are often seen in the East.

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 315th 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 1,170,000 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.

70 for 70 at IRM (Part One)

July 2, 2023July 3, 2023David Sadowski 3 Comments

The North Shore Line Electroliner has come a long way since it came to IRM in 1982. After the interurban abandoned service in 1963, it went to the Red Arrow Lines (aka the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company), where it continued to operate for another dozen years as a “Liberty Liner.” It has certainly come a long way since its return. Here, we see it near IRM’s 50th Avenue “L” station, which came from the Douglas Park line.

This is the Illinois Railway Museum‘s 70th anniversary, and in that span, it has certainly become the largest such operation in the United States, and possibly the world. So it should be no surprise that IRM pulled out all the stops for this year’s Trolley Pageant, which featured at least 70 pieces of electric railway equipment in more than 30 consists.

There was a delay in getting started, as there had been a bit of rain in the morning, and in spite of a few hiccups (at one point the power went out, possibly because there were so many things using it), it was a remarkable and unique event that couldn’t have happened anywhere else but Union, Illinois.

We were there to document the event for all those who couldn’t be there in person. This is part one, because we took so many pictures and videos that it would simply be too much to put it all into a single post. This post will feature our still pictures, and part two will include the numerous videos we took.

Many thanks go out to all the hard working volunteers that have made the museum what it is today– a first class operation that is unrivaled, and just keeps getting better and better.

Enjoy!

-David Sadowski

PS- You might also like our Trolley Dodger Facebook auxiliary, a private group that now has 1,317 members.

The 2023 IRM Trolley Pageant

Chicago Aurora and Elgin wood car 308, at the head of a four-car train. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “308 was built by Niles Car & Mfg Co in 1906. It was modernized by unknown date and sold to Indiana Transportation Museum in 1962 and resold to Illinois Railway Museum in 1996.”

CA&E 309. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “309 was built by Hicks Locomotive Works in 1907. It was modernized in October 1941 and acquired by Illinois Railway Museum in 1962.”

CA&E 36. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): 36 was built by Stephenson in 1903. It was acquired by Trolleyville in 1961 and was painted as Columbia & Southwestern 36. It was sold to Illinois Railway Museum in December 2009.”

CA&E 319. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “319 was built by Jewett Car Co in 1914. It was modernized at an unknown date and sold to Columbia Park & Southwestern in 1962. It was resold to IRM in December 2009.”

Sand Springs (Oklahoma) Railway car 68 was built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1918. It was originally delivered to the Cincinnati Lawrenceburg & Aurora in Ohio, and came to IRM in 1967.

Chicago and West Towns Railways 141 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1924. After streetcar service ended in 1948, the body was stored on a farm. The Electric Railway Historical Society (ERHS) rescued it in 1959, and donated it to IRM in 1973. After a lengthy restoration, it was returned to operating condition in 2014.

Open car 19 was built by the J. G. Brill company in 1914, and operated in Veracruz, Mexico until 1961. It then went to Trolleyville USA in Ohio. IRM acquired it in 2009.

Cleveland center-entrance car 18 was built by the G.C. Kuhlman Car Company in 1914, and ran on the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit line until 1961. It then went to Trolleyville USA, and IRM purchased it in 2013. Frank Hicks has worked to get this car back to operating condition, and this was the first time it ran at IRM.

Center-entrance streetcars had a brief vogue and the most successful of these were called Peter Witts. They were two-man cars, as there was a conductor who collected fares inside. Some systems used a “pay as you enter” system, and some preferred “pay as you pass.” In order to exit through the front door, you had to walk by the conductor and would then pay your fare. The idea was to speed up loading, as fares could be collected while the car was in motion.

SHRT car 18 backs up to get into position for the Trolley Pageant. The conductor is making sure the pole stays on the wire while it is reversed, while the motorman is at the controls over in the other end of the car. Although this may originally have been a double-ended car, it seems to have been converted to single-end at some point in Cleveland.

North Shore Line combine 251, at the head of a five-car train. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “251 was built by Jewett in 1917, It had its seating reduced from 40 to 24 on October 3, 1925, and it was converted to a Silverliner on June 19, 1953. It was acquired by Illinois Railway Museum in 1963.”

North Shore Line car 160 is now that interurban’s second oldest surviving car, following 162, which was delivered earlier. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “160 was built by Brill in 1915, (job) #19605. It was acquired by Illinois Railway Museum in 1963.”

North Shore Line coach 714. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “714 was built by Cincinnati Car Co in 1926, (job) #2890. It is modernized in 1939 and preserved in 1963 by the Illinois Railway Museum.”

North Shore Line car 757. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “757 was built by Standard Steel Car Co in 1930. It was modernized in 1949 and rebuilt as Silverline on March 16, 1956. It was sold to Wisconsin Electric Railway Historical Society in 1963 and resold to Illinois Railway Museum in 1988.”

North Shore Line coach 749. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “749 was built by Pullman in 1928. It was modernized in 1940 and acquired by Illinois Railway Museum in 1963.”

North Shore Line city streetcar 354. The late Don Ross, from Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “354 was built by St Louis Car Co in January 1928, #1453. It became the last car on August 12, 1951. It was purchased by the president of the Chicago Hardware Foundry. It was painted into the green and red of CHF, but the motors were removed. The car was acquired by the Illinois Electric Railway Museum (now IRM). Restoration began in 1958 (I put many hours on the car), and it is now in operation in Union. When I visited the car in 1989, it brought back many happy memories.”

Illinois Terminal interurban car 101. It ran between St. Louis and Alton. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “101 was built by American Car in 1917 as AG&StL 61. In 1926 the car became StL&ARy 61 and in 1930 it became IT 101. On March 9, 1956, it was sold to the Illinois Electric Railway Museum and is now at Union, IL.”

Two Chicago streetcars for the price of one, here. “Matchbox” 1374 was built by St. Louis Car Company (order #715) in 1905. The Chicago Transit Authority turned it into a salt spreader in 1947. It was purchased by the ERHS in 1958 and donated to IRM in 1973. The 3142 was built by J.G. Brill Company (order #21686) in 1923. It too was purchased by ERHS in 1958 and came to IRM in 1973. The white stripe indicates it was used as a one-man car, letting riders know they should board at the front instead of the back.

Chicago Pullman 144 was built in 1908 and ran in regular service until 1954. Until the end of streetcar service four years later, it was only used on fantrips. IRM purchased it in 1959.

CTA PCC streetcar 4391 is using the back-up controller to make its way to the parade staging area, as it is a single-ended car. Since the pole is reversed, the operator is trying to keep it from coming off the wire.

CTA PCC 4391 was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1948 and ran in Chicago until 1958. ERHS purchased it the following year and it came to IRM in 1973. It is the only surviving car of its type. This is a two-man streetcar– you enter at the rear, pay the conductor, then exit via the middle or front.

Indiana Railroad high-speed lightweight car 65 was built in 1931 by Pullman and ran for a decade in Indiana before making its way to the CRANDIC (Cedar Rapids and Iowa City) in Iowa. It was purchased in 1953 as the first acquisition of the Illinois Electric Railway Museum, then located in North Chicago. The original ten founders each contributed $100 towards the cost. The last survivor of the ten was Malcolm D. McCarter, who died in 2016.

Indiana Railroad car 65 is similar to cars that were built around the same time for the Cincinnati and Lake Erie. After that line quit around 1938, several of those cars went to Lehigh Valley Transit in Pennsylvania, where they ran until 1951. Others made it to Iowa and ran on CRANDIC. The only other surviving Indiana Railroad high-speed car is 55, which was built by a different manufacturer. It survives at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine as LVT car 1030.

Two North Shore Line work cars (line car 604 and box motor 229) head west through the depot.

It was nice to see so many families with young children out at the museum for this event.

IRM’s North Shore Line Electroliner, built in 1941 by the St. Louis Car Company, is still undergoing interior restoration, but can operate. It was certainly a welcome addition to the Trolley Pageant.

One of the trolley poles on the Electroliner got snagged and had to be repositioned. Fortunately, no damage was done to the wire.

Where else but IRM could you see not one, but TWO four-car trains, made up of Chicago Aurora and Elgin interurban coaches, side by side? Over the years, the museum has put together a unique and unrivaled collection.

Although not yet numbered, this is either Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 451 or 453, built in 1945 by the St. Louis Car Company. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “451 was built by St Louis Car Co in September 1945, #1717. It was sold to Trolleyville in 1962 and lettered as Columbia Park & Southwestern. It was transferred as Lake Shore Electric Ry in 2006. It was sold to Illinois Railway Museum in December 2009.” 453 was purchased in 1962 by Trolleyville USA in Ohio, and went to the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton, PA in 2009. They considered turning it into an ersatz Laurel Line car, as none of those were saved. Having decided against that, it was acquired by IRM in 2019 and is undergoing restoration. Thus, all four surviving cars of this type are back in Illinois– three at IRM (451, 453, and 460) and 460 at the Fox River Trolley Museum. We recently posted pictures of that restoration. Spence Ziegler adds: “Dave, the unnumbered CA&E car is the 451, from what I understand it’s going to get the original “Futura” font lettering, which will look nice. That’s why the grey is darker also.”

A four-car train of Chicago wooden “L” cars, with 1754 at the rear. It was built by the Jewett Car Company in 1906 for the Northwestern Elevated. After the CTA stopped using wood cars in regular service in 1957, it was converted to a work car. IRM acquired it in 1971.

Broad Street Subway (Philadelphia) car 55 was built by the J.G. Brill Company (order #22488) in 1927. IRM purchased it in 1985, and this was the first time it operated at the museum in 20 years. Notice how it is both wider and longer than a Chicago “L” car, and has three sets of doors for faster service.

I don’t think any other museum besides IRM could field a seven-car Chicago “L” car train. This one consisted of two sets of married pairs and three single car units.

The “L” train makes its run-by, with car 41 in the lead. It was built in 1959 by the St. Louis Car Company and was designed to be operated as a single car for the Evanston line, where the CTA wanted to reduce operating expenses. For several years, riders would pay on the train at off-peak hours, and the train operator had a fare collection box. There was no conductor. Unfortunately, this really slowed down service, as the train could no proceed until everyone boarding had paid. Eventually, 41 was paired with car 28 but that car was eventually damaged and was not saved. 41 came to IRM in 1998.

A Commonwealth Edison diesel switcher came out at one point, probably to help move a disable railcar.

This rare Lake Shore Electric freight trailer was part of a train which included three electric locos, led by Commonwealth Edison 4, built in 1912 by Alco/General Electric (order #3514), which came to IRM in 1962.

North Shore Line box motor 213 (aka a “Merchandise Despatch” car) was built in 1920 by the Cincinnati Car Company (order #2445), and was sold to the Chicago Hardware Foundry in 1955. That was also the original location of the Illinois Electric Railway Museum. When IRM moved to its current location in 1964, 213 went with it.

A Milwaukee Electric logo on a piece of freight equipment in the parade.

For a rather nondescript car, South Shore Line 504 has had an interesting life. It started out in 1925 on the Indiana Public Service as a baggage/coach car. This turned into the Indiana Railroad in 1931, and it became coach/RPO (railway post office) 377 for another decade before that interurban was abandoned. The South Shore Line purchased it, and used it until 1975 to haul newspapers and small packages. (It still has a sign on it advertising their “emergency package service.” IRM bought it in 1975.

South Shore Line line car 1100 was built in 1925 by the St. Louis Car Company for the Indiana Service Corporation, which became the Indiana Railroad in 1931. It began as baggage/coach car 376, and became a coach/RPO in 1935. After the Indiana Railroad abandonment in 1941, the South Shore Line purchased it, and it was converted to a line car in 1947. I actually rode on this car in 1988 on a fantrip for the George Krambles scholorship fund. GK had begun his storied career working for the Indiana Railroad in 1936. IRM acquired it in 2010.

Illinois Central cars 1198 (powered) and 1380 (unpowered) were built by Pullman in 1926 and were used in service until 1972 on the electric suburban service, which later became the Metra Electric. After their retirement, the pair came to IRM. These cars are somewhat similar to the Erie Lackawanna cars that were used in New Jersey.

The seven-car CTA “L” train stops briefly at the depot, before heading west to get into position for its run-by.

CTA “L” cars 30 (left) and 6655 (right). With the two paired, you can see how the position of the doors differed.

And there are still plenty of other cars that hopefully will run in future Trolley Pageants at IRM.

Our Latest Book, Now Available:

The North Shore Line

FYI, my new Arcadia Publishing book The North Shore Line is now available for immediate shipment. My publisher decided to expand it to 160 pages, instead of the usual 128. That’s a 25% increase, without any change to the $23.99 price. I am quite pleased with how this turned out.

From the back cover:

As late as 1963, it was possible to board high-speed electric trains on Chicago’s famous Loop “L” that ran 90 miles north to Milwaukee. This was the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad, commonly known as the North Shore Line. It rose from humble origins in the 1890s as a local streetcar line in Waukegan to eventually become America’s fastest interurban under the visionary management of Midwest utilities tycoon Samuel Insull. The North Shore Line, under Insull, became a worthy competitor to the established steam railroads. Hobbled by the Great Depression, the road fought back in 1941 with two streamlined, air-conditioned, articulated trains called Electroliners, which included dining service. It regained its popularity during World War II, when gasoline and tires were rationed, but eventually, it fell victim to highways and the automobile. The North Shore Line had intercity rail, commuter rail, electric freight, city streetcars, and even buses. It has been gone for nearly 60 years, but it will always remain the Road of Service.

Each copy purchased here will be signed by the author, and you will also receive a bonus North Shore Line map. Books will ship by USPS Media Mail.

Chapters:
01. Beginnings
02. The Milwaukee Division
03. The Shore Line Route
04. The Skokie Valley Route
05. The Mundelein Branch
06. On the “L”
07. City Streetcars
08. Trolley Freight
09. The Long Goodbye
10. The Legacy

Title The North Shore Line
Images of America
Author David Sadowski
Edition illustrated
Publisher Arcadia Publishing (SC), 2023
ISBN 1467108960, 978-1467108966
Length 160 pages

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

For Shipping to US Addresses:

New Compact Disc, Now Available:

CTA-1
The Last Chicago Streetcars 1958
# of Discs – 1
Price: $15.99

Until now, it seemed as though audio recordings of Chicago streetcars were practically non-existent. For whatever reason, the late William A. Steventon does not appear to have made any for his Railroad Record Club, even though he did make other recordings in the Chicago area in 1956.

Now, audio recordings of the last runs of Chicago streetcars have been found, in the collections of the late Jeffrey L. Wien (who was one of the riders on that last car). We do not know who made these recordings, but this must have been done using a portable reel-to-reel machine.

These important recordings will finally fill a gap in transit history. The last Chicago Transit Authority streetcar finished its run in the early hours of June 21, 1958. Now you can experience these events just as Chicagoans did.

As a bonus, we have included Keeping Pace, a 1939 Chicago Surface Lines employee training program. This was digitally transferred from an original 16” transcription disc. These recordings were unheard for 80 years.

Total time – 74:38

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 302nd 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 993,000 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

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

Seven Years of Good Luck

January 20, 2022February 5, 2022David Sadowski 6 Comments

Now here’s something you don’t see every day… the 69th Street station on the Normal Park “L”, in color. This short branch closed in 1954.

For most Chicago-area railfans, January 21, 1963 is a day, to paraphrase Franklin D. Roosevelt, that will “live in infamy,” for that is when the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee, the North Shore Line, breathed its last.

But January 21 is also the date when we started this blog in 2015. This is our seventh anniversary, and I think we have had seven full years of good luck.

In that time, our posts have received 841,000 page views, and over time we have become more and more of a resource for those who are interested in the history of electric traction.

As this is our anniversary post, we pulled out all the stops, and have lots of classic images for you to enjoy. As the 21st is also the 59th anniversary of the North Shore Line abandonment, we have plenty of pictures that pay tribute to that lost interurban.

As we have shared our images with you, you in turn have shared many things with us. We have learned a lot by working together. It has been a great ride here so far, and we can only hope that the next seven years will turn out as well.

Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks.

-David Sadowski

PS- You might also like our Trolley Dodger Facebook auxiliary, a private group that now has 689 members.

Our friend Kenneth Gear now has a Facebook group for the Railroad Record Club. If you enjoy listening to audio recordings of classic railroad trains, whether steam, electric, or diesel, you might consider joining.

Our Next Book

FYI, I recently made a new book proposal to my publisher and it has been accepted. I signed the agreement on the 18th, and with any luck, it will come out later this year.

There is still a lot of hard work to be done, but I will do my best to produce something that is new and different than that which is already out there, and makes a real contribution to our understanding of the past.

One thing working in my favor is there are plenty of great pictures to choose from, and the subject is already legendary.

Here is a summary:

The North Shore Line

As late as 1963, you could take a high-speed streamlined train from Chicago’s Loop elevated, 90 miles north to Milwaukee. This was the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee, commonly known as the North Shore Line.

From humble beginnings in the 1890s, as a streetcar line in Waukegan, Illinois, the North Shore Line grew to become, in the words of historian William D. Middleton, a “super interurban.” It reached its peak in the 1920s, under Samuel Insull, when the railroad won the prestigious Charles A. Coffin medal no less than three times.

Besides connecting Milwaukee and Chicago, the North Shore Line served Racine, Kenosha, Waukegan, Lake Bluff, Winnetka, Wilmette, and Evanston. A new Skokie Valley Route, built by Insull, opened in 1926 and helped establish Skokie, Glenview, Northfield, and Northbrook.

The railroad had a branch line serving Libertyville and Mundelein, city streetcars in Waukegan and Milwaukee, and was a pioneer in offering “piggyback” freight service.

Hobbled by the Depression and forced into bankruptcy, the North Shore Line rebounded during the war years with two fast new trains called “Electroliners.” It was finally done in by the automobile, highways, and a lack of government subsidies—but it left a remarkable legacy.

Our Annual Fundraiser

Since we started this blog in 2015, we have posted over 13,500 images. This is our 284th post.

Each year, around this time, we must renew our WordPress subscription, our domain registration, and pay other bills associated with maintaining this site, so it is time for our Annual Fundraiser.

The Trolley Dodger blog can only be kept going with the help of our devoted readers. Perhaps you count yourself among them.

