Another Fall Harvest

September 22, 2025January 10, 2026David Sadowski 8 Comments

CSS&SB South Shore Line Interurban #107
Location: South Bend, Indiana (College and Orange)
Date: December 27, 1964
Photographer: Jeffrey L. Wien
The South Shore Line electrified its Interurban system to Chicago in 1926 with cars like these. The last of these cars was retired in 1983. Street running ended in East Chicago in 1956, South Bend in 1970, and in Michigan City in 2022.

We are back with an all-new Trolley Dodger blog post, our 316th. Our fifth book, The Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railway, has arrived, to very positive reviews. Ordering information is below.

There’s much more to savor in this all-new post. We have a color photo essay covering the Lake Street “L” from 1959-64, a period of transition during which the ground level portion west of Laramie Avenue (5200 W.) was replaced by an elevated section on a solid fill embankment. Nearly all the pictures are by Charles L. Tauscher and Jeffrey L. Wien.

Today’s post also features previously unpublished CA&E pictures we recently acquired. Two were taken on September 19, 1953, the final day the interurban ran into Chicago over CTA trackage.

Add to this our usual new recent photo finds, and you have a complete traction meal, gluten free, with all the various food groups represented! It’s yet another Fall Harvest of traction photos from the Trolley Dodger!

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 2,242 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).

Upcoming Presentation

FYI, I will give a presentation about my new book The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railway at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, October 8 at the Schaumburg Township Public Library.

You can attend in person, or watch on Zoom.

Admission is free, but registration is recommended, as we had a full house for the last one I did a few years ago. Copies of all my books will be available at the event at special prices. More info here.

Our Latest Book, Now Available for Immediate Shipment:

The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railway

FYI, my latest book from Arcadia Publishing is now available for and in stock for immediate shipment.

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:

Our First Review

David Peterson writes:

Received my books today from Mr. David Sadowski. Images of Rail-The Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railway– Absolutely incredible book. Layout is executed perfectly. The pictures are rare and outstanding with very high resolution.

Photographs include detailed descriptions allowing the reader to know precisely when and where the pictures were taken.

Brief history of the creation and demise of the railroad is an easy read with pertinent details. Photos showing various views along today’s Illinois Prairie Path really bring the history of this once great railroad into context.

Photographs depicting the scrapping of the railroad and its rolling stock invoke a bit of sadness, but they are an important detail in the CA&E saga.

This book is a must read for CA&E fans, and fans of railroads in general.
It’s a fascinating story.

Thank you David for your work and dedication in writing this book. I highly recommend it.

And I thank Mr. Peterson and everyone who has purchased the book. Each of my five books has sold more than the previous one did, and given time, this one is going to be my most popular one yet.

The Chicago Aurora and Elgin

At 12:30 p.m. on July 2, 1943, CA&E cars 412-421-405 make up a westbound three-car train at Laramie Avenue (5200 W.) on the Garfield Park “L” in Chicago. The interurban owned the tracks west of here. This is certainly one of the better pictures I have seen taken here. At left, you can see Loretto Hospital (645 S. Central Avenue) in the distance. The negative for this image was improperly developed, and I spent a few hours doing restoration work on it.

The negative for this, and the image that follows, do show some damage, but they also show wood car #314 picking up passengers at Laramie on July 2, 1943. At right in this picture, you can see a scale, where you could weigh yourself for a penny. Many “L” stations had them.

CA&E 408 has stopped at Laramie Avenue on July 2, 1943 to pick up passengers on its way west. The red flags show that’s the rear of the train at right. Again, this negative was improperly developed– hence the plethora of tiny white dots on the lower left side of the picture.

CA&E 424 heads up a westbound train at Austin Boulevard on September 19, 1953, the final day of service into Chicago. Columbus Park is at left. When the Congress (now Eisenhower) expressway was built in this area, a small part of the park got shaved off.

CA&E 431, at right, is heading outbound at Forest Park on September 19, 1953, while a CTA Met car is going inbound. This station was located just east of DesPlaines Avenue. The following day, two new platforms opened on the west side of the street, as the interurban cut back service to here and had to transfer passengers with the CTA. Car 431, a 1927 product of the Cincinnati Car Company, is now at the Illinois Railway Museum.

The Lake Street “L” in Transition, 1959-1964

CTA car 4424 is the leader of this two-car Lake Street “L” “A” train in May 1958 at the Clinton Street station. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

A CTA Lake Street “L” B train is westbound on ground-level trackage on South Boulevard in Oak Park in January 1960. The cross street to the right is Home Avenue. To the left, north of here, it’s called Forest Avenue. The house at right is still there. East of here, the street narrows, and this continues to Oak Park Avenue. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

The same location today.

An inbound all-stops Lake Street “L” train is at the Marion Street station on an April 1960 night. This station functioned, more or less, as the western terminal for the line, but there was actually one more stop west of here in Forest Park. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

CTA #4425 is at the head of an inbound two-car Lake Street “L” “A” train at Lake and Central on May 19, 1961. Note the trolley bus wires on Central, used by the #85 bus. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

We are looking northeast from Lake Street and Lockwood Avenue on May 19, 1961. An outbound six-car Lake Street “B” train descends the ramp towards ground-level trackage on the western end of this line. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

CTA #4409 is (apparently) the end car on an inbound six-car train going up the ramp on the Lake Street “L” on May 19, 1961. In the distance, you can see an outbound train at the Laramie Avenue station, where the steel structure starts. The north-south cross street here is Lorel Avenue, at about 5329 West. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

On May 19, 1961, CTA #4429 is at the front of an inbound two-car train, pausing while heading up the Lake Street “L” ramp just east of Long Avenue (5400 W.). It looks like some work is being done on the overhead wire. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

Here’s how the underpass at Long Avenue looks today. The ramp going up to the “L” structure at Laramie Avenue started just east of this viaduct.

An inbound CTA Lake Street “A” train, with car 4413 at the helm, heads up the ramp leading to Laramie Avenue while an outbound train passes on May 19, 1961. The cross street (behind the photographer) is Lockwood Avenue (5300 W.). The one-way street in the photo is Lorel Avenue (5327 W.). (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

CTA 4409 is at the head of an inbound six-car Lake Street “L” train going up the ramp towards the Laramie Avenue station on May 19, 1961. At this point, Laramie was still the changeover point to third rail. Later, as construction continued on a new connection to the C&NW embankment, the changeover point was moved to Central Avenue. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

By May 19, 1961, work was already underway on creating a new connection between the Lake Street “L” and the nearby Chicago and North Western embankment. The existing ramp was, to some extent, in the way of the new connection, which necessitated creating a temporary wooden ramp. Meanwhile, a six-car train prepares to stop at the Laramie Avenue station on the steel structure. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

While not the greatest quality image, this does show the ground-level Lake Street “L” station at Central Avenue in the 1930s. There is a trolley bus heading north on Central, just about to cross the railroad tracks. This view looks east, with the Chicago and North Western embankment to the left.

CTA #4421 is at the front of a two-car Lake Street “B” train at Madison and Wells on the Loop “L” on December 15, 1961. From 1913 until 1969, trains on the Loop ran unidirectionally, counterclockwise, so this train is heading south. Lake Street trains ran around the Loop until September 28, 1969, when the line was paired with the new Dan Ryan service, and through-routed. That’s also when the Loop was changed to bidirectional as it has remained since. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

CTA #4436 fronts a two-car “B” train at the Oak Park Avenue station on the Lake Street “L” on June 20, 1962. Four months later, the “L” was elevated, and the street running between Forest Park and Laramie Avenue came to an end. Notice how South Boulevard narrows just west of here. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

CTA #4436 is part of a two-car train heading outbound (west) at South Boulevard and Forest Avenue in Oak Park on June 20, 1962. The Chicago and North Western station on the embankment would soon be relocated, and its tracks moved, to create space for the Lake Street “L”, which was moved there on October 28, 1962. This view looks to the northwest, and you can see the CTA’s Marion Street station in the distance. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

In September 1962, a two-car Lake Street train heads west along the Loop “L” tracks, having just turned from Wabash onto Lake. At this time, trains operated in the same direction (counterclockwise) on both tracks. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

In a slide processed in September 1962, a westbound Lake Street “L” train boards at Clinton Street, just west of the Chicago River. A “Baldy” 4000 is at the head of the train, even though it is not fitted with the trolley poles used on the outer portion of the line at that time. These earlier 4000s (built circa 1913-15) had center doors, nearly always unused, that were often covered up with the addition of another seat. The also had “bowling alley” (sideways) seating, another difference from the later “Plushies” from the early 1920s. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

A westbound Lake Street “L” “B” train of CTA 4000-series cars approaches the Cicero Avenue station in September 1962. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

In a slide processed in August 1962, we are looking to the northeast along that portion of the Lake Street “L’ that ran west of Harlem Avenue in Forest Park. To the left, we see the Chicago and North Western embankment; to the right, that embankment was being expanded, and this new portion would eventually provide space for a new yard for Lake Street trains. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

CTA Lake Street “L” car 4413 heads up an inbound “B” train in Forest Park on October 11, 1962. This was just 17 days prior to the outer portion of Lake being relocated onto the Chicago and North Western embankment at right. Here, you can also see how that embankment was getting expanded to create space for a new Lake Street “L” yard. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

A two-car train of 4000-series “L” cars heads east on the Lake Street line, crossing Western Avenue (2400 W.) in a slide processed in March 1963. As this was a few months after the outer end of the line had been relocated onto the Chicago and North Western embankment, the trolley poles have been removed from these cars. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

Scott Greig: “Lake and Central Park, with the Garfield Park Conservatory visible under the “L” structure.” This slide was processed in March 1963. The 4000-series “L” cars shown here were parked on a center track, since removed, that originally gave Lake a short express track but also provided some badly needed mid-day storage for the line, which did not have a proper yard until 1964. The Homan station was moved here after the line was renovated in the 1990s, as this served the conservatory, whereas the old location was just two blocks from another station. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

By July 28, 1964, when Jeff Wien took this picture, the 4000s were still running on the Lake Street “L”, but minus their trolley poles, now that the outer portion of the line was now running on the C&NW embankment. Soon these cars would be replaced by the new 2000-series, the CTA’s first with air conditioning. 4000s would continue in service on Ravenswood and Evanston until November 1973. The view here looks northwest from South Boulevard and Scoville in Oak Park, a short distance west of Ridgeland Avenue. You can see the Oak Park Avenue “L” station in the distance.

Recent Finds

CTA red Pullman #144 is turning from Clark onto Archer on one of those late fantrips, held after red cars were taken out of regular service in 1954. As to the date, I would guess it’s towards the end of 1957, as there is a billboard advertising the new 1958 Edsel. The photographer climbed onto a railroad embankment to get this shot, during a photo stop.

Here, we see Chicago Surface Lines “Matchbox” 1320 at Roosevelt and Michigan at 6:50 p.m. on July 2, 1943, running on the 14th-16th Street line. Horsecar service on Route 14 began in 1892 from Canal to Damen. Electric streetcars replaced horsecars in 1896. The route was extended west via 16th Street to Kenton (city limits) on January 27, 1913. Buses replaced streetcars on July 25, 1948, and bus service was discontinued on March 9, 1955. The 1300-series streetcars are known as Small St. Louis cars. Don’s Rail Photos: “1320 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1906 as CUT (Chicago Union Traction) 4849. It was renumbered (to) 1320 in 1913 and became CSL 1320 in 1914. It was retired on June 13, 1946.” These older streetcars were retired as the new PCCs were delivered starting in 1946. Sister car 1374 has been restored at the Illinois Railway Museum and is in operable condition. From the photograph, you would expect this was the east end of the line. This negative was somehow damaged during development, which explains why there are so many tiny white dots in certain sections of the image.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #4271-4272-4020-4447
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Wilson Avenue – North-South “L”)
Date: May 31, 1962
Photographer: Charles L. Tauscher
When the last 4000s were taken out of service in November 1973, the CTA chose 4271 and 4272 as the cars retained for the Historical Fleet. Now over a century old, they are still occasionally used on special occasions. The area seen here has been completely changed. Soon after the Wilson Shops and Yard were phased out, a fire destroyed the structure. Later, the Wilson Avenue station and trackage was completely rebuilt, a project costing about $250m.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #4437
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Belmont Avenue – North-South “L”)
Date: October 14, 1957
Photographer: Charles L. Tauscher
(Note- that’s the North Shore Line only platform at left for southbound trains.)

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #4166
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Damen Avenue – Logan Square “L”)
Date: April 14, 1958
Photographer: Charles L. Tauscher

After the Chicago Transit Authority took the last of the wooden “L” cars out of service in November 1957, several remained in use as work cars until around 1965. But there were also a few fantrips. We have previously posted pictures from an April 20, 1958 excursion, using cars 1024 and work car S-340 (a former 1700-series), a fundraiser for the Illinois Electric Railway Museum. Here, we see cars 1786 and 1799 at the Merchandise Mart station on a July 15, 1958 trip. 1786 was built by Pullman in 1908. 1799 was originally a trailer, built by American Car and Foundry in 1907. It was originally Northwestern Elevated Railway #290, but was later motorized and renumbered to 1799. Sister car 1797 is at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Two trains (made up of 4000s and 6000s) pass each other just south of Montrose Avenue on the North-South “L” in July 1967. At right, the tracks led to Buena Yard, where there was an interchange with the Milwaukee Road until 1973. Behind the photographer, there was a ramp leading up to the “L”. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

A fantrip train, with CTA car #4269 in the lead, is parked at Buena Yard in a slide processed in November 1966 (but was likely shot some months earlier). Until 1973, the Milwaukee Road interchanged freight with the CTA– mainly coal, for delivery further north along the North-South “L”. This was a vestige of the original service the Milwaukee Road offered here, before the Northwestern Elevated Railway took over the former commuter service to the north side, and turned it into the “L”. There were two electric locomotives used to haul freight cars. They were purchased by the Rapid Transit in 1920 and were still in use when freight ended 53 years later. This view looks north by northwest– the “L” structure is just to our right, out of view. (Charles M. Tauscher Photo)

CTA #4439 heads up a northbound four-car Evanston Express train at the Sheridan Road curve during August 1973. The last of the venerable 4000-series “L” cars would be retired on November 8th that year, after 50 years of faithful service. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

In January 1965, a northbound eight-car train of 4000s is running wrong way on what would normally be the southbound track on the North-South “L” at Granville. The best explanation is probably the weather– no route sign is in evidence, and eight cars was then too many to run on Evanston or Ravenswood, the two lines still using 4000s at this time. Verdict– sleet scraping, preventing the third rail from getting coated with ice, at a time when there wasn’t regular service on this track, generally used only on weekdays. (Jeffrey L. Wien Photo)

A Douglas-Milwaukee “B” train is about to pull into the Logan Square Terminal in a slide processed in March 1965. (Charles L. Tauscher Photo)

Chicago Rapid Transit Company gate cars 389 and 388 make up a two-car train at the Canal Street station of the Metropolitan main line on July 2, 1943. The two cars will be split at the Damen, North, and Milwaukee station, with one car going to Logan Square, and the other to Humboldt Park. Canal was adjacent to Union Station and there was a walkway connecting it to the “L”.

Although the negative for this image has signs of faulty home development, in general, this is a very nice picture of Met car #2905 in Douglas Park service (to Lawndale only) at the Canal Street station on the Met main line on July 2, 1943.

ICG Illinois Central Electric South Chicago Branch
Location: Chicago, Illinois (71st and Exchange)
Date: July 1966 (processing date)
Photographer: Jeffrey L. Wien
The Illinois Central Suburban commuter service electrified in 1926. The original Pullman suburban electric cars were retired in the late 1970s and replaced by bilevels built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1971. The service is now called the Metra Electric and has a number of branches. South Shore Line trains share trackage with the Metra Electric in Illinois. The IC Pullmans were similar to the contemporary cars used on the Erie-Lackawanna in New Jersey.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #6187
Location: Chicago, Illinois (43rd Street – North-South “L”)
Date: June 6, 1954
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #6281
Location: Chicago, Illinois (47th Street – North-South “L”)
Date: June 6, 1954
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” Loop
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Wabash and Washington looking north)
Date: July 29, 1956
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” Loop
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Lake and LaSalle looking west)
Date: August 31, 1956
Photographer: William C. Hoffman
From 1913 to 1969, trains on the Loop “L” went uni-directional, counter-clockwise, so both trains shown here are going west along Lake Street towards the junction at Tower 18, visible in the distance. The trains of 6000-series “L” cars at right is a Ravenswood “A” train, while the 4000s at left could be a variety of things, including the Garfield Park “L”. Discount Records, seen at right, was a local chain that went out of business around 1972. The original Tower 18 was replaced in 1969, as it was in the way of new tracks that allowed the through-routing of the Lake line with the new Dan Ryan service.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” Loop
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Randolph and Wabash “L” Station looking east)
Date: May 5, 1957
Photographer: William C. Hoffman
This picture shows the newly modernized Loop “L” station at Randolph and Wabash, with a huge CTA logo. This station and Madison and Wabash have since been replaced in the 2000s by a new one located between them at Washington and Wabash. My understanding is the CTA logo was saved, but I am not aware of any of the details on what will happen to it.
The Stouffers’ restaurant was kind of like a tea room and closed in 1981. The Stouffer’s brand was sold to Nestle, who were really only interested in their frozen foods.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #41-42
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Isabella – Evanston “L” – fantrip)
Date: June 26, 1960
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #41-42
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Randolph and Wells looking north – Loop “L” – fantrip)
Date: June 26, 1960
Photographer: William C. Hoffman
June 26, 1960 was a Sunday and CTA Single Car Units #41 and 42 are parked at Randolph and Wells during a lunch stop on a fantrip. Since the Ravenswood “L” did not go into the Loop at this time, these cars weren’t in the way of regular service cars. The Ravenswood was cut back to Armitage on Sundays and for Owl Service as of May 18, 1952. This made it convenient to have numerous photo stops at stations south of there on sunday fantrips. The shuttle was further cut back to Belmont in 1963, following the abandonment of the North Shore Line. Starting in 2000, Ravenswood service was restored to make all stops south of Belmont at night and on Sundays, due to the increase in ridership on this line (now called the CTA Brown Line).

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #41-42
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Main Street – Evanston “L” – fantrip)
Date: June 26, 1960
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #6435 (and a North Shore Line Electroliner just barely visible at right)
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Belmont – North-South “L”)
Date: June 4, 1961
Photographer: Gordon E. Lloyd
This was a Sunday and the New York Yankees defeated the Chicago White Sox, 10-1. “L” ridership was very light on Sundays back then, which explains why a two-car train was running on Jackson Park-Howard.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #45
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Main Street – Evanston “L”)
Date: July 8, 1961
Photographer: Gordon E. Lloyd

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” Loop
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Randolph and Wells Station looking east along Washington – Loop “L”)
Date: November 26, 1962
Photographer: William C. Hoffman
Graham Garfield writes: “It’s actually Washington and Wells, looking east. Washington had platform-level station houses just like Randolph’s, back when Wells had a continuous platform the whole length of the Loop. There wasn’t a Washington “stop”; the Washington station houses were basically additional entrances from which riders would either walk north on the platform to the Randolph berthing area or south to the Madison stop.
Randolph’s station houses were built around 1913 or so (replacing the original little Randolph & Wells station houses over Couch Place) and Washington’s weren’t added until around 1925 or so, but the design was basically the same.”
In 1995, this station and Madison and Wells were replaced by a new station at Washington and Wells. A portion of the north end of the platforms still exists from Randolph and Wells.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #4347 on Transfer Table
Location: Skokie, Illinois (Skokie Shops)
Date: May 26, 1963
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” Single Car Units
Location: Chicago, Illinois (South Boulevard – Evanston “L”)
Date: June 20, 1966
Photographer: Jeffrey L. Wien

There aren't a lot of pictures showing the original tower at Clark Junction, as you had to be riding on a northbound train in order to get close to it. The Clark station seen here opened in 1900 along with the North Side "L" as far as Wilson Avenue. The Ravenswood branch was built in 1906 and veered off from the main line just south of the station. Clark was closed, along with numerous other lightly used stations, in 1949, as the Chicago Transit Authority rationalized North-south service, with the goal of speeding things up. Thereafter, the tower remained in use until it was replaced by a new one in 1976. More recently, this second tower was replaced when a flyover was built, allowing northbound Brown Line trains (successor to the Ravenswood) to cross over the other "L" tracks, replacing a flat junction.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” Clark Junction (and some #4000s)
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Clark Junction – North-South “L”)
Date: June 20, 1966
Photographer: Jeffrey L. Wien
There aren’t a lot of pictures showing the original tower at Clark Junction, as you had to be riding on a northbound train in order to get close to it.
The Clark station seen here opened in 1900 along with the North Side “L” as far as Wilson Avenue. The Ravenswood branch was built in 1906 and veered off from the main line just south of the station.
Clark was closed, along with numerous other lightly used stations, in 1949, as the Chicago Transit Authority rationalized North-south service, with the goal of speeding things up. Thereafter, the tower remained in use until it was replaced by a new one in 1976. More recently, this second tower was replaced when a flyover was built, allowing northbound Brown Line trains (successor to the Ravenswood) to cross over the other “L” tracks, replacing a flat junction.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” #4000s 1974
Location: Skokie, Illinois (Wilson Yard and Shops, looking east)
Date: February 1974 (processing date)
Photographer: John Alvar Ruhl
The Wilson Avenue Yard and Shops no longer exists. In 1996, not long after the shops closed, the building caught fire. The building was demolished along with the yard, which was damaged beyond repair. Later, the station and trackage was completely rebuilt in this area.

CTA Chicago Transit Authority “L” Clark and Lake
Location: Chicago, Illinois (Clark and Lake – Loop “L”)
Date: March 1978
Photographer: Jeffrey L. Wien
This (and the next picture) shows how the original Clark and Lake station on the Loop “L” looked in 1978, prior to being replaced by a new station that has entrances inside nearby buildings, and a direct connection to the Dearborn Subway.

Lest we forget, September 2nd this year marks the 75th anniversary of a horrific head-on collision on Milwaukee’s Speedrail system, the short-lived successor to the Milwaukee Electric interurban. While the causes of the crash are still being debated, whether due to human error or a faulty signal, the result was a head-on collision between a heavyweight car and a lightweight one. Lightweight car #39, full of attendees to a model railroad convention, was a fantrip car, and was split apart by the regular service car 1192-1193. Ten people were killed, and more than forty injured. The accident was instrumental in the abandonment of Speedrail less than one year later. We recently purchased two original 35mm Kodachrome slides showing the aftermath of the wreck, and I assume they were taken the following day (September 3, 1950), before the area was cleared. It is remarkable that the colors on these slides are still vivid after 75 years, although they are also vivid reminders of a terrible tragedy that we hope will never be repeated.

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North Shore Line Rarities, Part Three

September 14, 2023December 4, 2024David Sadowski 5 Comments

Silverliner 773 is northbound at Belmont. At left, you can see part of the platform the CTA added in 1953, used only by southbound NSL trains. This was to prevent such riders, upon exiting their train, from making a free transfer to the CTA. They would need to exit, re-enter the CTA station, and pay another fare. This was implemented after the Chicago Aurora and Elgin stopped running on the CTA. Riders departing CA&E trains in Forest Park also had to pay a full CTA fare to continue inbound. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo) Miles Beitler adds, “If you zoom in on the photo, there appears to be a northbound train of wood cars just north of the station. The absence of trolley poles would indicate this was a Ravenswood train. If this train was in revenue service, it dates the photo to 1957 at the latest, and more likely the mid-1950s.” Frederic Lestina: “The 4000 series cars in the southbound North-South route train did not receive overhead sealed beam light fixtures until 1953 or so. The Ravenwood train in the background consisted of open platform wood cars and such cars were retired in 1955. Also, the last of the 4000 series cars were displaced from the North – South route by the new CTA 6201 class in 1955. So I would set the timeframe in which the photo was taken to be between 1953 and 1955.”

This is our third and last post featuring black-and-white pictures of the North Shore Line, taken by the late Robert D. Heinlein. All seem to have been taken in the mid-1950s.

In the era before color photography more or less took over the railfan hobby, fans would try and document, as much as possible, an entire railroad’s fleet. They would have black-and-white prints made and would often paste them into scrapbooks of roster shots. This practice was so widespread that you could practically call some of these fans “Rosterfarians.”

Mr. Heinlein was no exception, and now, more than 65 years later, we can marvel at the dedication of these fans, in documenting what they considered was a way of life that was fast disappearing from the American scene. We, in turn, thank Kevin Heinlein for sharing these wonderful images with our readers.

We also have some recent photo finds, which include color shots by Mr. Heinlein and black-and-whites by Robert A. Selle, among other things. Both were excellent photographers.

Keep those cards and letters coming in.

Enjoy!

-David Sadowski

PS- You might also like our Trolley Dodger Facebook auxiliary, a private group that now has 1,431 members.

Our Next Book Project

This is a picture of Aurora Elgin and Fox River Electric car 305, signed for Elgin. FYI, we are hard at work researching our next book about the Chicago Aurora and Elgin interurban. Although we already have thousands of images, we start out on these book projects with some of what we need, and then have to find the rest. Some have generously shared their images with us, and some we have to pay real money for. In case you would like to help contribute to this effort, either by sharing images or making a donation, we would like to hear from you. All contributors will be mentioned in the book, which will be dedicated to the memory of the late Robert D. Heinlein. The most difficult images to find are always the earliest ones. You can contact me via messenger, at thetrolleydodger@gmail.com or via my blog. I thank you for your time and consideration.