If you have already contributed in the past, we thank you very much for your help. Meanwhile, our goal for this fundraiser is just $700, which is only a fraction of what it costs us each year. The rest is made up from either the profits from the items we sell, which are not large, or out of our own pocket, which is not very large either.

There are links at the top and bottom of this page, where you can click and make a donation that will help us meet our goal again for this coming year, so we can continue to offer you more classic images in the future, and keep this good thing we have going.

We thank you in advance for your time and consideration. To date, we have raised $350, which is halfway to our goal. We will also have considerable expenses coming up relating to research for our next book.

Recent Finds

On May 11, 1958, William C. Hoffman took this picture looking north along Halsted at the (then) Congress Expressway. Service on the Garfield Park “L” would continue until June 22nd, when it was replaced by the new Congress rapid transit line at left. A passerby admires the new, as-yet unopened station entrance. The Met “L” here had been four tracks, but two were removed by the time this picture was taken, as they were in the highway footprint. The expressway opened in late 1955 in this area.

The old and the new are on display in this 1958 view of the Halsted station on the CTA’s Congress median line. In the background, the old Met “L” is still standing, but would soon be demolished.

North Shore Line 458 heads up a southbound freight train, probably in the early-to-mid 1950s. At first, I thought this location was in Skokie, from the sign on the building. But further research shows this picture was taken in Waukegan, between Washington and Cornelia Streets. The building at right was a former North Shore Line merchandise dispatch (they spelled it “despatch”) station, by this time being rented out to a produce dealer. Don’s Rail Photos: “458 was built by the Spokane Portland & Seattle in January 1941 as Oregon Electric Ry. 50. It was purchased by the North Shore in December 1947 and was completed as 458 on January 27, 1948.”

A northbound Electroliner heading away from the photographer in Waukegan, most likely in the early-to-mid 1950s. In the distance, you can see another North Shore car on a side track.

A close-up of the previous image. Zach E. writes: “Regarding the two photos of 458 and the Electroliner at Washington St. in Waukegan. The cars in the background are standard coaches, not MD cars. There was a storage track there often occupied by cars laying over on the east side of the mainline there between Cornelia and Brookside Ave.”

CTA PCC 4057 is heading northbound on Western Avenue near Roscoe in June 1956, passing by the entrance to Riverview Park, shortly before the end of streetcar service on Route 49. (Robert Selle Photo)

The Chicago and Milwaukee Electric was the predecessor of the North Shore Line. Car 133 is at the Kenosha station in this early 1900s view.

The Chicago Aurora and Elgin began using this off-street terminal in Aurora in 1939. This picture was taken from a nearby bridge in 1951.

Look at what we have here– the Turtle Wax Turtle, a local landmark that stood on top of a building at Madison, Ogden, and Ashland from 1956 to 1963. The slide mount dates it to the late 50s, probably 1956-58. And which “L” is this taken from? Well, since it is daylight and it is 9:13, I would say that is AM, and we are looking south from the Lake Street “L” at Ashland. It would have been visible from the Paulina “L”, which had closed in 1951, and from the Garfield Park “L”, but that structure had already been torn down by 1956. I remember seeing this thing any number of times when I was a kid.

The Turtle Wax Turtle.

One of the two Liberty Liners (ex-Electroliners) on the Norristown High-Speed Line, where they ran from 1964 to 1976.

Britton I. Budd (1871-1965) was a talented and able executive who held many responsible positions in the transit industry, including president of the North Shore Line. When Samuel Insull took over the North Shore Line, he tapped Budd to implement a modernization program. And when the line fell into bankruptcy in 1932, Budd became one of the receivers, a position he held until 1937.

The North Shore logo from a 1942 timetable.

This appeared on the cover of a 1921 issue of the North Shore Bulletin, a small magazine given out to riders.

This is part of a number of photos someone took out of the front window of a CTA “L” train in the 1950s, along the Garfield Park line. We have published some of these in previous posts. Not all of them seem to have been taken at the same time. This one appears to be circa 1957, and the location is along the temporary right-of-way in Van Buren Street.

Here, the “L” train the photographer was riding in was descending a ramp towards the ground-level trackage in Van Buren Street. The cross street in the distance is California Avenue. There is a sign on the front of the oncoming train, which I believe indicates which Chicago Aurora and Elgin connecting train riders could catch in Forest Park.

The Garfield Park “L” on Van Buren Street at California Avenue, but this time, circa 1954. The old “L” has already been removed, except for the bridge over a nearby railroad.

A close-up of the previous image, showing construction on the nearby railroad embankment that crosses the highway at 2600 West. The old Met “L” bridge had not yet been dismantled.

On the Illinois Railway Museum main line, North Shore Line cars can operate in something approximating their former lives in revenue service prior to the 1963 abandonment. We see car 251 in February 1991. (Mike Raia Photo)

Lehigh Valley Transit ran freight as well as passenger service between Allentown, PA and Philadelphia. Even after passenger service was cut back to Norristown in 1949, they continued to operate freight via the Philadelphia and Western. Here we see car C16 in 1950, near the end of its days. Interurban service was abandoned the following year. Don’s Rail Photos: “C16 was built by Jewett Car in 1912 as 800. It was rebuilt as C16 in 1935.”

Lehigh Valley Transit car 1002, circa 1950. Don’s Rail Photos: “1002 was built by Cincinnati Car in June 1930, #3050, as C&LE 126. It was sold to LVT as 1002 in 1938 and scrapped in 1952.”

A pair of Lehigh Valley Transit cars meet a Philadelphia Bullet car at the Norristown terminal, circa 1951. LVT ceased running their Liberty Bell Limited cars there in 1949, for a variety of reasons. It reduced their expenses, but it probably also reduced revenues as their riders now had to change trains at Norristown. But the LVT cars were getting worn out and there were problems with the motors on the lightweight high-speed interurban cars LVT had acquired from the Cleveland and Lake Erie in 1938. Towards the end, LVT had to rely more and more on their older cars, such as the 700-series ones seen here. To the left (north), there was a ramp descending to ground level. This terminal has since been replaced by a newer one nearby.

The Chicago and North Western station in Evanston, during steam days in the early 1900s.

We ran another picture of this scene in a previous post, taken from a different view. The occasion was a Chicago streetcar fantrip using car 2802, and the location is at 63rd and Halsted on the Englewood branch of the “L”. There was an off-street area where riders could change for buses to different locations and, in an older era, interurbans as well. I do not know precisely when this picture was taken, but if I had to guess, I would say sometime in the 1940s.

Here is the other picture we previously ran of car 2802:

C&IT stands for the Chicago & Interurban Traction Company. Don's Rail Photos says, "The Chicago & Interurban Traction Company was incorporated in February 1912, taking over all trackage outside Chicago in March 1912 (all trackage in the City of Chicago went to the Chicago City Railway Company). C&IT interurban service continued from the south side Engelwood Elevated Station at 63rd and Halsted (trackage in Chicago was leased along with the shops at 88th and Vincennes) to Kankakee." Samuel Insull took over the C&IT in 1922 and tried to revive the line, but when the competing Illinois Central elevated much of their line and electrified, the C&IT could not compete and interurban service was abandoned in 1927.

CSL 2802 on a charter, possibly a July 4, 1949 fantrip held by the Electric Railroaders’ Association on various south side lines. Bill Shapotkin writes: “Believe this pic is in the streetcar terminal next to the 63/Halsted ‘L’ station (where the C&IT cars and later busses of South Suburban Safeway and Suburban transit began their runs). View looks east.” M. E. adds, “Bill Shapotkin is correct. This view faces east along 63rd Place on the south side of the 63rd and Halsted (Englewood) L station, which was east of Halsted. One small nit about Bill’s text: The bus lines were named Suburban Transit System and South Suburban Safeway Lines.”
C&IT stands for the Chicago & Interurban Traction Company. Don’s Rail Photos says, “The Chicago & Interurban Traction Company was incorporated in February 1912, taking over all trackage outside Chicago in March 1912 (all trackage in the City of Chicago went to the Chicago City Railway Company). C&IT interurban service continued from the south side Engelwood Elevated Station at 63rd and Halsted (trackage in Chicago was leased along with the shops at 88th and Vincennes) to Kankakee.” Samuel Insull took over the C&IT in 1922 and tried to revive the line, but when the competing Illinois Central elevated much of their line and electrified, the C&IT could not compete and interurban service was abandoned in 1927.

A Wabash Railroad display at the 1948-49 Chicago Railroad Fair along the lakefront.

The Chicago and Eastern Illinois exhibit at the 1948-49 Chicago Railroad Fair.

North Shore Line combine 255. Don’s Rail Photos: “255 was built by Jewett in 1917. It had all of the seats removed in the 1920s to provide a full length baggage car which ran in passenger trains. It was used for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to move equipment to Ravinia. On July 2, 1942, the 40 seats were replaced. Then on December 1, 1946, the seats were again removed. In addition to the Symphony, the car was used for sailors’ baggage from Great Lakes.” As there are seats visible, this picture dates to circa 1942-46.

Atlantic City Brilliner 215 at a traffic signal, while on private right-of-way, on October 13, 1955, which must be shortly before streetcar service ended there.

Pittsburgh Railways PCC 1262 is on Wood Street in downtown Pittsburgh on September 19, 1962.

Chicago Transit Authority PCC 4321 is on 77th Street on July 30, 1948.

This is the Ballston Terminal Railroad, which Frank Hicks calls “a fairly unusual little interurban in upstate New York,” in the early 1900s. More info here.

Here, we see Frank Cheney on CA&E car 434 at the Seashore Trolley Museum on October 12, 1963. From their web site: “No. 434 of the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin – “The Great Third Rail” – was outshopped by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1927 as one of a group of 15 ordered shortly after Insull acquired control of the railway. Of all steel construction, the car is 55 feet long overall, is powered by four 140 horsepower motors, and has a seating capacity of 52, including 10 in a smoking compartment. Interior appointments include rotating bucket seats, toilet facilities and neatly finished paneling. The car is equipped with trolley poles that were primarily for yard service and limited street running on the CA&E, since the line used third rail current collection not only on the elevated, but on its own cross country surface routes as well. Moved on its own wheels coupled in a freight train from the CA&E shops in Wheaton, Illinois, to Kennebunk in the fall of 1962, No. 434 was trucked to the Museum in the spring of 1963 and was quickly readied for operation, given its good condition.”

North Shore Line car 168 is in North Chicago, being stored after abandonment, on October 19, 1963. It was built by Jewett in 1917. It did not survive.

Some of these interurban cars sure got around after they were retired from their original roads. Here we see North Shore Line car 411 on the Long Island Railroad. Don’s Rail Photos: “411 was built as a trailer observation car by Cincinnati Car in June 1923 #2640. It was out of service in 1932. 411 It was rebuilt as a two motor coach by closing in the open platform and changing the seating on February 25, 1943, and sold to Trolley Museum of New York in 1963. It was sold to Wisconsin Electric Railway & Historical Society in 1973 and sold to Escanaba & Lake Superior in 1989.”

An 0-series Shinkansen “Bullet” train in Tokyo, Japan in June 1968. The North Shore Line’s Electroliners influenced the design of these high-speed trains.

This is the Downey’s station (West Great Lakes) in October 1961.

I assume this may also be at Downeys, in October 1961.

Sailors and others aboard a North Shore Line train in October 1961.

A builder’s photo of Chicago and Milwaukee Electric (later the North Shore Line) car 305. Don’s Rail Photos: “303 thru 305 were built by American Car in 1910 and were almost identical. In 1939 they became sleet cutters and were retired and scrapped in 1940.”

North Shore Line streetcar 510. Don’s Rail Photos: “510 and 511 were not really city cars, but were purchased for use on the Mundelein line. They were typical Cincinnati Car lightweights built in 1922. After more of the steel interurbans were received in the next few years, they were replaced by the heavy cars which were thru routed to Chicago. The cars were stored until they were scrapped in 1940.”

North Shore Line wood car 301 at the Highwood Shops in the 1930s. Don’s Rail Photos: “300 thru 302 were built by Jewett in 1909 as mainline coaches. As the steel cars arrived, they were downgraded to local and school tripper service. In 1936 they became sleet cutters. 301 and 302 were retired in 1939 and scrapped in 1940.” (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

North Shore Line Birney car 334 in Milwaukee. Don’s Rail Photos: “334 was built by Cincinnati Car Co in December 1922, #2625. It was retired in 1947 and scrapped in April 1948.” (Donald Ross Photo)

North Shore Line electric loco 458 at the Highwood Shops on September 3, 1963, several months after abandonment. None of the NSL locos were saved, due to the high scrap value they had. (Bill Volkmer Photo)

Chicago Aurora & Elgin wood car 137 at the Wheaton Shops on August 6, 1939, during which time it was leased from the North Shore Line. There were several such cars that were purchased by the CA&E in 1946, making them the last passenger cars acquired by the interurban. It was built by the Jewett Car Company in 1907. (La Mar M. Kelley Photo)

Recent Correspondence

Doug Iverson writes:

David, just heard about your latest adventure into the publishing arena. Hope everything goes well. I would be honored and extremely pleased if you could use this photo of my dad heading to board the North Shore in Racine in the 1940s.

My dad’s name was Nathan Norman Iverson. He was born in Forks, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula and traveled to Racine on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad better known as The Milwaukee Road. As he did most of his traveling during the depression he “rode the rails” trying to cure his wanderlust. In Racine he met my mother and she calmed his wandering spirit. He loved to travel. He always said “Traveling was always more fun than being there.”

I grew up in Racine with The North Shore flying through town in both directions every hour on the half hour.

Thanks for sharing! A remarkable story.

Marty Robinson writes:

Thanks David for your anniversary post. It elicited several memories for me: riding the North Shore Line from Downey into Chicago numerous times while at Great Lakes in 1950/51 at boot camp and electronics school. And a mention of the Railroad Fair, where I worked as a 16-year-old as a conductor on the Deadwood Central.

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks! Marty is front row, center in this 1948 photo from the Chicago Railroad Fair.

Did Not Win

Resources are limited, and we can’t win all the auctions for interesting pictures. Here are some that are still worth another look:

The interior of a Silverliner in 1963.

This is apparently a Chicago area train, but which one? The type of slide mount would indicate a date in the range 1955-58. But the headline visible, on a copy of the Chicago Daily News, refers to the selection of a site for the University of Illinois campus in Chicago. That determination was not made final until 1961. It’s been suggested that this may be the GM&O, but it could also be a Chicago & North Western train known as The 400, which ran between Chicago and Minneapolis. The 400 got its name because the travel time between cities was about 400 minutes. At any rate, it’s an air conditioned car. Mitch Markovitz: “Regarding the parlor car interior. It’s definitely the interior of GM&O parlor “Bloomington,” and not a C&NW parlor. C&NW parlors had parlor chairs from Coach and Car, and the chairs seen in the photo are those from Heywood-Wakefield, in the “Sleepy Hallow model.””

The original Kedzie Avenue station on the Ravenswood “L” (today’s CTA Brown Line) in the early 1970s, not long before it was damaged by fire. We are looking west.

Trolleys to Milwaukee by John Gruber

A copy of this long out-of-print 32-page book is being offered for sale on eBay for $50. One of the fans on the Facebook North Shore Line group lives in Australia and is interested in this book, but international shipping is expensive. So I offered to scan my copy for their benefit. You might enjoy it too.

John E. Gruber (1936-2018) was a notable and very talented photographer, as evidenced in these very striking pictures.

A Guide to the Railroad Record Club E-Book

William A. Steventon recording the sounds of the North Shore Line in April 1956. (Kenneth Gear Collection)

Our good friend Ken Gear has been hard at work on collecting all things related to the late William Steventon’s railroad audio recordings and releases. The result is a new book on disc, A Guide To the Railroad Record Club. This was quite a project and labor of love on Ken’s part!

Kenneth Gear has written and compiled a complete history of William Steventon‘s Railroad Record Club, which issued 42 different LPs of steam, electric, and diesel railroad audio, beginning with its origins in 1953.

This “book on disc” format allows us to present not only a detailed history of the club and an updated account of Kenneth Gear’s purchase of the William Steventon estate, but it also includes audio files, photo scans and movie files. Virtually all the Railroad Record Club archive is gathered in one place!

Price: $19.99

$10 from the sale of each RRC E-Book will go to Kenneth Gear to repay him for some of his costs in saving this important history.

Now Available on Compact Disc:

RRC08D
Railroad Record Club #08 Deluxe Edition: Canadian National: Canadian Railroading in the Days of Steam, Recorded by Elwin Purington
The Complete Recording From the Original Master Tapes
Price: $15.99

Kenneth Gear‘s doggedness and determination resulted in his tracking down and purchasing the surviving RRC master tapes a few years back, and he has been hard at work having them digitized, at considerable personal expense, so that you and many others can enjoy them with today’s technology. We have already released a few RRC Rarities CDs from Ken’s collection.

When Ken heard the digitized version of RRC LP #08, Canadian National: Canadian Railroading in the Days of Steam, recorded by the late Elwin Purington, he was surprised to find the original tapes were more than twice the length of the 10″ LP. The resulting LP had been considerably edited down to the limited space available, 15 minutes per side.

The scenes were the same, but each was greatly shortened. Now, on compact disc, it is possible to present the full length recordings of this classic LP, which was one of Steventon’s best sellers and an all-around favorite, for the very first time.

Canadian National. Steaming giants pound high iron on mountain trails, rumble over trestles, hit torpedos and whistle for many road crossings. Mountain railroading with heavy power and lingering whistles! Includes locomotives 3566, 4301, 6013, 3560.

Total time – 72:57

$5 from the sale of RRC08D CD will go to Kenneth Gear to repay him for some of his costs in saving this important history.

Chicago’s Lost “L”s Online Presentation

We recently gave an online presentation about our book Chicago’s Lost “L”s for the Chicago Public Library, as part of their One Book, One Chicago series. You can watch it online by following this link.

The Trolley Dodger On the Air

We appeared on the Dave Plier Show on WGN radio on July 16, 2021, to discuss Chicago’s Lost “L”s. You can hear that discussion here.

Our Latest Book, Now Available:

Chicago’s Lost “L”s

From the back cover:

Chicago’s system of elevated railways, known locally as the “L,” has run continuously since 1892 and, like the city, has never stood still. It helped neighborhoods grow, brought their increasingly diverse populations together, and gave the famous Loop its name. But today’s system has changed radically over the years. Chicago’s Lost “L”s tells the story of former lines such as Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Kenwood, Stockyards, Normal Park, Westchester, and Niles Center. It was once possible to take high-speed trains on the L directly to Aurora, Elgin, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The L started out as four different companies, two starting out using steam engines instead of electricity. Eventually, all four came together via the Union Loop. The L is more than a way of getting around. Its trains are a place where people meet and interact. Some say the best way to experience the city is via the L, with its second-story view. Chicago’s Lost “L”s is virtually a “secret history” of Chicago, and this is your ticket. David Sadowski grew up riding the L all over the city. He is the author of Chicago Trolleys and Building Chicago’s Subways and runs the online Trolley Dodger blog.

The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.

Title Chicago’s Lost “L”s
Images of America
Author David Sadowski
Edition illustrated
Publisher Arcadia Publishing (SC), 2021
ISBN 1467100007, 9781467100007
Length 128 pages

Chapters:
01. The South Side “L”
02. The Lake Street “L”
03. The Metropolitan “L”
04. The Northwestern “L”
05. The Union Loop
06. Lost Equipment
07. Lost Interurbans
08. Lost Terminals
09. Lost… and Found

Each copy purchased here will be signed by the author, and you will also receive a bonus facsimile of a 1926 Chicago Rapid Transit Company map, with interesting facts about the “L” on the reverse side.

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

For Shipping to US Addresses:

For Shipping to Canada:

For Shipping Elsewhere:

NEW DVD:

A Tribute to the North Shore Line

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the demise of the fabled North Shore Line interurban in January 2013, Jeffrey L. Wien and Bradley Criss made a very thorough and professional video presentation, covering the entire route between Chicago and Milwaukee and then some. Sadly, both men are gone now, but their work remains, making this video a tribute to them, as much as it is a tribute to the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee.

Jeff drew on his own vast collections of movie films, both his own and others such as the late William C. Hoffman, wrote and gave the narration. Bradley acted as video editor, and added authentic sound effects from archival recordings of the North Shore Line.

It was always Jeff’s intention to make this video available to the public, but unfortunately, this did not happen in his lifetime. Now, as the caretakers of Jeff’s railfan legacy, we are proud to offer this excellent two-hour program to you for the first time. The result is a fitting tribute to what Jeff called his “Perpetual Adoration,” which was the name of a stop on the interurban.

Jeff was a wholehearted supporter of our activities, and the proceeds from the sale of this disc will help defray some of the expenses of keeping the Trolley Dodger web site going.

Total time – 121:22

# of Discs – 1
Price: $19.99 (Includes shipping within the United States)

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 284th 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 841,000 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

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

Chasing Sanborn (Our 275th Post)

August 30, 2021September 21, 2021David Sadowski 13 Comments

This 1953 view looks to the northwest and shows the old Canal Street station on the Metropolitan “L”, which was near Union Station. They were connected by a walkway nicknamed “Frustration Walk,” since many people would miss their train in the time it took to make the journey. The “L” here closed in 1958 and was demolished soon after. (Jon R. Roma Collection)

This is our 275th Trolley Dodger blog post, so we thought we would make this one extra special for you.

Recently, Jon R. Roma sent us some Sanborn insurance maps that were made in 1906 and 1917, mainly to show sections of the old Garfield Park “L” in greater detail. This was in response to some of our previous posts, where we discussed just where it used to run, before it was replaced by the Congress rapid transit line in 1958.

Learning from history is a process, and as historians, we are continually reaching out to the past, studying the historical record, looking for clues that will inform us today and further our understanding. Photographs, of course, are invaluable, but so are the kind of detailed maps that were made for insurance purposes long ago. They detail pretty much every structure and many of the businesses that once existed.

As an example of what you can learn from these maps, consider the one below showing the layout of old West Side Park, where the Chicago Cubs played through the 1915 season.

A story has gone around in recent years, that supposedly the expression “from out of left field” originated at West Side Park. Cook County Hospital was just north of the park, and the story goes that mental patients there would yell things out during Cubs games, which gave birth to the expression, which has taken on a meaning of something completely unexpected.

Unfortunately, there is no record of “from out of left field” being used in print with this meaning prior to the 1940s, by which time the Cubs had been in Wrigley Field for 25 years. But if you look at the Sanborn map of West Side Park, there was apparently an open area just north of the grandstands, so the hospital would have been some further distance away. I am not sure how much of the field would have been visible from the hospital anyway, so after looking at the map, the story seems unlikely.

What is more likely is how the expression could have evolved just generally from baseball lore. Occasionally, the left fielder will make a throw all the way to home plate during a game. Such a throw, coming “from out of left field,” tends to be unexpected, and it may be that over time, it took on this other meaning colloquially.

In addition, we have more electric traction, steam, and diesel photos taken around 1970 by John Engleman, some recent new photo finds of our own, and correspondence with Larry Sakar.

I guess we will always be “chasing Sanborn,” and other things like it.

We are very grateful to all our contributors. Sanborn fire insurance maps provided courtesy of the Map Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Enjoy!

-David Sadowski

PS- If you enjoy reading these posts, you might consider joining our Trolley Dodger Facebook Group as well. We currently have 429 members.

Sanborn Maps from 1917:

The area covered by this volume.

This includes the Met “L” line heading to Humboldt Park and Logan Square. There was a station at Madison Street, opened in 1895, which is not delineated on this 1917 map. It closed in 1951. This section of “L” has since been rebuilt, and is now part of the CTA Pink Line.

The Met “L” branch leading to Humboldt Park and Logan Square made a bit of a jog near Ogden Avenue, an angle street. This is the section just north of Marshfield Junction.

This section of map shows the Garfield Park “L” and includes the station at Western Avenue, which was open from 1895 to 1953. When Western was widened in the 1930s, the front of the station was removed and a new Art Deco front replaced it. The same thing was done to three other “L” stations on Western. This station closed in September 1953, due to construction of the Congress Expressway, and we have featured pictures of its quick demolition in previous posts.

A close-up of the Western Avenue “L” station. I suppose the area marked “iron” refers to the station canopy.

This map includes a section of the Garfield Park “L”.

This map includes a section of the Garfield Park “L”, including part of the station at Hoyne Avenue, which was open from 1895 to 1953. The area between Van Buren and Congress is now occupied by the Eisenhower expressway. The CTA Blue Line tracks are in approximately the same location as the former Garfield Park “L”, but in the depressed highway.

This map shows part of the Garfield Park “L”, including the station at Hoyne Avenue.

This includes the old Garfield Park “L”.

This includes the Garfield Park “L”, including the station at Ogden Avenue, which was open between 1895 and 1953.

A close-up of the Garfield Park “L” station at Ogden Avenue.

The map shows the section of the Met “L” lines just west of Marshfield Junction, where all the various branch lines came together.

The Met “L” branches ran over a building that housed the Dreamland roller skating rink. When the Congress Expressway was built, a new section of “L” was built running north-south to connect the Douglas Park “L” to the tracks formerly used by the Humboldt Park and Logan Square lines prior to 1951. This became part of a new routing for Douglas that brought its trains to the Loop via the Lake Street “L”, where another new connection was built. This is the path that the CTA Pink Line follows today. Douglas trains were connected to the new Congress rapid transit line via a ramp that followed the old Douglas path starting in 1958.

The same location today.

This map shows Marshfield Junction on the Garfield Park “L”, where all the Met lines came together.

A close-up of the Marshfield Junction track arrangement and station layout. Notice that the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago (later the CA&E) had its own platform here. This station was in use from 1895 to 1954. From September 1953 to April 1954, it was only used by Douglas Park trains, as Garfield trains were re-routed to ground level tracks here in Van Buren Street.

This map includes the Laflin “L” station on the Garfield Park main line.

The Metropolitan “L” main line included a station at Laflin Avenue, which originally had two island platforms. Between 1896 and 1914, it was reconfigured with three platforms so the tracks did not have to make sharp curves around the ends of the platforms. This station was open from 1895 to 1951. Notice the complex track arrangement west of the station, which gave the Met maximum flexibility for routing their trains going downtown.

The Met “L” main line between Loomis and Laflin.

The Met “L” facilities shown here represent somewhat of a mystery. There is a general repair shop on Laflin, including maintenance of way, and “batteries” on Loomis.

When the Met “L” was built in the 1890s, they had to generate their own electric power, which they did via this massive power plant between Loomis and Throop. This map indicates that by 1917, the facility was co-owned by what is now Commonwealth Edison.

A close-up of the previous map. Note the Met had a “store house” east of the 1894 power plant.

The Met’s Throop Street Shops. The Met’s “L” station at Racine is also shown.

The Met’s Throop Street Shops are at left, and the Racine “L” station at right. Like Laflin and Halsted, it originally had two island platforms, and was reconfigured to the four side platforms you see here, in order to straighten out the tracks. This station was open from 1895 to 1954. It remained in use until Douglas Park “L” trains could be re-routed downtown via the Lake Street “L”.

The Met Main Line. From 1953-58, when the Garfield Park “L” ran on temporary trackage in part of Van Buren Street, it reconnected with the existing structure via a ramp near Aberdeen. The tracks you see here would have been at the very north end of the expressway footprint.

This section of the Met Main Line was not directly in the way of the Congress Expressway, although it was reduced from four tracks to two during the construction period. The two tracks to the south were removed. The “L” was very close to the highway at this point, though.

The Met Main Line. From 1953-58, the Garfield Park “L” ran on ground-level trackage in Van Buren Street. Douglas Park trains used the old Met structure until April 1954.

The Met Main Line had four tracks in this area, which were reduced down to two during the period from 1953-58. The Halsted “L” station was open from 1895 to 1958, when the new Congress rapid transit line opened in the adjacent expressway median. Many great photos were taken from the east end of the Halsted station, where you had a great view of a double curve.

Like Racine and Laflin, the Met’s Halsted “L” station originally had two island platforms, which meant there were sharp curves in the track at the ends of those platforms. This slowed down operations, so over a period of time leading up to 1914, those three stations were reconfigured. Halsted then had three platforms and the tracks were straightened. During the construction of the adjacent Congress Expressway in the mid-1950s, the two tracks to the south here were removed along with one of the three platforms. It was that close to the highway. However, the station itself remained in use by Garfield trains until the Congress line opened in 1958.

This map shows the Met’s Douglas Park branch heading south, and includes the Polk Street “L” station.

The Polk Street “L” station on the Douglas Park branch opened in 1896 and remains in use today by the CTA Pink Line. It was rebuilt in 1983.

This is the second West Side Park, home of the Chicago National League Ballclub from 1893 through 1915. They were not officially called the Cubs until the 1907 season. Starting in 1916, the Cubs vacated West Side Park in favor of what had been Weegham Park, which had been home to the Chicago Whales of the short-lived Federal League, now known as Wrigley Field. West Side Park was torn down in 1920. Home plate was located at the northwest corner, and it was 560 feet to center field, where there was a club house, somewhat in the manner of New York’s Polo Grounds and other early stadiums. Oftentimes, in those years, if there was a large crowd, fans stood in part of the outfield, as there were no seats there.

The Met’s Douglas Park “L” ran through this area, and is now the CTA Pink Line.

The Met’s Douglas Park “L” branch and the Roosevelt Road (formerly 12th Street) station.

The Roosevelt Road (formerly 12th Street) “L” station on the Metropolitan’s Douglas Park branch opened in 1896 and closed in 1952. In December 1951, the CTA turned it into a “partial service” station, where there was no ticket agent. You could enter the station by placing a token into a turnstyle. This experiment was short-lived, and the station was closed in May 1952.

This shows the Douglas Park “L”, today’s CTA Pink Line.

Sanborn Maps from 1906:

A key to the areas covered by this 1906 set of maps.

This map shows the Halsted station on the Lake Street “L”. It was open from 1893 until 1994. It closed during the two-year rehabilitation project for what is now the CTA Green Line and was eventually replaced by a new station at Morgan Street, which opened in 2012.

A close-up of the Halsted “L” station on the Lake Street line.

The Lake Street “L”.

The Lake Street “L” station at Canal. The “L” crosses the Chicago River here, and in 1906, there was a swing bridge which was eventually replaced. Swing bridges were a hazard to navigation.

The Canal Street “L” station on the Lake Street line opened in 1893 and was replaced by the Clinton station one block west in 1909.

The Lake Street “L” station at Canal.

North is to the left on this map, which shows a curve on the old Metropolitan “L” main line west of the Chicago River. This was part of a double curve east of Halsted Street.

The Met “L” Main Line.

The Met “L” Main Line near Clinton Street. Chicago renumbered many streets after this map was made in 1906. In 1911, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad built its headquarters at 547 W. Jackson, just to the north of the “L”. While the “L” here closed in 1958 and was removed soon after, that building remains and its shape was partially determined by the “L”. Note the Chicago Union Traction cable power house.

The Met “L” station at Canal Street. A new Union Station was built nearby and opened in 1925. The “L” station had a direct enclosed walkway to it, which was used by thousands of people each day.

The Met “L” station at Canal Street opened in 1895 and was rebuilt after a fire in 1922. The platform configuration remained the same, but a new headhouse was built, designed by Arthur U. Gerber. This station closed in 1958 when the new Congress rapid transit line opened nearby, which connected to the Milwaukee-Dearborn-Congress Subway.

The Met “L” crossed the tracks leading to Union Station at an angle, and also crossed the Chicago River this way.

North is to the left on this map, which shows the Met “L” curving a bit towards the north, just east of the Halsted station. Once the buildings surrounding the “L” were cleared away in the early 1950s, for construction of what is now the Kennedy Expressway, this became a favorite site for photographers looking to the east from the “L” station.

Recent Finds

For a minute, I thought this might be Chicago, but apparently not. There was a streetcar #6093 in Chicago, but not until 1914 and the beginnings of the CSL era. That’s not a CSL logo on the side of the car. And Route 9 here was Ashland, not something going to Exchange Depot, whatever that was. It might possibly be Philadelphia, as they had cars like these in a 6000-series (later converted to Peter Witts with the addition of a center door), and they were an early adopter of numbered routes. But there is also a strange logo on the side of the car that I do not recognize. Frank Hicks: “This is International Railway Company in Buffalo. It’s part of a series of 200 Nearside cars built for them by Kuhlman in 1912, a follow-on to their original order for Nearside cars from Brill in 1911.”

A close-up of the unusual logo on the side of the car.

An eastbound single-car Douglas Park train passes by the old Met “L” powerhouse and shops at Throop Street, built in 1894. William C. Hoffman took this picture on October 29, 1950. Work was already underway clearing buildings for construction of the Congress Expressway, today’s I-290 (aka the Eisenhower). The discoloration of the brick was caused by some sort of chemical leaching process.

A close-up of the previous picture, showing the 1894 construction date for the massive Met power house. The “L” opened the following year. The blue line through the date is actually a scratch on the original slide.

The view looking northwest from Congress and Racine on May 14, 1950, showing the old Met “L” power house, the Throop Street Shops, and a bit of the Racine station. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

The old Marshfield “L” station, or at least, the CA&E platform at that station, circa 1951. The red Pullman streetcar is running on Route 9 – Ashland, but here, is on Paulina one block west of Ashland. Streetcars could not run on boulevards, and Ashland was a boulevard between Lake Street and Roosevelt Road. Hence the diversion. A sign advertises the late Carol Channing in the stage version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The curving tracks are for the Douglas Park branch. This is where all the various Met “L”s diverged from each other, heading to the west, south, and north from here.

This duplicate slide did not come with any information, but I am wondering if this was taken from the old Met “L” looking to the north, which would mean the streetcar is on Van Buren. The Van Buren line was converted to bus in 1951 and the Garfield Park “L” was re-routed via temporary ground level tracks on Van Buren starting in 1953. Since the buildings around the “L” have been cleared away, that is further evidence that this is the Congress Expressway construction area. Michael Franklin has identified now this as Van Buren and Marshfield.

The same location today.

CTA 6025-6026 is ascending the ramp that brings the Ravenswood “L” up from ground level between Rockwell and Western Avenue. The date is September 30, 1951.

This picture looks north towards Tower 18 on the Loop “L” at Lake and Wells. Since a Douglas Park train is making a turn here, it must have been taken between 1954 and 1958, when that line ran downtown via the Lake Street “L”. As the Loop was uni-directional then, running counterclockwise, the train is coming towards us.

This is the Deerpath Avenue station on the North Shore Line’s Skokie Valley Route.

This is Glencoe on the North Shore Line’s Shore Line Route. The circular white sign would indicate this was a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip, possibly just prior to the 1955 abandonment.

This is the Franklin Avenue station on the NYCTA-BMT Myrtle Avenue elevated in Brooklyn on June 14, 1958, with trolley bus 3039 running on Route 48 – Lorimer Street. Trolley buses were replaced by diesels in 1960, and the Myrtle Avenue El was closed on October 4, 1969. It was the last place on the New York system that used wooden cars. this was nearly 12 years after they were last used in Chicago. The El here opened in 1885, but the station you see here is not the original, but a more modern (and cheaply built) replacement. NY decided that upgrading this El would be too costly, so they got rid of it without replacement. Note the cool 1950s two-toned cars.

This is a view of the same location today. The building at left replaced the one shown in the 1958 picture some time after 2013. The other three buildings appear to be the same, with modifications.

The first photo shows the length of the ramp that connected the Lake Street “L” to the ground level portion west of Laramie. The cross street is Long Avenue (5400 W.), which means the incline ramp was exactly two blocks long. A current view of the same location follows. Streetcars ran on Lake Street until May 30, 1954 when they were replaced by buses. For a few blocks, they ran parallel to the ground level “L”, which was also powered by overhead wire. We are looking east.

The Racine “L” station on the Englewood branch on January 10, 1956.

This picture was taken on January 10, 1956, and shows the ground-level portion of the Lake Street “L” in Oak Park, just east of the Marion Street station. It was relocated to the Chicago & North Western embankment in 1962.

This would seem to be a view of the Quincy and Wells “L” station on the Loop on January 10,l 1956, looking north.

This is a view of the North Shore Line’s Harrison Street Shops in Milwaukee in the late 1950s, taken from an early Ektachrome slide that has unfortunately shifted to red. I did what I could to improve the color. Not sure which express motor car that is.