North Shore Line Roster Shots by Robert D. Heinlein

The interior of car 721. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

The control cab of NSL 721. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

This station, and Madison/Wabash, have since been replaced by a new one at Washington and Wabash. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 724 is northbound at Randolph and Wabash, at the head of a two-car train.
This station, and Madison/Wabash, have since been replaced by a new one at Washington and Wabash. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 737. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 738 (center) is heading northbound at Howard Street. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 743. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 746 at Roosevelt Road. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 750 at the Highwood Shops. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 756 is stopped, possibly for a photo stop, while the conductor consults his watch. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 758, at the rear end of an Illini Railroad Club charter. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 759 at the Milwaukee Terminal. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 761 at Howard Street. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 762. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 766, at left, is at the head of an Illini Railroad Club fantrip train at the Mundelein Terminal. The regular service train is at right. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 766 is part of a fantrip train on Greenleaf Avenue in Wilmette, on the Shore Line Route. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 771. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliner 773. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 774 on the “L”, possibly at Roosevelt Road. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Silverliners 776 and 756 at speed. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

A two-car train of standard coaches has just left the Milwaukee Terminal. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

On the Winnetka Grade Separation portion of the Shore Line Route. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Electroliner 801-802 is at speed in Skokie.
(Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Electroliner 801-802 is on 6th Street in Milwaukee. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Electroliner 801-802, possibly departing the Kenosha station. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Electroliner 801-802 at Kenosha (most likely a photo stop on a fantrip). (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Electroliner 801-802 on the 6th Street Viaduct in Milwaukee. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Electroliner 803-804 on the Skokie Valley Route.
(Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL Electroliner 803-804, northbound at Belmont. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL Electroliner 803-804 at speed. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

NSL 803-804 on Lake Street at LaSalle Street downtown. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

The Chicago Aurora and Elgin’s Mt. Carmel Branch (also called the Cook County Branch) used overhead wire instead of third rail, and was an important source of freight revenue for the interurban. When I-290 was built in the late 1950s, a new bridge took the tracks over the highway. Although CA&E freight service ended in June 1959, the interurban did apparently use this bridge prior to abandonment, as I have seen a photo. Cars could also drive on this bridge, which remained in use at least until 1986. The overhead wire remained up for several years after this branch was taken over by the Indiana Harbor Belt, which used diesel engines. This slide was processed in November 1962. We are looking north. The bridge itself was removed years ago. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin wood car 315, at the Wheaton Yards in a slide processed in April 1962. Some of the windows on this car were boarded up for shipment to the Rockhill Trolley Museum in Pennsylvania, which happened shortly after this picture was taken by Robert Heinlein. 315 was built by Kuhlman Car Company in 1909.

(This and the next picture) Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “(Northwestern “L” car) 1796 was built by American Car & Foundry in 1907 as NEWRy 287, #5098, a trailer. It was renumbered 1287 in 1913 and rebuilt as motor 1796. It became CRT 1796 in 1923 and was sold to Gaylord Container in Louisiana (circa 1958), where it was scrapped in 1966.” Some other sources put the scrap date in the 1970s. This paper mill removed one side of the car to make it easier to load and unload the rolls of paper it transported. As a result, by the time it was finally retired, the body of 1796 was not structurally sound. It was scrapped for parts to help keep sister car 1797 running at the Illinois Railway Museum. Here, we see it on May 5, 1960 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. (Robert D. Heinlein Photos)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 401 at the 11th Avenue station in Maywood on June 29, 1957, just a few days before the abrupt end of passenger service. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

The interior of Chicago Aurora and Elgin 414 at the Wheaton Shops on April 17, 1957. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

While passenger service on the Chicago Aurora and Elgin did end abruptly at mid-day on July 3, 1957, there were various attempts to get service restored after that. On March 6, 1958, a charter trip, using a two-car train, toured the western suburbs as “The Mass Transit Special,” meeting local officials in various towns along the way (and at least one marching band). Here, we see cars 417 and 460 westbound in Wheaton. Although the effort to save the CA&E ultimately failed, there were at least two other charter trips, the last in December 1958. (Robert Heinlein Photo) The former CA&E right-of-way is now the Illinois Prairie Path. The old CA&E Wheaton station would have been behind the photographer. Car 460 is now at the Illinois Railway Museum.

The same location on September 9, 2023.

On May 5, 1963, this is what remained of Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 419 after it was torched during scrapping at the Wheaton Yards. The metal parts that remained would be broken apart and hauled away. 419 was built by Pullman in 1923. Sister car 409, now at the Illinois Railway Museum, is the only Pullman that survives from the fleet. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

The control cab of Chicago Aurora and Elgin 460 on an October 26, 1958 fantrip– the final time it operated on the CA&E. There was one later fantrip, but it used two of the wood cars. The 460 is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Here is a view of the back end of the Chicago and West Towns bus garage (and former streetcar barn) at North Boulevard and Cuyler Avenue in Oak Park on March 16, 1957. There are a couple of West Towns “Old Look” buses parked in the distance. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo) Mike Franklin: “Photo was taken from atop (and below) a spur feeding off of the C&NW tracks, which provided deliveries to a coal company on the NE corner of Ridgeland & North Blvd. It was removed sometime in the mid 1970’s.” After West Towns was absorbed into PACE, this garage was replaced by one further west on Lake Street. After the building was torn down in the 1980s, a Dominick’s Finer Foods went up, and this in turn has been replaced by a Pete’s Fresh Market.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 460 is at the Aurora Terminal on April 17, 1957. Chances are this wasn’t a fantrip, as that was a Wednesday. Back then, the great majority of such trips were held on Sundays. This car is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

The body of Roanoke Railway and Electric car 57 near Salem, VA on August 31, 1957. This is a lightweight Brill Master Unit streetcar, built in 1929. Streetcar service in Roanoke ended in 1948. Sister car 51 is at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine. (George Krambles Photo, Robert D. Heinlein Collection)

Aurora Elgin and Chicago city streetcar 256.

In May 1962, workers began tearing up the tracks of the abandoned Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railway. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 410 heads up a westbound two-car train at the 25th Avenue station in Bellwood on June 29, 1957. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 421 is at the rear of an eastbound two-car train at the 25th Avenue station in Bellwood on June 29, 1957. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 457 is at the front of a two-car train, heading westbound at the 25th Avenue station in Bellwood on May 18, 1957. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 421 is westbound at 9th Avenue in Maywood on April 20, 1957. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

Some very creative fantrips were held back in the old days, using unusual equipment. Here, we see a Central Electric Railfans’ Association excursion on the Chicago Aurora and Elgin interurban, probably prior to World War II, using electric freight locomotives and cabooses.

After the Chicago Aurora and Elgin interurban was abandoned, the railroad put their rolling stock up for sale. The ten curved-sided cars, built in 1945 by the St. Louis Car Company, were the newest and the railroad had hopes of finding buyers for them. Cleveland considered purchasing them for a rapid transit extension to an airport, but that project was delayed, and didn’t open until 1969. Finally, Gerald E. Brookins (pictured here as they were being moved off the property in 1962) purchased four of the cars for his Trolleyville USA, which provided transportation within a trailer park he owned in Ohio. Now, all four are back in Illinois– three at IRM, one at Fox River Trolley Museum. (Robert D. Heinlein Collection)

On April 17, 1957, Chicago Aurora and Elgin wood car 318 is on a fantrip on the Batavia branch, by the Fox River. Robert D. Heinlein took this picture from the second floor of the abandoned powerhouse nearby in Glenwood Park. It has since been demolished, but at one time, provided the electricity for the entire railroad. It was the first major electricity provider in the western suburbs.

Former Aurora Elgin and Fox River Electric car 300 is seen in suburban Cleveland on the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit line. Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “300 was built by St Louis Car in 1924. #1308. In 1936 it was sold to Cleveland Interurban RR as 300. CI became Shaker Heights Rapid Transit in 1944. It was sold to Milwaukee Rapid Transit & Speedrail in May 1950 as 300. It was scrapped in 1952.” With that in mind, this picture dates to between 1936 and 1950. Sister cars 303, 304, and 306 have been preserved in various railway museums.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 459 on a siding in downtown Aurora by the Fox River on April 21, 1957. As with the end of the line in Elgin, overhead wire was used instead of third rail. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

North Shore Line electric loco 450 in Milwaukee on February 15, 1938. (T. G. Wurm Photo) Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “450 was built in 1907 by Alco, (order) #44386, and General Electric, #2696. It was sold to Commonwealth Edison Co. as 6 in February 1948.”

Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 457 at Wesley Street in Wheaton on June 30, 1957, just a few days before the interurban suspended passenger service. This bridge carried the Elgin branch over the Chicago and North Western (now the Union Pacific). (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

This picture, taken by Robert D. Heinlein on June 30, 1957 in Wheaton, shows the differences between Chicago Aurora and Elgin wood car 309, at left, and steel car 454 at right.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin cars 455, 452, and 459, as they were being scrapped in Wheaton on June 16, 1963. Out of a ten-car order, built in 1945 by the St. Louis Car Company, only four were saved– all bought by Gerald E. Brookins for his Trolleyville USA operation at a trailer park in Ohio. Now all four are back in Illinois. These cars only saw 12 years of regular service. (Robert D. Heinlein Photo)

On August 8, 1954, photographer Robert A. Selle took this picture of Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 459 during a fantrip photo stop on the Elgin branch. The event was a Central Electric Railfans’ Association excursion. When the time comes to submit potential cover images for my next book, this could be among them. When we worked on my last book, I had to submit six different images, and then we chose the one that worked best. Although the sign says “St. Charles – Geneva,” that branch of the CA&E had last run in 1937, but as Bob Bresse-Rodenkirk notes, “Elgin branch trains connected at Lakewood after 1937 for CA&E buses to St. Charles and Geneva.” Michael Crist thinks we are “sitting on the Milwaukee Road interchange track just east of Raymond Street, Elgin.”

Here are the bodies of Chicago and West Towns streetcars 164 and 165 on March 22, 1959. After trolley service ended on the line to LaGrange in 1948, they were apparently dumped in the woods along First Avenue, just north of North Avenue in Melrose Park. (Robert A. Selle Photo)

Five Chicago and West Towns streetcar bodies, in the woods along First Avenue just north of North Avenue on March 22, 1959. Car 141, the only survivor of the fleet, was sold as a chicken coop and was retrieved around this time by the ERHS (Electric Railway Historical Society) group. who tried to get a museum going on a farm in Downers Grove, IL. When that effort failed in 1973, the collection went to the Illinois Railway Museum. After a long, international search for parts, IRM eventually got 141 running again about 10 years ago. (Robert A. Selle Photo)

On Saturday, September 26, 1953, CTA “L” car 2899 is looping at the western end of the Garfield Park line at DesPlaines Avenue in Forest Park, while Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 413 rolls out of the terminal on its way west. This was the new arrangement, starting on September 20th, where the two railroads were no longer connected to each other. Therefore, two loops were necessary that did not directly intersect. There had previously been a loop here for turning CTA trains at ground level, and it was located just behind where the new loop is seen here. This new system remained in place until the CA&E suspended passenger service in 1957, and the CTA reconfigured the entire area in 1959 as work continued nearby on the new expressway. (Robert A. Selle Photo)

On Sunday afternoon, March 21, 1954, a westbound CTA Douglas Park “L” train is at the Racine station on the Metropolitan Main Line. This was shortly before the station closed and was demolished as part of the construction project that built the Congress (now Eisenhower) expressway. This was a four-track “L”, but by this time, Garfield Park trains had been rerouted onto temporary ground-level trackage on Van Buren Street. Logan Square trains had stopped using this part of the “L” in 1951. Starting in April 1954, Douglas Park trains went downtown via a new connection to the Lake Street “L”– the same routing that the Pink Line uses today. (Robert A. Selle Photo)

On December 9, 1951, the CTA, as part of their efforts to speed things up on the “L”, brought A/B “skip stop” service to the Douglas Park branch. Several lightly used stations were closed, but Wood Street (1800 W, 2100 S) was one of three that were given “partial” service. There was no agent on duty, and riders had to put a token into a turnstyle to enter. Soon the other two such stations were closed, but Wood continued as a partial service station from May 3, 1952 until May 19, 1957, when it was closed. Certain “B” trains that stopped at Wood had a special sign, which you see here, in this photo taken by Robert A. Selle on March 21, 1954. (Station info from http://www.chicago-l.org)

This is the interior of CTA wooden “L” car 3141, taken on December 12, 1953 at the Indiana Avenue station. It was operating on the Stock Yards branch and was laying over on a stub end track. (Robert A. Selle Photo)

A CTA 1700-series “L” car leaves the pocket track at Indiana Avenue on Saturday afternoon, November 28, 1953, for its trip east to 42nd and Oakenwald. Between 1949 and 1957, Kenwood operated as a shuttle, after which it was discontinued. (Robert A. Selle Photo)

This is apparently the only Birney car that ran on the Aurora streetcar system. Here’s what the Hicks Car Works blog has to say about it: “In 1920, in order to improve service, the company (Aurora Plainfield and Joliet Railway) ordered a new four-wheel Birney streetcar to operate the local line in Joliet… On July 21, 1924, the company was authorized to abandon its line. All service was stopped on August 31, 1924, being one of the first interurban systems in Illinois to be abandoned… The Birney streetcar was shipped to the Aurora streetcar system, with delivery being made via the Chicago & Illinois Valley Railway to Morris, the Fox & Illinois Union Railway to Yorkville, and then over the abandoned (but not yet dismantled) Yorkville division of the Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric Company to Aurora. (Aurora Plainfield and Joliet) 101 – AR (arch roof) ST (single truck) DE (double end) Birney streetcar – St. Louis (Car Company)1920 (ord#1249) – K63 control, St Louis 7 truck – sold in 1924 to Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric as number 48.”

Another view of Aurora Elgin and Fox River Electric Birney car 48. Birney cars were briefly popular in the 1920s for use on smaller streetcar systems, since they could be operated by one person. Because they are single truck cars, riding qualities weren’t the best, but they are certainly popular among the fans. “Downer” is a street in Aurora.

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

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Our 300th Post

June 14, 2023October 26, 2023David Sadowski 5 Comments

CTA PCC 7195 is southbound on Clark Street at Van Buren Street on June 20, 1958– the last full day of streetcar operation in Chicago. Bob Heinlein took this picture from the Loop “L” station, offering a good look at the “old” downtown. This was color corrected from an early Ektachrome slide that had shifted to red.

The Trolley Dodger blog has reached a new milestone, as this is our 300th post. We always try to do our best with every post, but hope we have made this one even more special.

Among many other things, we have begun scanning some of the pictures we have collected for our next book, featuring the Chicago Aurora and Elgin interurban. Our work on that is ongoing, and our research is expected to take the rest of this year. Your contributions to this effort are greatly appreciated, as we have already spent over $2500 on research since January.

We hope that you will enjoy it. 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 1,272 members.

Here’s North Shore Line (technically Chicago and Milwaukee Electric) city streetcar 354 changing ends in front of the Milwaukee Terminal, circa 1950-51. This line had previously run to 2nd and Wisconsin, a few blocks away, which was the original end of the line for the interurban as well. But for the last year or so of streetcar operation, the lone NSL Milwaukee line ended here. Car 354, a product of the St. Louis Car Company, is now at the Illinois Railway Museum.

On Saturday, March 7, 1953, CTA one-man streetcar 1780 is operating on the Fifth Avenue shuttle. The Hotel Hoover was located at 3358 W. Jackson Boulevard, so we are looking west along Jackson. This was originally a branch line from Route 20 – Madison, but as of May 11, 1952, buses replaced streetcars on the weekends on Madison. At those times, Fifth became a shuttle using some of the older red streetcars that were set up for one-man (and they were all men, back then) operation. On December 13, 1953, buses replaced PCCs on Madison, and Fifth became a seven-day-a-week shuttle, until February 22, 1954, when the shuttle was discontinued. It was not replaced by buses because part of Fifth Avenue was truncated due to construction of the Congress expressway. Fifth wasn’t going to cross the highway, since this would have been an expensive bridge to build, crossing at an angle. Since then, other parts of Fifth have been cut off as well. (William Shapotkin Collection)

CTA crane X-201 is at 71st Street and Wentworth in the 1950s. (William Shapotkin Collection)

This photo cost me less than $5, but I consider it an excellent find. We are looking west along the Garfield Park “L” right-of-way (actually owned by the Chicago Aurora & Elgin) in suburban Oak Park. This is the first picture I have seen of a CA&E freight train this far east– CA&E freight did not operate east of Laramie Avenue. CA&E loco 2001 is at the head of the train. The platforms at these stations had extensions that flipped up, to allow freight trains to clear. I presume that someone at the head of the train flipped them up, and the man on the caboose is flipping them back down again. Meanwhile, there is a much longer freight train on the adjacent Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal tracks at left. This picture can’t be any later than 1953, when the CA&E cut back service to Forest Park, yet the style of auto at the crossing in the distance doesn’t look much older than that. Which station is this? Bruce Moffat has identified it as Home Avenue in Oak Park, which is a short distance east of Harlem Avenue. Dan Cluley adds, “It is hard to tell at that distance, but my guess is the mystery auto is a 1950 or 51 Ford Sedan.”

A close-up view of the previous image, showing the car, which may be a 1950 or 1951 Ford.

The last Chicago streetcar at 78th and Vincennes, on its last run (June 21, 1958). (Robert Heinlein Photo)

CTA PCC streetcar 4407 is at Clark and Schubert on September 6, 1957, not long before the last northside car line was replaced by buses. The building at 2643 N. Clark, at left, is still a post office, but the Jewel has been replaced by a McDonald’s. Time was, there were small Jewel Food Stores all over the city. Note the sign saying “serve yourself.” Self-service grocery stores were a relatively new thing in the 1950s. Previously, you told the grocer what you wanted, and they picked the order for you. The last small Jewel I recall seeing was at Clark and Webster, just a few blocks south of here. It was replaced by a Tower Records in the 1980s– and now that’s gone too. This was shot on Anscochrome film, which was not of the same quality as Kodak. The film speed of Kodachrome was ISO/ASA 10, only useful on sunny days. On cloudy days, photographers often used this, or Ektachrome, which had a film speed of 32. This film is rather grainy, such that it starts to look like an impressionist painting when viewed under high magnification. (Robert Heinlein Photo)

CTA red Pullman 144 is at Clark and 16th Street on May 25, 1958, on one of those Sunday fantrips (when buses replaced streetcars on the last remaining lines). That way, fans could have plenty of photo stops, without getting in the way of regular service. The PCC running behind 144 was there as backup, and was also part of the fantrip. The view looks north. (Robert Heinlein Photo)

CTA high-speed single car units 1-4 made up the original rolling stock of the new Skokie Swift line. Here, car #1 is at Skokie Shops on March 24, 1964, newly fitted with a pan trolley. (William Shapotkin Collection)

CTA PCC 7160 is heading eastbound on Devon Avenue at Bosworth (about 1530 W, one block east of Clark Street) on July 27, 1956. The streetcar is operating on Route 36 – Broadway-Downtown. (William Shapotkin Collection)

One that got away… CSL/CTA 2605 at the Devon car barn (station) on September 27, 1953. (William Shapotkin Collection)

CTA PCC 7213, the last Chicago streetcar, begins its final run in the early morning hours of June 21, 1958 at Kinzie and Clark, the north terminus of the Wentworth line. (Robert Heinlein Photo)

A westbound two-car Lake Street “A” train is between Laramie and Central Avenues in a slide processed in February 1966. We are looking west. (Robert Heinlein Collection)

CTA PCC 7224 is southbound on Wentworth Avenue at 23rd Street (in Chinatown) on June 20, 1958– the last full day of streetcar operation in Chicago. (Robert Heinlein Photo)

A slightly different version of this image appears on page 20 in my book The North Shore Line, sourced from an archive. This version is from an original real photo postcard I recently purchased. Ravinia Park was built by the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric (later the North Shore Line) in 1904, and the concertgoers here are crossing its tracks. The postcard most likely dates to before 1907, as it had a space on the front for writing a message. Until that year, the backs of postcards were reserved for the address only. Thew cropping is slightly different between the two versions of this image because both were made from the original negative, and in each case, either neg or the printing paper was positioned a bit differently.

This postcard image, showing the north portal to the State Street Subway, probably dates to around the time it opened in October 1943. The three-car “L” train, made up of 4000-series cars, is northbound, heading for Howard Street. There were two series of 4000s, and the middle car is of the earlier type, possibly an unpowered trailer.

A close-up view.

Wooden CTA “L” car 1797 at the Illinois Electric Railway Museum in North Chicago, in a slide processed in January 1963. IRM moved to Union the following year. This was shot on Dynachrome film, which was supposedly based on expired Kodachrome patents. It was later taken over by 3M.

Construction of Chicago’s first subways eventually led to the development of the Pedway, an extensive network of tunnels connecting many downtown stores and buildings. Here, excavation work on a pedestrian tunnel connecting the State and Dearborn subways has just started on Court Place between Randolph and Washington on January 31, 1942. It was built using the “cut and cover” method. The State Street Subway opened in 1943, but this connection was not put into service until the Dearborn Street Subway opened in 1951.

(This and the next picture) The CA&E St. Charles-Geneva branch was abandoned in 1937, and here it is being torn up in 1938.

The CA&E Main Line, looking east from Bellwood. The Westchester “L” branch split off from here at right.

The CA&E Wheaton Yards and Elgin Junction in the late 1930s.

The CA&E in Wheaton, looking in the other direction from the previous photo.

CA&E wood car 141, when it was being leased from the North Shore Line, circa 1936-45. It, and several other wood cars, briefly returned to the NSL but were purchased outright by CA&E in 1946. They were all scrapped in 1954 after the interurban cut back service to Forest Park. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “141 was built by American Car Co in March 1910, #844, as C&ME 141. It was rebuilt in 1914 and retired in 1954.”

The CA&E station (and substation) at Prince Crossing in the late 1930s. This building has survived the abandonment of the railroad, but is now threatened with demolition.

North Shore Line 716 (modernized) and 409 (repainted) on new right-of-way in Glencoe on the Shore Line Route, circa 1940.

North Shore Line Birney car 335 in Milwaukee in the late 1940s. (Don Ross Photo)

A two-car train of CTA 4000-series “L” cars is at the Marion Street station in Oak Park, circa 1959. We are looking west along South Boulevard. This portion of the Lake Street “L” was moved onto the adjacent Chicago & North Western embankment in 1962.

Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “(North Shore Line) 500 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1909. It was rebuilt to one man and transferred to Waukegan on November 23, 1923. It was retired in 1948 and sold for scrap in 1949.” Here it is at Naval Station Great Lakes on June 4, 1939. (La Mar M. Kelley Photo)

Milwaukee Rapid Transit and Speedrail car 65. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “65 was built by Cincinnati Car in August 1928, #2985, as I&SE 230. In 1933 it was sold to ICRT as 230 and in 1941 it was sold to SHRT as 65. In 1949 it was sold to Ed Tennyson and leased as Speedrail 65 where it originally operated with a modified Shaker Heights paint scheme. When repainted, the Speedrail logo was omitted. It was scrapped in 1952.”

Bankruptcies were rife among interurbans and railroads in general. This letter, to an apparent shareholder of the AE&C, predecessor of the CA&E, advises him that the stock of the earlier firm was worthless. When the CA&E emerged from bankruptcy in the late 1940s, it owned substantial land assets, and had discharged its debts. This set the stage, in the postwar era, for its eventual abandonment and liquidation.

This famous photo of Tower 18, located at the intersection of Lake Street and Wells Street on the Loop “L”, was taken when it was the busiest railroad junction in the world.

CA&E suburban streetcar 500, built by St. Louis Car Company in 1927. Here, it has seen better days. It was not the same car as North Shore Line streetcar 500, but was eventually sold to the NSL and renumbered as 361. Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “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.”

The interior of CA&E streetcar 500, which later became North Shore Line 361. The photo number dates this to around 1931.

The CA&E right-of-way in Wheaton is at right, with the Chicago & North Western at left, in the 1950s.

The Chicago Rapid Transit Company’s Wells Street Terminal was the CA&E’s hub and just steps away from the Loop “L” via a direct connection walkway. It received a major renovation and a new façade, seen here upon completion on October 28, 1927. That looks like a 1927 Chevrolet parked out front.

This and the next image give a good idea of the CA&E fares and service to Elmhurst as of 1936.

The view looking east into the Wells Street Terminal. That’s the Insurance Exchange Building in the background. This picture probably dates to sometime between 1912 and 1927.

The view along the CA&E main line, looking east from Poplar Avenue in Elmhurst on July 13, 1931.

Don’s Rail Photos (via archive.org): “144 was built by American Car in August 1910, #846, as C&ME 403, a parlor-buffet car. In March 1918 it was rebuilt as a straight coach. It was retired in 1935 and leased to the CA&E as 144. It came back in 1945 and then was sold to the CA&E in 1946. It was retired in 1953.”

The CA&E “flag stop” at the Glen Oak Country Club in Glen Ellyn. Anyone who wanted the train to stop would need to use the signal to get trains to stop. From the Wikipedia: “Glen Oak Country Club is a country club and private golf course in Glen Ellyn, Illinois that was designed by Tom Bendelow and established in 1911. On January 7, 1909, the Pickwick Country Club was created. It had a 9-hole golf course, eventually expanded to 18 holes. Within a year, the club went bankrupt. In 1911, the property was purchased and reopened as the current Glen Oak Country Club. In the past bordering the club to the north- which is the Prairie Path today, was an interurban train stop. Many members lived in Chicago and would take the train out of the city to this club. Upon exit, a carriage would take the members along Hill Ave to the club house.” The number on this photo would date it to circa 1927.

A close-up of the previous image. The sign touts “frequent high-speed electrically powered trains to the western suburbs and Fox River Valley cities.”

The CA&E’s Lockwood Yard was a short distance west of Laramie Avenue (5200 W) in Chicago, where the interurban’s tracks ended and the Chicago Rapid Transit Company’s began. This was a convenient place for the CA&E to store railcars in mid-day. 418 and 431 were among the ones stored here on April 18, 1938, when this picture was taken. The view looks west, with Loretto Hospital in the distance. The CA&E main line, also used by CRT “L” trains to Forest Park and Westchester, is at left. The area to the left is now occupied by I-290, the Eisenhower expressway. At this stage, the small yard used overhead wire, but this was later converted to third rail. After the Chicago Transit Authority purchased the fixed CA&E’s fixed assets between here and Forest Park in 1953, the CTA stored wooden “L” cars here after they were retired.

CA&E 403 picks up passengers on the streets of downtown Aurora on April 18, 1938. By the end of the following year, the trains were relocated to an off-street terminal by the Fox River.

The CA&E interurban terminal in Aurora on April 18, 1938.

A close-up of the previous picture.