A colorized view of the old Loop “L” station at State and Van Buren, sometime prior to the end of cable car service in 1906, looking north. There is a picture of this station in 1959 in my book Chicago’s Lost “L”s. It closed in 1973 and by 1975 nearly all of it had been removed, except for a short segment of the platform. A new station opened here in 1997 to serve the new Harold Washington Library.

This view, looking north from the old Loop “L” station at State and Van Buren, dates to between 1952 and 1955. That seems to be prewar PCC 4051, painted in the new CTA colors, heading north. From 1955-56, the prewar cars ran on Western Avenue, but in this time frame, they were used on Route 4 – Cottage Grove.

Another slide I did not win… this one has a real small town feel. Johnstown Traction Electric Streetcar #356 Original Kodachrome Slide Processed by Kodak Oakhurst, Pennsylvania 27 July 1958 Photographer Credit: William D. Volkmer Bob Bresse-Rodenkirk adds: “356 is now at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, CT along with Johnstown 357.”

Here is a slide I did not win. It shows two interurban cars on the Iowa Terminal in August 1967. Waterloo & Cedar Falls Northern 100 had just been restored, but unfortunately was destroyed in a fire a few months later. The fate of the North Shore Line box express motor car is less clear. The number seems to be 31, which was also destroyed in the same fire.

The Ravenswood terminal at Kimball and Lawrence in the mid-1950s. The occasion was probably a Sunday fantrip on wooden “L” cars. Since the Ravenswood only ran to Armitage on Sundays in those days (that was changed to Belmont after the North Shore Line quit), there were lots of opportunities to have leisurely photo stops, without interfering with regular service trains. There was also a much more lax attitude back then about having people near the 600 volt third rail.

Photos by John Engleman, Circa 1970

Work car M-454 in Pittsburgh. After it was taken out of regular service in the mid-1950s, it operated as a utility car for Pittsburgh Railways and was also used on some late 1960s fantrips. By 1973 it was sitting derelict on a siding and in sad shape, with its windows smashed, so I assume it has not survived. John Engleman: “The orange car is Pittsburgh Railways M454 on a fantrip somewhere on Pittsburgh’s North Side.” Larry Lovejoy adds: “Work car M454 on a fantrip in Pittsburgh in the early-1960s, inbound at the corner of California Avenue and Brighton Place. After it was taken out of regular passenger service in 1940, “highfloor” car 4115 it was converted into snowplow M454 by Pittsburgh Railways and was routinely used on fantrips during the 1960s. In derelict condition by the early 1970s, it was acquired by Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and scrapped for parts. M454 is survived by sister cars 4145 (nee snowplow M459) and tow-car M200 (nee snowplow M458, nee passenger car 4140), both in PTM’s collection.”

John Engleman: “The GG1 photos, judging by the time of day, are pulling the southbound Silver Star out of Baltimore’s Pennsylvania Station passing B&P Tower on its’ way to Washington. I was an operator at this tower (my favorite one) thus these are non-trespassing photos. I transferred to the B&O in May, 1971, so the GG1s at B&P Jct. were taken prior to that, sometime in 1970. Unfortunately no vegetation around to denote the season though.”

John Engleman: “The Metroliner is southbound at Middle River, Maryland, just east of Baltimore.”

John Engleman: “The single unit diesel and coach is all that was left of the Northern Central service at the time. It was a Washington-Harrisburg coach that reversed direction and changed locomotives in Baltimore, connecting to NY-Chicago and St. Louis trains at Harrisburg. We called it The Afternoon Ridiculous.”

John Engleman: “The 759 photos (without train) were taken in the Western Maryland Ry.’s Port Covington yard, currently being totally gentrified at the present time.”

John Engleman: “The Nickel Plate 759 photos (with train) were taken at Westport, an inner south Baltimore suburb. The MTA light rail line currently operates crossways where I was standing. The power station is BG&E’s Spring Garden substation. Looking forward along the train in the direction it is going one can see the Spring Garden Street trestle bridge, still in place but fire damaged and abandoned. The B&O South Baltimore Branch crosses the WM Ry. at grade looking in the direction the train (obviously a fantrip) is coming from. “

This photo is from one of the annual New Years Eve fantrips that used to take place on the Philadelphia streetcar system. John Engleman: “The SEPTA car is at Richmond & Westmoreland loop of the 15 & 60 lines.”

John Engleman: “The Baltimore Streetcar Museum photos appear to be taken on BSM’s opening day judging by the location of the streetcars. This was the first “end of the line”. The bus is Baltimore Transit 1096, the very first GM branded transit bus built (in 1945) and it is now in the BSM collection, although very unappreciated, and currently in quite unprotected storage pending a major amount of work eventually. The two gentlemen in the picture inside BSM’s carhouse are John Thomsen (L) and Henry Wells (R). This photo shows BSM’s first gift shop.”

Recent Correspondence

Larry Sakar writes:

I just found a great “Then and Now” of the The Milwaukee Electric Rapid Transit line at 35th St. The “Then” photo was taken by Don Ross (Don’s Depot) whom I know you know as do I and the “Now” photo was taken by me having not seen his. The “Then” picture shows a two-car train of 1100’s accelerating away from the 35th St. stop and going under the viaduct. That beam in Don’s photo is probably one of the railings from the steps that lead from the viaduct to the station down below. The steps are long gone but the abandoned right of way is still there.

When I first began photographing the abandoned r.o.w. ln Milwaukee in 1968 I thought it would be “cool” to snap a picture or two showing where the Rapid Transit line went beneath the 35th St. viaduct, so I took a chance and found a way to get down there. I made sure there were no WEPCO employees anywhere in the vicinity.

Don Ross worked for the Railway Express Agency, after working as a towerman for both the Milwaukee Road and the Chicago & North Western. When he worked for the C&NW, one of the towers he worked was Chase Avenue, situated within sight of Harrison St, shops. He said that when he worked a night shift he would see the sparks from the poles of the NSL interurbans. He also founded the National Railway Historical Society’s Milwaukee chapter.

Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks!

-David Sadowski

The Trolley Dodger On the Air

I recently appeared on the Dave Plier Show on WGN radio, to discuss Chicago’s Lost “L”s. You can hear that discussion here.

Our Latest Book, Now Available:

Chicago’s Lost “L”s

From the back cover:

Chicago’s system of elevated railways, known locally as the “L,” has run continuously since 1892 and, like the city, has never stood still. It helped neighborhoods grow, brought their increasingly diverse populations together, and gave the famous Loop its name. But today’s system has changed radically over the years. Chicago’s Lost “L”s tells the story of former lines such as Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Kenwood, Stockyards, Normal Park, Westchester, and Niles Center. It was once possible to take high-speed trains on the L directly to Aurora, Elgin, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The L started out as four different companies, two starting out using steam engines instead of electricity. Eventually, all four came together via the Union Loop. The L is more than a way of getting around. Its trains are a place where people meet and interact. Some say the best way to experience the city is via the L, with its second-story view. Chicago’s Lost “L”s is virtually a “secret history” of Chicago, and this is your ticket. David Sadowski grew up riding the L all over the city. He is the author of Chicago Trolleys and Building Chicago’s Subways and runs the online Trolley Dodger blog.

The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.

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

For Shipping to US Addresses:

For Shipping to Canada:

For Shipping Elsewhere:

NEW DVD:

A Tribute to the North Shore Line

Jeff was a wholehearted supporter of our activities, and the proceeds from the sale of this disc will help defray some of the expenses of keeping the Trolley Dodger web site going.

Total time – 121:22

# of Discs – 1
Price: $19.99 (Includes shipping within the United States)

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 275th 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 796,000 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

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

Points East, West and South

May 17, 2017July 14, 2025David Sadowski 12 Comments

This remarkable Kodachrome image was taken on Canal Street in New Orleans on June 19, 1940. It was shot on size 828 film, which has an image area of 28x40mm, about 30% larger than 35mm. (828 film, which Kodak introduced in the late 1930s, was essentially 35mm film without sprocket holes, but with a paper backing like other roll film formats.)
One of our regular readers writes, “The 4 tracks were taken out about 1948 when a number of the car lines that operated off of Canal were converted to trolley bus.” The location is the intersection of Canal and St. Charles. Car 444 is looping at the end of the St. Charles route and will be turning to the left in the picture.
WSMB (now WWWL) was an AM radio station at 1350 on the dial. Its old call letters reflect its original ownership by the Saenger theater chain and Maison Blanche department store. Its studios were located in the Maison Blanche department store building at right, now the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
The Saenger Theatre, another local landmark, is also on the right side of the picture.
In the days before air conditioning, men used to wear white suits, as you see here, since white reflects more heat than darker clothing. When this picture was taken, France had just fallen to Nazi Germany. The US did not enter World War II directly until 18 months later.

Our theme today is points east, west, and south. We’re going off in three directions, every which way but north.

We are especially glad to feature both the Chicago & West Towns Railways and Gary Railways. These photos have been generously shared by George Trapp, long a friend of this blog.

The West Towns map and photos of other properties come from our own collections. As always, to see a larger version of each photo, just click on it with your mouse. And, if you have useful information to add, please be sure to contact us.

Enjoy!

-David Sadowski

NOLA

A streamlined Kodak Bantam camera, using size 828 roll film, of a type that may have taken the New Orleans picture.

The same location today. The St. Charles line still loops as it did in the 1940 picture. Streetcars were absent from Canal Street for 40 years starting in 1964, but have returned. There is a crossover track, visible in this picture, connecting the two lines.

This close-up shows New Orleans Public Service car 444. One of our regular readers says, “It is not a Perley-Thomas built car but rather a Southern Car Company car built in 1914. Starting in 1914, all of the car bodies appeared the same starting with car #400 even though they were not all built by Perley-Thomas.” It was part of a group of 50 cars, numbered 400-449.
Behind the streetcar, you can see part of the marquee for the Loew’s State Theatre (also known as the State Palace), at 1108 Canal Street. It opened in 1926, but is currently closed and awaiting restoration. You can see some pictures of that theater’s interior here.

A bus crosses Canal.

Loew’s State circa 1930. From the Wikipedia: “The Rogue Song is a 1930 romantic musical film which tells the story of a Russian bandit who falls in love with a princess, but takes his revenge on her when her brother rapes and kills his sister. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production was directed by Lionel Barrymore and released in two versions, with and without sound. Hal Roach wrote and directed the Laurel and Hardy sequences and was not credited. The film stars Metropolitan Opera singer Lawrence Tibbett— who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance— and Catherine Dale Owen. Laurel and Hardy were third-billed; their sequences were filmed at the last minute and interspersed throughout the film in an attempt to boost its potential box office appeal. This film, which was MGM’s first all-talking (two-color) Technicolor film, is partially lost, as there are no known complete prints of this film. Fragments do exist.”

Loew’s circa 1940, showing I Love You Again, an MGM comedy starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, directed by W. S. Van Dyke. All three were associated with the Thin Man series of films, which were very popular.

A postcard view of Canal Street, showing the same general area as the 1940 slide, but looking from the opposite direction.

Chicago & West Towns

A Chicago & West Towns route map, from April 1942. By this time, only three streetcar lines were left: LaGrange, Lake, and Madison. The owner of the map crossed out (with hash marks) some routes that were abandoned later. There was, by 1942, no track connection between the two north side lines and the LaGrange line. When the Lake and Madison lines were finally bustituted, the remaining streetcar fleet was moved at night in 1947 on a circuitous route via Chicago Surface Lines trackage.

The Chicago & West Towns was a major streetcar operator in Chicago’s western suburbs until April 1948, when the last line was converted to bus. Bus operation continues today as part of Pace, a public agency.

C&WT 127 and 104 in Maywood. The grade crossing at rear may be a clue as to the exact location. Don’s Rail Photos notes: “104 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1917. It was scrapped in 1948.” The 127 looks to be the older of the pair, built by McGuire-Cummings in 1914. (Joe L. Diaz Photo) Joe writes: “The photo of C&WT cars 127 and 104 is in Maywood at 19th and Railroad Avenue looking north.”

C&WT 135, making a turn, is signed for Melrose Park, possibly on the Lake or Madison lines. Don’s Rail Photos: “135 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1919. It was scrapped in 1947.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo) Joe writes: “The photo of C&WT car 135 is looking east at Madison and 19th in Maywood. The apartment building is still there.” Andre Kristopans: “CWT 135 turning from W on Madison to N on 19th Ave.”

C&WT 134 at the North Riverside barn. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 153, 140 and 119 on the LaGrange line. Comparison with some other photos in this series shows this location is DesPlaines Avenue just south of 26th Street in Riverside. We are looking north. Don’s Rail Photos: “153 was built by Cummings Car Co in 1927. It was scrapped in 1948. 140 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1924. It was rebuilt in 1939 and scrapped in 1948. 119 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1912. It was scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 116, 115, and 158 at Cermak and Kenton, east end of the LaGrange line. Riders heading east could change here for Chicago Surface Lines route 21 streetcars like the one shown at rear. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 152 is heading east on private right-of-way on the busy LaGrange route. The exact location is about 82 Park Place in Riverside. Car 152 has just crossed the DesPlaines River, passing through the Forest Preserves after stopping at the Brookfield Zoo. From here, it will turn north on Woodside Drive, which changes into DesPlaines Avenue, before heading east on 26th Street. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

The same location today.

C&WT 112 crosses the Indiana Harbor Belt on the LaGrange line, with a steam train off in the distance. Don’s Rail Photos: “112 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1912. It was scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 101 is turning from 26th Street onto DesPlaines Avenue in Riverside on the LaGrange line. Don’s Rail Photos: “101 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1917. It was scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 134 and 124 meet at Madison and Harlem. Note how Madison took a jog when crossing between Oak Park and Forest Park. We are looking east. Don’s Rail Photos: “124 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1914. It was rebuilt in 1936 and scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Madison and Harlem today. A route 318 Pace bus is turning from Harlem onto Madison. Pace is the successor to the West Towns. At some point, it appears that Madison was widened to eliminate the jog seen in the earlier photo.

C&WT 101 is at Lake and Austin in Oak Park, the east end of its route. Two Chicago Surface Lines streetcars, including 1743, are across Austin Boulevard at the west end of route 16. Don’s Rail Photos: “101 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1917. It was scrapped in 1948. 1743 was built by CSL in 1923. It was rebuilt as one-man in 1949.” The car at left looks like a 1941 Packard model One Twenty– very stylish. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

A 1941 Packard One Twenty sedan.

C&WT 136 and 132 on Lake Street just west of Austin Boulevard in suburban Oak Park. This was the east end of the line. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Lake Street just west of Austin Boulevard today.

Here, C&WT 119 appears to be crossing the Illinois Central at 26th Street, since that is an IC caboose at the rear of the passing freight train. Don’s Rail Photos: “119 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1912. It was scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Here, we are looking north along DesPlaines Avenue just south of 26th Street in Riverside. Cars from the LaGrange line turned east on 26th to Harlem, where they continued north to Cermak Road. Cars may be operating on a single track here due to track work. Southbound C&WT 107 waits for 161 to cross over to the northbound track, while a work car is on 26th. Don’s Rail Photos: “107 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1912. It was scrapped in 1948. 161 was built by Cummings Car Co in 1927. It was scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

A close-up of the previous image. This may be C&WT work car 12. Don’s Rail Photos says, “12 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1912. It was scrapped in 1948.”

The top of this building, on 26th Street just east of DesPlaines Avenue in North Riverside, has been altered, but it is still recognizable as the same building in the previous picture.

C&WT 152 on the LaGrange line. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 144 at the North Riverside car barn. Don’s Rail Photos: “144 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1924. It was scrapped in 1947.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 164 on Lake Street just west of Austin Boulevard in Oak Park. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 107 and a work car (12 or 13, hard to tell) plus a flat car on DesPlaines Avenue just south of 26th Street in Riverside. Don’s Rail Photos: “107 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1912. It was scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 158 crossing the Illinois Central at 26th Street in Riverside. I believe the car is heading east. If it was heading west, the sign on the front of the car would probably advertise service direct to the Brookfield Zoo. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 158 and 157 cross on the bridge over the DesPlaines River (LaGrange line). I believe we are looking south. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 100, most likely at the North Riverside car barn. Car 130 is at right. Don’s Rail Photos: “100 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1917. It was scrapped in 1948. 130 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1914. It was scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 141 at the North Riverside car barn. Don’s Rail Photos: “141 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1924. It was rebuilt in 1939 and the body sold as a shed in 1948. It was purchased by Electric Railway Historical Society in 1958. It went to Illinois Railway Museum in 1973 and began restoring.” The 141 is now in operating condition. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 157 and 155 meet on DesPlaines Avenue and 26th street. Single track operation is in effect due to track work. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT line car 15 at an undetermined location. Don’s Rail Photos: “15 was built by Pullman Car in 1897 as Suburban RR 512. It was renumbered 515 and rebuilt as 15 in 1927. It was rebuilt in 1940 and scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 156 is on Cermak at Cicero Avenue. The Pinkert State Bank (built in 1919) at rear was located at 4810-12 W. Cerak (22nd Street) in Cicero. It featured prominently in the government’s tax evasion cases against Al and Ralph Capone. Don’s Rail Photos: “156 was built by Cummings Car Co in 1927. It was rebuilt in 1942 and scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 140 on the LaGrange line. Don’s Rail Photos: “140 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1924. It was rebuilt in 1939 and scrapped in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 136 and 132 are eastbound on one of the lines that terminated at Austin Boulevard (either Lake or Madison). (Joe L. Diaz Photo) Joe writes: “The photo of C&WT cars 132 and 136 may have been taken at Lake and 25th, the west end of the Lake Street line.” Andre Kristopans: “CWT 132, 136 at west end of Lake St line at 25th Ave.”

Three C&WT streetcars, including 103 and 104, are on Lake Street at Austin Boulevard. We are looking to the east, which explains why the head car is signed for Maywood. According to Don’s Rail Photos, both 103 and 104 were built by McGuire-Cummings in 1917 and scrapped in 1948. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

The laundry in the previous photo is now a beauty parlor.

C&WT 141 is westbound, crossing the DesPlaines River on the LaGrange line. This car, sole survivor of the fleet, has been restored and you can ride it at the Illinois Railway Museum. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 128, on either the Madison or Lake lines, is signed for Melrose Park. Not sure which railroad that tower belongs to. (Joe L. Diaz Photo) Andre Kristopans: “CWT 128 is crossing the Soo Line on Madison west of Jackson (a half mile west of Desplaines Av.).”

C&WT snow sweepers 9 and 5 in their element at the North Riverside car barn. Don’s Rail Photso: “5 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1913. It was scrapped in 1948. 9 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1928. It was sold to Sand Springs Ry in 1948.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

C&WT 156 is eastbound on Cermak at Ridgeland in front of the old Berwyn Theatre, which opened in 1924. It was damaged by fire in 1990 and demolished. This picture was probably taken not long after the theatre was modernized in 1936. Don’s Rail Photos: “156 was built by Cummings Car Co in 1927. It was rebuilt in 1942 and scrapped in 1948.” (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

C&WT 151 on the Lake line, possibly at the west end. Don’s Rail Photos: “151 was built by McGuire and Cummings in 1924. It was scrapped in 1947.” (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

C&WT 151 on the Lake Street line. Don’s Rail Photos: “151 was built by McGuire and Cummings in 1924. It was scrapped in 1947.” (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

South Shore Line

CSS&SB 10, signed for South Bend. (Photo by Anderson)

CSS&SB 24. Don’s Rail Photos: “24 was built by Pullman in 1927. It was lengthened and air conditioned, and got picture windows in 1947.” (Photo by Anderson)

CSS&SB 109 in the yard at Chicago in the mid-1960s. Don’s Rail Photos: “109 was built by Pullman in 1926. It was lengthened in 1944. Air conditioning and picture windows came in 1949.” (Walter Broschart Photo)

The way to distinguish South Shore Line street running photos from one city to another usually includes counting the number of tracks. Only East Chicago was double tracked. However, this is Michigan City, as there are two tracks for a short distance near the station seen at rear, since many runs begin and end here. This picture, showing car 105 and train, was taken on August 6, 1948. The station building still exists but is no longer in use.

CSS&SB cars 2 and 504 at the Michigan City station on August 30, 1960 (note the 1960 Ford at left). Don’s Rail Photos: “2 was built by Pullman in 1926.” Frank Hicks writes: “This interurban freight trailer has a more unusual history than most. It was built for ISC as an interurban combine, and ran on that system’s lines in Indiana for five years until ISC became part of the great Indiana Railroad system. IR rebuilt the three cars of the 375-377 series into railway post office cars and put them to use in this unusual capacity. The three RPO’s survived on IR until the end of interurban service in 1941, at which time all three were sold to the only other interurban line then operating in Indiana: the South Shore. The South Shore converted 376 into a line car while 375 and 377 became express package trailers. These cars were designed to run in passenger trains and had control lines so that they could be run mid-train; they were often used to transport newspapers. Car 504 was retired in 1975 and acquired by IRM, which has repainted it and put it on display.” (Photo by Meyer)

Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend Ry. (predecessor of the South Shore Line) car 68 at an unknown location near a wooden Chicago “L” car. This photo is a real mystery, since, as far as I know, this car has not been preserved (although car 73 is being restored). Joe writes: “Car 68 is Lake Shore Electric, not CLS&SB, built by Brill in 1903. The car behind it is one of the LSE’s Barney & Smith interurban cars.” That clears up the mystery. The information that came with this negative was incorrect.

CSS&SB 27 near the Art Institute of Chicago on May 7, 1963. (Photo by Anderson)

CSS&SB 111 at Randolph Street Terminal in downtown Chicago in May 1953. This station has since been rebuilt and is now underneath Millennium Park.

A three-car CSS&SB train, including car 31, makes a photo stop on an early Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip near Wilson, Indiana.

CSS&SB 105 heads up a six-car train near Miller, Indiana on June 1, 1939. This appears to be a photo stop on a fantrip. (Photo by Anderson)

Chicago, South Shore & South Bend freight locos 902 and 903 in Michigan City, Indiana. (Photo by Anderson)

Gary Railways

Even the city trolley lines of Gary Railways, operating between 1908 and 1947, had an interurbanish character. Industrial development in the area meant there were large tracts of land reserved for future use. In 1938-39, Central Electric Railfans’ Association (CERA) ran three fantrips on Gary Railways interurbans in their waning days. We have run pictures from some of those trips in previous posts.

Here is a timeline of transit developments in the Gary area.

Gary Railways 101. The sign says street railway service in Gary was inaugurated 21 years ago with this car. If service began in 1912, that would date this photo to 1933.

Gary Railways 24.

Gary Railways 128.

Gary Railways 120.

Gary Railways 15 at Kennedy siding on the Hammond line on March 9, 1941. According to the photo information, this car was built by Cummings in 1926.

Gary Railways 16, signed for Hammond.

Gary Railways 14, at a loop on the Hammond line, on October 27, 1940. According to the photo information, it was built by Cummings in 1926.

Gary Railways 19 at Tolleston, with both poles up. This lightweight safety car was built by Cummings Car & Coach in 1927. This car body, sole survivor of the fleet, is now at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Gary Railways 27.

Gary Railways 22 on May 16, 1940. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)

Gary Railways 20 on July 21, 1946.

Gary Railways 22.

Gary Railways 12. Don’s Rail Photos: “12 was built by Cummings Car Co in 1926. It was scrapped in 1946.” (Jack Beers Photo)

Gary Railways car 19, the only car preserved, on a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip. This matches a picture we previously published in our previous post More Hoosier Traction (September 2, 2015). Bill Shapotkin said that other picture was taken “taken on March 19, 1939 — the day AFTER the last day of service on the Indiana Harbor (and Hobart) lines.” The difference in tonality between the two pictures may simply be the difference between panchromatic and orthochromatic film.

A close-up of the previous picture.

Gary Railways 9 at Hobart, Indiana in 1934.

Gary Railways cars 12 and 9.

Gary Railways 14.

Gary Railways 19.

Gary Railways 17 at the North Broadway loop.

Gary Railways 51.

Birney Cars

Johnston Traction 311, a double-truck Birney car (ex-Bangor, Maine) on June 24, 1956. Don’s Rail Photos: ” 307 thru 311 came from Bangor Hydro Electric in 1941 where they were 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. They were scrapped in 1957 except for 311 which was preserved at Rockhill Trolley Museum which acquired it in 1960.” Audio recordings of car 311 in service in Johnstown are included on Railroad Record Club LP #23.

Fort Collins Municipal Railway Birney car 25 in October 1950. Don’s Rail Photos: “2nd 25 was built by Brill Car Co in December 1922, #21530, as VR&P 1520. It was sold as FCM 25 in 1946. It was sold to James Stitzel in 1953 and resided next to the former Midland Terminal depot in Victor, CO, until it was sold to a South Carolina party about 1980. It was cosmetically restored. In 1998 it was sold to the Charlotte Trolley painted as South Carolina Public Service Co 407. It was sold to Fort Colins Municipal in 2008 and is being restored as 25.” (Robert C. Gray Photo)

Fort Collins Municipal Railway 24 on the Mountain Street line in October 1950. Don’s Rail Photos: “2nd 24 was built by Brill Car Co in December 1922, #21530, as Virginia Railway & Power Co 1530 It was sold as FCM 24 in 1946 but seldom operated. Parts kept second Car 25 operating.” (Robert C. Gray Photo)

Fort Collins Municipal Railway 26 in 1946. Don’s Rail Photos: “26 was built by American Car Co. in November 1922, #1324 as CERy 7. It was sold as FCM 26 it in 1924. It was sold to Henry Ford Museum and moved to Michigan in 1953 where it is on static display. It was operated several times on the trackage of the Department of Street Railways.” (Richard H. Young Photo)

Keystone-State Traction

Lehigh Valley Transit 702 and 812 on a fantrip. Don’s Rail Photos: “702 was built by Southern Car Co in 1916. It was rebuilt on August 8, 1931 and scrapped on January 8, 1952. 812 was built by St Louis Car in 1901 as 159. It was rebuilt as 999 in 1914 and rebuilt as 812 in 1921. It was scrapped in November 1951.”

Lehigh Valley Transit 702 and 812 on a Liberty Bell route fantrip, probably not long before service ended in 1951. Ed Skuchas adds, “The LVT fan trip cars are sitting on the spur at the LVT station in Perkasie at Walnut and Penn St.”

The former LVT station in Perkasie is now the headquarters for the local historical society.

Not sure offhand where this picture was taken, along the LVT Liberty Bell interurban route between Philadelphia and Allentown. Ed Skuchas: “The “tunnel” photo is the underpass in Perkasie under the Reading tracks. Location is Walnut and 7th. The photo was taken from a block back at about 6th and Walnut.”

A close-up of the previous picture.

The former LVT underpass in Perkasie today.

The ramp you see is at Norristown, and shows how Lehigh Valley Transit interurban cars descended to street level to continue north to Allentown. Service on the Liberty Bell Limited ended in September 1951. Service between Philadelphia and Norristown, started by the Philadelphia & Western, continues today under SEPTA.

Philadelphia & West Chester Traction (later Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co.) cars 86, 73 and 83 at 69th Street Terminal in 1936. Don’s Rail Photos: “73 was built by Brill Car Co in April 1927, #22212. It became SEPTA 73 in 1970 and sold to Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in 1990. 83 was built by Brill Car Co in March 1932, #22980. It became SEPTA 83 in 1970 and sold to Middletown & Hummelstown in 1982.”

Philadelphia Suburban Transportation car 84, a 1932 Brill “Master Unit,” on the West Chester line. This long line was mainly single-track with occasional passing siidngs such as this one.

Philadelphia Suburban double-end cars 14 and 18 on West Chester Pike, April 25, 1954. Buses replaced trolley cars in June so that West Chester Pike could be widened.

Brilliner 10 is on side-of-the-road trackage on the Philadelphia Suburban’s West Chester line, which was bustituted in 1954.

A close-up of the previous photo.

Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. double-ended car 12 at 69th Street and Garrett Road on April 14, 1951. It is outbound on the Ardmore line.

Lehigh Valley Transit high-speed, lightweight interurban car 1000 at the 69th Street Terminal in 1947. This car, formerly Cincinnati & Lake Erie 125, was sold to LVT in 1938 for use on the Liberty Bell Limited line between Philadelphia and Allentown, and was scrapped in 1952. (Cliff Scholes Photo)

The double-end Bullet cars on the Philadelphia & Western were not the only Bullets. There were also some single-ended cars such as Bamberger 125, shown here in Ogden, Utah. Don’s Rail Photos: “125 was built by Brill in 1932, #22961, as Fonda Johnstown & Gloversville 125. It was sold as Bamberger 125 in 1939 and retired in 1952. The body was sold to Utah Pickle Co.”

Boston

Boston double-end PCC 3327, signed for Heath on the MBTA Green Line “E” branch (formerly called Arborway), is heading up the Northeastern Incline from the Huntington Avenue Subway in this March 1974 view.

MBTA double-end PC 3346 at Mattapan on March 31, 1978. These cars were painted red, since the Ashmont-Mattapan branch line is considered an extension of the Red Line subway.

Outbound double-end PCC 3345 at Ashmont in August 1968.

3345 at Ashmont in August 1968 with a standing room crowd. Despite the roll sign, the Ashmont-Mattapan tracks are separate from Boston’s Green Line system.

3330 at Ashmont in August 1968.

MBTA 3296, operated in multiple units, at the old North Station on September 28, 1970.

Boston stretcar 5202 at Valley Road on the Ashmont-Mattapan line on February 11, 1935. This “light rail” line continues in service with PCC cars. (M. L. Young Photo)

Odds and Ends

A view of the Seattle monorail at its downtown terminal in 1975. The monorail was built to serve the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. (Walter Broschart Photo)

This 1958 picture shows the old Garfield Park “L” crossing the area now occupied by the Kennedy expressway. The “L” was replaced by the Congress Expressway median line on June 22, 1958, after which these tracks were removed. But prior to that, they had to be shored up with new supports due to excavation work for the new highway, which opened on November 5, 1960. We ran another picture taken at this location in our previous post Some Thoughts on “Displaced” (August 30, 2016). You can also see a 1957 Chevy in the picture, plus an early Volkswagen. The last year for the split rear window Beetles was 1953, so this one is later.

This picture of various Chicago, Aurora & Elgin trains was taken around September 1953 at DesPlaines Avenue in Forest Park. Construction is underway to reconfigure the terminal for a new track arrangement, where CA&E trains will no longer head downtown, but will terminate and loop here. The wooden ramp in the background was built so that CTA trains could loop without crossing CA&E tracks, which were no longer going to be connected to the CTA. This new arrangement continued until the CA&E quit operating passenger service on July 3, 1957.

The three Chicago Rapid Transit cars shown here are at 22nd and Mannheim, the end of the Westchester branch. The occasion was a February 12, 1939 Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip. We have posted other photos from this excursion in previous posts. There was a photo stop scheduled at this location from 1:15 to 1:30 p.m.

Illinois Terminal 273 in Springfield. (Walter Broschart Photo)

Illinois Terminal 274 in Decatur at 9:25 a.m. on August 10, 1954. This interurban combine car was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1913. This was westbound train #61. This picture was taken using Kodak Super-XX film (4″ x 5″ size). (John A. Rehor Photo)

Recent Correspondence

Jack Bejna writes:

Hi David, Here are two images that I think you’ll like. First, an eastbound CA&E train passes the tower at Laramie. In the left background is the CA&E freight station (I think), and the CA&E storage yard. The second image is a shot of CA&E 304 at the freight station after quite a bit of creative Photoshopping to improve an otherwise so so image taken in the 1920s. Enjoy, Jack

PS- My never ending search for CA&E was rewarded with this route map (circa 1940) that I had never seen before.

Recent Additions

We are pleased to report that hi-resolutions scans for 12 more issues* of Surface Service, the Chicago Surface Lines emplyee magazine, have been added to our E-book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story (available in our Online Store). This totals 200 additional pages of information.

*October and November 1942, February and March 1943, October, November and December 1944, May, July and August 1945, April and May 1946

Chicago Trolleys

Work continues on our upcoming book Chicago Trolleys, which is now in the layout and proofreading stage. The expected publication date is September 25th of this year. We will keep you advised as things progress.

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 182nd 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 284,000 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

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

Our 150th Post

August 6, 2016June 22, 2018David Sadowski 26 Comments

NSL 420 heading south at Dempster, current end of the line for the CTA Yellow Line (aka the “Skokie Swift”), which revived a small portion of the old interurban a year after service ended in January 1963.

The Trolley Dodger blog has reached another milestone with this, our 150th post since we started on January 21, 2015. As time goes on, it becomes both easier and harder to come up with new ideas. On the one hand, we have to work harder to avoid repeating ourselves, since we have already posted thousands of images to date.

On the other hand, there always seems to be more material out there to be had. So in that sense, it seems unlikely that we will ever run out of new material. However, it’s always good to remind our faithful readers that all this historical research costs real money. It costs nothing to read our blog, of course, but the quality and frequency of future posts is entirely dependent on the financial support we get from you.

We are committed to maintaining a very high quality standard in what we put out, and our goal is not only to share information, but to create something of lasting value. We will let others be the judge of whether or not we have succeeded to date, but it’s interesting to note that I often find my own posts coming up to the top of Google searches, when I am researching things.

What makes a good blog post? Well, as I have said before, in general my idea is to use pictures to tell a story. But beyond that, it becomes more difficult to put your finger on what works and what doesn’t.

I would liken it to being a chef in a restaurant who takes whatever fresh ingredients are on hand, and tries to whip them up into a tasty dish. Since our first post featured the North Shore Line, we have a generous helping of classic CNS&M images on today’s menu.

In addition, we have a sprinkling of Chicago, Aurora & Elgin photos, plus some other Chicago/Illinois material, since that is where we are from. Hopefully, all this adds up to a complete “meal,” a feast for the eyes that is also designed to make you think.

But we have not forgotten “dessert.” Our last post (More Mystery Photos, July 29, 2016) included a picture of what appeared to be a Birney car that was not, according to Frank Hicks, an actual Birney. (If anyone is interested in learning what attributes of a streetcar make it into a “true” Birney, look no further than Dr. Harold E. Cox’s book on just that subject. What constitutes a PCC car is also somewhat debatable, another area where the esteemed Dr. Cox has weighed in with an expert opinion.)

While Birney cars, due to their small size, were unsuccessful in larger cities like Chicago, there can be no doubt they were a great success in Fort Collins, Colorado, the “Birney-est” place of all. The Fort Collins Municipal Railway purchased nine such cars for use between 1919 and 1951, a couple for parts. Of these, there’s been a pretty good survival rate, with fully five cars (#s 20, 21, 22, second 25, and 26) still extant.

These cars were so beloved in the area that they never completely left, and efforts to restore a car and revive at least a small portion of service began as early as the 1970s. Service on a mile-and-a-half line began in 1984 and continue to this day, meaning that the resurrected Birney car service in Fort Collins has lasted 32 years now, the same length of time that the original service ran.

Don Ross (in Don’s Rail Photos) writes:

The last regular operation of Birney cars in the U. S. was in Fort Collins, CO. The line was originally built by the Denver & Interurban Ry in 1907. In July 1918, the D&I stopped operating the local lines. A bus system was tried, but was very unpopular. In January 1919, the voters, by an 8 to 1 majority, decided to take over the system. Four Birneys were purchased from American Car of St. Louis and began operation in May. Over the years additional cars were added and replaced. Finally, in 1951, the system was abandoned on June 30th. The city had grown beyond the car lines, and riders had gone to the automobile. Car 21 was preserved locally. Other cars were saved at other locations. A local group began to restore 21 in 1977, and operation began on Mountain Avenue on December 29, 1984. Over the next two years, 1.5 miles of track was restored for operation. For a complete story about this system, check out their web site.

But wait, there’s more! There was also a double-truck version of the Birney, so we have posted a couple pictures of Johnstown 311, a much-loved car by the fans who took it on many trips back in the day. It ran in service in Pennsylvania until 1960 and has been preserved at the Rockhill Trolley Museum.

We are featuring color photos today, and will have several new black-and-white images to share in the near future. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Bon Appétit!