A view of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Terminal at Wells Street on April 16, 1926, just prior to renovation, The facade was redone, and a couple of additional stories added to it to improve the station amenities. This picture was taken from the nearby Loop “L” station at Quincy and Wells. CA&E car 408 is at left.

CA&E 421 on September 23, 1927. It was built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1927, so this is how it looked when new.

A side view of CA&E 402, 400, and 405. These were among the first steel cars on the Roarin’ Elgin and were built by Pullman in 1923. That may also be the date of this photo. (A. F. Scholz Photo)

Finally, here is an image that for whatever reason got uploaded in 2019, yet never got used in a blog post… until now:

CTA 4362, a Pullman PCC, on Route 8 – Halsted, most likely in the late 1940s. The late Jeff Wien adds, “Rt. 8 car has just pulled off of Broadway onto Waveland to head south on Halsted to 79th Street loop. Photo ca 1951 when Halsted was operated with PCCs, most Pullmans.”

Day Trip to Wisconsin

I spent the day in southern Wisconsin on May 27. After having brunch at the historic Franks Diner in Kenosha, I spent time at the East Troy Railroad Museum, where I rode North Shore Line car 761 for the first time. Later on, I drove to Milwaukee, and took a few pictures of The Hop streetcar.

The weather that day was perfect, which made for some great pictures.

The Franks Diner started out as a prefabricated building, towed there by horses. It was later expanded with an addition. It is a popular place.

East Troy sells two of my books in their gift shop.

Our Latest Book, Now Available:

The North Shore Line

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.

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

Total time – 74:38

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Postcards From the Bridge

May 14, 2023May 21, 2023David Sadowski 15 Comments

This real photo postcard image shows the four-track Metropolitan “L” bridge (actually two separate bridges, side by side), but it also shows a small experimental lifeboat moored at left. One author’s research into the history of this boat is featured in this post, and also sheds some further light on when this photo was taken.

From the start of the Trolley Dodger in 2015, I hoped this blog would become a resource for others, and I am pleased that this has happened. Sometimes these inquiries take strange and unexpected turns, and that is certainly the case regarding the early real photo postcard shown above. This interesting tangent of Chicago history is covered in detail further down in this post. Research can raise just as many questions as it answers, and that is definitely what happened here regarding the small experimental boat visible in the lower left-hand corner of this and other postcards of the Met bridge.

We also have a goodly number of excellent images for your perusal, from some of the great traction photographers.

We regret the passing on April 30th of Robert Heinlein, aged 84. He was one of the giants in his field, and our next post will be a tribute to him. Some of Mr. Heinlein’s photos are in my recent book The North Shore Line, and I am glad he was able to see the finished product. He spent his entire career sharing his knowledge and helping others, and he will be sorely missed. You can read his obituary here.

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 1,162 members.

I will be giving a program on my new North Shore Line book on 7:30 pm on Friday evening, May 19th, at Chicago Union Station for the Railroad & Shortlines Club of Chicago. There is no charge. Please do not arrive before 7:15 pm.

Chicago Union Station
Room 107A
500 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois

Please enter at 500 W. Jackson Boulevard, between Clinton and Canal. Call 312 725-0432 during the meeting for assistance.

We gave two presentations in April that were well attended and received. First, we spoke at the Libertyville Historical Society on the 17th. You can view that presentation here. To date, there have been about 3500 views.

On the 20th, we were at the History Center of lake Bluff and Lake Forest. You can view that presentation here.

Postcards From the Bridge

Sandy Cleary writes:

Good morning! I hope this finds you well 🙂

I’ve been lost on the site for a few weeks since finding it—it scratches an itch I also have—and I’m really grateful for the work that you’ve done in documenting a lot of pretty niche historical artifacts. I’m very curious about one in particular. It’s mentioned in this post here, above the text “I recently bought this real photo postcard, circa 1910.”

I’m pretty certain it comes from the summer of 1907. The boat docked in the lower left of that photo is an obscure lifeboat designed by Robert Brown, of Chicago; it was tied up to the Chicago Sanitary District dock in 1907 but Brown stopped paying docking fees in March, 1908 and it’s absent in another 1908 photo of the bridge. Debris on the loading dock to the northeast of the bridge matches debris visible in Detroit Publishing Co. photo 070152 (here at the LOC), which was taken at the same time as 070153 (LOC link); based on the SS Pueblo’s transit records that photo must’ve been taken on July 30th, 1907.

I’ve been working on writing up the history of Robert Brown’s boat, which features in some other Chicago lore a few years later, and for which the photographic so far consists of only three photos: the two Detroit Publishing Co. ones, and whoever took the picture used in the postcard you found. It was reused in numerous postcards (colorized with the title “Elevated R. R. Jackknife Bridge over Chicago River, Chicago”—you can find examples on eBay).

The one you posted, though, is by far the clearest. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the postcard’s copyright or who might have printed it? I’ve never been able to find what the photographic source might’ve been. A clearer example, one which might make the text on the white sign north of the boat legible and make it easier to fix the exact date the photo was taken, would be invaluable but I’m not sure where to start looking.

(Also, the version you’ve found is evidently a different crop—the colorized version shows more of the western bank and the dock itself).

I appreciate your time—any pointers on anything more about that postcard or the photo that was responsible for it would be incredibly helpful. The work you did on restoring the one you found was already enough for me to conclude when the boat was actually tied up at Van Buren St., which I’d been despairing of finding possible.

Kind regards
Sandy

Thanks for writing. It’s remarkable how small details in such photographs can be of so much use to researchers today.

In the meantime, what a remarkable piece of scholarship you have achieved!

As you can see, the reverse side of the postcard doesn’t identify the maker. But perhaps it can still be identified by comparison with other postcards with the same printing, whose manufacturers are known to experts.

Would it be alright for me to share your original note with the readers of my blog (and accompanying Facebook group)? You never know what useful information others might have to share.

Sandy Cleary:

Absolutely, you can share with whomever! The information I have is unfortunately pretty limited. From my boat-focused point of view, what’s known is:

1. Chicagoan carpenter Robert Brown designed and built an odd-shaped lifeboat in 1905, which was photographed for a magazine in ~1905/1906
2. His company, the International Automatic Lifeboat Company, paid the Chicago Sanitary District a $5/mo docking fee for the Van Buren St. dock between October, 1906 and March, 1908
3. Hans Behm took three photos of the Metropolitan West Side railroad bridge on July 30th, two of which depict the boat.
4. It’s gone by a September, 1908 photo of the bridge taken, I think, by the Chicago Sanitary District (because the MWRD has posted this picture a few times)
5. The only other photo is the one from the postcard, which must’ve been taken between October, 1906 and March, 1908. The overall bridge configuration seems to be the same between the postcard and the 1907 photos, as does the debris seen on the loading dock on the northeast side of the bridge:

After that the boat disappears for a few years, until it was found sunk in the north draw of the Wells Street Bridge (just south of the Chicago & North Western depot there. Then it was shown for a few months as “The Foolkiller,” putatively the world’s first submarine, after which it disappears again and is now only really relevant for weird Chicago lore.

Fortunately a lot of the Chicago Sanitary District records are online, and I was able to get in touch with someone from Commonwealth Edison who also had some useful information, but I have to imagine a lot of the information from the L companies pre-merger is gone. It seems to me that there might have been some reason why people were taking pictures of the Met’s bridge around the same time, but I’m not sure what that might have been.

I know that there was pressure to have it removed because of how significantly it impacted the channel by ~1911 or so—tracing over old Sanborn maps from 1906 really drives home how dramatic that constriction was:

At the time the western span of the Jackson Blvd. bridge and the Metropolitan West Side crossed what Sanborn identifies as property belonging to the Pacific, Fort Wayne & Chicago, during its period when it was not part of the Penn, I think—I am not a train girl. The Met’s viaduct would’ve crossed over the PFW&C freight house, before that whole west bank became Chicago & North Western property again. In any case the bridge wasn’t actually torn down until 1961 (by that point, as I understand it, the CTA hadn’t been using it to carry rail traffic since 1958).

Thank you so much again for your time and for your help with this. How these photo postcards worked has been something of a mystery to me. Numerous different versions seem to have been made, and I just don’t know whether these were the same company, or different companies skirting copyright because Google Images wasn’t a thing at the time, or what. But the fact that there is such a high-quality photo, anywhere, is extremely heartening.

I suspect the postcard that I have was very short-lived in the marketplace, as this was a transition period between real photo postcards and printed ones. Even if some of the colorized versions may have used the same original negative as a starting point, the eventual results look more and more like drawings rather than photographs.

As to the sudden popularity of pictures of the Met “L” bridge, starting in 1907, this coincided with a major change in how people could write messages on postcards:

DIVIDED BACK PERIOD: 1907-1915

“In 1907, a major change on the address side of postcards occurred. This change was prompted by the Universal Postal Congress, the legislative body of the Universal Postal Union. The convention decreed that postal cards produced by governments of member nations could have messages on the left half of the address side, effective October 1, 1907. The Universal Postal Congress also decreed that after March 1, 1907, government-produced cards in the United States could bear messages on the address side.2 Congress passed an act on March 1, 1907, in compliance with the Union’s decree, allowing privately produced postcards to bear messages on the left half of the card’s back. The next day, the Postmaster-General issued Order No. 146, granting privileges to privately produced postcards that were already granted in international mail, including the allowance of message space. On June 13, 1907, the Postmaster-General issued Order No. 539, which allowed government-produced postcards to bear messages on the left half of the address side.3 These changes to the backs of postcards ushered in the Divided Back Period, which spans from 1907 until 1915. The Divided Back Period is also known as the “Golden Age of Postcards,” due to the vast popularity of postcards during this time period.”

“Another type of postcard that began to be produced and popularly used during the Divided Back period and through the White Border period is the “real photo” postcard. “Real photo” postcards were first produced using the Kodak “postcard camera.” The postcard camera could take a picture and then print a postcard-size negative of the picture, complete with a divided back and place for postage.”

Source: https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/postcard/postcard-history

Sandy Cleary:

I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard “real photo post card” as a term before I read your blog, and then noticed “RPPC” everywhere on eBay.

There are, as far as I can tell, three versions of this postcard. The first two are the colorized ones, which are labeled on the back as no. 171 of the Franklin Post Card Co.—of Germany, although ironically the earliest example I can find, postmarked August 17th, 1909, says “Made in Germany.” There were two distinct crops of that. The first (type A) is the widest crop, and it’s the one where the “E” in “Elevated” is written more like a backwards 3.

The second (type B) is one that the UIC Library gives copyright to Copelin Commercial Photographers in a black-and-white photographic form. This seems to be more common; the earliest postmark so far I’ve found is from September 13, 1910. Both of these two show up with postmarks as late as 1915. They went through different print runs, though; the back variously says:

* Aug. 17 1909: “No. 171. Made in Germany” (Type A)
* Sep. 13 1910: “No. 171.” (Type B)
* Aug 16, 1911: “No. 171” (Type B)
* Nov. 3 1911: “171” (Type B) (it’s possible the “No.” has been scratched off)
* Oct. 14 1912: “No. 171. Publ. by Franklin Post Card Co., Chicago, Ill. Made in Germany” (Type A)
* Aug. 13 1915: “No. 171. Publ. by Franklin Post Card Co., Chicago, Ill.” (Type B)

…As I write this up I realize this means that the widest version is rarer because it’s the German version. The design on the back, with the more ornate “Post Card” lettering, is identical to other postcards published by (for example) M. Weixelbaum, of Lima, and Provincetown Advocate and the Cardinell-Vincent Co. in addition to Franklin. I don’t understand why some postcards were made in Germany and some were not. Apparently the early 1900s was “postcard mania” in Germany, according to Deutsche Welle. I’d never heard of that before.

Anyway, the third one is the one you’ve found, which has different writing, and is also a much closer crop. Here are all three, superimposed:

What is a little puzzling to me is that the postcard you found is of such high quality that implies (to me) that a medium-format negative was accessible to whomever wound up creating all of the derivatives, which I wouldn’t have expected if it was being held in, say, the Franklin vault. But if it was a Franklin photo, the reverse doesn’t look like the reverse of any Franklin postcards. I tried image-searching for postcard backs looking for something similar, and turned up these from Vermont, which use the same language but a different font in “Post Card.”

Given your link, that creates the unfortunate possibility that what you have is, in fact, the only copy of that postcard, because it was created by someone who was interested in the bridge (or liked the composition), had access to the original, and printed it as a one-off postcard, which is why so far as I can tell it’s never appeared elsewhere. The title is odd—as you note, this isn’t the Northwestern, and the bridge seems to have been well-known as a Metropolitan West Side bridge to locals. Or perhaps it dates from the 20s or 30s, and whoever was writing it just guessed. I don’t know.

I’m also not sure if it’s significant (beyond “postcard mania”) that the early examples are German. There was a big German population in Chicago at the time, and the Germans apparently did like postcards. Germans also liked bridges; Scherzer was born in Illinois, but his parents were German immigrants. One of the earlier photos of the Met bridge (I think it might be the oldest) is from a German postcard:

Text says: “‘Folding’ Bridge over the Chicago River (bridge closed)”; handwriting says (I think): “Dear Dad: Sent you today (payday) $1.00 worth of 1 and 2-cent post stamps. Let me know if these arrived safely.”

It has occurred to me that I could poke around here in Berlin to see if there’s anything promising, but if memory serves most Chicagoan immigrants came from further north (Pomerania and such). Here in Berlin our train esoterica is only the “ghost stations” from the Cold War and that some of our subway stops are mildly radioactive because they used uranium oxide glazing in the tile.

Anyway! Thank you again for your time, and for the link to that Smithsonian article!

This is all very interesting to me, and should also interest my readers. Thanks very much for sharing these wonderful images.

In the early years of photography, negatives were usually large enough to be contact printed onto photo paper, without using an enlarger. The “chicken scratch” writing on my postcard could have been inked onto a glass plate, on top of the negative, or it may have been applied to the negative itself. The proportions of postcards are more rectangular than many of the standard film formats of the time, which may help explain the cropping.

While doing further research into this story, I came across a series of blog posts.

Is this something you wrote?

Sandy Cleary:

Yeah, that’s me 🙂

The “Foolkiller” was originally covered by Cecil Adams in the “Straight Dope” column of the Chicago alternative weekly Chicago Reader, and then later by podcaster Mark Chrisler of The Constant. It’s been stuck in my head for about fifteen years, so I’ve been trying to pull together as much as I can rather than leaving things on various email threads or chat discussions, in case any one else ever goes searching. It’s also been a good way to start organizing my thoughts on the matter (I don’t think many people read that blog).

That’s an interesting steer, re: the negatives. The UIC holding is described as a “photographic print” although I understand the MWRD (the Chicago water authority) apparently found a number of glass plates in their archives. The Library of Congress also (I think) has the original Hans Behm photos, which are described as glass 8×10 negatives (here’s one of them below). I need to read up on that era of photography, apparently.

(The Detroit Publishing Co. photos taken by Behm were also turned into colorized photo postcards, although they don’t seem to have been as popular, or at least most of the Met depictions are not those. There’s an early one that the Central Electric Railfans’ Association wrote up about ten years ago; that’s given a copyright date of 1907 but it must be earlier because the bridge doesn’t have the circular pilings that it would retain for most of its life and were in place by 1907; on the other hand, the Palmer Building is visible (leftmost skyscraper) and that was built sometime between 1903 and 1906).

FYI, I wrote that CERA blog post you refer to.

Sandy Cleary:

I’ve also seen your name on the Industrial History page about the bridge, come to think of it.

And this brings the story up to date. Ms. Cleary’s blog posts, linked above, shed additional light on the story of this experimental boat, which I can summarize as follows. This was one of several attempts at creating a safer lifeboat, to be carried on ships, and for rescues. A number of such ideas were patented in the late 1800s and early 1900s, all very speculative, of course.

The International Automatic Lifeboat Company prototype, designed by Robert Brown, was moored in the Chicago River for some period of time, and not always near the Metropolitan West Side “L” bridge. The US Navy studied the concept and decided it was not practical, as it would have been too difficult to get people into this boat during rescues. This most likely doomed its prospects.

At some point, the boat sank, and was later pulled out of the river, whereupon some enterprising persons displayed it as a supposed submarine, which it was not.

The postcard we have mistakenly identifies this as the Northwestern “L”. In actuality, it was the Metropolitan West side Elevated, but some of its trains did go to Chicago’s northwest side. The Northwestern “L” actually ran to the north side, despite the name.

I hope that further information may shed more light on this story in the future. In the meantime, here are some additional examples of postcards showing the Met “L” bridge.

-David Sadowski

Trackwork near the Met bridge was somewhat complex. Tracks to the right fanned out, leading to the Wells Street Terminal. The tracks at left connected to the Loop “L” via Van Buren Street. (Robert Heinlein Collection)

We are looking west from the Wells Street Terminal towards the dual bridges over the Chicago River. (Robert Heinlein Collection)

This is the only photo I have seen that shows the interior of the Met bridge interlocking tower. (Robert Heinlein Collection)

A 1906 postcard, made at a time when messages could only go on the front of the card.

The back of the 1906 card. Only the address was permitted here.

A 1908 postcard.

By 1908, messages were allowed on the left side of the card back.

A 1909 postcard, based on the 1907 photo.

The rear of the 1909 postcard.

A 1911 postcard, based on the 1907 photo.

The back of a 1911 postcard.

A 1912 postcard.

The back side of a 1912 postcard.

A 1915 postcard, clearly based on the 1907 photo.

The back side of a 1915 postcard.

A 1919 postcard.

The back side of a 1919 postcard.

A 1920 postcard.

And here are some later views of the bridge, from various angles:

A view of the Metropolitan “L” crossing the Chicago River on July 10, 1949. We are looking to the northwest.

Over the years, I have seen many poor quality duplicate slides with this view, looking to the northwest, with a Garfield Park “L” train crossing the Met bridge over the Chicago River, with Union Station in the background. However, this was scanned from an original red border Kodachrome slide, circa 1955-58. The name of the photographer is not known. This must be a Garfield train, and the results are stunning. Douglas cars were re-routed over the Lake Street “L” in 1954. Logan Square trains began running via the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway in 1951.

CTA 2256 is part of a four-car Met train, turning from Market Street onto the double bridge over the Chicago River in March 1951.
(Truman Hefner Photo)

This picture of the old Met bridge over the Chicago River is undated, but probably dates to circa 1952-55 based on the type of red border Kodachrome mount it is in. But it is certainly after the the other picture in this post, taken at much the same location, since the building at rear, or part of it, was in the process of being torn down. This was not related to expressway construction, since the “L” at this point was north of there. Once the Congress rapid transit line opened in 1958, this section of “L” was taken out of service and by the early 1960s it had been torn down.

Stylish Coit Tower sits atop Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, and has afforded an unparalleled view since its completion in 1933. In April 1987, when this picture was taken, the view included Muni streetcar 578, built in 1896. Although it resembles a cable car, it uses overhead wire. It is occasionally operated for special events and is the oldest streetcar in use in the country. In recent years wheelchair access was added.

A Milwaukee Road push-pull commuter train is at Rondout (an unincorporated area in Lake County, IL) on September 2, 1963. Bi-levels were introduced to the Milwaukee Road around 1961 and ridership was much lower than it is today, so often one car sufficed instead of seven or eight as you see today on Metra. The station here was removed around 1965 on what is now the Metra Milwaukee District North Line. I believe we are looking to the northwest, and that the overpass may be the former North Shore Line Mundelein branch, which had been abandoned on January 21, 1963. There was a tower located kitty-corner to the station, to the right and behind the photographer, which was last used in 2015. (William D. Volkmer Photo)

Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “410 was built as a trailer observation car by Cincinnati Car in June 1923, #2640. It was out of service in 1932. It was rebuilt on December 31, 1942, as a two motor coach by closing in the open platform and changing the seating.” Here is how it looked in December 1958 at the Mundelein Terminal. (Russell D. Porter Photo)

North Shore Line Electroliner 801-802 is on the CTA “L” in August 1962.

This is a nice overhead view of a four-car train of North Shore Line Silverliners on Chicago’s “L” in August 1962.

North Shore Line cars 157, 169, and 175 are heading southbound on the Sixth Street Viaduct in Milwaukee on April 19, 1959.

There are not many color photos showing this prewar paint scheme, seen here on North Shore Line coach 739 at the Milwaukee Terminal on June 25, 1942.

North Shore Line coach 173 is at the Mundelein Terminal in November 1962, just two months before the end of service. Car 160, now at the Illinois Railway Museum, is at right on a storage track. (Walter Schopp Photo)

After the North Shore Line abandonment, car 727 went to the Southern Iowa Railway. Here it is shown on June 14, 1964, next to Waterloo, Cedar Falls, and Northern car 100. Within a few years, both cars ended up on the Iowa Terminal Railroad (now the Iowa Traction Railway), but unfortunately, car 100 was destroyed in a 1967 fire. 727 is still operable.

Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee #607 is at North Chicago Junction on November 16, 1941. “The ‘Big Hook’ operating as a loco, hauling a 12 car drag and caboose.” The color is described as orange and black. (Vic Wagner Photo)

North Shore Line city streetcar 359, a 1920s product of the St. Louis Car Company, is shown at North Chicago Junction on March 2, 1941. This was the south end of the line for Waukegan streetcars. (Vic Wagner Photo)

North Shore Line Silverliner 771 at the Milwaukee Terinal.

$A three car Chicago and Milwaukee Electric (predecessor of the North shore Line) express train, made up of woods including car 401, from an early colorized postcard. The location here may be Lake Forest. Don\s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): "401 was built by Jewett Car in 1909 as parlor-buffet car. In 1917 it was converted to straight coach and retired in 1935. It was leased to Chicago Aurora & Elgin and renumbered 142 in 1936. It came back for a short time with the CA&E number in 1945 and sold to CA&E in 1946. It was retired in 1953."$

A three car Chicago and Milwaukee Electric (predecessor of the North shore Line) express train, made up of woods including car 401, from an early colorized postcard. The location here may be Lake Forest. Dons Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “401 was built by Jewett Car in 1909 as parlor-buffet car. In 1917 it was converted to straight coach and retired in 1935. It was leased to Chicago Aurora & Elgin and renumbered 142 in 1936. It came back for a short time with the CA&E number in 1945 and sold to CA&E in 1946. It was retired in 1953.”

As the song goes, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot at the former site of the North shore Line’s Milwaukee Terminal, seen here on August 24, 1966. The former switchman’s shanty was the only thing carried over. (Richard H. Young Photo)

On June 6, 1954, the National Railway Historical Society held a farewell fantrip on the Red Arrow interurban line to West Chester, PA. Here, the fantrip cars are stopped at the West Chester Water Works. Car 66 was built by Brill in 1926 and was declared surplus in 1970, after Red Arrow was taken over by SEPTA. It is now at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, PA.

Fairmount Park Transit car 10, built by Brill in 1896, as it appeared on April 6, 1946, not long before the line was abandoned. There are not many color photos of this operation. (David H. Cope Photo)

Fairmount Park Transit was an interesting streetcar operation that ran from 1896 to 1946, all on the grounds of a public park in Philadelphia, completely separate from the rest of the local streetcar system. Here we see car #1.

This picture was taken on July 26, 1961 at the Red Arrow Lines (Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company) 69th Street Terminal. Amazingly, the sign still mentions the Lehigh Valley Transit interurban, which stopped operating in 1951, and which hadn’t operated to this station since 1949.

A Lehigh Valley Transit Liberty Bell Limited interurban car is heading northbound at West Point in Pennsylvania on September 18, 1948. Rail service ended three years later. (James P. Shuman Photo)

CTA PCC 4382 appears to be turning east from Clark Street onto Division Street. Close examination of the slide shows the streetcar is signed for Route 36 – Broadway-Downtown. As Steve De Rose notes, the south portion of Broadway-State was “bustituted ” on December 5, 1955, and the Blatz ad campaign on the side of the car dates this picture to 1956.

Chicago Surface Lines PCC 4125 and red car 1403 are at 73rd Street and Vincennes Avenue in March 1947, as the newest and oldest streetcars in the CSL fleet. (Vic Wagner Photo)

The Union Stock Yards, as seen from the “L”, probably circa 1908 when this branch line opened. From a real photo postcard.

CTA 4409 is at the head of a two-car fantrip train at Francisco on the Ravenswood “L” on November 25, 1973. This was at the end of regular service for the 4000-series cars, built in the early 1920s. (Arthur H. Peterson Photo)

A view looking north at the CTA Linden Avenue “L” yard in Wilmette in June 1966 shows where the North Shore Line’s Shore Line Route tracks branched off at right and continued north. After service ended in 1955, the CTA incorporated some of this trackage into its storage yard, which has since been reconfigured.

This duplicate slide was described as showing the CTA Douglas Park “L” at Kenton Avenue in May 1952. That may be the correct date, but I believe it actually shows an eastbound Garfield Park train between Laramie and Central Avenue. West of here, the “L” turned to run parallel to the B&OCT. The area at left is where the Eisenhower expressway runs today, and this is approximately the location of the Lotus tunnel.

CTA 2102 is at the tail end of a Lake-Dan Ryan train in April 1975, turning the sharp corner from Wabash to Lake. After the horrific crash here two years later, where some “L” cars fell off the structure, additional steel was added to help prevent a future reoccurrence.

Passengers are boarding an eastbound South Shore Line train, headed by car 107, at Michigan City, IN in May 1959. Now, the line is being double-tracked at this location, and the street turned into a private right-of-way. The facade of the old station is going to become part of a new redevelopment here. From left to right, the several cars visible include an early 50s Chevy, a ’59 Chevy, a ’55 Oldsmobile, a late ’50s Cadillac, a 1956 Buick, and a 1959 Ford.

A South Shore Line train, with car 101 at the helm, is at the East Chicago station on February 8, 1953. In 1956 the street trackage here was replaced by a new bypass route, running parallel to the Indiana Toll Road. (James P. Shuman Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin 404 at Forest Park, circa 1955-57. We are looking north. After interurban service was cut back to here in 1953, the CA&E had a track for midday car storage, seen at left.

The final fantrip on the Chicago Aurora and Elgin took place on a wintry December 7, 1958, about six months prior to the complete abandonment of the interurban, which had stopped operating passenger service on July 3, 1957. I am not sure of this location in Chicago’s western suburbs, although the sign at right would suggest it is at one of several Main Streets in the area. Wood cars 319 and 320 were used. By this time, automatic gates had been removed, and the train had to be flagged at each such crossing. Jason Learakos: “Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The photo is facing east across Main Street from the station there.” Mike Franklin says we are “looking SE at Main St., Glen Ellyn.”

Chicago Aurora and Elgin wood car #20, built in 1902, ran for 55 years on that interurban before heading to the Fox River Trolley Museum, where it remains. Here it is in October 1970, when this operation was still known as “RELIC.” These are former tracks of the Aurora, Elgin, and Fox River Electric, which was affiliated with the CA&E.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 409, the only Pullman saved from the fleet, is shown operating at “Trolleyville USA” in Olmstead Falls, OH on August 28, 1965. It is now at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 20 at “RELIC” in South Elgin in August 1968.

Chicago’s Central Station opened in 1893 to serve trains to the World’s Columbian Exposition site. Trains of the Illinois Central and the “Big Four” (the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, which after 1906 was affiliated with the New York Central) used this station, which was adjacent to the tracks (electrified in 1926) now used by the Metra Electric and South Shore Line. After Amtrak took over intercity passenger train operations in 1971, they consolidated service to Union Station the following year, and Central Station closed. Demolition began on June 3, 1974, which is right around when this photo was taken.

Another photo of the soon to be demolished Central Station in June 1974.

Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “65 was built by Cincinnati Car in August 1928, #2985, as I&SE 230. In 1933 it was sold to ICRT as 230 and in 1941 it was sold to SHRT as 65. In 1949 it was sold to Ed Tennyson and leased as Speedrail 65 where it originally operated with a modified Shaker Heights paint scheme. When repainted, the Speedrail logo was omitted. It was scrapped in 1952.” Based on that, my best guess is this picture may date to near the end of service in 1951. The location is at Sixth and Michigan in Milwaukee, by the North Shore Line Terminal. Transport Company bus 930 is also visible.

Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “66 was built by Cincinnati Car in August 1929, #3025, as Dayton & Troy Ry 203. It was returned to Cincinnati Car in 1932, and in 1938 it was sold to Lehigh Valley Transit as 1102. In 1949 it was sold to Speedrail, but was not rehabilitated until March 1951. But it only ran for 3 months before the line was abandoned and then scrapped in 1952.” Here it is seen during that brief period of operation in Waukesha. Larry Sakar: “aae249 is a photo I also have. The 66 is indeed laying over at the Waukesha loop/ Two questions remain to this day. 1. Was there any specific spot where the cars were supposed to stop? Seems to me I see photos of TM cars laying over parked in a variety of places on the loop. For instance that great single leading duplex shot which was the common lash-up during the WWII era is parked in a different spot than the 66. 2. I have never seen a photo of cars laying over on the Waukesha loop with passengers either boarding or waiting to board. I am inclined to think that passengers could not be carried the two blocks between the Waukesha station at Clinton Street & Broadway and the loop because when the line was cut back to Waukesha loop on 12-30-45 passenger service had been abandoned beyond downtown Waukesha. This is speculative on my part. I don’t really know. Jay Maeder and the city of Waukesha tangled over the sale of the Waukesha loop. The city wanted to buy it from Speedrail to accommodate more cars. Maeder was willing to sell. Initially he asked something like $1100 until he saw the appraisal and quickly raised the asking price to $2500. The city accused him of trying to gouge him and refused to budge beyond $1500. Maeder said they were trying to cheat him and they were. When Hyman-Michaels had the property appraised the appraisal came in at $2200! Just where he planned to turn the cars around if he sold the loop I don’t know. He publicly said there were “lots of places where Speedrail could turn the cars but I can’t think of any!” In the end the city got it anyway and it became a parking lot until the 1980s. It is now the site of a very big Walgreens Drug Store. The Motor Transport Co. freight building was torn down shortly after Speedrail came to an end.”

Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “62 was built by Cincinnati Car in August 1928, #2985, as I&SE 245. In 1933 it was sold to ICRT as 245 and in 1941 it was sold to SHRT as 62. In 1949 it was sold to Ed Tennyson and leased as Speedrail 62 and was scrapped in 1952.” This photo may have been taken in Waukesha and could date to just prior to the 1951 abandonment. Larry Sakar: “This is NOT toward the end of Speedrail. The lack of front stripes on the curved sider indicates that this is pre Summer 1950 when the two black stripes began to appear on the curved side cars. O’Brien photos took some great photos of the Waukesha loop including an aerial shot of it before it became the loop. They were located about a block or so east of the Waukesha station.” Mike Franklin says we are “looking SE on Broadway from Clinton St, Waukesha, WI.”

Milwaukee Electric M15 at an undetermined location. Stephen Karlson writes, “M15 is under the train shed at East Troy that was later removed. That stretch of the right of way remains off limits to boarding passengers at the preservation railway as the ground is on the same plot of land as the house that was once the station. Thus the loading platform for the electric cars is by the substation.”

Milwaukee Electric 1112 at Waukesha, WI on March 15, 1947. (Vic Wagner Photo) Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “1112 was built by Kuhlman Car in February 1909, #405. It was rebuilt in 1926. It was one of three sold for scrap in January 1952, before the rest of the cars.” Larry Sakar: “Fantastic shot of the typical Waukesha train during WWII. When first tried TM discovered that placing the single 1100 series car behind the duplex did not work. Because the door on a single 1100 was at the rear of the car and in the center of a duplex they quickly found that the door on the single 1100 did not reach the station platforms or designated loading zone. Thus, two stops had to be made. The solution was to place the single 1100 series car first. Trial and error I guess you’d say.”

Milwaukee Electric interurban car 1106 is at Mukwonago, Wisconsin, on the line going out to East Troy. Passenger service was abandoned here in 1939, although freight service continued for decades. This is currently where the East Troy Railroad Museum operates. I’ve been told that this station was located near an interchange north of where the Elegant Farmer is now, and that the station itself was moved and turned into a residence, which still exists, although additions have been made to it.

Milwaukee Electric 1105. Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “The Milwaukee Northern Ry came under TM control in 1923 and was officially merged on April 30, 1928. Under TM management 4 of their cars were rebuilt in a fashion similar to the other TM rebuilt interurbans. After 1928, most of the cars were further rebuilt and renumbered to replace the original 1100s which had been renumbered when they were rebuilt. 1101 was to have been rebuilt from MN 20, but it became 1105 instead. Thus there was no 1101.” It may originally have been built in 1907.

Milwaukee Electric streetcar 641 on route 19. Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “641 was built at Cold Springs in 1913. It was reconditioned as a two man car in 1928.”

Milwaukee Rapid Transit and Speedrail car 61 is at an undetermined location (Waukesha?) and looks rather worse for the wear, with unrepaired collision damage, probably just prior to the 1951 abandonment. Larry Sakar adds: “This is at the Waukesha station. Wilbur Lumber was directly across the street from the station. Note the cement safety island to the left of the car. It was there to facilitate loading so that passengers didn’t have to stand in the street. All traffic passed to the photo left of that island. Today a bank occupies the site of Wilbur Lumber Co. I guess the Wilburs were a prominent Waukesha family from what my friend John Schoenknecht who is the editor of Landmark, the official publication of the Waukesha County Historical Society, told me. Oh, by the way what you see in the background of that shot of the car at Wilbur Lumber is the Madison Street hill which is still there. There was a Milwaukee Road crossing that isn’t visible in the photo and once across it Broadway becomes Madison.” Mike Franklin says this “is indeed Waukesha. Looking NW across Madison St from Clinton St.”

Milwaukee Rapid Transit and Speedrail car 60. Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “60 was built by Cincinnati Car in August 1929, #3030, as Indianapolis & Southeastern Traction 260. It replaced the heavy-weight cars which became TMER&L 1180 series. In 1933 it was sold to Inter-City Rapid Transit as 260 and in 1941 it was sold to Shaker Heights Rapid Transit as 60. In 1949 it was sold to Ed Tennyson and leased as Speedrail 60 and was scrapped in 1952.” Larry Sakar: “Car 60 is on the bridge over Brookdale Drive on the Hales Corners line on 10-16-49. This is the inaugural fan trip using car 60 that traveled over both lines. Both the bridge and embankment are gone. This is the location where the construction train used to take workers building the suburb of Greendale to and from cut off and went in a southeasterly direction thru what is now Root River Parkway. One of the dumbest things Jay Maeder ever said was that he “intended to restore passenger service to Greendale.” There never was passenger service to Greendale. I’m about a mile or so north of Greendale. MCTS has a bus line (Rt. 76-76th St.) that serves Greendale. I’ve yet to see a single passenger on that part of the line. Greendale is wealth personified! By the way car 65 was supposed to have been used on the inaugural fan trip but it was on the “sick list”. Another thing of interest regarding the 10-16-49 fan trip. Car 60 developed mechanical problems as soon as the car descended the “slide” onto the Rapid Transit line at 8th Street. At the Gravel Pit they put in to the siding. A fan with a vast knowledge of interurban cars opened the hatches in the floor and disconnected the motor leads on motors 3 and 4. Car 60 ran on two motors for the rest of that fan trip. The name of the knowledgeable railfan was George Krambles!! The late Lew Martin recalled that while stopped there a fan remarked, “The line has been in business for a little over a month and they have a car in the scrap line already!” Two other well known railfans were on that car. Barney Neuberger wearing his classic pork pie hat and one Mr. Albert C. Kalmbach, head of the publishing company that bore his name. Kalmbach was seated in the 4th row on the right side of car 60.”

Milwaukee Electric freight motor and utility car M15. Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “M15 was built at Cold Spring Shops in 1920 as a trailer, but it was motorized almost immediately. It was transferred to the isolated East Troy operation in 1939, and sold to the Municipality of East Troy in 1949. It is sold to WERHS in 1982 and (is) now preserved at the IRM (since) 1989.”

Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “61 was built by Cincinnati Car in August 1928, #2985, as I&SE 235. In 1933 it was sold to ICRT as 235 and in 1941 it was sold to SHRT as 61. In 1949 it was sold to Ed Tennyson and leased as Speedrail 61 and was scrapped in 1952.” Here 61 is at an undetermined location. Since it is still signed for Milwaukee Rapid Transit and Speedrail, this may be circa 1949-50. Larry Sakar: “The car is westbound on West Michigan Street at North 5th Street. The building in the background (whitish and prominent) was the Boston Store, a department store that at one time was owned by the same company that owned Carson’s in Chicago- P.A. Bergner. The building is still there but the Boston Store is not. I believe it is now housing for seniors. Note the traffic policeman standing in the middle of the intersection. Believe it or not there were no stop and go lights on Michigan Street until Speedrail was gone. Every intersection had a traffic policeman. The late Doug Traxler said the one place you did not want to get stopped was at the top of the hill at 6th and Michigan because half of your car was hanging downhill and making that turn by the NSL station was no picnic. Motorman Don Leistikow concurred and offered this tale: “Yes, I remember that traffic officer. I was one of several motormen who discovered that he had a good day when he had cigars so I, like some of the other motormen, always made sure he had a box of cigars. Things always seemed to go better for him when he had a box of cigars!” Traxler remembered him shouting at him, “Pull it Up. Pull it way up,” when he got stopped there one time.” Mike Franklin says we are “looking east on Michigan St. from 5th St. in Milwaukee.”

Gary Railways car #1 at an undetermined location. William Shapotkin: “We are in downtown Valparaiso, IN. The car is laying over in Franklin St north of Main (now Lincolnway) taking its layover at the east end-of-line. View looks south. Building at right (N/W corner of intersection) is still standing today.”

Gary Railways cars 16 and 19 on the May 1, 1938 fantrip which is considered the beginnings of the Central Electric Railfans’ Association.

Gary Railways line car #11 at the Garyton Loop. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

A view of the right of way along the Gary Railways Indiana Harbor Division near Gary, IN by Edward Frank, Jr.

A view of the right-of-way along the Gary Railways Hammond Division, near Hammond IN, by Edward Frank, Jr.

A view of the Gary Railways right-of-way on the Indiana Harbor Division near Gary, IN by Edward Frank, Jr. Presumably that is his bicycle by the telephone pole. Rail service on the Indiana Harbor Division was abandoned in March 1939.

Our Latest Book, Now Available:

The North Shore Line

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.

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

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Catching Up

July 19, 2022September 10, 2022David Sadowski 7 Comments

The photographer (possibly Emery Gulash) had but one chance to press the shutter button at precisely the right moment, and he nailed it with this classic view of westbound Electroliner train 803 at Lake Bluff in January 1963. This is what noted photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson had in mind when he wrote about the “decisive moment.” Douglas Noble: “Northbound crossing Rockland Road / IL 176 in Lake Bluff.”

This is our first post in nearly two months. We have been hard at work on our next book, The North Shore Line. In addition, I worked 16 straight days as an election judge during the recent primary here.

Each of these posts involves a tremendous amount of hard work that may not be apparent to the causal observer. First, we have to scan the negatives, prints, and slides that you see here. Then, they have to be worked over in Photoshop to get the color and density right, and remove any scratches, crud, and other blemishes that have accumulated over the decades since these pictures were taken. This can take hours for just a single photograph, but we think the results are well worth it.

Our goal is to present definitive versions of these classic photos in an online archive for all to enjoy. We see our stuff showing up all over Facebook and other parts of the Internet all the time, and, recently, even in books and magazines put out by others.

It would be nice if, in all cases, we received some credit for our contributions. When people ask permission to use our work, it is freely granted, but all we ask is that we are properly credited, that the original photographer is credited, and that the small watermark we place on these images is not cropped out.

We don’t think this is too much to ask. Meanwhile, we hope you will enjoy this latest batch of classic photographs.

-David Sadowski

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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.

Work on our North Shore Line book is ongoing. Donations are needed in order to bring this to a successful conclusion. You will find donation links at the top and bottom of each post. We thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Recent Finds

The Chicago Surface Lines had a collection of historic streetcars, starting in the 1920s.
These were used for parades and the opening of new lines. Some of the restoration work, such as this car, was more fanciful than authentic, as this car was never part of the West Chicago Street Railway, nor was it #4. Don’s Rail Photos: “4 was built by Pullman in 1895, #840, as North Chicago Street RR 922. It became Chicago Union Traction Co 4022 in 1899 and became Chicago Surface Lines 4022 in 1914. It was rebuilt as WCStRy 4 in 1933. It went to Illinois Railway Museum in 1985.” The CTA inherited this collection, and various cars were trotted out during shops tours in the 1950s. Once streetcar service ended in 1958, these cars were put into storage, and were finally donated to museums in the mid-1980s.

Brooklyn-Queens Transit PCC 1066 is signed for Coney Island in the early 1950s.

A train of CTA curved-door 6000s is at Howard Street in June 1977.

A southbound North Shore Line train, with 711 in the lead, is at Morse on the “L” in June 1959.

North Shore Line cars 157 and 252 are on a June 16, 1962 fantrip. Here, we see the train at the Root River bridge near Racine, Wisconsin. (Richard H. Young Photo)

This is a South Shore Line portable substation at Michigan City, Indiana on July 10, 1977.

Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (aka Red Arrow) cars 16 and 20 in May 1965, signed for the Media line. Kenneth Achtert: “Appears to be outbound at Springfield Rd. I would assume this is on a fantrip from the number of random individuals around the right-of-way (most likely a run-by since they are scattered about); also, the Media destination would not be standard operating procedure for two-car trains. The trains were typically scheduled to Springfield (Woodland Ave.) with only single cars going all the way to Media.” Jeff Didlake says, “I agree with Ken Achtert’s thoughts that this is a fan trip, but I believe the location is the Scenic Rd. station on the Media Line. The track is on a slight curve and a hint of the red brick high rise Drexelline Apts. is in the background. I know this station well as I managed to ruin a good tire and wheel while pulling into the parking lot there on a poorly maintained Springfield Twp. sewer inlet grate.”

On June 11, 1962, a two-car North Shore Line train, headed by 731, is bound for Mundelein near Lake Bluff. (Richard H. Young Photo)

North Shore Line combine 251 is near Racine, Wisconsin on February 6, 1962.

The interior of Queensborough Bridge Railway car 601 in the mid-1950s. This was an Electromobile, built around 1929 by Osgood-Bradley.

North Shore Line car 733 awaiting scrapping at South Upton Junction on October 26, 1963, several months after abandonment.

North Shore Line Silverliner 758 is at Edison Court in Waukegan during the summer of 1958. This was an important station, where cars were routinely added and cut from trains.

Philadelphia PCC 2142 is signed for Route 6 on September 15, 1957. Mark A. Jones writes, “That picture is of the northbound terminus of route 6 across from Willow Grove Park. 2142 is headed south to Broad and Olney.” Kenneth Achtert adds, “2142 is at Willow Grove Park, the end of the Route 6. The amusement park is hidden behind the trees.”

North Shore Line loco 455 is working the Niles Gas Spur in the Weber Industrial District, Skokie, Illinois, probably in the late 1950s. (Bob Geis Photo)

Chicago Surface Lines one-man car 6241 is at the east end of Route 43 in the 1940s. You can see a pedestrian bridge leading to the nearby Illinois Central Electric commuter station behind the streetcar.

A North Shore Line train at Winnetka Road on the Skokie Valley Route. The business at left is John H. Davies and Son, general contractors.

A three-car North Shore Line train heads south over the 6th Street Bridge, probably in the 1940s.

North Shore Line cars 716 and 409 at Highwood, possibly in the early 1940s. 409 started out as a dining car motor before it was converted to coach in 1942.

North Shore Line loco 455 heads up a freight train that is crossing over to the northbound track near Oakton on the Skokie Valley Route.

A three-car train of North Shore Line Silverliners prepares to cross the North Shore Channel, probably in the 1950s.

To get a shot like this in the 1940s, a photographer had to be extremely lucky, patient, or both. While a two-car CRT Lake Street “L” train heads east, going up the ramp towards Laramie, it passes a westbound CSL Route 16 streetcar. Two conductors on the “L” are lowering the trolley poles, as this was the switchover point to third rail. Streetcar service on Lake Street ended in 1954, and the outer portion of the Lake Street “L” was shifted over to the nearby C&NW embankment in 1962.

CTA PCC 7148 is at 71st and Ashland in June 1953. (Vic Wagner Photo) Our resident south side expert M. E. notes, “I don’t doubt this photo is at 71st and Ashland. (The street sign says Ashland.) So this photo is near the 69th and Ashland carbarn. I think this streetcar had been heading south on Ashland to 71st, and here it is turning west on 71st St. for what would be a short distance. Then it will turn north and into the carbarn.”

CTA one-man streetcar 3228 is on 79th Street at the crossing with the Illinois Central in April 1951. (Vic Wagner Photo)

The view looking north along State Street at 63rd in April 1953. The PCCs are running on Route 36, while the red Pullman is eastbound on Route 63. This was near the end of streetcar service on 63rd Street, and older red cars had replaced newer PCCs, which were shifted to run on Route 4 – Cottage Grove. At right, you can see where some buildings were destroyed by fire on May 25, 1950, after a PCC collided with a gasoline truck. 34 people were killed. The photographer was standing on a railroad viaduct and probably wanted to document the intersection of two streetcar lines before one of them changed to buses. (Vic Wagner Photo)

About the image above, M. E. adds:

Your caption reads: “This was near the end of streetcar service on 63rd Street, and older red cars had replaced newer PCCs, which were shifted to run on Route 4 – Cottage Grove.” My hangup is with the term “newer PCCs”. Yes, they were newer than the red cars, but they were not newer than the PCCs on State St. in the photo. The PCCs that ran on 63rd St. were those that Chicago Surface Lines acquired in 1936 to run on Madison St. Those PCCs were also called “pre-war PCCs”. So perhaps your caption might better say “older red cars had replaced the pre-war PCCs, which were shifted …”

I give you credit for pointing out where a State St. PCC car collided with a gasoline truck. I remember that like it happened yesterday. I also credit the photographer for a terrific action photo.

Also, about this photo:

(1) In the distance is the State St. station on the Englewood L, situated south of 59th St. I spy two more State St. PCC cars at or near the L station. This illustrates how busy the north/south PCC car lines were. The Chicago Surface Lines, then the CTA, ordered a total of 600 post-war PCCs, and they were all needed on just five north/south lines — 36 Broadway/State, 22 Clark/Wentworth, 8 Halsted, 42 Halsted/Archer/Clark, and 49 Western. (The pre-war PCCs were still on 20 Madison.)

(2) You mentioned that the photographer was standing on a railroad viaduct. That viaduct spanned State St. just south of 63rd St. The photographer was at the eastern edge of a big freight yard paralleling the New York Central right of way. It is this same freight yard that was used, three blocks east, to deliver new PCC cars, then (later) L cars, to the CTA. The L cars were transferred to the CTA via the L track that ran from the southbound Jackson Park line south past 63rd St. and then down into a ground-level freight yard.

(3) That freight yard also spanned 63rd St., so the westbound red car shown in the photo is about to go underneath the freight yard until it emerges past the New York Central (and Nickel Plate) passenger train tracks, adjacent to the entrance to Englewood Union Station. Past the station, 63rd St. ran under more tracks, first the Rock Island, then the Pennsylvania, both of which also served Englewood Union Station. All told, the trip between State St. and almost to Wentworth Av. was mostly dark 24 hours a day.

(4) The billboard at the left in the photo advertises the ’53 Ford. Assuming this photo was taken in late spring or early summer of 1953 (judging by the clothing on pedestrians and the green foliage), I don’t see any ’53 Fords in the photo.

Buses replaced streetcars on 63rd Street on May 24, 1953, so the picture can’t be from after that, thanks.

The CTA off-street loop on Halsted Street, just south of 79th, in August 1953. Pullman PCC 4368 is operating on Route 8, while the red Pullman is signed for Halsted-Downtown (Route 42). By this stage, the Pullman PCCs, although no more than seven years old, were being retired and sent to St. Louis Car Company for scrapping and parts re-use in new PCC “L” cars. Service was being supplemented by older red cars. Streetcar service on Halsted ended in May 1954. (Vic Wagner Photo) Our resident south side expert M. E. adds, “Notice how busy this terminal was. I count at least four streetcars, and perhaps a fifth if I detect another trolley pole behind the last PCC car. This terminal also served South Halsted and Halsted / Vincennes / 111th St. buses, which used the paved lane in the terminal.”

CTA one-man streetcar 3261 is at the east end of Route 79, at 79th and Brandon near Chicago’s lakefront, in September 1951. (Vic Wagner Photo)

Milwaukee Electric (Speedrail) car 1121 operated on a North Shore Line fantrip on December 4, 1949. Here it is with one of the Electroliners near Racine, Wisconsin.

The pass for Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip #36, which used freight equipment on the Chicago Aurora and Elgin on August 10, 1941.

The Chicago and North Western station at Lake Forest in the early 1900s, from a real photo postcard. The Chicago and Milwaukee electric (which became the North Shore Line in 1916) ran just beyond those large trees, and had a handsome station of its own just out of view to the right.

This picture was taken during Fall 1962, in the waning days of the ground-level operation of the Lake Street “L”. The new elevated station on the nearby C&NW embankment has been built and the changeover took place on October 28th of that year. This view looks west along South Boulevard at Marion Street in Oak Park. Crossing gates were manually operated.

On February 19, 1956, a northbound Electroliner has stopped at Kenosha and is presumably on a fantrip. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Speedrail curved-side car 61 is on Michigan at 6th Street in Milwaukee on September 2, 1950, passing by the north side of the North Shore Line’s Milwaukee Terminal. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Milwaukee and Suburban Transport streetcar 954 is westbound on Route 10 at 68th and Fairview in August 1957.

The same location in 2015. The streetcar tracks were just to the right of this alley.

On June 12, 1955, Milwaukee and Suburban Transport streetcar 999 is on a bridge over the Chicago & North Western Railway at Howell Avenue. This was a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

North Shore Line Silverliner 766 is about to cross the Glencoe gauntlet, a short single-track section on the otherwise double-tracked Shore Line Route. The occasion was an August 9, 1953 fantrip. This short bridge over a ravine was not deemed strong enough to support the weight of two trains passing each other, so it was made single-tracked. This also permitted a tight curve to be straightened out a bit. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

North Shore Line car 155 is on the tail end of a fantrip train, turning onto Greenleaf Avenue in Wilmette, heading east on a July 24, 1955 Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

North Shore Line freight loco 456 and caboose 1002 are at the scale house in Rondout during January 1963. (Photo attributed to Emery Gulash)

North Shore Line cars 157 and 252 are on a June 16, 1962 fantrip. We have posted pictures from this trip before. There is another in this post, taken by Richard H. Young, but this one may be by Emery Gulash.

Don’s Rail Photos: “1796 was built by American Car & Foundry in 1907 as NEWRy 287, #5098, as trailer. It was renumbered 1287 in 1913 and rebuilt as motor 1796. It became CRT 1796 in 1923 and was sold to Gaylord Container in Louisiana…” One side of this “L” car was removed, and it was used to transport large rolls of paper. Although Don’s says this car was scrapped in 1966, that is incorrect and the date was actually 1973. Parts were salvaged from this car to help restore sister car 1797 at the Illinois Railway Museum. 1796 could not be saved since the body was no longer structurally sound. I have July 1958 as the date when the CTA sold this car, and this picture was taken by William C. Hoffman in October 1963.