-David Sadowski

PS- If you can help identify any of missing locations, or have other interesting thoughts on these pictures, don’t hesitate to drop us a line, either as a Comment here, or via:

thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee (aka North Shore Line)

NSL 706 heads south from Dempster in this June 9, 1961 photo by Clark Frazier. This is the current terminal of the CTA Yellow Line. The area under the electrical tower at left is where the “pocket” track went, when this was the end-of-the-line for the CRT’s Niles Center Branch. This local service ended in 1948. CTA “L” service resumed here in 1964.

A solitary North Shore Line car crosses the Chicago River at Wacker Drive on the “L”.

NSL 739 and train at Lake Bluff.

NSL 737 at the Loyola curve on the CTA.

NSL 713 heads up a five-car train at Sedgwick in October 1958.

NSL 737 and head “at speed” near Sheridan Elms in Lake Forest.

NSL 735 et al at North Chicago.

“Silverliner” 756 and train in Skokie.

A southbound Electroliner at Edison Court.

NSL 182 and train at St. Mary’s Road (Thornbury Village) on the Mundelein branch on May 31, 1962. Notice the difference in right-of-way construction here, versus the main line.

NSL 743 and train at Green Bay Junction. Jerry Wiatrowski: “NSL 743 and train are on the Skokie Valley route westbound crossing the Mundelein branch at Lake Bluff. The Green Bay Road overpass can be seen in the background.” Joey Morrow: “NSL 743 is at Green Bay junction, the catenary poles are still there today. It parallels IL-176 (Rockland Ave).”

NSL “Greenliner” 751 and a Silverliner at Lake Bluff in June 1962.

A photo run-by on a February 21, 1960 North Shore Line fantrip.

I don’t know just when this picture of a North Shore Line “special” train was taken, but Gustafson Motors was located in Libertyville, along the Mundelein branch. FYI, we have several North Shore Line audio recordings available on compact disc in our Online Store, including some from the Mundelein branch. Garrett Patterson: “nsl003 would have been taken just weeks before the end of service system-wide. The 1962 Bel Air in the lot dates the photo.” One of our regular readers adds: “This was the CERA fantrip that was operated in April 1962. George Krambles operated the train in Evanston, and there are movies and slides of the train going south from Isabella going up the hill to the North Shore Channel bridge. The scene is seen in The Tribute to the North Shore Line video, which has been presented at January CERA meetings (although it is not commercially available). Of course the above photo is at Libertyville (which was a beautiful place in the country at one time).”

NSL 705 and 709 are near the Mundelein terminal on March 25, 1962.

Chicago, Aurora & Elgin

CA&E 460 and an older car are in fantrip service during the late 1950s. Nancy Grove Mollenkamp writes: “This is at West Street looking west in Wheaton. The bridge over Liberty Drive at the start of the Elgin branch is seen in the background.”

CA&E 452 at Geneva Road on March 9, 1957. Nancy Grove Mollenkamp: “This is in Winfield. I believe looking north.”

CA&E 404 is part of a two-car train at the Halsted curve on the old Garfield Park “L”, probably not long before the end of downtown service in September 1953.

CA&E 423 is part of a two-car train at Collingbourne. Nancy Grove Mollenkamp: “Collingbourne is along the Elgin branch near Raymond St. and Elgin Ave.”

One can only wish that the photographer had aimed the camera a bit lower, but nonetheless, CA&E 428 is part of a four-car train in July 1953 on the Halsted curve.

CA&E 454 at an unidentified location. Nancy Grove Mollenkamp: “This slide was identified by someone in a Wheaton FB group as being taken in 1952 at Jewell Road in Wheaton. Another person in the group said he believed it was looking south. He thinks that is Electric Avenue on the right or west.”

CA&E work motors 2001 and 2002 in service in March 1959. By this time, it had been nearly two years since the end of passenger service. Freight only continued for a few more months after this. (B. J. Misek Photo)

We are not sure of the location where this picture of CA&E 403 was taken. Presumably, the box the conductor is carrying holds work-related materials. George Foelschow: “I believe CA&E Pullman 403 and unattached car 410 or 419 are on the eastbound track at Wheaton station. Presumably the two cars, one each from Aurora and Elgin, will be joined for the trip east, and the conductor of 403 would be redundant and no doubt be on the next Fox Valley train due in a few minutes to be split. One could travel between Elgin and Aurora in the same time as a City Lines bus taking a more direct route along the Fox River.” Nancy Grove Mollenkamp: “I agree. Definitely at Wheaton station.”

CA&E 420 at Church Road (Aurora).

CA&E 424 near the end of the line, along the Fox River in Elgin. Meister Brau was a well-known Chicago beer for many years. Each spring, they would sell “Bock” beer, a stronger concoction made (I think) by scraping the bottom of the barrel. They introduced Meister Brau Lite in 1967. After Meister Brau got into financial difficulty in 1972, their brands were bought by Miller, who used Meister Brau Lite as the basis for developing Miller Lite.

CA&E 405 is part of a two-car train. Nancy Grove Mollenkamp: “This is identified by Mark Llanuza as being taken in 1956 between the College Ave station in Wheaton and Glen Ellyn. Photographer unknown.”

CA&E 317 is part of a four-car train of woods.

Chicago and Illinois

Indiana Railroad hi-speed lightweight interurban car 65 at the Illinois Electric Railway Museum in North Chicago in October 1956. It had last run in 1953 on the CRANDIC (Cedar Rapids and Iowa City) before being purchased by the museum as their first acquisition. That’s Chicago & Milwaukee Electric 354, another early purchase, behind it.

Illinois Terminal double-end PCC 457 is part of a two-car train, northbound at 19th and State in the mid-1950s. Don’s Rail Photos says, “457 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1949, #1672. It was sold for scrap to Biermann Iron & Metal Co on July 24, 1959, and was scrapped in 1964.”

The same location today.

In this undated photo, probably taken circa 1952, tracks are being laid in the southern half of Van Buren Street to create a temporary right-of-way for the Garfield Park “L”, to allow the demolition of 2 1/2 miles of the old structure that were in the way of Congress (now Eisenhower) expressway construction. At right, you can see the old Throop Street Shops. This temporary alignment was used from September 1953 to June 1958.

A two-car train of CTA 4000s heads west on temporary trackage at Van Buren and Western on July 1, 1956. This was just two weeks after streetcar service ended on Western Avenue. This picture was taken around the time that the sounds of 4000-series “L” cars were recorded on the Garfield Park “L” for Railroad Record Club LP #36, which has been digitally remastered and is now available on compact disc in our Online Store.

Western and Van Buren today, looking to the northeast.

Since CTA PCC 4406 is signed for charter service, this picture was probably taken on October 21, 1956, when this car ran on a fantrip with red Pullman 225. We have run photos from that fantrip before. You can see one in our post Chicago Surface Lines Photos, Part Six (February 22, 2016). Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can tell which station (car barn) this is, whether Devon or 77th. Car 4406 lasted until the end of Chicago streetcar service and had a scrap date of June 23, 1959.

A two car train of Lake Street “L” cars crosses the Chicago River with the Merchandise Mart in the background, probably in the early 1950s.

We ran a black-and-white picture of CSL/CTA sweeper E57 in our post Chicago Surface Lines Work Cars – Part 2 (September 7, 2015).

CSL/CTA Y303 is listed as a “baggage car,” although some have called it a MoW or maintenance of way car. It was retired on September 27, 1956. Don’s Rail Photos says, “Y303. baggage car, was built by C&ST in 1911 as 59. It was renumbered Y303 in 1913 and became CSL Y303 in 1914.”

This 1920s-era Chicago Surface Lines trailer was looking pretty shopworn by the 1950s, when this picture was taken at South Shops.

CSL/CTA streetcar 1497 was renumbered as AA85 for work service as a salt spreader, the configuration we see it in here in this 1950s photo. It was scrapped on September 27, 1956. This was known as a “Bowling Alley” car. Don’s Rail Photos: “1497 was built by CUTCo in 1900 as CUT 4546. It was rebuilt as 1497 in 1911 and became CSL 1497 in 1914. It was rebuilt as salt car and renumbered AA85 on April 15, 1948.”

According to Graham Garfield’s excellent web site www.chicago-l.org, “CTA work car S-328 — built by American Car & Foundry in 1907 as Northwestern Elevated trailer 1283, motorized and renumbered to 1792 in 1914 by the CER — was converted for work service and renumbered in 1958.” It was retired in August 1970 and scrapped. Wooden “L” cars were last used in regular service by the CTA in 1957. After spending their final days in work service, cars like these were replaced by retired 4000-series “L” cars. Here we see S-328 at DesPlaines Avenue terminal in June 1962. (George Niles Photo)

In this June 1962 view. we see the CTA’s DesPlaines Avenue terminal as it had been reconfigured in 1959. these very basic amenities continued n use until the station was rebuilt in the 1980s. I would assume that the pile of rubble in the foreground was related to the recent construction of a new maintenance facility here. The nearby expressway had been in operation since 1960. Presumably, the CTA bus is running route 17, which replaced the Westchester “L” branch in 1951. (George Niles Photo)

A pair of old Metropolitan “L” cars, now in work service, share space with CTA curved-door 6000s in this June 1962 view at DesPlaines Avenue. The new shops facility is at left. The large gas holder at right was a Forest Park landmark for many years. (George Niles Photo)

Authentic Birney Cars

This circa 1940 postcard shows the Ft. Collins Birneys in a different paint scheme, which is actually the one currently being used for the one operating car. Caption: “The intersection of College and Mountain Avenues is the 42nd and Broadway of Ft. Collins. It is the heart of the business district, the crossroads of the town. Where all street cars meet and all highways converge.”

Car 26 in the Fort Collins car barn in June 1948.

Fort Collins Municipal Railway Birney car 22 in the city park on April 30, 1947.

25 in reverse rush hour loop service downtown in October 1950.

21 near Colorado State University in late June 1951.

25 in southeast Fort Collins in October 1950.

21 downtown in June 1948.

25 in reverse rush hour loop service downtown in October 1950.

22 in downtown Fort Collins in October 1950.

25 in southeast Fort Collins in October 1950. Here’s what the Wikipedia has to say about the film advertised on the side of the car: “Ecstasy (Czech: Extase, German: Ekstase) is a 1933 Czech-Austrian romantic drama film directed by Gustav Machatý and starring Hedy Lamarr (then Hedy Kiesler), Aribert Mog, and Zvonimir Rogoz.” Containing some nudity, although tame by today’s standards, the film was banned in the United States until 1940, and played to adult audiences at independent theaters and art houses, without the approval of the Hays Office.

22 near Colorado State University in October 1950.

21 at the south end of town in June 1948.

21 near Colorado State University in late June 1951.

22 in northwest Fort Collins in October 1950.

24 in front of the car barn in October 1950. According to Don’s Rail Photos, “2nd 24 was built by Brill Car Co in December 1922, #21530, as Virginia Railway & Power Co 1530 It was sold as FCM 24 in 1946 but seldom operated. Parts kept second Car 25 operating.”

21 at a passing siding in northwest Fort Collins in October 1950.

Fort Collins Municipal Railway “Birney” car 21, at the intersection of Johnson and Mountain Avenues. (Ward Photo)

FCMR 22 on October 26, 1949. Its paint scheme is described as green, red, and aluminum.

FCMR 25 at the car barn. (Ward Photo)

Feel the Birn(ey)! After service in Fort Collins ended in 1951, car 26 was sold to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. But prior to being put on static display, it operated in a Detroit parade of street railway equipment in August 1953. Don’s Rail Photos: “26 was built by American Car Co. in November 1922, #1324 as CERy 7. It was sold as FCM 26 it in 1924. It was sold to Henry Ford Museum and moved to Michigan in 1953 where it is on static display. It was operated several times on the trackage of the Department of Street Railways.” (C. Edward Hedstrom Photo) To read more about 26’s Michigan sojourn, click here.

25 stored at Woodland Park, Colorado on September 4, 1953.

25 stored at Woodland Park, Colorado on September 4, 1953. This was the second car 25, the first having been scrapped. Don’s Rail Photos adds, “2nd 25 was built by Brill Car Co in December 1922, #21530, as VR&P 1520. It was sold as FCM 25 in 1946. It was sold to James Stitzel in 1953 and resided next to the former Midland Terminal depot in Victor, CO, until it was sold to a South Carolina party about 1980. It was cosmetically restored. In 1998 it was sold to the Charlotte Trolley painted as South Carolina Public Service Co 407. It was sold to Fort Colins Municipal in 2008 and is being restored as 25.”

22 on static display at Golden, Colorado in July 1963.

According to Don’s Rail Photos, “22 was built by American Car Co in April 1919, #1184. It was retired in 1951 and sold to the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club in 1952. It was on static display at the Colorado Railroad Museum though 1997. It was leased to the Colorado Springs Transportation Society and presently being restored in the former Rock Island engine house. as Colorado Springs & Interurban Ry. 135.” It is shown here in September 1972.

Restored FCMR 21 as it appeared on May 14, 1995. (Mark D. Meyer Photo)

Before the Birneys, the Ft. Collins system used conventional streetcars, as seen in this postcard from circa 1910.

Many other cities had Birneys, of course. Here, we see Brantford (Ontario) Municipal Railway car 137 on July 1, 1935. This was ex-Lock Haven, Pa. Electric Railway car #2. (George Slyford Photo)

Johnstown Traction double-truck Birney 311 on September 3, 1958. (Clark Frazier Photo) Rockhill Trolley Museum: “The first car acquired by Rockhill Trolley Museum was car #311. This car is a double truck “Birney Safety Car” built by Wason Manufacturing Co. of Springfield, MA. It was part of an order of cars for the city of Bangor, Maine, where it operated at number 14. It was sold to the Johnstown Traction Co. and went there in 1941. It served that city well, running until the end of service in 1960. Car #311 was the last Birney type car to be operated in any United States city on a regular schedule. Car 311 was chartered repeatedly by trolley fans in the 1950’s, as it was a favorite car of many.” (Clark Frazier Photo)

Johnstown Traction double-truck Birney 311 at Coopersdale on September 3, 1958. (Clark Frazier Photo) The sounds of car 311, in service during the 1950s, can be heard of Railroad Record Club LP #23, which has been digitally remastered and is now available on compact disc via our Online Store.

Here is Johnstown 311 on June 30, 1957.

NOW AVAILABLE, DIGITALLY REMASTERED ON COMPACT DISC:

SEGT
Steam Echoes
Ghost Train
# of Discs – 1
Price: $14.95

Steam Echoes:
First published in 1959, and long out of print, Steam Echoes captures the unforgettable sound drama of steam engines in action. Like Whistles West, it features the recordings of E. P. Ripley, made in the waning days of steam during the 1950s.

The scenes were selected for listening pleasure as well as to create an historical document. They represent the everyday workings of our old steam friends, selected for the most interest, or the most beauty. The series are purposely kept short to preserve their brilliance. They show the steam engine in all four of the ways it may be heard at work– riding in it, on the train behind it, traveling along beside it, and standing at trackside while it goes by, or stops and takes off again.

Railroads featured include Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Canadian National.

Ghost Train:
Ghost Train, first issued in 1962 and also long unavailable, is a Hi-Fi stereo sound panorama of haunting memories, highlighting the final days of steam railroading. Railroads featured include the Grand Trunk Western, Norfolk & Western, Nickel Plate Road, Union Pacific, and the Reading Company. A particular highlight is a special whistle recording, demonstrating the famous “Doppler Effect” in true stereophonic sound.

Total time – 79:45

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 150th 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 184,000 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 contribution there as well.

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

We thank you for your support.

Night Beat

June 21, 2016June 13, 2024David Sadowski 24 Comments

In this classic July 1963 shot, South Shore Line car 25 is parked at the east end of the line in downtown South Bend, across from the Hotel LaSalle. Service was cut back to Bendix at the outskirts of town in 1970, and later extended to the local airport. Don’s Rail Photos adds, “25 was built by Pullman in 1927. It was lengthened and air conditioned, and got picture windows in 1947.”

Chicagoans of a certain age might recall Night Beat, a WGN-TV late night news show that aired after the Late Movie between 1958 and 1983. For much of that time, baritone Carl Greyson was the announcer.*

We begin today’s post with our very own Night Beat of sorts, an exhibit of some fine night photography from the early 1960s. We rightly celebrate 3/4 views of streetcars taken on days with bright sunshine and cloudless skies, but there is also something to be said for those few railfan shutterbugs who experimented and documented what some cities call “Owl Service.”

Back in the days of film and manually set cameras, many photographers operated using the “sunny f/16” rule, or some variation thereof, where your shutter speed corresponds to the film speed, and your lens opening is f/16 on a bright sunny day. So, with ISO 64 film, this gives a setting of 1/60th of a second at f/16, and you can extrapolate from there (i.e., this is equivalent to 1/125th at f/11, 1/250th at f/8, etc.).

But this relationship begins to fail when you are talking about longer exposures. It is an effect called “reciprocity failure.” Now, your general idea of reciprocity might be that if I scratch your back, you’ll scratch mine. But for our purposes, this means that photographic materials may not behave in a predictable manner when used outside of the norm.

So, long exposure times of several seconds may not give predictable results. There are other problems with night shots, including the different colors of mixed light sources (incandescent plus fluorescent), and problems with determining the proper exposure when light sources have such a wide range of brightness.

This means you really can’t follow any special rule for available light photography at night; it’s really a matter of trial and error. The best method is to steady your camera on a tripod and experiment with different exposures, in hopes that perhaps one image out of the lot might turn out really well.

What we have here are some excellent shots, taken by an unknown photographer who was good at this sort of thing and was willing to travel the country. Chances are, for every acceptable photo, there were several that ended up in the circular file.

Here’s to those unnamed Night Owls who prowled around in the 1960s and covered the traction Night Beat.

-David Sadowski

*You can hear the classic 1970s Night Beat theme here. A fuller version of the theme, which many associate with Chicago night life, can be heard in a 1977 special that featured actor Bill Bixby. Supposedly, the music was composed by Dave Grusin, although nobody seems to know for sure what the piece was called, or where it originated.**

**It’s been identified! The piece is called “Gadabout,” composed by William Loose and Emil Cadkin. It was part of the CPM (Carlin Production Music) Library of music licensed to television broadcasters and producers who needed themes and incidental music. In turn, it may previously have been part of the Capitol Hi-“Q” Library that preceded it. The details, and some alternate versions, are in this Facebook video.