Mystery Photo

This was scanned from an original North Shore Line 8x10" nitrate negative, taken circa 1930, and in the collections of Robert Heinlein. Determining the location presented many challenges, yet this has now been determined with the aid of other fans. The car is 714, and it is signed as a Chicago Local on the Shore Line Route. Since the North Shore tracks are not adjacent to the Chicago and North Western, we must be north of North Chicago Junction. We cannot be south of Highland Park, as there is freight present here. A sign on the high-level platform indicates that freight trains have to come to a stop, most likely to make sure part of the platform gets flipped up for the sake of clearances. A similar arrangement existed at high-level stations of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin. As all the Shore Line tracks in Waukegan ran on the street, that pretty much narrows it down to North Chicago. The Thomas J. Killian Plumbing Supply company building at left clinches it, and the location is between 16th and 17th Streets, looking north. The Chicago and North Western's tracks were a short distance east of here, to the right out of view of this photo. (Courtesy of Kevin Heinlein)

This was scanned from an original North Shore Line 8×10″ nitrate negative, taken circa 1930, and in the collections of Robert Heinlein. Determining the location presented many challenges, yet this has now been determined with the aid of other fans. The car is 714, and it is signed as a Chicago Local on the Shore Line Route. Since the North Shore tracks are not adjacent to the Chicago and North Western, we must be north of North Chicago Junction. We cannot be south of Highland Park, as there is freight present here. A sign on the high-level platform indicates that freight trains have to come to a stop, most likely to make sure part of the platform gets flipped up for the sake of clearances. A similar arrangement existed at high-level stations of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin. As all the Shore Line tracks in Waukegan ran on the street, that pretty much narrows it down to North Chicago. The Thomas J. Killian Plumbing Supply company building at left clinches it, and the location is between 16th and 17th Streets, looking north. The Chicago and North Western’s tracks were a short distance east of here, to the right out of view of this photo. (Courtesy of Kevin Heinlein)

A close-up view of car 714, which seems to be painted orange.

The freight siding for the Thomas J. Killian Plumbing Supply Company.

This was also scanned from an original North Shore Line 8x10" nitrate negative in the collections of Robert Heinlein, and was taken at the same time as the previous photo and shows a slightly different view of the same scene. (Courtesy of Kevin Heinlein)

This was also scanned from an original North Shore Line 8×10″ nitrate negative in the collections of Robert Heinlein, and was taken at the same time as the previous photo and shows a slightly different view of the same scene. (Courtesy of Kevin Heinlein)

Ray DeGroote Turns 92

Ray DeGroote celebrated his 92nd birthday on July 15th. Here he is about two weeks earlier, at our celebratory lunch.

I dedicated my last book Chicago’s Lost “L”s to my friend Raymond DeGroote, Jr., as the “Dean of Chicago Railfans.” He turned 92 recently. Ray has traveled the world, and has taken thousands of great photos, many of which have been used in books, magazines, and in his excellent slideshows over the years.

And he’s still at it– Ray recently returned from a trip to San Diego for the Electric Railroaders’ Association annual convention. Since returning, other friends have treated him to lunch, and he reports he is “well fed.”

Here are a few of Ray’s classic photos of the North Shore Line:

We are at Indian Hill on the Shore Line Route on July 24, 1955, just prior to abandonment. Cars 175 and 413 are in regular service, while 155 is on a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip, and has temporarily been shunted to a siding. The tracks in this area were grade-separated circa 1938-43 by a project partially funded by the Federal government. (Raymond DeGroote, Jr. Photo)

A fantrip train made up of Silverliners is on Greenleaf Avenue in Wilmette on February 20, 1955. This trip was sponsored by the Illini Railroad Club. (Raymond DeGroote, Jr. Photo)

North Shore Line loco 459 and caboose 1006 are at Lake Bluff on January 19, 1963. (Raymond DeGroote, Jr. Photo)

The “KX” here most likely refers to Kodachrome X, first released by Kodak in 1962, with a film speed of 64. The original Kodachrome had a film speed of ASA/ISO 10, which was bumped up to 25 in 1961 with the release of Kodachrome II.

The unrestored interior of North Shore Line car 151 on September 4, 1961. (Raymond DeGroote, Jr. Photo)

The interior of North Shore Line car 160 on January 12, 1963. Interestingly, it had been refurbished in November 1962, even though abandonment was at hand. This car was purchased by the Illinois Railway Museum, where it remains today. (Raymond DeGroote, Jr. Photo)

North Shore Line car 714’s interior on June 17, 1962. This car is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. (Raymond DeGroote, Jr. Photo)

The interior of North Shore Line Silverliner 755 on September 4, 1961. After abandonment, this car went to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine. (Raymond DeGroote, Jr. Photo)

Recent Correspondence

Max Hensley sent us this scan of a 1890 specimen $1,000 bond for the West Chicago Street Railroad Tunnel Company. This cable car tunnel was built in 1893 and crossed the Chicago River near Van Buren Street. Like the other river tunnels, it was eventually enlarged and dug deeper around 1911 for streetcar use. But of the three such tunnels (the others being on Washington and LaSalle Streets), Van Buren was used the least, and does not seem to have seen much action after 1924, except for training use. These tunnels still exist but the approaches have been filled in.

The river tunnels are also discussed at length in my book Building Chicago’s Subways.

Milwaukee Streetcar

We were in Milwaukee on July 13th to help a friend move some things. We did stop by Burns Commons for a few minutes to catch a few pictures (and one video) of Milwaukee’s modern streetcar at its northern terminus:

Did Not Win

Try as we might, our resources are limited. Here are some interesting items that we were not able to purchase, but are still worth a second look:

This desktop ink blotter dates to circa 1919-20, as the North Shore Line is already running via the “L”, but had not yet opened their new Milwaukee Terminal. The line to Mundelein is shown, as it had been extended there as of 1905. But prior to 1925, it was called Rockefeller, and later, the area was known rather generically as “Area.” When using a fountain pen, you would wipe off excess ink on the backside of blotters such as this, which measured about 6″ wide.

This real photo postcard view of the Elgin and Belvedere Electric Company was most likely taken on its inaugural run in early 1907. Mike Franklin has identified the location as Belvedere, as that is the First M. E. Church at rear. Car 201 was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1906. (Thanks to J. J. Sedelmaier for tweaking this image.)

Here is what the late Don Ross wrote about the Elgin and Belvedere:

This line was built in 1906 and opened in 1907 between Elgin and Belvidere, 36 miles, to connect the Rockford lines with the Chicago lines. It was under the management of Bion J. Arnold, who was the most distinguished expert in city transit between 1900 and 1925. In 1927 the Rockford to Belvidere segment of the Rockford & Interurban was merged to form the Elgin Belvidere & Rockford. Rockford lightweight interurbans were used, but this was not financially satisfactory. The cars were returned to Rockford Public Service, and the old E&B cars were remodeled for one man service. But it was too late. Competition from the parallel Chicago & North Western and from the automobile caused the line to quit service on March 9, 1930. Arnold purchased two Manhattan Elevated steam locomotives and scrapped the line by himself. It was not completed until the mid to late 1930s.

In 1956, I was checking on ownership of an abandoned C&NW right-of-way for the Illinois Railway Museum, and I stopped in the county clerk’s office in Woodstock. The clerk became curious and then suggested that we might be interested in a piece of property which was on the delinquent tax rolls. It was 50 feet wide and 7 miles long. After paying the taxes for two years, a quit claim was filed and this has become the home of the IRM at Union, IL.

We ran some Elgin and Belvedere photos in a previous post, taken in the mid-1930s by the late Edward Frank, Jr., showing the interurban’s rolling stock in dead storage, waiting for buyers that never materialized.

Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks!

-David Sadowski

Now Available:

SGA-1
Stan Griffith Audio Recordings of the North Shore Line
# of Discs – 1
Price: $15.99

The late Stanwood C. Griffith (1926-2013) was an interesting character who is probably best known for building the two-foot gauge Rock River Valley Traction, a miniature electric railway that is large enough to ride on. He began building it on private property in a mysterious wooded area somewhere near Rockford, IL around 1950. Work continues on it to this day, and there are several videos of it on YouTube.

We only recently found out that he recorded some North Shore Line audio. Even better, what he did record is different than the other known recordings by William A. Steventon and Brad Miller.

Mr. Griffith made the only known recordings of the Shore Line Route, which quit in 1955. Steventon didn’t record NSL until the following year, and the Miller recordings are circa 1960.

This recording has some occasional narration. At one point, Griffith notes that the trolley bus wires in Kenosha are gone. Trolley buses ran there until 1952, so this dates the recordings to circa 1952-55.

He also recorded North Shore Line street running in Milwaukee, which is also unique as far as I am aware. There are also recordings of Milwaukee streetcars on this CD.

Total time – 52:36

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.

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Trick or Treat

October 31, 2021July 14, 2022David Sadowski 9 Comments

Milwaukee Electric 948, as seen from the rear of car 900, on July 16, 1952. Darrick Vormann adds, “Great shot, looks like #10 turning off of 68th St. headed to West Allis.” Larry Sakar: “Photo aaa756 showing the Wells-West Allis westbound streetcar completing the turn from southbound S. 68th Street onto the continuation of the private r.o.w. was also part of Phase III (in Milwaukee Rapid Transit construction in the late 1920s). The 68th Street Rapid Transit station would have been to the left of the streetcar atop the r.o.w. Where the streetcar is seen is today part of the 68th St. off ramp from eastbound I-94, the East-West Freeway. Look slightly left in the background and you can see a bit of the large abutment that carried the two bridges of the Rapid Transit line over S. 68th St. To the left of it, streetcars came down or climbed up a ramp on the embankment to or from the p.r.o.w. This was a favorite place for pranksters. They would soap or oil the track climbing up to the top of the embankment and then hide nearby and get their kicks watching the streetcar try to climb on the soaped or oiled rails.”

As this is Halloween, we have lots of treats for you, and hopefully, not too many tricks. Our latest batch of classic traction pictures also features lots of trains in fall colors, both here in Chicago, and in Milwaukee.

-David Sadowski

PS- You might also like our Trolley Dodger Facebook auxiliary, a private group that now has 519 members.

Recent Finds

Chicago & West Towns car 161. The slide says this is in Brookfield.

Chicago & West Towns 156. The slide says this is in Brookfield, but it looks like it could be on Woodside in Riverside.

The caption on this slide mount says, “Dad, David, Bev and Mom entering the El on November 23, 1962.” The location is the at 242-Van Cortlandt Park on the IRT Broadway Line in the Bronx. The station is still there.

Pittsburgh Railways 1693 on the Fineview line in September 1965.

A North Shore Line train at North Chicago Junction on January 20, 1963, the last full day of service before abandonment.

The Aurora and Elgin station in Wheaton on June 14, 1960, nearly three years after passenger service ended, and a year after the last freight train ran.

The CA&E station at Lakewood on June 14, 1960. The line had been abandoned, but was still largely intact, yet could not be saved.

One of the two former North Shore Line Electroliners, just after it had been delivered to the Red Arrow’s Philadelphia & Western line at the 69th Street terminal. The slide was processed in January 1964, but by then, the two trainsets had been repainted and reconfigured into Liberty Liners and were put into service on the 13-mile line to Norristown. So this was taken a few months earlier. Notice the North Shore Line emblem on the front of the train has been removed.

The interior of Milwaukee streetcar 918 on September 5, 1954. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Milwaukee County Stadium on October 6, 1957, during Game 4 of the World Series between the Milwaukee Braves and New York Yankees. The Braves came from behind to win the game 7-5 in the bottom of the 10th inning, via what we now call a “walk off” home run by Eddie Mathews. Warren Spahn was the winning pitcher, and the Braves went on to win the series, four games to three. The same two teams faced off in the 1958 series, which was won by the Yankees in seven games. Attendance at this game was 45,804 and the park was still served by streetcars in 1957 (but not the following year). (William C. Hoffman Photo)

According to the slide mount, this shows an expansion joint in the streetcar tracks near County Stadium in Milwaukee, where several streetcars are parked during the fourth game of the World Series between the Milwaukee Braves and the New York Yankees on October 6, 1957. (William C. Hoffman Photo) Larry Sakar adds: “Great picture aaa732 of streetcars on the stadium spur in Calvary Cemetery cut. The cut was started in 1926 as part of Phase III of the Rapid Transit Line construction project officially known as the “Fairview Ave. Grade Separation Project.” This phase was completed in late 1928, and construction on Phase IV The City of Milwaukee Rapid Transit Line between 8th & Hibernia Streets and 40th Street was started. It would take until 9-22-30 for it to be completed. As you know, Phase V, the subway to the Public Service Building had some preliminary work done but was never completed. Looking at the photo of the spur, I feel that the spur was a bit more to the south then when the Rapid Transit was running. The eastbound Rapid Transit track would have been next to the fence to the left but there doesn’t look like there was enough room for a fourth track in this photo. The cut still exists but it is so overgrown with weeds and brush that it is barely recognizable. I have a photo taken by Mr. Dan Lee of the Milwaukee Public library Humanities Dept. in 2016 which I’ll send you and you’ll see what I mean about it being overgrown.”

A Milwaukee trolley bus is on National Avenue on May 30, 1963. We are looking north on 6th Street, where North Shore Line interurban trains had run until January 21, 1963. The last Milwaukee trolley bus operated in 1965. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Fans pushing bus 255 at the Cold Springs Shops at 35th and McKinley on November 4, 1962. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

“Streetliner” bus 886 at the National Railway Museum in Green Bay, WI on September 22, 1963. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

The art glass window of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad at Fowler and Plankinton in Milwaukee on May 30, 1963. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

On December 4, 1949, Milwaukee Electric car 1121 was operated on the North Shore Line for a fantrip. Here it is at the Oklahoma stop on an embankment in Milwaukee, WI.
(William C. Hoffman Photo)

Speedrail car 66 at West Junction on June 14, 1951, not long before the entire interurban line was abandoned.

Speedrail car 66 in Milwaukee on June 14, 1951. Larry Sakar adds, “car 66 is westbound about to cross the 8th Street bridge. Once across it will go down the ramp to the start of the private right of way.”

Speedrail car 66 at the Hales Corners loop on June 14, 1951. Larry Sakar: “It’s hard to distinguish in this photo of car 66 rounding Hales Corners Hillcrest loop but in the right side background was the Hales Corners Speedway where they held car races well into the 70’s and ’80’s. Today a Menards occupies the site of the HC loop.”

Milwaukee Electric cars 979 and 914 on private right-of-way on the west side of Milwaukee on May 16, 1953. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Wisconsin Electric Power Company loco L-9 at the Lakeside power plant on June 12, 1955.
(William C. Hoffman Photo)

Milwaukee Rapid Transit and Speedrail articulated car 50 on Everett Street at the Milwaukee terminal on June 17, 1951.
(William C. Hoffman Photo)

Speedrail heavyweight cars 1193 and 1192 at the Milwaukee terminal on July 4, 1950.
1192 was wrecked less than two months later. The heavyweight cars were only used during rush hours. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

The old interurban and rapid transit terminal at 2nd and Michigan Streets in Milwaukee on August 27, 1961. (William C. Hoffman Photo) Larry Sakar: “Great shot of the Public Service Building a decade after the Rapid Transit had been abandoned. I think you should say this is the southeast corner of N. 3rd & W. Michigan Streets. The caption gives the impression that it’s 2nd Street. Greyhound would occupy the building for four more years before moving to its new terminal on the northeast corner of N. 7th & W. Michigan Streets in early February 1965. I don’t know what’s in there now. Greyhound moved to the new Intermodal station on the west end of the Amtrak station at 5th & St. Paul around 2006. Three years later Badger Coach which was directly across N. 7th Street. moved there in 2009. It is now the sole bus terminal in Milwaukee.”

Double-pole streetcar 801 is at the Fond Du Lac station in Milwaukee on May 4, 1958. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

On August 2, 1964, Milwaukee streetcar 978 is on static display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, WI. After moving around to several places after its 1958 retirement, car 978 is now at the East Troy Electric Railroad. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

The view west along the old Milwaukee Electric right-of-way over the North Shore Line in south Milwaukee on September 9, 1962. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Speedrail snow plow U-5 is at the Milwaukee terminal on June 17. 1951. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Old heavyweight Milwaukee Electric steel car 1115, later operated under Speedrail, is shown at the Everett Street terminal in Milwaukee on June 17, 1951. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

On July 4, 1950, several Speedrail cars are shown at the Milwaukee terminal. Car 1192, at right, was involved in a head-on collision on September 2, 1950. (William C. Hoffman Photo)

Milwaukee Electric (aka Speedrail) car 1115 is at the Waukesha loop on July 16, 1950. Larry Sakar: “Car 1115 seen on the Waukesha loop on 7-16-50 was part two of a four-part fan trip. I do not know who sponsored it. The morning trip to Waukesha used lightweight duplex 31-32 to Waukesha. At Waukesha loop the fans boarded ex TM now Speedrail car 1115 for the return trip to Milwaukee. There are a number of pictures of it at West Junction, including that one I think I shared with you long ago where Speedrail VP of operations Ed Tennyson appears to be chewing out the conductor. The afternoon trip to Hales Corners Hillcrest loop used curved side car 65 to Hales Corners and ex AE&FR, ex SHRT 301 for the return to Milwaukee. While backing across the Honey Creek Parkway bridge for a photo run-by, the trolley pole came off the wire and struck the catenary arm, bending it like a pretzel. Those cars did not carry a spare pole. In fact, I’m not aware if TM or any of its successors ever did. They moved the front pole around and it got them back to the Public Service Building.”

On June 14, 1951, Speedrail car 66 is at the Waukesha loop. Refurbishing this curved-sided car, originally built by the Cincinnati Car Company and purchased used from Lehigh Valley Transit, was a last-ditch effort to save the line. Unfortunately, this car only ran in Milwaukee for a few weeks before the line quit. Larry Sakar: “The caption says that car 66 operated for “just a few weeks” before the end of Speedrail on 6-30-51. The 66 made its debut on a fan trip on the Waukesha line on March 31, 1951. It operated in regular service over both the Waukesha and Hales Corners lines through the very last day. I have a color print from a slide of it stopping at Waukesha East Limits on 6-30-51. It is credited to the late George Krambles.”

Speedrail car 1192, which was heavily damaged in a horrific head-on collision, as it appeared in September 1951.

Speedrail car 62 leaves the Milwaukee terminal on June 14, 1951.

Milwaukee Electric 801 is on the Wells Street trestle on May 6, 1950.

Milwaukee Electric car 801, equipped with two trolley poles, is at the Fond Du Lac barns on September 5, 1954.

On May 22, 1955, Milwaukee Electric loco L10 and some hopper cars are on the #10 route. Larry Sakar: “This is not the Route 10 line. No freight service ever crossed the Wells Street viaduct which I’m guessing is what whoever wrote the caption thought this was. It is actually the Lakeside Belt Line crossing South 60th Street, a short distance north of where I live. Today, you’d never know it was there!”

On May 16, 1953, Milwaukee Electric 921 is on the long trestle on the line to Wauwatosa.

Milwaukee Electric 994 is on the Howell line in Milwaukee on August 12, 1955.

Milwaukee streetcar 962 is on the West Allis route on September 14, 1953.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 407 at Green Valley in Lombard at Brewster Avenue.

CA&E car 411 heads up a train in Wheaton.

CTA 2891 is heading west, crossing First Avenue in suburban Maywood in November 1951. The Refiner’s Pride gas station at rear was run by “Montana Charlie” Reid. He operated a chain of such stations in the western suburbs here. He also owned Montana Charlie’s Chuck Wagon, a restaurant in Villa Park. Although Charlie himself is long gone (he died in the early 1980s), his name is still used on a flea market in Bolingbrook, Montana Charlie’s Little America. (Truman Hefner Photo)

The Refiner’s Pride gas station on first Avenue in Maywood was part of a chain that included this location in Forest Park, and included a small convenience store. The Forest Park location is still in business as Refiners Citgo. (Forest Park Review Photo)

From the Chicago Tribune, September 19, 2004: “As for the real Montana Charlie, he is described as an exciting character with a colorful, almost improbable background. Montana Charlie Reid “was born and raised on the North Side of Chicago but while in his early teens, during the previous turn of the century [19th to the 20th], he yearned to be a cowboy,” Donahue says. “So he got on his horse and rode it all the way to Montana, where he got a job on a ranch.
“He learned trick riding and became involved with traveling carnivals and circus acts. As he went through life, he tried his hand at various other things — including chauffeuring an oil tycoon. When his employer died, he left his estate to Montana Charlie.”

CTA 2920 at the ground level Harrison Street station on the Westchester route in May 1951.
(Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2889 heads south into an open cut near the Roosevelt Road station in March 1951, while passing several cars in storage nearby.
(Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2863 is at the Roosevelt Road station on the Westchester line in April 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2721 is eastbound, west of the DesPlaines Avenue station in April 1951. The gas holder at right was a longtime Forest Park landmark. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2904 approaches the Roosevelt Road station in January 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2908 is eastbound, having crossed First Avenue in Maywood. The old Refiner’s Pride gas station is in the background. The date given here (June 1952) must be wrong, as the Westchester branch quit in December 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2823 is between First Avenue and DesPlaines Avenue, having just crossed over the DesPlaines River. The date given (October 1952) must be wrong, as the Westchester branch quit in December 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2922 crossing railroad tracks near DesPlaines Avenue. The date given is January 1952. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2859 and one additional car are southbound, having just stopped at the Roosevelt Road station on the Westchester route. The date given (March 1952) must be incorrect, as service on the Westchester “L” ended the previous December. Notice the two tracks went down to one here, for the rest of the line, which ended at Mannheim Road and 22nd Street. (Truman Hefner Photo)

In April 1951, CTA 2731 heads south, about to cross Madison Street just west of Bellwood Avenue in suburban Bellwood. A black-and-white version of this picture appears in my book Chicago’s Lost “L”s. Just north of here, the Westchester branch merged with the Chicago Aurora & Elgin main line. As far as I know, the house at right is still there.
(Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2820 is on the CA&E main line in Bellwood in February 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2834 is westbound, just west of DesPlaines Avenue, in April 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2899 is at the Roosevelt Road station in February 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2806 and another car are in an open cut near the Roosevelt Road station in February 1951. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2814 crosses Harrison Street in April 1951.
(Truman Hefner Photo)

This slide was definitely mislabeled. It was actually taken on the CA&E main line, just west of 25th Avenue. I believe the train is westbound. (Truman Hefner Photo)

CTA 2817 is just east of 25th Avenue, where the Chicago Great Western had a freight yard, on the CA&E main line. The train is eastbound. (Truman Hefner Photo)

Did Not Win

We have to compete with other people to purchase slides, prints, and negatives. As funds are always limited, we do not always win these auctions. Here are some photos that we did not win, but are still worth another look.

Here is a nice view of the Douglas Park yard at 54th Avenue in 1966, showing the old right-of-way that extended west of here until the line was cut back in 1952. The occasion was a fantrip.

Here is an excellent early photo of the Met “L” station at Gunderson, courtesy of LeRoy Blommaert. Gunderson is a side street running north-south in Oak Park, located between East Avenue and Ridgeland. When the “L” came through here, it was a new development, and hence, got its own station. The East Avenue entrance to the Blue Line station at Oak Park Avenue is its nearest contemporary replacement.

This real photo postcard recently sold for $60.99 on eBay. I did not win the auction. It shows a Chicago Union Traction streetcar signed for Evanston. Not sure if this was before or after service terminated at the city limits, so it could actually have terminated in Evanston itself.

Here is a mystery photo for you. Where was this picture of North Shore Line car 420 taken? Zach E.: “The mystery photo of CNS&M 420 was taken at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.”

There have been only a few times when “L” trains fell off the structure… this derailment, which happened on December 7, 1966, is one of them, at the curve near 40th and Indiana. David Harrison: “Yes… there were two things important about this incident… the last cars of an 8-car SB derailed. The two cars stayed on the structure for three blocks, after being derailed…. before they finally left the structure. That shows how ‘L’ cars are rather safe thanks to their weigh and low center of gravity, plus guard rails and timber guards. CTA rules at that time did not require to motorman to check his train after an emergency stop. The motorman testified he didn’t feel his train’s performance was different. Perhaps two blocks of running was at a low speed because of the curve at Wabash/40th. CTA rules were changed after this incident.” Caron Stewart adds, “Two people died in this accident. The train was going southbound during the morning rush. If it was going north towards downtown during this time the injuries most likely would have been higher.”

Another slide I did not win. This was one of those fantrips held on the CA&E after passenger service was abandoned. Unfortunately the photographer used “grade Z” film (probably Anscochrome).
Chicago Aurora and Elgin Electric Interurban Coach #453
Original Color Slide Photographer Credit: Unknown
Maywood, Illinois 26 October 1958

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.

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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)

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A Tribute to John F. Bromley

December 24, 2019December 26, 2019David Sadowski 10 Comments

The Bromley holiday card from 2017.

As we once again celebrate the holiday season, we all have many reasons to be thankful, including each other. I regret to inform you, if you have not already heard, of the recent passing of noted Canadian railfan historian and photographer John F. Bromley, who died on December 1st after a short illness. I believe he was about 80.

Mr. Bromley was a giant among Canadian railfans, and it is fair to say he was the preeminent historian of Toronto traction, for perhaps the last 50 years.

He authored TTC ’28: The Electric Railway Services of the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1928, published by Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto (1979), and Fifty Years of Progressive Transit – A History of the Toronto Transit Commission, (with Jack May), published by the Electric Railroaders’ Association (1978). While these are both long out of print, you should have no difficulty in finding them on the used market.

In addition to being a friend of this blog, Mr. Bromley contributed to the various railfan books that I have worked on, including Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: The PCC Car Era, 1936-58 (CERA Bulletin 146), Chicago Trolleys, and Building Chicago’s Subways. Besides his own photographs, which are excellent, he had an extensive collection of many others, including some rare original 1942 Kodachrome slides of the Chicago Surface Lines. Those would be, as far as I know, among the very earliest color CSL images of any kind. Unfortunately, the name of the photographer is not known.

John Bromley specialized in night photography, as you will see in the tribute below, created by Bill Volkmer. This was oriiginally made as a PDF slideshow, and if you want, you can still view it that way here, but since not everyone would be able to see it, I have separated it out into images. We thank Mr. Volkmer for making this tribute, and for sharing it with our readers.

We follow after that with a selection of images from the John F. Bromley Collection that have previously appeared here.

We also have additional contributions from noted Milwaukee historian Larry Sakar, William Shapotkin, and a few recent finds of our own. We thank all our contributors.

Happy Holidays!

-David Sadowski

PS- You can see more pictures by John F. Bromley, or from his collection, here and here. If you ike his style of night shots, we have more in our previous posts Night Beat and Night Beat, Jersey Style.

CSL 4010 and 4035 in experimental paint at the Madison-Austin loop on November 24, 1945. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CSL 7027 is southbound at Dearborn and Monroe, the east end of route 20 Madison, in June 1946. (Ohio Brass Photo, John F. Bromley Collection)

CTA 4400 southbound on Clark at Arthur, August 15, 1956. (John F. Bromley Photo, M. D. McCarter Collection)

CTA 7208 southbound on Clark at Van Buren, a view from the Loop “L”, on August 15, 1956. (John F. Bromley Photo, M. D. McCarter Collection)

CTA 4218 at State and 95th on April 4, 1948 (route 36 – Broadway-State). (John F. Bromley Collection)

CSL 4039 at Madison and Austin on June 30, 1946. (Barney Neuburger Collection, Courtesy of John F. Bromley)

CSL 4051 at the Madison and Austin loop on February 22, 1942. This car had previously been modified with an experimental door arrangement later used on the 600 postwar Chicago PCCs. By the time this picture was taken, it had been partially returned to its original configuration. As John Bromley notes, “The car is not yet fully restored after the rear entrance experiment. It’s missing one front door and is thus in a hybrid state.” (James J. Buckley Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CTA 818 by the Park Theatre at Lake and Austin on August 13, 1948. I don’t believe the movie theatre stayed open much later than this. (John F. Bromley Collection)

C&WT 155 on private right-of-way west of the Brookfield Zoo on April 11, 1948, on the CERA “day after abandonment” fantrip. (John F. Bromley Collection)

C&WT at 52nd and 36th on February 28, 1938. (John F. Bromley Collection)

C&WT 119 on August 19, 1947. (John F. Bromley Collection)

C&WT 138 at the Brookfield Zoo on July 22, 1938, on the busy LaGrange line. The zoo first opened in 1934. Within a year or two, all West Towns streetcars would be repainted blue. (John F. Bromley Collection)

C&WT 15 on DesPlaines Avenue on April 11, 1948. The occasion was a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip, held the day after West Towns streetcar service came to an end. Note one of the distinctive C&WT shelters at rear. (John F. Bromley Collection)

C&WT line car 15 at Harlem and Cermak on August 19, 1947. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CSL 1933 at Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive on May 12, 1947. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CTA 6034 is at Kedzie and Bryn Mawr, the north end of route 17, on April 16, 1949. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CSL 3217 is on route 73 – Armitage on July 1, 1946. (John F. Bromley Collection) Andre Kristopans: “EB passing Mozart Park at Armitage and Avers.”

CSL 3212 heads up the line-up at Archer Station (car house) on October 16, 1946. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CSL 2802 is on Anthony Avenue at Commercial Avenue in this July 13, 1941 photo. Note the Pennsylvania Railroad station at rear. (John F. Bromley Collection) Bob Laich: “The building immediately behind CSL 2802 on Anthony Avenue was PRR’s South Chicago freight station, which was built at street level. The platform for the South Chicago passenger station can be seen on the elevation in the right background.” Andre Kristopans adds, “something odd here – note “Special” sign in front window. Appears to be a charter waiting for its party off the PRR.” This must be Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip #35, which used this car on that date.

CTA 3266 at 71st and California on the 67-69-71 route on May 29, 1949. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CTA 6236 at 71st and California on the 67-69-71 route on May 29, 1949. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CTA 5508 at 79th and Western on May 29, 1949. That looks like a 1948-50 Packard at left, which some have nicknamed the “pregnant elephant” styling. We can catch a glimpse of the nearby CTA turnback loop for route 49 – Western at right. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CSL Pullman 677 on the outer end of Milwaukee Avenue on March 4, 1946. (John F. Bromley Collection) Andre Kristopans: “677 – Most likely on Milwaukee north of Central where many cars turned back. Originally turnback point was Gale St, right where Jefferson Park terminal now is, but later was moved to Central.”

CSL Pullman 696 at the Museum Loop in Grant Park in April 1940. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CSL Pullman 431 on Cicero Avenue, February 22, 1940. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CTA Sedan 3377, showing the original door configuration, southbound on Cottage Grove at 95th Street on May 6, 1951. (John D. Koschwanez Photo, John F. Bromley Collection)

CTA Sedans (Peter Witts) 3360 and 3347 are shown here at south Shops in 1952, having been converted to one-man with the removal of some center doors. There were 25 cars so modified, but as far as I know, only one ran in service in this setup. (Robert W. Gibson Photo, John F. Bromley Collection)

Prewar CTA PCC 7020, now converted to one-man operation, is southbound at Western and Maypole in May 1956, about a month before the end of streetcar service on route 49. The prewar cars were used for 364 days on this line. In the back, that is the Lake Street “L”, which, oddly enough, does not have a stop on this busy street. (John F. Bromley Collection)

CTA 4409 and 4390 at the beautifully landscaped Western-Berwyn loop on May 13, 1950. (John D. Koschwanez Photo, John F. Bromley Collection)

Pullman-built CTA PCC 4148 southbound at Clark and Thome on May 13, 1950. That is a safety island at right, to protect passengers from errant vehicles. (John D. Koschwanez Photo, John F. Bromley Collection)

Chicago Surface Lines Brill car 6072 at Kedzie Station on January 28, 1942. (John F. Bromley Collection) I believe this car was built in 1914. You can see part of a Sedan in the background. These were used for fill-in service on Madison along with the prewar PCCs.

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.”

The picture above has sparked some controversy over where it was taken. Here is some additional correspondence from John Habermaas:

Merry Christmas… thanks for posting another treasure trove of Surface Lines photos. I am reasonably sure the photo of the Halsted car shown at 111th and Vincennes is on 111th east of Vincennes. Surface Lines parked trippers on 111th to operate to Sacramento to accommodate (the) rush of students from nearby Morgan Park High’s afternoon dismissal. Since the east 111th route was an early abandonment, I suspect the tracks east of that point were no longer used.

Often saw cars parked on this short section laying over until they were needed…often as trippers intended to run westbound to Sacramento. It was a long time ago so I could wrong about this car. The route on 111th between Cottage Grove and Vincennes was discontinued by the Surface Lines in SEP ’45 very likely because much of it was single track and though (it) had light usage, required a two man crew due the many RR grade crossings.

When I was in elementary school I often went to watch the cars climb the 111th street hill. Once in which awhile a HS prankster would reach out the rear window if was opened and pull the trolley rope to de-wire the pole stalling the car on the hill. Most of the Brills apparently could not restart the ascent up the hill, and would have to back down the hill to Longwood Drive for a fresh start, with I suspect the conductor guarding the window.

David took a closer look at picture, this car is definitely parked on the short section of active track between Vincennes and the Rock Island mainline. If you look closely you can see the gates at the crossing for the Rock Island mainline (not to be confused with the Rock Island suburban branch which the route 8 cars cross Hale… looks much different as the line made a jog from Monterey to W 111th).

Most of M. E.’s comments about the Halsted route are correct, except for his guess about the location of the streetcar. It is on 111th Street east of Vincennes. He may not be aware of the Surfaces Line’s practice using portion of the abandoned 111th Street line as layover point. I do remember seeing streetcars positioned there. The line on Vincennes was originally built by the C&IT (Chicago and Interurban Traction) which had (a) carbarn at 88th and Vincennes. That early traction ordinance made them divest their property within the city. The CSL used the 88th street carbarn for dead storage, until streetcar service on Halsted was abandoned south of 79th. The portion of the line west of Vincennes on Monterey and 111th was a branch line built to serve the cemeteries at 111th and Sacranento.

I am impressed with John Bromley’s photos. You can see, from these blow ups, the quality of his photos and how detailed it is. The one photo shows that the car is just standing with no motorman at the controls. The second shoes the stretch behind the car and you can clearly make out the Rock Island RR crossing gates. The location is definitely 111th east of Vincennes as John captioned it.

Thank you for sharing your excellent insights.

This picture of CTA one-man car 3236, taken on January 14, 1950 shows it crossing Maplewood Avenue on what is obviously an east-west trolley line. John F. Bromley, who sold me this negative, was unsure of the location. Jeff Wien writes, “I would guess that it is at 71st & Maplewood. Bill Hoffman lived all of his life at 6664 S. Maplewood which was a half mile north. Maplewood is a block or two west of Western. Route 67 covered 67th, 69th and 71st as far west as California (2800). Maplewood is around 2600 West. Check out the streets to see if I am correct. The one man cars were used on route 67.” Looks like Jeff is correct, as further research shows that the house at left is still standing at 7053 S. Maplewood.

John sent me this picture last year, but I didn’t get around to using it until now.

You might be interested in this, pulled off the Internet. Original caption noted this as ”Bronzeville”. CSL April 1941 47th ST looking west.

Cheers
John

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c35223

Recent Correspondence

Larry Sakar writes:

Here’s a little bit of a mix of things for The Trolley Dodger if you’re interested. First, in keeping with the season here is a picture taken at the corner of N. 4th St. and W. Wisconsin Ave. ca. Xmas 1927. The photographer is facing northeast. The letters “RA” at the bottom of that large sign across the street (NE corner of 4th & Wisconsin) are the last two in the name “Alhambra”. The Alhambra was a movie theater that stood until about 1960 on the northeast corner of 4th & Wisconsin. Directly across the street as you can see was the Boston Store Dept. store. The building is still there but Boston Store went out of business either late last year or earlier this year. For anyone who ever shopped at Carson’s in Chicago, Boston Store was identical. At one time both were owned by P.A. Bergner Co. Note the TM 600 series car westbound on Wisconsin Ave. running on Rt. 12w – 12th St. Brouwer’s next door to the theater was a shoe company one of many shoe stores in downtown like Thom Mc Cann and Packard-Rellin. To the best of my knowledge they, like the movie theaters are now gone.

We know this has to be 1927 or later because of the movie playing at the Alhambra. “Swim Girl Swim” starring Bebe Daniels (1901-1971) was released in 1927. It was a silent movie. Ms.. Daniels was both a star of silent films and talkies. Her biography says she even made a few television appearances. The “Center” destination on the 600 is a bit curious. Rt. 12 streetcars ran all the way to N. Holton & E. Richards Sts. Perhaps it was short turning for some reason. The decorations atop the Boston Store marquee tell us this is Christmas season. Today, the Henry Reuss Federal Plaza occupies the entire north side of Wisconsin Ave. from N. 3rd to N. 4th Sts. Its blue exterior has earned it the nickname “Blue Whale.”

Now for two photographs I call “Foolers.” They’re not where their destination sign says they are. Both of these were real head-scratchers, until I finally determined where they are. The photo of car 651 with TM shorthand of WAU co BLDGS” and a route 10 in the route sign box made me think this was somewhere near the Muirdale Sanitorium (for patients with TB) which was served by Rt. 10 streetcars continuing west from the Harwood Ave. terminal in the heart of the Wauwatosa Village to the Sanitorium in Muirdale. This was out on Watertown Plank Rd. Service west of Harwood Ave. was converted to buses in 1937. WAU CO BLDGS meant Wauwatosa County Buildings. The former Sanitorium still stands today on Research Drive in the Milwaukee County Research Park adjacent to the massive Froedtert Hospital Campus. It is presently used as an office building. Dave Stanley helped me figure out where this really is. The car is laying over at S. 84th & W. Lapham Ave., the west end of RT 19. In all probability the photographer (unknown) talked the motorman into rolling up that sign which hadn’t been used in years. The last 600s ended service in early 1949 except for 607, which was saved by the Railroad Historical Foundation also known as the “607 Gang.” It is often seen in photographs amid the surplus ex TM 1100s stored on the tracks leading into the never completed Rapid Transit subway ca.1949-51 In 1952, The RHF received notice from Hyman-Michaels Scrap Co. that the car had to be removed from the Speedrail property or it would be scrapped. With all of the RHF members save one having been drafted (Korean War) there was nowhere to go with the streetcar, so it was sold to HM for scrap.

When I received the photo of car 943 I couldn’t figure out where the car was on 35th St. Rt 35 was the 35th St route. The 35th St. destination in the sign below the roof route sign made zero sense. If it was a northbound car the destination would say either Burleigh or Fond du lac as the tri-intersection of N. 35th , W. Burleigh St. and W. Fond du lac Ave. was the northern terminus (the west side of Fond du lac car station). If it was southbound the destination would be Mt. Vernon Ave. (the last street before heading across the 35th St. viaduct which streetcars never crossed). Upon closer examination I realized just where this is and what it is. It’s a TM publicity photo. Car 943 is westbound on W. Michigan St. between N. 3rd and N. 4th Sts. The “crowd” waiting to board are TM employees doubtlessly recruited from the Public Service Building out of the picture to the right of 943 . Now take a closer look between the “Front Entrance Safety Car” sign on 943’s right front dash and the “crowd”. This was obviously a time exposure. You see a “ghosted” 1100 series interurban probably headed into the PSB from Sheboygan. or perhaps headed the opposite way. It’s hard to tell.

Recently, I sent you a picture of Al Buetschle, who saved TM 978, holding up pieces from the shattered car 39 . This was at the site of the 9-2-50 fatal head-on collision post abandonment. Here are two more photos. In the first one Al holds up a roof ventilator and another piece of the shattered lightweight duplex. Car 1192 (duplex 1192-93) plowed thru 3/4ths of car 39 before stopping. Duplex 39-40 was so badly damaged that both were shoved off the r.o.w. into the drainage ditch along the east side of the r.o.w. The late Lew Martin, a member of the RHF, snapped this photo of people milling around in the wreckage of car 39. This is followed by a shot of duplex 45-46 enroute Hales Corners at the accident site some time later. I believe Lew Martin also took this photo. In addition to Al with the roof ventilator we see his friend Lee Bremer holding up one of the door panels from car 39. Neither of them owned a car in 1952 so taking the door home with them was not an option. It would have been a bit clumsy to haul on a Transport Co. bus!

I also recently sent a photo of the Port Washington station as it looked in service and in 1983. Here is a much better photo showing KMCL D3 (formerly D23) on the loop with the station at the left. The photo is from the Don Ross collection. In 1983 the QWIK Cement Co. and just about everything else that surrounded the loop was gone replaced by a Wisconsin Telephone Co. bldg. The former station did not appear to be in use.

Unfortunately, it appears that Al Buetschle passed away sometime in 2018. He was probably in his mid-80s.

Larry continues:

Here are two more photos of the 978. The first one is an Ed Wilson photo. I am guessing this is sometime in the 1940s. The location is East Wisconsin Ave near N. Van Buren St. The building with the tall columns rising above 978 is the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. headquarters. The C&NW lakefront depot would be behind the photographer photo left one block east. Unfortunately, Milwaukee could not see fit to save it, just as they couldn’t with the Milwaukee Road Everett St. station and the North Shore station. I believe it was author Jim Scribbins who said in one of his books, “Milwaukee does not practice urban renewal. In Milwaukee it’s urban removal!”

One thing seen in this photo is rather odd. Rt. 13-Clybourn-Michigan never ran 900 series cars. The ex-Racine city cars renumbered into the 750 series and the 800s were the cars that saw service on Rt. 13. Rt. 13 was an early victim of bustitution as I like to call it being converted to trolley bus on 9-14-41. The route was discontinued by MCTS several years ago due to lack of riders.

The second photo of the 978 was taken by the late Ernie Maragos of Racine, WI in the summer of 1957. Among newsworthy events that year the then Milwaukee Braves won the World Series. It would be the last summer for Milwaukee streetcars. In Ernie’s picture 978 has just crossed the Wells St. bridge over the Milwaukee River, and will soon stop for N. Water St. If Ernie had turned to his right you would be seeing the Oneida St. WEPCO power plant and the west end of the famous Pabst Theatre. Oneida St. was the original name of Wells St. and was named for the Native American tribe that lived in the area before Milwaukee became a city in 1850. The Power Plant was decommissioned some time ago and is now a theatre, like the Pabst next door presenting live stage performances. I believe they call it the “Powerhouse Theatre.”

When it comes to colossal mistakes the Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Company (which bought out TMER&T in late 1952) decided to move a group of surplus streetcars to the stadium spur in Calvary Cemetery cut in the winter of 1955-56. The cars were surplus, because by this time only two or three streetcar lines remained. Space needed to be created for new incoming GM Diesel buses. This was not a scrap line. The cars were stored here for lack of someplace better The photo of car 925 taken by TM interurban motorman Ed Wilson shows what happened. Vandals took full advantage. Note the holes in 925’s front window made by rocks probably taken from track ballast on the streetcar tracks. The spur had been laid on the abandoned Rapid Transit Line r.o.w. in 1953.

Al Buetschle, who saved car 978, recalled that one day while riding a RT. 10 Wells-West Allis streetcar through the cut he saw Transport Company employees laying ballast and rails where the Rapid Transit tracks had been just a year earlier. As he tells it, he immediately got off at the Hawley Rd. station (seen in back of the 925) and walked down the r.o.w. to where the construction crew was working. He thought that the Rapid Transit might be coming back but no such luck. The crew informed him that this was to be a new storage track for streetcars serving County Stadium about one-half mile east. When streetcar service ended on March 1, 1958 the spur was no longer needed and the tracks were taken up in May.

One other thing of note in Ed Wilson’s picture. The covered stairs leading up to the Hawley Rd. overpass were unique to this stop. The Calvary Cemetery cut was part of Phase 3 of the city of Milwaukee Rapid Transit project. This phase was known as the Fairview Ave. grade separation project, which removed streetcar and interurbans from street running on Fairview Ave. between 60th and 68th Sts. and placed them on a magnificent 4-track private right-of-way parallel to Fairview Ave. Streetcars stopped at Hawley Rd. 60th St., 62nd St., 65th St. and then descended to street level approaching 68th St. Rapid Transit trains stopped only at 68th St. Streetcars continued across 68th and turned south beneath the 68th St. station overpass, which was actually closer to 69th St. Upon going under the bridge they once again turned west for 1-1/2 blocs to S. 70th St. which they paralleled on a private right-of-way next to S. 70th St. The Wells-West Allis branch terminated at the intersection of S. 70th St. and W. Greenfield Ave. adjacent to the Allis Chalmers Co. Today both the streetcars and the Allis Chalmers Co. plant are gone.

TM 978 at N. Van Buren St. & E. Wisconsin Ave. Ed Wilson photo

M&STC 978 EB on Wells St. between Milw. River and N. Water St. Summer, ’57 Ernie Maragos photo

M&STC 933 et al stored on Stadium spur 1-56 Don Ross photo

M&STC 925 stored at west of Stadium spur Winter 1955-56 Ed Wilson photo

Sweet Home Chicago

August 20, 2019August 23, 2019David Sadowski 16 Comments

In 1938, a visitor to Chicago from the Soviet Union snapped this picture of Chicago PCC 4032 running on route 20 – Madison downtown, and brought it home. Now, more than 80 years later, it has returned to Chicago.

They say you can never go home again. But no matter how far we may wander from home, there is something, almost like an unseen force, that calls us back to the places we lived in, grew up in, or love the most. And while we often feature transit photos from other cities, Chicago remains our home and will always be our favorite. So today, we are featuring Chicago-area streetcars, rapid transit, interurbans, and buses.

We do have a couple examples of things that, improbably, did find their way home. First, a picture of a Chicago PCC streetcar that has come back “from Russia with love.” Second, prints and negatives of Chicago transit, taken in 1952, that have been reunited after who knows how many years.

We also have some recent photo finds of our own, including a news report from Miles Beitler on the new Pulse bus rapid transit operation in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, and more classic photos shared by Bill Shapotkin and Jeff Wien of the Wien-Criss Archive. Finally, there is some correspondence with Andre Kristopans.

We thank all our contributors.

Enjoy!

-David Sadowski

PS- If you have comments on individual photos, and I am sure you will, please refer to them by their image number, which you can find by hovering your mouse over the photo (for example, the picture at the top of this post is img882). That is more helpful to me than just saying something was the seventh photo down, etc. We always appreciate hearing from you if you have useful information to contribute regarding locations and other details. Thanks in advance.

We also should not let the opportunity pass to wish Raymond DeGroote, Jr. a happy belated 89th birthday. Ray is a world traveler, a raconteur, and the Dean of Chicago railfans.

Recent Finds

CSL “Matchbox” 1412 is on the Morgan-Racine-Sangamon route in this photo by Edward Frank, Jr. Don’s Rail Photos adds, “1412 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1906 as CUT 4641. It was renumbered 1412 in 1913 and became CSL 1412 in 1914. It was retired on March 30, 1948… These cars 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.” Car 1374 in this series has been lovingly restored to operating condition, at the Illinois Railway Museum.

A two-car Chicago Aurora & Elgin train, headed up by 433, is just west of the Canal Street station on the Metropolitan four-track main line in August 1953, a month before CA&E service was cut back to Forest Park. (John Szwajkart Photo)

CTA 4060 is at the front of a two-car Ravenswood “L” train approaching Kimball and Lawrence in this undated photo (1950s-60s).

CTA Pullman 460 is on either Route 8 – Halsted or 9 – Ashland in the early 1950s, you can’t quite make it out on the roll sign. However, I am leaning towards Halsted, as Ashland got bussed in 1951, and the auto at left looks more like 1953 vintage. This streetcar was saved by the CTA, and is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. It is one of only three red Pullmans saved, the others being 144 (also at IRM) and 225 (at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine). Charles F. Amstein adds that 460 is “on Ashland, just north of 95th Street, looking north-northwet. I grew up in this area and spent much of my time at Beverly Bowling Lanes, seen in the distance at right.”

CTA 4374 is southbound on Clark Street, just south of Diversey, on September 6, 1957, the last day for the north half of Route 22 – Clark-Wentworth. Ricketts (no relation to the current Cubs ownership) was a popular restaurant. At left, down the street, you can just make out the marquee of the Parkway Theater. Autos visible include several Chevys, a Studebaker, and (at left) a 1957 Ford. (Charles H. Thorpe Photo) The tracks curving off to the left went into the CTA’s Limits car barn (station), which was located at 2684 N. Clark. It got its name because, a long time earlier, this had been the city limits. There were facilities for cable cars at this location dating back to 1888. Limits car house opened in 1909, and was last used by streetcars in 1954 (the end of the Red Car era). It was used by buses until 1994, and the building was torn down in 1998.

CTA Met car 2907 is at Indiana Avenue, running the Kenwood shuttle on the last day of service, November 30, 1957 (also the last day for regular passenger service for wooden “L” cars).

CTA one-man car 1769 (here painted green, not red) is at Lake and Austin, west end of Route 16. The date of this Bob Selle photo is December 19, 1953, one year to the day before I was born. The Park Theater at right appears to already be closed.

CTA one-man car 1732, in red, heads southwest on Fifth Avenue at Harrison on July 5, 1953. Madison-Fifth was part of Route 20, but as of May 11, 1952, buses were substituted for streetcars on weekends– except for the Fifth Avenue branch, which used streetcars. That must be a Harrison bus in the background. (Robert Selle Photo)

On June 19, 1953 CTA PCC 7070 heads south on Roue 8 – Halsted, passing by the Congress Expressway construction site. PCCs were soon taken off Halsted, which ended streetcar service the following year using older equipment. This photo was taken from the nearby Halsted “L” station, which was not in the expressway footprint. (Robert Selle Photo)

On May 12, 1954, Bob Selle took this picture of CTA Pullman 600, southbound on Route 8 – Halsted. This was less than three weeks before the end of streetcar service on this line. We are just south of the Metropolitan “L” station at Halsted, and crossing over the Congress Expressway construction. That looks like a Studebaker at left.

In this undated (probably late 1960s) photo taken on the Red Arrow Lines in suburban Philadelphia, Brilliner 10 appears to be changing ends. It is signed for the Media route, although this is not the end of that line. Perhaps there was track work going on. Matthew Nawn adds, “The photo of Red Arrow Lines #10 was taken at the Penn Street stop in Clifton Heights, PA. This is a stop on the Sharon Hill Line.”

This is how the interior of Chicago Aurora & Elgin car 301 looked on August 8, 1954, the date of a fantrip for the Central Electric Railfans’ Association. Don’s Rail Photos: “301 was built by Niles Car & Mfg Co in 1906. It was modernized in December 1940.” (Robert Selle Photo)

CA&E car 434 at an unidentified terminal. possibly Elgin.

Once CA&E service stopped running to downtown Chicago, less equipment was needed. Here, wooden cars 137 and 141 are on the scrap track at the Wheaton Shops. Bob Selle took this picture on August 8, 1954. These cars were purchased from the North Shore Line in 1946.

CA&E car 701, ex-Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis. Don’s Rail Photos: “701 was built by Cincinnati Car Co in 1913 as WB&A 81. It was sold as CA&E 701 in 1938.”
Don also notes, “In 1937, the CA&E needed additional equipment. Much was available, but most of the cars suffered from extended lack of maintenance. Finally, 5 coaches were found on the Washington Baltimore & Annapolis which were just the ticket. 35 thru 39, built by Cincinnati Car in 1913, were purchased and remodeled for service as 600 thru 604. The ends were narrowed for service on the El. They had been motors, but came out as control trailers. Other modifications included drawbars, control, etc. A new paint scheme was devised. Blue and grey with red trim and tan roof was adopted from several selections. They entered service between July and October in 1937.”

CA&E 401 at the end of the line in Elgin.

CA&E 452 at either Elgin or Aurora.

CA&E 457 at the front of a two-car train near the end of either the Aurora or Elgin terminals, as it is operating with overhead wire instead of third rail.

CA&E 429 at the head of a two-car train.

CA&E 451 heads up a two-car limited heading towards Chicago.

Speedrail (Milwaukee) car 63, a curved-sided product of Cincinnati Car Company, is operating as a local on the turnback track in Waukesha, on June 28 1951, two days before abandonment. (Photo by R. H. Adams, Jr.)

Six years ago, I purchased a couple strips of 35mm Super-XX black-and-white negatives and ran the photos on the blog I had at that time. There was no way to tell the exact date the pictures were taken, but they did contain various clues that helped narrow down the date. I posted the images, and several people guessed as to when they were shot. The consensus that eventually emerged was they were taken between Fall 1952 and Spring 1953. Well, in an act of serendipity, Jeff Wien (by way of Mr. Edward Springer) donated a set of snapshots to me that were made from these same negatives. They are dated December 1952, which is a better answer than we had before. You can see the rest of the photos here.