A two-car train of 6000s prepares to head east from the DesPlaines Avenue terminal on the CTA Congress branch in April 1964. This was the station arrangement from 1959 until the early 1980s. As I recall, the entrance at right in front of the train led to a narrow sidewalk where you had to cross the tracks in order to access the platform, hardly an ideal setup. At right there was a parking lot, and a few streaks of light show you where I-290 is located. The tracks today are in pretty much the same exact location, however.

I believe this July 1963 picture shows the South Shore Line station at Roosevelt Road. Frank Hicks writes, “Chicago South Shore & South Bend 504. This interurban freight trailer has a more unusual history than most. It was built for ISC as an interurban combine, and ran on that system’s lines in Indiana for five years until ISC became part of the great Indiana Railroad system. IR rebuilt the three cars of the 375-377 series into railway post office cars and put them to use in this unusual capacity. The three RPO’s survived on IR until the end of interurban service in 1941, at which time all three were sold to the only other interurban line then operating in Indiana: the South Shore. The South Shore converted 376 into a line car while 375 and 377 became express package trailers. These cars were designed to run in passenger trains and had control lines so that they could be run mid-train; they were often used to transport newspapers. Car 504 was retired in 1975 and acquired by IRM, which has repainted it and put it on display.” (Editor’s Note: car 377 became 504.)

This slide showing one of the North Shore Line Electroliners is dated January 1963, and who knows, it may have been taken on that last frigid night. Jerry Wiatrowski writes, “The unidentified picture of the Electroliner was taken at North Chicago Junction. The train is Southbound coming off of the Waukegan bypass to Edison Court and Milwaukee.”

When this April 1964 picture was taken at the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, the Red Arrow Lines were still privately held, and the Ardmore trolley was still running. Two and a half years later, it would be replaced by bus service. 1941-era Brilliner #1, a Sharon Hill car, is in the station.

It’s August 1963 in Boston, and MTA PCC 3243 stands ready for another trip on the Green Line. Phil Bergen writes, “The night view of the Boston PCC that appears in today’s posting was taken at Riverside terminal. Although picture window PCCs were originally used on this line, other PCCs were added to meet the demand. The side roll sign, once enlarged, indicates this is a Riverside car, and the terminal itself is the only place where there were multiple tracks.” The Riverside line started running on July 4, 1959 and occupies a right-of-way once used by a steam commuter railroad. It is considered a pioneer in what we today call “light rail.”

From 1949 until 1963, the North Shore Line had the CTA’s Roosevelt Road station all to itself, as this July 1962 picture of car 752 shows. Don’s Rail Photos: “752 was built by Standard Steel Car in 1930. It was modernized in 1940.”

The North Shore Line terminal in Milwaukee in January 1963.

A North Shore Line train stops at Edison Court in January 1963.

A Toronto subway train in August 1963.

Toronto Peter Witt 2766 at Vincent Loop in November 1964. (R. McMann Photo)

TTC crane C-2 at work at Queen Street and Eastern Avenue in October 1966. (R. McMann Photo)

A postcard view of C-2 at work in 1967.

Originally, I thought this was early 1960s night shot showed a CTA single-car unit in the 1-50 series, and those cars were used on the Congress-Douglas-Milwaukee line. But as Andre Kristopans has pointed out, the doors on those cars were closer to the ends than this one, which he identifies as being part of the 6511-6720 series. It just looks like there’s one car, since the other “married pair” behind it is not illuminated. This picture was most likely taken at the end of the line at DesPlaines Avenue.

From left to right, we see New Orleans Public Service cars 930, 934, and 900 in the barn. All were built by Perley-Thomas Car Co in 1924, and are signed for the St. Charles line. New Orleans is practically unique in North America, in that it never modernized its fleet with PCCs, yet has maintained uninterrupted service with vintage equipment. (Even the newer cars New Orleans has now are “retro” styled.) The date of this photo is not known.

A South Shore Line train at the old Gary station in August 1970.

South Shore Line car 110 laying over at South Bend, Indiana in July 1963. This was the east end of the line until 1970, when service was cut back to the outskirts of town, and South Bend street running was eliminated. In 1992, service was extended to the South Bend International Airport, 3 miles northwest of downtown South Bend.

This remarkable picture was taken at the North Shore Line’s Milwaukee terminal in January 1963. For all we know, this may be the last night of operation. If so, the temperature was below zero.

A Dayton (Ohio) trolley bus at night in September 1972.

This is another remarkable photograph, showing Monongahela West Penn car 320 at night in June 1946. Such night shots were very difficult to achieve back then, due to the slow film speed of the time (this is Kodachrome 10, as in ASA/ISO 10). About the only way to take such a picture would have been with a very long exposure, with the camera resting on a tripod. (Dr. H. Blackbunn Photo)

Another great night shot, this time it’s Illinois Terminal 473 on the line that ran from St. Louis to Granite City in the 1950s. This was IT’s final passenger line and was abandoned in June 1958, on the same weekend that the last Chicago streetcar ran.

BTC Baltimore Streetcar Trolley #3738
Location: Baltimore, Maryland (Route 8 – Gilmore Street)
Date: May 19, 1961
Photographer: Jeffrey L. Wien
Here, we see a classic night shot of an ancient Baltimore streetcar, most likely built around 1900. It does not appear to have survived to the present day.

The next three photos have been added to our previous post Love For Selle (June 8, 2016):

Caption: “3 cars on North Shore Line northbound at Kenilworth (714 on rear of train), July 13, 1955. This was shortly before the end of service on the Shore Line Route. (Bob Selle Photo) Don’s Rail Photos: “714 was built by Cincinnati Car Co in 1926, #2890. It is modernized in 1939 and preserved in 1963 by the Illinois Railway Museum.”

This looks like a 1952 Chevrolet 4-door Fleetline fastback to me, which would be a somewhat rare model with only a few thousand produced. The fastback, which had enjoyed a brief vogue starting around 1941, was dropped for the 1953 model year.

It’s May 30, 1958 and Chicago Surface Lines car 1467 (former CTA salt car AA72) is at the Electric Railway Historical Society site on Plainfield Road in Downer’s Grove. Don’s Rail Photos says this “Bowling Alley” car “was built by CUTCo in 1900 as CUT 4516. It was rebuilt as 1467 in 1911 and became CSL 1467 in 1914. It was rebuilt as salt car and renumbered AA72 on April 15, 1948. It was retired on February 28, 1958. It was sold to Electric Railway Historical Society in 1959 and went to Illinois Railway Museum in 1973.” Actually it must have been sold earlier, as the negative envelope has written on it “owned now by ERHS!” (Bob Selle Photo)

North Shore Line cars 411 and 715 at an unidentified location. Don’s Rail Photos says, “411 was built as a trailer observation car by Cincinnati Car in June 1923 #2640. It was out of service in 1932. 411 got the same treatment on February 25, 1943, and sold to Trolley Museum of New York in 1963. It was sold to Wisconsin Electric Railway & Historical Society in 1973 and sold to Escanaba & Lake Superior in 1989.” As for the other car, Don says, “715 was built by Cincinnati Car Co in 1926, #2890. It is modernized in 1939 and purchased by Mid-Continent Railroad Museum in 1963. It was sold to Wisconsin Electric Railway Museum in 1967 and then sold to Fox River Trolley in 1988.”

North Shore Line car 255 is laying over on middle storage track at the Roosevelt Road station on the Chicago “L”. Don’s Rail Photos”: “255 was built by Jewett in 1917. It had all of the seats removed in the 1920s to provide a full length baggage car which ran in passenger trains. It was used for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to move equipment to Ravinia. On July 2, 1942, the 40 seats were replaced. Then on December 1, 1946, the seats were again removed. In addition to the Symphony, the car was used for sailors’ baggage from Great Lakes.” (C. Edward Hedstrom, Jr. Photo)

CSL “Little” Pullman 985 at Wabash and Roosevelt in September 1936. It was built in 1910. It appears to be on through route 3 – Lincoln-Indiana, which operated from 1912 to 1951.

CSL “Big” Pullman 144 on Cermak Road, September 19, 1934. Don’s Rail Photos: “144 was built by Pullman in 1908. It was acquired by Illinois Railway Museum in 1959.” It is rare to find pictures of the 144 in actual service as opposed to some 1950s fantrip.

A close-up of the car in the last photo. It closely resembles two very similar, low-production front wheel drive cars on the market circa 1930, the Cord L-29 and the even rarer Ruxton. However, Dan Cluley seems to have correctly identified this as a 1930 Checker Model M. The auto on the other side of the streetcar looks like an early 1930s Auburn, which was also built by Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg, headquartered in Auburn, Indiana.

The 1930 Checker Model M.

This is a 1929 Ruxton Model A Baker-Raulang Roadster.

And this is a 1930 Cord L-29 Convertible.

An early 1930s Auburn with fancy hood ornament.

Chicago Surface Lines 5241 on 111th Street near Vincennes on August 3, 1947. The sign on the front of the car indicates this was on through route 8. According to http://www.chicagrailfan.com, “Various Through Route combinations existed throughout the early history of this route. Original Through Route operated between Grace/Halsted and 63rd/Stony Island via Halsted and 63rd St. Beginning in 1912, some Halsted service, mainly route 42 Halsted-Downtown service, began operating south of 79th St. via Vincennes and 111th St. to Sacramento, over what now is the 112 route. While for most of through service continuing north on Halsted, the south terminal remained 79th St. Effective 5/24/31, the through Halsted service generally turned around at 111th/Sacramento, with the downtown service generally turning at 79th St. Through service south of 79th St. discontinued 12/4/49, when segment south of 79th St. was converted to buses.” (John F. Bromley Collection) Our resident South Side expert M. E. adds, “The caption begins: “Chicago Surface Lines 5241 on 111th Street near Vincennes on August 3, 1947.” Not quite. 111th St. approaches Vincennes Ave. only from the east. The car line on 111th St. was not route 8. Instead, route 8 was on Vincennes. Vincennes Ave. continued south of 111th one block to Monterey Ave., whereupon route 8 cars turned right onto Monterey, then about three blocks later, onto 111th St. heading west. (To see all this on a map, use maps.google.com and plug in ‘60643 post office’.) As for the photo, I’d say this car is on Vincennes, heading south, anywhere between 109th and Monterey. I say 109th because route 8 left its private right-of-way (which started at 89th St.) at 107th St. and ran south from 107th on the street.”

This July 1963 view shows the Wabash leg of Chicago’s Loop “L” between Van Buren and Jackson. We are looking north, so the buildings behind the train of CTA 4000s are on the west side of the street. As you can see by the sign advertising Baldwin pianos and organs, this was once Chicago’s “Music Row.” The flagship Rose Records location was near here, as were Carl Fischer, the Guitar Gallery, American Music World and many others. The Chicago Symphony is still nearby, but nearly all the other music-related retailers are now gone from this area. You can just catch a glimpse of the iconic Kodak sign that still graces Central Camera under the “L”. The old North Shore Line station, which closed about six months before this picture was taken, would have been up the street on the right just out of view. Until 1969 trains operated counterclockwise around the Loop on both tracks, so we are looking at the back end of this Lake Street “B” train. Adams and Wabash station is at the far right of the picture.

Enlarging a small section of the slide shows the Kodak sign in front of Central Camera at 230 S. Wabash.

Central Camera today. The Kodak sign is still there.

The corner of Wabash and Jackson today.

Two of the buildings in the 1963 photograph were torn down to make a parking lot, while the building to their right is still there.

If you are curious about just what a Birney car is, you can read the definitive account by Dr. Harold E. Cox here.

Fort Collins Municipal Railway Birney car 20 in Colorado. There were three lines, and all three cars met in the town center once an hour so riders could transfer. Service ended in 1951, but a portion of one line was restored to service in the 1980s. Don’s Rail Photos says, “20 was built by American Car Co. in April 1919, #1184. It was sold in 1951 and moved to the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Minden, NE. and has been on static display there ever since.” (Joseph P. Saitta Photo)

Laurel Line (Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad) car 37 at the G.E. plant on the Minooka branch on May 9, 1948. The occasion was an ERA (Electric Railroader’s Association) fantrip. Nearly all this Scranton, Pennsylvania interurban was third-rail operated on private right-of-way, something it had in common with the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin. Some have wondered if the Laurel Line’s fleet of steel cars, which ended service at the end of 1952, could have been used on the CA&E. They appear to have been too long to operate on the Chicago “L” system, but I do not know if such clearance issues would have kept them from running west of Forest Park. As it was, all these cars were scrapped, and ironically, some thought was given later to restoring a CA&E curved-side car as an ersatz Laurel Line replica. Wisely, it was decided against this.

The next three photos have been added to our earlier post Chicago’s Pre-PCCs (May 5, 2015):

Scranton Transit 508, an “Electromobile,” was built by Osgood-Bradley Co in 1929. It was another attempt at a modern standardized streetcar in the pre-PCC era.

Baltimore Peter Witt 6146. Don’s Rail Photos says it was “built by Brill in 1930 and retired in 1955.” Sister car 6119 is at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, while 6144 is at Seashore. These were some of the most modern cars around, prior to the PCCs.

Indianapolis Railways 146, shown here on a special run in 1949, was a Brill “Master Unit” but appears very similar to the Baltimore Peter Witts. This car was built in 1933, one of the last streetcars built before the PCC era. Brill tried to sell street railways on standardized cars (hence the name “Master Units”) but as you might expect, no two orders were identical.

We’ve added this next picture to our post Ringing the Bell (December 7, 2015):

Lehigh Valley Transit’s Liberty Bell Limited lightweight high-speed car 1001 (ex-Cincinnati & Lake Erie 128) at the 69th Street Terminal on the Philadelphia & Western, September 21, 1949. Soon after this picture was taken, LVT passenger service was cut back to Norristown.

PE double-end PCCs 5006 and 5012 at West Hollywood car house on September 8, 1946. These were used on the Glendale-Burbank line, which was “light rail” before the term ever existed. Service was abandoned in 1955 and I’ll bet Angelinos wish they had it back today. (Norman Rolfe Photo)

Pacific Electric double-end PCC 502x is boarded up for a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Don’s Rail Photos says this car was “built by Pullman-Standard in October 1940, #W6642. It was retired in 1956 and was sold as FGU M.1523 and made modifications in 1959. It was retired in short time.” You can see some additional pictures of these cars as they appeared in 1959 after being damaged by dripping lime deposits in the damp PE Subway here.

Brilliner 9 on the Red Arrow’s Ardmore line in May 1965. About 18 months later, this line was converted to bus.

A Septa Bullet car at the Norristown (Pennsylvania) terminal in August 1986.

Not all Bullets were double-ended, or built for the Philadelphia & Western. Here we see Bamberger Railroad car 125 in Salt Lake City on September 4, 1950. A single-end Bullet car, it originally came from the Fonda Johnstown & Gloversville. Don’s Rail Photos says, “125 was built by Brill in 1932, #22961. It was sold as Bamberger RR 125 in 1939 and retired in 1952. The body was sold to Utah Pickle Co.” We ran a picture of sister car 129 in our previous post Trolley Dodgers (January 15, 2016).

Here is another photo of Chicago, Aurora & Elgin wood car 315. Don’s Rail Photos says, “315 was built by Kuhlman Car Co in 1909, #404. It was modernized at an unknown date and sold to Rockhill Trolley Museum in 1962.”

D. C. Transit 1484 on route 30. Streetcar service in Washington ended in 1962, but recently started up again.

Capital Transit Company PCC 1101 in Washington, D. C., with the U. S. Capitol in the background. From the looks of the car in the background, this picture was probably taken in the mid1950s. Don’t ask me why there are two different spellings of capitol/capital.

WGN’s Late Movie “open,” seen above, used a simple title image and not the sophisticated graphics of today. If you heard Dave Brubeck‘s “Take Five” coming out of your TV set in the 1960s or 70s, that most likely meant you were about to watch the Late Movie. (The afternoon “Early Show” movie on our local CBS station WBBM-TV used Leroy Anderson‘s “The Syncopated Clock” as their theme.) To see a clip of what the Late Movie open looked and sounded like, click here. Take Five was written by Paul Desmond, alto sax player in Brubeck’s combo. If you are wondering who the man in the kaleidoscope image is, that’s British actor/comedian Terry-Thomas.

In the days before 24 hour a day television, most stations went off the air late at night. Some went completely off the air, leaving nothing but static and white noise, while others broadcast test patterns. This was perhaps the most popular type used and should be familiar to anyone of a certain age.

Recent Correspondence

Barry Shanoff writes:

I was born and raised in Chicago, and left in 1975, at age 32, for the Washington, DC area where I have lived ever since. I recently discovered your website, and I enjoy what you have posted.

I have an extensive collection of Chicago transit memorabilia, including vintage CSL, CA&E and CNS&M items, that I am interested in selling. In particular, I have a CTA Rapid Transit sign roll as pictured and described in the attachments to this message.

Rather than posting the items on eBay or consigning them to an auction firm, I’d like to first offer them to Chicago area enthusiasts.

The price sign roll is $325 plus shipping. My guess is that it weighs about four pounds with the mailing tube. Shipping costs will depend on the destination. Best if a would-be buyer contacts me and we complete the arrangements via e-mail or phone.

As for my CTA and interurban material, I don’t have photos of the timetables and brochures, but I can put together a list with prices. Discounts for multi-item purchases. Anyone interested in this or that item can contact me and I will provide a cover photo.

You can contact Barry at: barry_5678@yahoo.com

Phil Bergen writes:

Big fan of your site, though I’ve only been to Chicago once (1973) and am fascinated by the multiplicity of transit historically and today in Chicago.

Long-time subscriber to First & Fastest. several years ago I wrote to then-editor Roy Benedict suggesting an article for a fictional one-day fan trip around Chicago in a past year of his choice, for an out-of-towner, one that would show a variety of neighborhoods, equipment, and could be done in a day. I created one myself for Boston that ran in Roll Sign.

Mr. Benedict replied with interest in my proposal, but I never heard more about it. With your knowledge and wealth of photos, it might be something to try.

Thanks for your work. I belong to CERA and have enjoyed your PCC book very much. So full of material that it is sometime hard to hold such a tome!!

Glad you like the site and the PCC book. I’ll give your article proposal some thought.