Pulse Bus Rapid Transit Celebration

Pace launched its Pulse bus rapid transit this week with the Pulse Milwaukee line which runs between Golf Mill in Niles and the Jefferson Park transit center in Chicago. Pace held a celebration event earlier today (August 15th) at Milwaukee and Touhy in Niles featuring speeches by various politicians, agency bureaucrats, and public transit advocates. A new Pulse bus was parked at the event and was available for public inspection, as well as a Pulse bus station with its passenger amenities.
Since you include bus photos on your blog, I have attached several photos of the event. Feel free to post any or all of them. The Pace website has detailed information about the Pulse service.
Ironically, Richmond (VA) has operated a bus rapid transit line for over a year which is very similar, and it’s also called “Pulse”. I don’t know if this is just a coincidence or if there is some connection between them. However, the Richmond line has dedicated bus-only lanes for part of its length, while our line runs in mixed traffic along Milwaukee Avenue.
-Miles Beitler

From the Collections of William Shapotkin:

On June 21, 1958 an eastbound CTA train is in the station at Pulaski Road on the new Congress rapid transit line, then also known as the West Side Subway. Notice how little fencing there was separating the right-of-way from the highway. Eventually, this was replaced by concrete Jersey barriers after numerous vehicle crashes that impacted the “L”. That way, when something hits the fence, it can take a “Jersey bounce.”

On June 21, 1958 a woman enters the new CTA rapid transit station at Pulaski Road on the Congress line, which replaced the Garfield Park “L” the following day. On this day, free rides were given out between Halsted and Cicero Avenues. The fiberglass panels on the sides of the entrance ramp were eventually cut down to allow for better visibility from outside.

A North Shore Line Electroliner on December 28, 1962, less than a month before the end of the line for this interurban.

A new 2000-series CTA train at (I am guessing) the Douglas Park yards at 54th Avenue in Cicero on October 25, 1964.

What I presume is the Douglas Park yard on October 25, 1964.

CTA articulated car set 51 (formerly 5001) found new life on the Skokie Swift after being oddball equipment on other lines, along with its three mates. Here, they are seen on the Swift on October 25, 1964, where they helped provide much-needed capacity in the face of unexpectedly large ridership several months after the new branch line began service.

The date stamped on this slide is April 18, 1964, when demonstration rides were given out on the new CTA Skokie Swift branch line. However, that date may be incorrect, as my understanding is on that day, single car units 1-4 were coupled together and operated as a unit to provide demonstration rides, Regular service began on April 20, 1964. So either the units were uncoupled, or the date is wrong. Here, one of the high-speed cars is lowering its pan trolley, at the point where the line changed from overhead wire to third rail “on the fly.”

On October 25, 1964 a pair of 4000-series “L” cars are seen at the Dempster terminal on the Skokie Swift, presumably on a fantrip.

This picture of the Dempster terminal is dated April 18, 1964, which would have been the very first day people could ride the Skokie Swift.

Line car S-606 at the Dempster terminal on October 25, 1964. Don’s Rail Photos adds, “S-606 was built by Cincinnati in January 1923, #2620, as Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee 606. In 1963 it became CTA S-606 and burned in 1978. The remains were sold to the Indiana Transportation Museum.” Since the museum was evicted from its home, whatever portion of the car that survives has been taken on by another preservation group, in hopes that it can eventually be rebuilt or restored.

The following South Shore Line photos, again courtesy of William Shapotkin, are all dated October 1965 and are from a fantrip.

Here are some classic postcard views, again from the collections of William Shapotkin:

From Jeff Wien and the Wien-Criss Archive:

These pictures of the Illinois Terminal Railroad were taken on July 4, 1950:

Don’s Rail Photos: “1565, Class B, was built at Decatur in 1910. It was sold to Illinois Power & Light Co at Campaign on April 10, 1955. It was acquired by Illinois Railway Museum in 1960.”

IT 270.

IT 273.

Don’s Rail Photos: “276 was built by St Louis Car in 1913. It was air conditioned and the arch windows were covered. It was sold for scrap to Compressed Steel Co on March 13, 1956.”

IT 281.

IT 284.

Don’s Rail Photos: “1201 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1910 as an express motor with 20 seats at the rear. In 1919 it was rebuilt with a small baggage section at the front and the trucks were changed from Curtis to Baldwin.”

IT 052. This looks like a sleeping car or bunk car and is unpowered.

Again from the Wien-Criss Archive, here are a series of photos taken at the Chicago Aurora & Elgin’s Wheaton Yards, in August 1959 after the line had stopped running even freight service. Several cars were sold to museum interests and moved off the property in early 1962. Everything else was scrapped. It’s possible that these pictures may have been taken by the late Joseph Saitta of New York.

Looking somewhat worse for wear, here is CA&E car 321 as it looked at the Illinois Electric Railway Museum in North Chicago on June 9, 1962. This and the other cars that were saved from the line had been stored outdoors for a few years, and exposure to the elements took their toll. The museum, now just IRM, moved to Union in 1964. (Wien-Criss Archive Photo)

The following pictures, also from the Wien-Criss Archive, are not very sharp, but do show Chicago transit vehicles in September 1953 and May 1954. There are several shots of the temporary ground-level trackage used from 1953 to 1958 by the Garfield Park “L”, during construction of the Congress Expressway. Those pictures were taken at Van Buren and Western. Some of the PCC photos were snapped in the vicinity of Roosevelt Road, which is also where the Greyhound bus picture was probably taken.

Recent Correspondence

We recently asked Andre Kristopans about which Chicago streetcars, including PCCs, were converted to one-man operation in the CTA era. Here’s what he reports:

In 1951, all 83 prewar PCCs to OMC on AFE S14000. At same time, 21 Sedans to OMC (3325,3347-3349,3351-3352,3354-3355,3357,3360-3363,3368,3372,3378-3379,6303,6305,6310,6319) on AFE S14001

However almost immediately 20 postwars 4052-4061,7035-7044 to OMC on S14011

155 older cars 1721-1785,3119-3178,6155-6198 to convertible OMC 1948 on S11381

Some additional info. Of the 169 cars in the three groups listed for one-manning, the following were already gone when the plan was announced:

6 under CSL 1945-47 1738,1754,1770,3133,3170,3176
8 under CTA 1948 1727,1763,3130,3150,3152,3155,3159,6197

169 minus above 14 leaves 155 for conversion in 1949

Me: Thanks… and none of the Peter Witts were used in one-man service, right?

Andre: Redone then scrapped replaced by postwars?

Me: Didn’t this have to do with the decision not to one-man 63rd Street? Or was it simply that mixing the Sedans with PCCs would have slowed things down?

Andre: Supposedly one of the aldermen along 63rd pitched a bitch about the sedans after he saw one. Thought they would be “unsafe”. Not sure on what grounds, suspect had to do with center door arrangement. But plan was dropped and sedans scrapped.

Me: Thanks!

Now Available On Compact Disc

RRCNSLR
Railroad Record Club – North Shore Line Rarities 1955-1963
# of Discs – 1
Price: $15.99
Railroad Record Club – North Shore Line Rarities 1955-1963
Newly rediscovered and digitized after 60 years, most of these audio recordings of Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee interurban trains are previously unheard, and include on-train recordings, run-bys, and switching. Includes both Electroliners, standard cars, and locomotives. Recorded between 1955 and 1963 on the Skokie Valley Route and Mundelein branch. We are donating $5 from the sale of each disc to Kenneth Gear, who saved these and many other original Railroad Record Club master tapes from oblivion.
Total time – 73:14
[/caption]

RRC-OMTT
Railroad Record Club Traction Rarities – 1951-58
From the Original Master Tapes
# of Discs- 3
Price: $24.99

Railroad Record Club Traction Rarities – 1951-58
From the Original Master Tapes
Our friend Kenneth Gear recently acquired the original Railroad Record Club master tapes. These have been digitized, and we are now offering over three hours of 1950s traction audio recordings that have not been heard in 60 years.
Properties covered include:
Potomac Edison (Hagerstown & Frederick), Capital Transit, Altoona & Logan Valley, Shaker Heights Rapid Transit, Pennsylvania Railroad, Illinois Terminal, Baltimore Transit, Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto, St. Louis Public Transit, Queensboro Bridge, Third Avenue El, Southern Iowa Railway, IND Subway (NYC), Johnstown Traction, Cincinnati Street Railway, and the Toledo & Eastern
$5 from the sale of each set will go to Kenneth Gear, who has invested thousands of dollars to purchase all the remaining artifacts relating to William A. Steventon’s Railroad Record Club of Hawkins, WI. It is very unlikely that he will ever be able to recoup his investment, but we support his efforts at preserving this important history, and sharing it with railfans everywhere.
Disc One
Potomac Edison (Hagerstown & Frederick):
01. 3:45 Box motor #5
02. 3:32 Box motor #5, May 24, 1953
03. 4:53 Engine whistle signals, loco #12, January 17, 1954
04. 4:13 Loco #12
Capital Transit:
05. 0:56 PCC car 1557, Route 20 – Cabin John line, July 19, 1953
06. 1:43
Altoona & Logan Valley:
07. 4:00 Master Unit car #74, August 8, 1953
Shaker Heights Rapid Transit:
08. 4:17 Car 306 (ex-AE&FRE), September 27, 1953
09. 4:04
10. 1:39
Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1s:
11. 4:35 August 27, 1954
12. 4:51
Illinois Terminal:
13. 5:02 Streamliner #300, northward from Edwardsville, February 14, 1955
14. 12:40 Car #202 (ex-1202), between Springfield and Decatur, February 1955
Baltimore Transit:
15. 4:56 Car 5706, January 16, 1954
16. 4:45 Car 5727, January 16, 1954
Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto:
17. 4:19 Interurbans #83 and #80, October 1954
18. 5:20 #80, October 1954
Total time: 79:30
Disc Two
St. Louis Public Service:
01. 4:34 PCCs #1708, 1752, 1727, 1739, December 6, 1953
Queensboro Bridge Company (New York City):
02. 5:37 Cars #606, 605, and 601, December 31, 1954
03. 5:17
Third Avenue El (New York City):
04. 5:07 December 31. 1954
05. 4:47 Cars #1797, 1759, and 1784 at 59th Street, December 31, 1954
Southern Iowa Railway:
06. 4:46 Loco #400, August 17, 1955
07. 5:09 Passenger interurban #9
IND Subway (New York City):
08. 8:40 Queens Plaza station, December 31, 1954
Last Run of the Hagerstown & Frederick:
09. 17:34 Car #172, February 20, 1954 – as broadcast on WJEJ, February 21, 1954, with host Carroll James, Sr.
Total time: 61:31
Disc Three
Altoona & Logan Valley/Johnstown Traction:
01. 29:34 (Johnstown Traction recordings were made August 9, 1953)
Cincinnati Street Railway:
02. 17:25 (Car 187, Brighton Car House, December 13, 1951– regular service abandoned April 29, 1951)
Toledo & Eastern:
03. 10:36 (recorded May 3-7, 1958– line abandoned July 1958)
Capital Transit:
04. 16:26 sounds recorded on board a PCC (early 1950s)
Total time: 74:02
Total time (3 discs) – 215:03

The Trolley Dodger On the Air
We appeared on WGN radio in Chicago last November, discussing our book Building Chicago’s Subways on the Dave Plier Show. You can hear our 19-minute conversation here.
Chicago, Illinois, December 17, 1938– Secretary Harold Ickes, left, and Mayor Edward J. Kelly turn the first spadeful of earth to start the new $40,000,000 subway project. Many thousands gathered to celebrate the starting of work on the subway.
Order Our New Book Building Chicago’s Subways

There were three subway anniversaries in 2018 in Chicago:
60 years since the West Side Subway opened (June 22, 1958)
75 years since the State Street Subway opened (October 17, 1943)
80 years since subway construction started (December 17, 1938)
To commemorate these anniversaries, we have written a new book, Building Chicago’s Subways.

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

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101 Dalmatians

April 11, 2019April 14, 2019David Sadowski 21 Comments

CSL prewar PCC 4022 heads west on Madison Street in the late 1940s. It is signed for the Madison-Fifth branch line. Fifth Avenue is an angle street that heads southwest. Service on the branch line terminated at the Garfield Park “L” station at Pulaski Road. Several parts of Fifth Avenue have been truncated since streetcars stopped running there in early 1954. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

It has been nearly two months since our last post, but we are back with a bevy of classic traction photos for your consideration.

Things have been quite busy of late, as we worked as an election judge for two recent elections (three in the last six months). Although you have not seen a new post for a while, work behind the scenes continued. We scanned hundreds of images, and many needed extra help in Photoshop.

When you see as post such as this, it is like the tip of an iceberg. For every image we share, there are others that, for whatever reason, do not make the grade, as well as others that are being stored up in an inventory of images, waiting for their moment in the sun.

Leopards, they say, never change their spots… but I assume you can identify certain breeds of dogs, such as Dalmatians, by the location of their spots. Spots factor into our images in any number of ways. Our readers often help us determine just which spot a picture was taken at. And we often have to do spot removal, a tedious practice, on old images.

Brian Wilson has his Pet Sounds, and we have our own pet images. Today’s batch are particular favorites, but each one is a different animal– a horse of a different color, you could say. You should have seen some of these pictures before we got hold of them and gave them triage. On second thought, just stick to the finished product you see here.

There are many, many hours of work that go into each post, and money too. When you see an image here, figure that it cost at least $10 on average to obtain it. We are fortunate that some of our readers have shared images from their extensive collections with us.

In particular, today’s post benefited tremendously from the generosity of both William Shapotkin and Jeffrey L. Wien, both of whom recently celebrated birthdays.

So, we are calling this post 101 Dalmatians, as we have at least that many new pictures here, and after working on them for so long, we are starting to see spots everywhere we look. We hope you will appreciate our modest efforts, and we will be back soon with more posts.

-David Sadowski

Our best wishes also go out to Ray DeGroote, the dean of Chicago railfans at age 88, who was recently injured in a fall. We wish him a speedy recovery. If anyone can do it at that age, Ray can.

Recent Finds

A bird’s-eye view of the Wells Street Terminal used by the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin interurban on September 19, 1953. The following day, CA&E stopped running trains downtown, and their track connection with the CTA was severed forever in suburban Forest Park. There is a similar image, taken in 1960, showing the same terminal, or what was left after the CTA built a new track connection to the Loop elevated through it in 1955. You can find that in my book Building Chicago’s Subways.

On July 27, 1962, a CTA Douglas Park “B” train pulls away from us at the Racine stop on the Congress rapid transit line., then only four years old. The train will go downtown through the Dearborn Subway, and then out to Logan Square via the Milwaukee Avenue tube.

On May 28, 1978, photographer William D. Lloyd caught this picture of CTA Historic cars 4271-4272 on the north side “L”. Now nearing the century mark, they are still on the property today. Here, they were only about five years out of regular service.

On January 26, 1964, approximately one year after the North Shore Line quit, the two Electroliners were rechristened as Liberty Liners on the Red Arrow’s 13-mile line between Philadelphia and Norristown. In the distance, we see a pair of early 1930s Bullet cars, which had a storied history of their own.

MBTA (Boston) ex-Dallas double-end PCC 3336 at Mattapan yards on December 5, 1976. (Ed McKernan Photo)

Two CRT Met cars at the Laramie Shops in 1947. (John Gibb Smith, Jr. Photo)

In the last couple years of red car service in Chicago, which ended in 1954, the CTA painted a few of the older streetcars green. It was not an attractive color for them. Here, we see inbound car 6172 jogging from one side of Lake Street to another via Pine Avenue. To this day, tracks are still visible under the viaduct. At this point, streetcars crossed the Lake Street “L”, which ran on the ground here until 1962.

CSL 1466 was used as a training car for the three river tunnels. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 173X (full number not visible) is heading west on Madison Street in the 1930s. The Civic Opera House, built by Samuel Insull in 1929, is visible at rear. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

A maintenance of way car along the overhead section of the North Side “L”, exact date and location unknown. Jeff Wien adds that this is: “Wilson Avenue, freight connection to Buena Yards, probably in the early 50s.”

Laurel Line car 31 is at the Plains substation on August 3, 1952. Edward Skuchas writes: “I believe the locations of the two Laurel Line photos are incorrect. The top photo is Pittston. The lower photo may be the Plains sub-station. West Pittston is on the other side of the Susquehanna River, and the Laurel Line did not go there.”

Laurel Line car 39 is at the Plains sub-station on December 28, 1952, shortly before abandonment.

The interior of Lehigh Valley Transit car 1007, showing its leather bucket seats, which were popular when this car was built for the Cincinnati and Lake Erie in the early 1930s.

Conductors on a Humboldt Park “L” train, circa 1907-15.

A Loop-bound Metropolitan “L” train, circa 1907-15.

The Chicago Surface Lines used trailers during the 1920s, as a way of dealing with increasing crowds of riders. But with the advent of the Great Depression, ridership fell sharply, and the trailers were no longer needed. Some thought was given to reviving them during World War II, but this did not happen. Here, 1756 pulls 8049. Don’s Rail Photos notes, “8056 was built by Brill in 1921, #21272. It became a shed at 77th and scrapped on July 17, 1957.” 1756 was a “169” or Broadway-State car. Again, Don Ross: “1756 was built by CSL in 1923. It was rebuilt as one-man in 1949.”

CTA prewar PCC 7028 on private right-of-way at the south end of Route 4 – Cottage Grove, in June 1953.

CTA Sedan (aka Peter Witt) 3848 on priate right-of-way at the south end of Route 4 – Cottage Grove in June 1952. Here, the line ran parallel to the Illinois Central Electric suburban service, now the Metra Electric.

After the Chicago Transit Authority retired the last of the wooden “L” cars in 1957, some were used for a few more years in work service. Here, a Met car has been renumbered as S-308 at Skokie Shops.

CTA single cat unit 23 is outbound on the Skokie Swift at Niles Center Road on August 20, 1970.

CTA single car unit 26 on the open-cut section of the Skokie Swift in August 1978.

CTA postwar PCC 4337, built by Pullman, heads south on State Street in the early 1950s.

An outbound CTA Douglas Park train ascends the ramp that will take from the Congress (now Eisenhower) Expressway to the old “L” structure in the mid-1960s. This ramp is not used much now, as Douglas trains, now renamed the Pink Line, have been rerouted to the Lake Street “L” via the Paulina Connector. (Mark D. Meyer Photo)

I ought this Red Border Kodachrome slide, which dates to the early 1950s, thinking perhaps it might e the old Park Theater on Chicago’s west side (on Lake near Austin). But after studying the image for a while, I am inclined to think it’s somewhere else. While the facade looks similar to the actual Park Theater, it is not identical. There should be streetcar tracks visible– the movie theater closed in 1952, about two years before the streetcar quit. And the theater on Lake Street at Austin Boulevard did not have a streetlight such as the one seen at right. There was a light attached to a line pole that held the trolley wire– a line pole not visible in this picture. That, plus the rounded nature of the signage, which I have never seen in any other pictures of the Park, tell me that this is not it. But we have in the past posted several pictures of streetcars near the actual theater. If you type “park theater” or “lake austin” in the search window on our page, these various pictures will come up.

CSL 1039 at Wabash and Lake in June 1947. Signed for the Indiana-Lincoln through route #3, it is southbound, and headed to Indiana and 51st.

CSL 6284 on Wabash at Roosevelt Road on June 13, 1947. Although the car is full of people, for some reason the side sign says Not In Service.

A two-car CTA train of 4000s at right, in Evanston shuttle service, heads southbound approaching Howard in the 1950s.

TMER&T 1121, on a December 4, 1949 fantrip on the North Shore Line.

CTA historic cars 4271-4272 at McCormick Boulevard (Yellow Line aka Skokie Swift) on July 16, 1989. (Bruce C. Nelson Photo)

The CTA has a yard for the Green Line (formerly the Lake Street “L”) just west of the Harlem Avenue terminal in suburban Forest Park. Here, various cars in the 2000-series are seen, along with a Metra commuter train on the adjacent Union Pacific West Line. This picture was most likely taken during the 1990s. (Bruce C. Nelson Photo)

CTA gate car 2318 is parked along the outer portion of the Douglas Park line in February 1950.

Chicago Rapid Transit Company gate car 305 is seen on the Loop “L” in the 1940s, signed as a Wilson Avenue Local.

The presence of double track would seem to indicate that this picture of a South Shore Line train was taken in East Chicago, Indiana in the 1950s. The street running through the middle of town was replaced by a new section running parallel to the Indiana Toll Road in 1956.

CTA Holiday Trains have become an annual tradition. Photographer Bruce C. Nelson captured this one on December 2, 2017.

Chicago Surface Lines red Pullman 426 is most likely running on Route 65 – Grand, as it is signed to go to Grand and Armitage. Chances are, this photo was taken circa 1939-40, and shows temporary trackage for construction of Chicago’s first subways.

October 27, 1962 was the last day of ground-level operation on the CTA Lake Street “L”. The following day, service was relocated to the adjacent Chicago & North Western embankment. Here, we see a pair of 4000s heading west on South Boulevard at Kenilworth.

After serving Chicago for many years, some of the original CTA “flat door” 6000s had a second life on Philadelphia’s Norristown High-Speed Line. 6089-6090 are approaching Radnor on April 10, 1987.

Here is a view of the old Tower 18 on Chicago’s Loop “L”, when this was the world’s busiest railroad crossing. The old Loop ran both tracks in only one direction, but this changed in 1969, when the CTA wanted to connect the Lake Street “L” with the new Dan Ryan line. Therefore, the old tower had to go, as it was situated right where the new tracks had to go.

Both CTA and CA&E trains are visible in this July 8, 1953 photo taken at Laramie on the Garfield Park “L”. Just a little over two months later, the CA&E interurban cut back service to Forest Park, a few miles west of here (and behind the photographer).

The Milwaukee Rapid Transit & Speedrail Company’s car 60, seen here in 1950, was a Cincinnati curved-side car. The ill-fated attempt to keep electric transit service going in Milwaukee was doomed to failure, once a horrific head-on collision took the lives of several people.

CA&E 425 is passing over Union Station in this undated photo. Trains going more or less straight would end up at the Wells Street Terminal, while the tracks in the background leading off to the right connected to the Loop “L” Van Buren. When Lower Wacker Drive was being built, this necessitated tearing down this second connection to thee Loop, and building a new one through the second floor of Wells Terminal. The switchover between the two took place in 1955.

Riders at the old Laramie stop on the CTA’s Garfield Park “L” in 1947. Met cars are seen in storage in the background. (John Gibb Smith, Jr. Photo)

A CRT gate car, running in service on the old Garfield Park “L” in 1947. This is the Laramie stop. (Charles R. Griffin Photo)

This CTA brochure, dated July 1949, explains the changes that were coming from the CTA’s plan to revise north-south “L” and subway service. This included A/B “skip stop” service and making the Evanston branch a shuttle.

From the Wien-Criss Archive:

One of the two North Shore Line Electroliners on Chicago’s South Side “L” on February 17, 1962. (Wien-Criss Archive)

A North Shore Line Electroliner barrels through, having just crossed under the EJ&E, on January 12, 1963, a little over a week before the end of service. (Wien-Criss Archive)

A North Shore Line Electroliner on June 1, 1962. (Wien-Criss Archive)

A North Shore Line Electroliner at Edison Court on February 17, 1962. (Wien-Criss Archive)

Chicago Surface Lines experimental pre-PCC car 7001 at 77th and Vincennes in October 1956. It is a shame that this historic car, which ran in Chicago from 1934 to 1944, was not saved. (Wien-Criss Archive)

A Milwaukee streetcar, presumably on Route 10, in the 1950s. (Wien-Criss Archive)

Interior shots were not easy for photographers on September 4, 1962, when Robert F. Collins took this picture of the North Shore Line’s Milwaukee terminal. (Wien-Criss Archive)

Don’s Rail Photos: “E223, sweeper, was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1908 as CCRys E23. It was renumbered E223 in 1913 and became CSL E223 in 1914. It was sold to Illinois Railway Museum on August 29, 1958.” (Wien-Criss Archive)

On March 17, 1957 the late James J. Buckley caught this terrific 3/4 view of a Chicago, Aurora & Elgin freight train at Lakewood. (Wien-Criss Archive)

It’s June 1963, several months after the CTA elevated the Lake Street “L” onto the Chicago & North Western embankment. A four-car train made up of “circus wagons,” the fan’s name for experimental high-speed cars, is making a rare appearance at Harlem Avenue, the end of the line. This view looks east. (Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA postwar PCC 7237 is running southbound on Clark Street in the late 1950s. (Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA postwar PCC 7196 is at 81st and Halsted, the southern end of Route 22 – Clark-Wentworth. (Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA 7195 is southbound on Clark at Washington. (Heier Industrial Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA red Pullman 144, which is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. (Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA PCC 7187 on Clark Street on September 6, 1957, the last day of street railway service on Chicago’s north side. (Charles H. Thorpe Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)

On September 6, 1957, CTA 4372 pulls into the turnaround loop at Clark and Howard. (Charles H. Thorpe Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA 7189 is southbound at Clark and Ohio on September 6, 1957. (Charles H. Thorpe Photo, Wien-Criss Archive) Daniel Joseph notes, “The Hotel Wacker was at Clark and Huron.”

On September 6, 1957, Charles H. Thorpe took this picture of CTA 7139, the last pull-out from Devon Station (car barn). (Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA 4379 is on north Clark Street on September 6, 1957. (Charles H. Thorpe Photo, Wien-Criss Archive) Daniel Joseph adds, “This streetcar is traveling southbound to 81st & Halsted (as the destination sign states) somewhere near Clark and Glenlake.” (This is, however, on the northern portion of Clark Street as we stated.)