Sometimes these things come together in unusual ways. There are times when I don’t really know what a post is about until it’s finished. Take this one, for example. On the one hand, it’s mainly about night photography, but the additional pictures, oddly enough seem to include quite a lot of preserved equipment, more so than you would expect. You could make quite a list of them. Then again, there are many things in this post that are “paired.” There is a picture of a North Shore car at Roosevelt Road at night, but also one in the day, and so on.

My general idea is to use pictures to tell a story. Often times, the individual pictures are like pieces of a mosaic or jigsaw puzzle. I fiddle around with them and rearrange them until they seem to fit together, and hopefully have some deeper meaning.

My understanding is that Roy Benedict does not have any current involvement with First & Fastest and has not for some years, although naturally I don’t speak for him. The current person to talk to regarding article ideas for that magazine would be Norm Carlson, who does excellent work. It’s a fine publication and sets a high standard for others to follow.

The Chicago PCC book was a labor of love for everyone who collaborated on it. At first, the idea was just for a standard-length picture book, but after we had collected a lot of material, we realized that quite a lot would have to be left out. So, the book grew in length, and at the same time we gradually decided there were other things that needed to go into the book, in order to tell the whole story.

So, the final product is twice standard length, and includes a lot of the history and background material that helps the reader put Chicago’s PCC era into context. It’s somewhere in between a picture book and a more scholarly text, and it seems a very worthwhile addition to the slim shelf of Chicago streetcar books. In the year since its release, it appears to have found an audience.

-David Sadowski

PS- Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks. You can either leave a Comment directly on this post, or contact us at:

thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 142nd 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 171,000 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.

7001’s True Colors

October 20, 2015September 26, 2021David Sadowski 16 Comments

We’ve been asked to help determine the authentic colors this rare model should be painted in.

An “O” scale streetcar model, probably dating to the 1950s, recently sold for $520 on eBay, even though it is unpainted and needs a motor, wheels, and a trolley pole.

That might seem like quite a lot of money, until you consider that this is an extremely rare brass model of the Chicago Surface Lines 1934 Brill pre-PCC car 7001. This model, made by Kidder, could be the only version that was ever made.

The famous St. Petersburg Tram Collection models are made of urethane, not brass, and so far, they have not issued a 7001 model, although they have made one for the 4001, the other experimental 1934 CSL car, made by Pullman-Standard. The actual 7001 itself, a one-off, was quite influential on the eventual body style chosen for the PCC car starting in 1936. Unfortunately, it was scrapped in 1959.

The eBay auction winner contacted us for help in determining what colors the 7001 was painted in, when first delivered to Chicago. This is not as easy a task as you might imagine.

The earliest color photo I have seen of 7001 dates to 1941, by which time the car had been repainted to match the 83 PCC cars delivered to CSL in 1936-37. There are several black and white pictures circulating, but while they tell us how light or dark various parts of the car were painted, they can’t help us figure out colors.

There may not actually be any color photos that show what the 7001 looked like before it was repainted.

There were no true color standards in 1934, such as today’s Pantone Matching System. Complicating matters further, in the 1930s not all black and white films were “panchromatic,” meaning they react the same to different colors. Some were still “orthochromatic” and had exaggerated sensitivity to certain colors.

Kodak did not introduce Kodachrome film until 1935, and it was rarely used to take 35mm slides before 1939.

There were some experimental color films shot during the 1933 season of A Century of Progress (early three-strip Technicolor), and we linked to some of those in an earlier post (February 20th). 7001 wasn’t delivered until 1934, and it was not there for the entire season in any case; during September it spent some time in Cleveland at a trade convention.

While there was a 1934 Brill trade ad, showing an artist’s rendering of 7001 in color, these aren’t the right colors– the body is too dark. Interestingly, the color scheme in the ad looks remarkably similar to the one CSL used on the 1936 PCCs.

Hoping to find a consensus, we reached out to Frank Hicks of the Hicks Car Works blog, author of an excellent article detailing the story behind both the 7001 and 4001. In that article, Mr. Hicks says that the 7001 was originally painted a light green.

We also consulted two expert modelers, who prefer to remain nameless. Here is what the experts have to say:

Frank Hicks:

Interesting question! This is my kind of conundrum. 🙂

I’d be happy to cite my source. “Chicago Surface Lines: An Illustrated History, Third Edition” by Alan Lind, 1986, page 121. To wit: “Everywhere it [7001] went, riders commented favorably on its sleek shape, set off to advantage with a paint scheme of aluminum and two shades of green with orange trim.” I’m not sure what the primary source for this account was, I’m afraid.

I’ve also seen photos of (the painted 7001) model and it has struck me as looking quite plausible, though I’ve never seen a color photo of either 4001 or 7001 in its original livery. I also haven’t seen the illustration you mention. The 4001 had a very simple livery consisting of only two colors while the 7001’s livery evidently featured five colors: roof, lower body, upper body, belt rail and striping. Judging from various photos of the 7001 that show the belt rail alternately as very dark or quite light, I’d guess the belt rail was orange and that we’re seeing – respectively – orthochromatic or panchromatic views. Photos I’ve seen also strongly suggest the roof and front visor were a metallic color, surely silver.

I decided to see if I could find a newspaper account of the 7001’s debut – and I did! I found two mentions within a few minutes of Googling. There’s an article on page 3 of the March 21, 1934 Tribune at http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1934/03/21/ which describes the car’s colors to be “silver and gray.” There’s another account in the July 9, 1934 issue on page 7 (http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1934/07/09/). This article focuses on the newly-delivered 4001 but includes the line “The new car was demonstrated to a party of engineers, car line officials, and newspapermen, beside the streamlined silver and green vehicle recently placed in operation.” Then just a few lines later it refers to the Brill car as “silver and gray.”

So, I don’t know. The 7001 may have been more of a green-grey than a bright Mercury green-like shade. It’s also possible that the 7001’s primary body color was grey, that Lind’s color description was correct but simply left out the gray color, and that the belt rail, striping, and secondary body color were some combination of two shades of green and orange. A third possibility I would forward is that the car was mainly green and that what we’re seeing is a transcription or typesetting error – swapping out the word “green” for the word “gray.” It may be a bit of a stretch but I’ve done my share of poring over old newspapers and accuracy is not a word I’d generally associate with newspaper articles! Either way I haven’t seen any contemporary evidence to support that flyer’s suggestion that the Brill car was, in common with the Pullman car, blue.

Modeler A:

The color is not Mercury Green but I don’t know the name of the shade. It is lighter than Mercury. Brill used the same shade on the first Brilliner delivered to the Atlantic City & Shore then owned by the PRR. That car had narrow gold stripes on it similar to the Raymond Loewy styling of the 1938 Broadway Limited trains. There are color renditions of the Brilliner in (that) shade of green in numerous trade journals of the time.

Modeler B:

As you may recall, Mercury Green seemed to be darker in some photos than in others. Perhaps the Mercury Green color had variations, some lighter and some darker. I recall hearing talk about what was Traction Orange, and the reply was whatever they could get that seemed close to Traction Orange! It was not an exact science so there were variations.

Having looked at Black & White movies of car 7001 in service as well as B&W photos, I can see how one could feel comfortable with a Mercury Green color on the lower body of the car. The paint was probably not called Mercury Green in those days, but it might have been very close in hue.

After I sent Mr. Hicks a copy of the 1934 trade ad, he wrote:

Thanks for forwarding these photos; interesting stuff! Did you say that Transit Journal illustration of the 7001 was from 1934? That’s pretty intriguing to me mainly because the color scheme is extremely similar to the prewar PCC cars, suggesting that perhaps the decision on what color those cars should be was made well before the cars themselves were even ordered. Or who knows, maybe someone at CSL just saw this illustration and thought it would look nice in real life. Neat! And Modeler A’s statement that the green on the 7001 was very similar to that on the Atlantic City demonstrator does make some sense; I wouldn’t be at all surprised. It also looks more toned-down than Mercury green so perhaps that’s where the disagreements in the newspaper over whether the car was grey or green came from.

I replied:

Yes, the Brill illustration was from 1934. By 1935 they were touting the Washington, D. C. pre-PCC cars.

Could be Brill worked up several different color schemes for 7001 and they just happened to pick this particular one for the advertisement, even though the car itself was painted differently.

I know that Brill had a styling department in this period, since they worked as consultants on the 1939-41 modernization program for Lehigh Valley Transit. (See photo below.)

So yes, the original color scheme for the 1936 Chicago PCCs, built by St. Louis Car Company, may have actually originated with Brill, who never actually built any PCC cars.

Modeler A added:

My enlightenment on the topic of color for the 7001 comes from Bob Gibson, Joe Diaz, Jim Konas, Fielding Kunecke, and Bob Konsbruck, all sadly now deceased. These fellows, all older than me, saw the car and rode it in service. Bob Gibson rode it every day, in blue, of course, on his way home from Austin High School. It ran as a PM school tripper on Madison Street, always with the same crew, familiar with the operating characteristics of the car, the hydraulic brakes, for example. Its unfortunate that we cannot get their testimony today but I can carry on their remarks. Joe Diaz, an avid follower of the Pennsylvania RR, included all things Pennsy in his historic trek and he identified the color as identical to the Brilliner demonstrator delivered to the PRR-Atlantic City & Shore. You can take it for what its worth or stay with whatever the news reporter felt like writing that day.

Me:

I would value eyewitness accounts such as you describe over the offhand remarks made in a newspaper article. The people who wrote those articles weren’t fans, while your sources were all sticklers for accuracy.

Modeler B adds:

I would say that the photo (of the Atlantic City Brilliner) showing the two tone green colors adds credence to the attractive rendition as seen on Modeler A’s model of 7001. Using the lighter color green below the belt rail and the darker color green for the thin lines that flow around the car body.

Say what you may, these color combinations are exactly what CSL used on the Post War PCCs. Mercury Green below the belt rail, Swamp holly Orange Belt Rail, and Cream colored roof. The colors were always separated by a dark green line of paint. Some people thought that the thin line was Black, but it is a very dark shade of green, not unlike the Green shown on the Atlantic City Brilliner.

In conclusion, we all now seem to agree that the 7001 was indeed first painted in colors like those shown on the model. In turn, this color scheme is remarkably similar to the classic combination of Mercury Green, Croydon Cream, and Swamp Holly Orange that Surface Lines picked for the 600 postwar PCCs.

Therefore, it is one of the ironies of history that J. G. Brill, who never made a single PCC streetcar, due to their refusal to pay royalties on the patents, appears to have played an important role, albeit indirect, in the process of developing the color schemes ultimately used on the entire Chicago PCC fleet– all 683 cars.

And, the more you look at it, that $520 winning bid for the 7001 model starts to look like a real bargain.

-David Sadowski

In this Brill trade ad, which appeared in a 1934 issue of Transit Journal, 7001 looks quite a lot like the PCCs Chicago got in 1936– from the St. Louis Car Company. But it does not appear to have been painted in these colors in 1934. Interestingly, it was later repainted to look a lot more like this.

CSL 7001 at the Brill plant in Philadelphia. (Historical Society of Pennsylvania Photo)

CSL 7001 in World’s Fair service in 1934. (George Kanary Collection)

This 1935 CSL brochure shows experimental pre-PCC car 7001 painted mainly in red, which it never was.

CSL 7001 at Clark and Ridge in 1938. (M. D. McCarter Collection)

A 1950s brass model of 7001.

To the best of our knowledge, this is how 7001 looked as delivered to the Chicago Surface Lines in 1934.

According to Don’s Rail Photos, “Atlantic City and Shore 6891 was built by Brill in July 1938, #23646. It was renumbered 6901 in 1940 and renumbered 201 in 1945. It was scrapped in 1956.” The light green color on this car is said to be an exact match for how 7001 was originally painted. (General Electric Photo)

Now perhaps we know the origins of the famous color combination of Mercury Green, Croydon Cream, and Swamp Holly Orange, used on 600 postwar Chicago PCC cars. (David Sadowski Photo)

Brill stylists worked as consultants on the brilliant 1939-41 modernization of Lehigh Valley Transit’s fleet. Here, ex-Indiana Railroad car 55 is shown at Fairview Shops in Allentown, PA in May 1941, in the process of being converted for service on the Liberty Bell Limited. Notice how the “55” has been crossed out on the side of the car and replaced with “1030.” After the end of LVT interurban service in 1951, this car was sold to the Seashore Trolley Museum, where it remains today.

CSL 7001 as it looked after being repainted circa 1941.

Trolley Dodger Mailbag, 10-18-2015

October 18, 2015December 6, 2015David Sadowski 9 Comments

Here’s a real mystery photo for you. This very worn looking city streetcar is definitely lettered for the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin and appears to be at Wheaton Shops. Where did it come from and how did CA&E use it on the interurban? (See answers below.)

Mystery Photo Answers

Opus1100 writes:

Interesting mystery photo. It is CA&E #500 acquired in 1927 to replace standard cars on the Batavia Branch. As you can see from the photo does not appear to have been a success. It was loaned to the North Shore to help alleviate equipment needs during the war. It operated in city service as CN # 361…a brief history of this car can be found in Don Ross rail pictures of North Shore Line city cars. Due to the differences in mechanical equipment it was not popular during use on the North Shore. Another mystery surrounding this car is how it was moved from the CA&E to the North Shore…since it was 3rd rail equipped it could have traveled on the L but as far as I know this has never been confirmed.

As Ed Halstead has noted (see comment below):

The August 2013 issue of “First & Fastest” had a great article “A Secornd Hand Rose” regarding the CA&E 500/NSL 361. Included in the article is a photo of the CA&E 500 loaded on a flat car on its way to the NSL.

The article answers any questions you may have regarding the CA&E 500.

According to Don’s Rail Photos:

There was one additional car which almost fits into this series. Car 361 was built by St. Louis Car in 1927, just like the 350s, but it had different motors, control, and braking equipment. It was built as 500 for the Chicago Aurora & Elgin. It was used to replace standard interurban cars on the Batavia branch, but it quickly proved to be unsatisfactory. It was retired and placed in storage until June 1942, when it was leased to the North Shore. It was repainted and renumbered and put into Waukegan service. After the war, it was purchased by the North Shore in March 1947. It was quickly retired and scrapped in 1948.

So, the photo showing the car out in Wheaton lettered for CA&E must date to around 1941, probably just prior to it being leased to the North Shore Line. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

If you use the above link to Don Ross’ web site you can see a couple other pictures of car 500/561.

Recent Correspondence

Mike Murray writes:

First off, I want to thank you for your continuing efforts to bring transit history to the web on your blog. I love seeing every new posting.

I hate to be the guy that suggests things but doesn’t do them himself, but I’d love to see a post about the 3rd rail-powered Com Ed line that ran on the city’s north side. John Smatlak has a website dedicated to it, but I’ve never seen much in the way of photos of the line in operation:

http://www.railwaypreservation.com/northwest_station.htm

I asked George Kanary and Bruce Moffat, but neither had knowledge of any such photos. You seem to have a knack for finding things, or perhaps have a wider circle of friends that are railfans, and thought you might be able to track down more photos than those on the website.

John’s website is pretty thorough, so maybe there isn’t much more to be known about this line, but if there is, I’d love to see more about it.

Thanks again for all that you’re doing.

While I don’t have any such photos myself, perhaps some of our readers might have more information, thanks.

In our post Railfan Ephemera (August 26th), we show a flyer from the early days of the Illinois Railway Museum circa 1959, seeking funds to purchase Chicago, Aurora & Elgin car 309, referred to as the “jewel of the fleet.” We asked Frank Hicks, of the excellent Hicks Car Works blog, why this car in particular was so highly regarded out of all the ones that could have been saved (and it was eventually purchased by IRM, where it remains today).

Here is his reply:

By 1957 the 309 was one of the least-modernized cars in the CA&E fleet. Right up until the end of service it retained its stained-and-varnished mahogany trim, long after most of the cars had seen the entirety of their interiors painted over with some shade of green or tan. Remember too that only cars 309-321 had interior stained glass windows at this time (earlier cars didn’t have double-sash stained glass windows), and most of the Kuhlmans and Jewetts (as well as the 310) had their stained glass windows painted over on the inside.

There were a couple of other Kuhlmans and Jewetts that still had unpainted stained glass windows and trim (318 comes to mind) but the 309 was an older car that hewed more closely to the lines of the original fleet. It was also from a local, and unusual, builder and it had the same electrical equipment as the 1902 fleet, unlike the Kuhlmans and Jewetts which were built with newer equipment. The CA&E didn’t have anything particularly more opulent – no office cars or parlor cars by that time – so why not refer to the 309 as the jewel of the fleet?

More Railfan Ephemera

We recently acquired some items from the early days of Central Electric Railfans’ Association. The seller indicated that some of these were once part of the CERA office files, which were apparently sold off in three different batches during the 1940s and 50s. This story is probably true since one item is a voided out sample fantrip ticket, numbered 0000, and previously unknown. The envelope mailed to a soldier came from a different source. (Please note that Trolley Dodger Press is not affiliated with Central Electric Railfans’ Association.)

These documents shed additional light on the history of that venerable organization and its members. We hope that you will enjoy them. Chances are there are still more additional early documents out there remaining to be discovered.

-David Sadowski

This brochure is for CERA fantrip #9, which included not only the South Shore Line but the Northern Indiana Railway.

You can see a CERA fantrip picture on the Northern Indiana Railway, possibly taken on this same excursion or a similar one from a year later, here: http://cera-chicago.org/Blog/3319067

You can see a CERA fantrip picture from the Northern Indiana Railway, possibly taken on this same excursion or a similar one from a year later, here:
http://cera-chicago.org/Blog/3319067

The itinerary for CERA fantrip #6, which included a trip over the CA&E Mt. Carmel branch using Chicago Rapid Transit cars. You can see a picture taken on that trip here:
http://cera-chicago.org/Blog/3318973
The same photo is also reproduced on page 42 of Trolley Sparks Special #1, published by CERA in 2013 to commemorate their 75th anniversary.

A sample ticket for CERA fantrip #6.

CERA mailed out a copy of Trolley Sparks issue #12 to a soldier in this envelope in June 1945. The first 11 issues were put out by Barney Neuberger independently of CERA.

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 87th 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 80,000 page views from nearly 24,000 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.