CTA 7195 is on Halsted Street, near the south end of Route 22 – Clark-Wentworth. (Heier Industrial Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA Sedan (aka Peter Witt) 3360 is running Route 4 – Cottage Grove, circa 1951-52. (Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA 7154 is near Limits Station (car barn), near 2700 N. Clark Street, on September 6, 1957. (Charles H. Thorpe Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA steeple cab S-343, a “yard shifter,” serving the rapid transit system, is at 64th and Prairie. Don’s Rail Photos notes, “S-343 was built by Chicago City Ry in 1909 as Chicago City Ry C50. It was renumbered L202 in 1913 and became CSL L202 in 1914. It was rebuilt as S-343 in 1959 and acquired by Railway Equipment Leasing & Investment Co in 1979. It was acquired by Fox River Trolley Museum in 1983 and restored as L202.” (Wien-Criss Archive)

Chicago Surface Lines crane car X-4 at the Illinois Railway Museum. Don’s Rail Photos says,”X4, derrick, was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1910 as CRys 2. It was renumbered N2 in 1913 and became CSL N2 in 1914. It was rebuilt as X4 in 1947 and rebuilt as S344 in 1958. It was sold to Electric Railway Historical Society in 1963 and donated to Illinois Railway Museum in 1973.” (Wien-Criss Archive)

CTA postwar PCC 7220, a product of the St. Louis Car Company, on Route 22. (Wien-Criss Archive)

From the William Shapotkin Collection:

CSL 5301 is at Lake and Ashland, running on Route 9, in April 1937. Streetcars were not permitted on boulevards, and the section of Ashland between Lake and Roosevelt was just such a boulevard. Therefore, in that stretch, Ashland streetcars jogged over the nearby Paulina. (William Shapotkin Collection)

This picture was taken on a Central Electric Railfans’ Association fantrip on the Illinois Central Electric on April 24, 1966. (William Shapotkin Collection)

The slide mount for this had the word “junk” written on it, but I don’t agree. This is also from that same April 24, 1966 fantrip. (William Shapotkin Collection)

A photo stop at Washington Park race track on the April 24, 1966 CERA fantrip on the IC. (William Shapotkin Collection)

Illinois Central Electric 1427 and 1186 on the Washington Park Branch on the April 24, 1966 CERA fantrip. Note that the motor unit in this pair faces north. (William Shapotkin Collection)

The Illinois Central Electric at Blue Island in June 1978. (William Shapotkin Collection)

This slide mount has George Strombeck written on it, but I am not sure whether that is the name of the photographer, or the man in the picture. Either way, this shows a Milwaukee Road commuter train in Downtown Chicago on April 21, 1973. (William Shapotkin Collection)

The GM&O “Abe Lincoln” at 18th Street in Chicago on April 22, 1966. (William Shapotkin Collection)

Ryan Tower

Photos of Ryan Tower, where the North Shore Line crossed the Chicago & North Western, are scarce, as this was a somewhat remote location for fans. But thanks to the good offices of Bill Shapotkin, here are several such views, along with his usual contemporary photos showing what the area looks like today.

Milwaukee County, WI – A pair of CNS&M cars (the “Silverliner” at left is on a fantrip) pass one another at Ryan Tower – crossing with the C&NW “New Line.” Note that the once-double-tracked C&NW is now ut a single-track line through here (the one-time westbound main has been removed). The view looks north. (William Shapotkin Collection)

Ryan Tower, WI – TM interurban #1121, in fantrip service, heads southbound on the CNS&M as it crosses over the C&NW “New Line” at Ryan Tower on December 4, 1949. The view looks north. (William Shapotkin Collection)

Milwaukee County, WI – A southbound CNS&M “Silverliner” (in fantrip service) is about to cross over the (now single-track) C&NW “New Line” at Ryan Tower. View looks north. (William Shapotkin Collection)

On the stretch between Milwaukee limits and Racine station, a North Shore train crosses North Western freight route at Ryan Road. (A. C. Kalmbach Photo, William Shapotkin Collection)

Milwaukee County, WI – In 1958, a southbound CNS&M passenger train approaches the crossing with C&NW “New Line” at Ryan Road (that’s Ryan Tower at left). The view looks north. (William Shapotkin Collection)

Near the Milwaukee County line, a North Shore car crosses the C&NW freight line at an acute angle. (A. C. Kalmbach Photo, William Shapotkin Collection)

Milwaukee County, WI – Looking N/NW (timetable NB) on long-abandoned right-of-way of CNS&M from “Old Ryan Road,” (formerly Ryan Road). The CNS&M once crossed the C&NW (now UP) “New Line” – visible at right at “Ryan Tower,” located behind the photographer on the south side of the road. Photo by William Shapotkin on September 20, 2003.

(William Shapotkin Photo)

Milwaukee, WI – Looking SB on UP (ex-C&NW) “New Line” from “Old Ryan Road” (new Ryan Road is visible overhead in the distance). This once double-tracked line once crossed the long-abandoned CNS&M at “Ryan Tower,” located south of the Roadway. Photo by William Shapotkin on September 6, 2003.

C&WT 104 at the end of the line in LaGrange. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 164 on Lake Street. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 145 is westbound on Lake Street at Harlem Avenue. To the left is the Marshall Field & Company store, a local landmark. (William Shapotkin Collection)

This picture is not very sharp, but it does show a C&WT streetcar stopped at the south parking lot of Brookfield Zoo, sometime in the 1940s. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 133 has changed ends at Madison and Austin, and is ready to head west. Across the street from Oak Park into Chicago, riders could change to a Chicago Surface Lines PCC for a fast ride into the city. (William Shapotkin Collection)

This shows westbound C&WT car 108, signed Berwyn-Lyons, on Stanley having just passed Oak Park Avenue circa 1941. At right is the Berwyn stop on the Chicago Burlington & Quincy. Today, Pace bus route 302 runs here, and commuter train service is under the auspices of Metra. (William Shapotkin Collection)

I am not sure of where this C&WT photo was taken. (William Shapotkin Collection) Patrick Cunningham: “The unidentified C&WT photo looks like it was taken just east of the Stone Ave. station on the CB&Q in LaGrange. The view is east. If you look at the prior photo of the end of the C&WT in LaGrange (which was at Brainard Ave.), you’ll note that the line was single track. This appears to be a passing siding or layover point.” On the other hand. Michael Murray writes, “I believe the 7th C&WT picture is looking east at Harlem and Stanley Aves. Page 128 of the Buckley book shows the signal on the pole, the track alignment, the CBQ shelter, and the CBQ signal in a photo near where yours was taken. I originally thought the same about the C&WT picture, but it’s Berwyn, not La Grange. The Buckley book confirms the location. ” Charles R. Vlk: “The “I am not sure of where this C&WT photo was taken. (William Shapotkin Collection)” photo is looking East on Stanley Avenue where the single track line crossing the Burlington at Harlem Avenue goes to double track. Harlem Avenue is behind the camera to the West.”

C&WT 112 is eastbound at Stanley and Oak Park Avenue. The CB&Q Berwyn stop is at left. (William Shapotkin Collection)

We have seen this picture of C&WT 141 before (it is also in my book Chicago Trolleys), but why pass up another chance to see it again? This is the bridge where the LaGrange line crossed the DesPlaines River, and I believe we are looking the the southeast. (William Shapotkin Collection)

I assume these are the C&WT tracks in LaGrange. (William Shapotkin Collection) Michael Murray: “I’m skeptical that photo 10 is on the La Grange line. There wasn’t any single track on the line similar to the one in the photo. My guess is perhaps the Berwyn-Lyons line? Ogden Ave. on the right, and this is the easternmost passing track, which, according to the Buckley book, was west of Harlem. Note that the line poles are only briefly wide of the main “march” of poles into the distance.”

A C&WT streetcar in LaGrange. (William Shapotkin Collection) Michael Murray: “Photo 11, which you have captioned as “A C&WT streetcar in LaGrange” is found on page 129 of the Buckley book, and is captioned: “Between Harlem Ave and the Des Plaines River, the Berwyn-Lyons streetcar line was built on private right-of-way on the south side of Ogden Ave. It was abandoned October 26, 1933 because the land was wanted to widen Ogden Ave. The railway here was single track with two passing sidings. Car 133 was photographed on the passing siding near the Des Plaines River in October 1933, a few days before abandonment.”

C&WT 111. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 105 on Cermak Road. (William Shapotkin Collection)

An unidentified C&WT car, probably in the 1930s. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 107. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 165 is at Lake and Austin, the east end of the line, in suburban Oak Park. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 158 in LaGrange. Not sure why this section of track is blocked off, except that perhaps it is due to the tracks being unstable, due to the nearby excavation going on. (William Shapotkin Collection) Patrick Cunningham adds, “C&WT 158 is just east of LaGrange Road. In the background, you can just make out the Jackson Moving and Storage sign on the building with the towers. The building is there, the towers are gone. Probably about here: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8166104,-87.8687401,3a,75y,70.46h,80.48t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1st0yuoCYe7FXm6EGEmBkuQA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1

From a high vantage point, here we see C&WT 112 has just turned from Ridgeland onto Stanley in suburban Berwyn, and is heading west, just north of the CB&Q, which it will cross at Harlem Avenue one mile west of here. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 132 on Cermak Road in the late 1930s. (William Shapotkin Collection)

C&WT 105 at the Harlem and Cermak car barn. (William Shapotkin Photo)

C&WT 111 on Cermak Road. (William Shapotkin Photo)

The Trolley Dodger On the Air

We appeared on WGN radio in Chicago last November, discussing our book Building Chicago’s Subways on the Dave Plier Show. You can hear our 19-minute conversation here.

Order Our New Book Building Chicago’s Subways

There were three subway anniversaries in 2018 in Chicago:
60 years since the West Side Subway opened (June 22, 1958)
75 years since the State Street Subway opened (October 17, 1943)
80 years since subway construction started (December 17, 1938)

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

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

Bibliographic information:

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

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

Building Chicago’s Subways is in stock and now available for immediate shipment. Order your copy today! All copies purchased through The Trolley Dodger will be signed by the author.

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

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Reader Showcase, 9-9-2018

September 9, 2018September 18, 2018David Sadowski 7 Comments

This photo purports to show the actual last run on Milwaukee’s ill-fated Speedrail interurban on June 30, 1951. However, according to Larry Sakar, author of Speedrail: Milwaukee’s Last Rapid Transit?, “The last run to Waukesha which left Milwaukee at a little after 8:00 pm and returned to Milwaukee at 10:08 pm, 2 minutes ahead of schedule, was handled by duplex 37-38. The final round trip to Hales Corners was handled by curved side car 63, not 66. 66 did run on the last day, but it was by no means the final run.” Chances are this photo was at least taken on the last day. The line could not survive the repercussions of a terrible head-on collision in 1950, and Milwaukee area officials wanted to use the interurban’s right-of-way, which it did not own, for a new highway. Don’s Rail Photos: “66 was built by Cincinnati Car in August 1929, #3025, as Dayton & Troy Ry 203. It was returned to Cincinnati Car in 1932, and in 1938 it was sold to Lehigh Valley Transit as 1102. In 1949 it was sold to Speedrail, but was not rehabilitated until March 1951. But it only ran for 3 months before the line was abandoned and then scrapped in 1952.” (Photo by George Harris)

This post features many great contributions from our readers that we hope you will enjoy. Our sincere thanks go out to Larry Sakar, Miles Beitler, Jack Bejna, Jeffrey Haertlein, Kathryn Boyer, and Mitch Markovitz.

-David Sadowski

PS- Happy 88th birthday to two of my uncles, Raymond and Robert Wakefield, fraternal twins born September 10, 1930. They are my late mother’s younger brothers.

I hope they each have a wonderful day.

According to my mother’s memoirs, they were both first day riders on the new Chicago subway, which opened on October 17, 1943, nearly 75 years ago. My new book Building Chicago’s Subways, which will be released on October 1st, tells the story of how this came to be.

Larry Sakar writes:

Hi Dave,

Recently you asked if car 66 was the used for the last run to Hales Corners and back on MRT’s (Speedrail) last day, 6-30-51. As I said, the 66 did make at least one round trip to Hales Corners that day. The first photo I am attaching shows it westbound at 85th St. The water tower in the background is at N. 84th St. The 84th St. stop on the Rapid Transit Line was adjacent to it. The tower is still there today. No trace of the station or the right of way exists. Car 66 would be adjacent to the present day Honey Creek business park which would be at right.

As I also mentioned car 63 made the last round trip to Hales Corners and back shortly before midnight. Here we see it earlier in the evening of 6-30-51. In the second photo the motorman has just called for orders at the call in booth you see at right It was adjacent to the West Jct. stop just beyond the platform on the single track .

In the last photo car 63 has turned on Hillcrest loop and is laying over before returning to Milwaukee. Note some of photographer Robert Townley’s equipment sitting on the platform. The poor motorman looks rather forlorn. As of tomorrow 7-1-51 he will be unemployed.

The Hales Corners station was located on the southeast corner of Highway 100 (S.108th St.) and W. Janesville Rd. (Hwy. 24). The northbound curb lane of Highway 100 now occupies the former r.o.w. Except for the power lines, no traces of the line can be found today. The Hales Corners loop which was located about a half mile or so southwest of the station is now the site of a Menards store. For anyone unfamiliar with Menards, it’s a home improvement chain like Home Depot.

These photos and others including the last round trip to Waukesha were taken by Robert Townley. His capture of Speedrail’s last day were somewhat of an unplanned event. Remember this was during the height of the Korean War and guys were being drafted or were enlisting. Bob had enlisted in the Navy in order to avoid being drafted into the Army. His enlistment point was somewhere south of Chicago but definitely not Great Lakes Naval Training Station. I have forgotten where he said it was located.

Anyway, Bob was in Council Bluffs, Iowa taking pictures of whatever traction system they had in that city. He happened to overhear a couple of railfans mention that the next day 6-30-51 was Speedrail’s last. He had planned to visit Milwaukee later on, but now that Speedrail was about to shut down it became a priority. The next day he boarded a bus for Peoria, Illinois where he caught the Rock Island’s Peoria Rocket for Chicago. Upon arriving in Chicago in the afternoon he made his way to the Adams & Wabash “L” station where he took the next North Shore train to Milwaukee. He arrived in the late afternoon and headed from the NSL station at 6th & Michigan to the Public Service Building. He rode the trip to Hales Corners you see photographed. I’m sure he took either a Hales Corners local or a West Jct. train and got off at 84th St. which is how he was able to capture car 66 bound for Hales Corners.

One other interesting coincidence. Bob, who is from Columbia, CA. (that’s in Gold Rush country east of Sacramento) met up with another Milwaukee traction fan/photographer – Don Ross! It was while both men were serving in Korea. Small world!

I mentioned the Hales Corners station site at Highway 100 & Janesville Rd. I took the attached photo around 1995 but it really doesn’t look much different today. You are looking north along Highway 100. The curb lane is where the TM r.o.w. would have been.

The station stood right in front of the traffic light you see center right. Janesville Rd. was only a two lane highway in the days of TM and Speedrail. Where you see the car on the right edge of the photo there was only grass. Where you see the two cars across from it was the extent of Janesville Rd. back then. None of the buildings behind those two cars were there then either. The grassy median you see dividing the north and south lanes of Highway 100 was also not there back then. The highway consisted of the lane where you see the dark colored car passing the second light pole on the left, and the lanes on the other side of that median.

Today there is no transit service to this area. At one time MCTS Rt 28-Highway 100 did go all the way to Hales Corners. Subsequent budget cuts saw it cut back to the MCTS Hales Corners Park ‘n’ Ride lot which ironically is not in Hales Corners!

For anyone confused, highway 100 goes by three different names, depending what part of it you’re traveling on. It is S. 108th St. to the point that south streets end and north streets begin. Then, it’s technically N. 108th St. It is Highway 100 from Franklin which is south of Hales Corners to Wauwatosa and Brown Deer. At that point, Highway 100 becomes an east-west and it is also known as Brown Deer Rd. On the far south side, it also turns to running east-west and it is Ryan Rd., the same Ryan Rd. crossed by the North Shore Line (but way, way east in the suburb of Oak Creek). The idea was to make it a sort of belt line highway around Milwaukee. Want more confusion? Through parts of Wauwatosa, it is also known as Lovers Lane Rd.

Larry

PS- Here are three additional pictures of the TM Watertown line abandoned r.o.w. from the point where street running in Oconomowoc ended and the p.r.o.w. heading for Watertown began. The one looking east to where eastbound trains entered the street on Oconomowoc’s west side was taken to try and match the picture of the same spot on p.261 of the TM book. I took these in the summer of 1976.

Abandoned TM r.o.w. heading toward Watertown from Oconomowoc in 1976.

Abandoned TM r.o.w. heading west from end of street running in Oconomowoc in 1976.

TM r.o.w. entering street on west side of Oconomoc, looking east in 1976.

Miles Beitler writes:

Here are a couple of Chicago and North Western photos that I took in the late 1970s or early 1980s at the old Dee Road station in Park Ridge. The old station was torn down and moved one block west some time in the 1990s. (Editor’s note: Bill Wulfert says the new station was dedicated in 2006- see his Comment below.)

I located a few more photos but unfortunately only one has a locomotive in view. The rest only show tracks or stations. I’ll keep looking — maybe I can find more.

The two Metra photos show the Amtrak/Milwaukee District tracks approaching Union Station. The photo of the Lake Street L was taken near Lake and Des Plaines on the near west side. All of these photos were taken circa March 2001.

The shots of the downtown Des Plaines C&NW station are late 1970s (pre-Metra) and although no trains are shown, the photos show the tracks running through the station as well as two buses (one Nortran and the second RTA) across the street. Both bus operators later were merged into the PACE suburban bus system.

Jack Bejna writes:

In my continuing search for CA&E photos and information I came across this interesting item from the John Stephenson Company describing quite a ride with brand new CA&E Car 32.

Here is another batch of Michigan photos. I believe these photos were taken circa 1921 as they were in the notebooks containing DUR photographs used for an audit for an upcoming fare increase request.

These photos don’t include the location where they were taken, and again, since I’m not familiar with Michigan towns and cities, I don’t have any idea where the pictures were taken, with some exceptions. It is interesting that many non-DUR photos were in the notebooks; perhaps the photographer was a railfan!

As far as I know the DUR triple car 5000 was unique, and it was used to accommodate large numbers of Ford employees at shift change.

The Benton Harbor & St Joseph photos are not the best but I’ve included several shots taken in winter. As you can see, the BH&StJ served the Graham & Morton Steamship Lines, but the steamship business was not enough to maintain the line and it quit in the mid-thirties.

I hope that readers of your fine blog may help to identify locations of some of the photographs.

Detroit United Railway

Benton Harbor & St Joseph Railway

Jeffrey Haertlein writes:

The Wisconsin Dells MINIRAMA was an O scale layout in operation as a tourist attraction from 1960 thru 1969. It was a great train layout, one in which I marveled at for decades, even after it closed.

Long story short, after many years I was able to purchase quite a bit of it starting in 2005. It was sold to a guy in Milwaukee (130 mi.), and now a good amount of it is only 15 miles away from where it started.

I’ll attach a few pictures of the attraction. Sure wish I could find more of it.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Kathryn Boyer writes:

I am an art historian, and I am trying to find someone who knows enough about trains of the 1930s to help with some specific information related to the Edward Hopper painting Compartment C, Car 193, painted in 1938. (See above.)

After looking at some websites and a YouTube clip with John Smatlak, it seems as though the painting rather accurately presents many of the features of a McKeever Pullman Sleeper. The lamp in the corner does not seem to correspond to any of the images I’ve seen, but the other elements are fairly similar.

I was wondering if someone is able to pinpoint more specifically
– the train(s)/cars that this image most closely represents
– when it was first made
– how long it was out in circulation
-and what do you notice in the painting that deviates from actuality?
That is, basic information about the train/car.

But I’m also wondering if you know if there is a place to seek out information about facts such as
– how much would a ticket on this train/in this car cost (including the sleeping berth)?

Also, are you aware of any information put together or research done on the profiles of passengers of this era, for example, the number of men and women and their socio-economic status.

I appreciate any leads or directions as well as photos and documents that you can provide.

I am no expert on Pullman sleepers, but let’s hope some of our readers can help you out, thanks.

I posted this picture to Facebook, and this led to some discussion with Mitch Markovitz. He is an accomplished artist who has been researching both Edward Hopper and the Pullman Company for the last 60 years. Here is what Mitch has to say:

As a railroad historian, and with Edward Hopper’s work having a great influence on my own i can say this. Hopper would never fly anywhere. His wife, Josephine, complained that on trips he spent much time in railroad yards painting engines. He has several great works that include Pullman equipment including “Pennsylvania Morning.” In most of his works his model was his wife. This is just your standard Pullman section sleeper of the time. Once during one of his only TV interviews he was on a Sunday morning program on Boston Public Television being interviewed by Brian O’Dougherity. Brian asked Hopper, “We noticed you came up to Boston by train today (instead of flying.) Isn’t that a bit old fashioned?” Hopper looked down for a moment, thought, and then replied, “No. It isn’t. I just didn’t feel like dying this morning.”

The art historian wants to know what the factual basis is for the painting, whether the artist made any changes… how much a train ticket would have cost, and the socio-economic status of train travelers in the 1930s.

The factual basis would be one of Hopper’s many trips by rail in a standard sleeping car. This accommodation, the section, was the least expensive one available. Used by people of middle income. This type of car would have had one or two “drawing rooms” at one end. More expensive priced accommodations for people that expected more privacy. A traveler in a section sleeper would have to use a general washroom at each end of the car for both shaving and brushing of teeth in the morning, and for the other prerequisites. Traveling salesmen used sections a lot. A traveler would pay the first class railroad fare, and then the appropriate Pullman accommodation fare in a separate ticket between the two stations. If one were to travel on a premiere train and desired a shower and the services of a barber they were available in the club car, front of the train. Please keep asking questions, I’m happy to answer.

Is this something that the average person could afford back then?

In general yes. But during the depression it would depend on the definition of “average.” In this era we saw the rise of the “All coach train.” The section sleeper was the bottom of services. If one were to travel on say the “Twentieth Century Limited,” with a premium schedule, a premium dining car, and a barber shop with a shower one would pay the rail fare, the Pullman accommodation fare, and then, on top an “extra fare,” which in today’s dollars would be an additional $100 or so. A successful artist who lived in a 4th floor walk-up apartment, and had a small cottage on Martha’s Vineyard could afford this accommodation. (Hopper was cheap by the way.)

“Pennsylvania Hotel,” 20″x30″ Pastel on sand paper, 1989. One of my works that people compare to those of Hopper.

The car depicted would be of heavyweight construction before streamliners. Into the late 1930s all private rooms began to rise in popularity aboard streamlined (modern) trains. Pictured below is a standard Pullman sleeper. There were the Pullman Manufacturing Company, who built many types of railroad cars, and “The PULLMAN Company,” who owned, operated, and maintained sleeping, parlor, lounge, and restaurant cars. Both companies were part of Pullman Inc.

Thanks… did Hopper, in this painting, change anything in the interior of the sleeping car for artistic license?

Everything seen is correct. Including the interior color. The only thing I could mention is the lamp. The shade would have had a golden yellow-orange color to it on a brass or bronze colored fixture.

From www.edwardhopper.net:

Hopper also took an interest in cars and trains. It is a pity he didn’t live long into the jet age, though we sense his shadow in many contemporary works. The artist was drawn to the introspective mood that travelling seems to put us into. He captured the atmosphere in half-empty carriages making their way across a landscape: the silence that reigns inside while the wheels beat in rhythm against the rails outside, the dreaminess fostered by the noise and the view from the windows – a dreaminess in which we seem to stand outside our normal selves and have access to thoughts and memories that may not emerge in more settled circumstances. The woman in Hopper’s Compartment C Car 1938 seems in such a frame of mind, reading her book and shifting her gaze between the carriage and the view.

Hopper’s people give the impression of being people attempting to escape something. They are involved in themselves and cannot seem to get their lives straight. They escape the society of others, and would like to escape themselves. They are not really at home anywhere, neither in a room nor outside, neither at work nor at play, neither alone nor with others. That is why they are on the move. Their home is a train station, a highway restaurant, a gas station, a hotel or motel, a train compartment, a snack bar, a theater foyer, a movie house.

They are going somewhere without being able to arrive. They have personality traits that seem mutually exclusive. They are mobile and restless, yet statically tied to some location from which they will probably never escape.

Our thanks to everyone else who contributed to this post. Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks!

-David Sadowski
Recent Finds

Here are a few pictures we have recently acquired.

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 419 is eastbound in June 1952, just east of First Avenue in Maywood.

In this original red border Kodachrome slide, we see a two-car train of CTA wooden “L” cars, possibly on a fantrip, on the ground-level section of the Garfield Park “L” (possibly Central or Austin?). The date is April 14, 1957. In the foreground, we see a new temporary track alignment under construction.

CTA PCC 4168, a Pullman, heads west on diversion trackage along Chicago Avenue. This is a southbound Halsted car, probably circa 1952. This routing was used when the Halsted Street bridge over the Chicago River was out of service. The building in the background is the historic Montgomery Wards headquarters, a local landmark, at 618 W. Chicago Avenue.

On January 1, 1947, Chicago Surface Lines 789 heads south on Damen Avenue at the intersection of Lincoln and Irving Park Road. I lived about a block away from here in the 1980s and this neighborhood is known as North Center.

This photo, taken at the CTA’s South Shops in the second half of 1956, shows various prewar PCCs (including 4006) that were out of service following the bustitution of Route 49 – Western. Trolley poles have already been removed, and it appears that seat frames are stacked nearby. From an original medium format transparency.

CTA 6573 is shown in Pekin, Illinois, on its way from the St. Louis Car Company to Chicago in the mid-1950s. Once on CTA property, it will be coupled with 6574 as a permanently married pair.

Queensboro Bridge trolleys 601 and 611 at Queens Plaza on April 19, 1949. This bridge line was abandoned in 1957 and was the last trolley operation in the state of New York. These cars were called “Electromobiles,” and were built by Osgood Bradley in the late 1920s.

CTA PCC 4396, a product of the St. Louis Car Company, is southbound on Clark Street, having just crossed the Chicago River, on July 9, 1957. This is from an original 35mm Kodachrome slide, processed by Technicolor.

The Chicago Aurora & Elgin’s Wheaton Yards on April 13, 1957. From an original red border Kodachrome.

Various North Shore Line cars are seen in Waukegan in June 1961, including 159. (F. R. Burke Photo)

New Steam Audio CD:

FTS
Farewell To Steam
Mister D’s Machine
# of Discs – 1
Price: $14.99

Farewell To Steam
On February 6, 1955 the Santa Fe Railway ran a railfan train from Los Angeles to Barstow and back for the Railway Club of Southern California. This was Santa Fe’s last run powered by a steam locomotive over this route. The engine was a 4-8-4, #3759. We have used the original, rare 1955 mono version of this recording, and not the later 1958 reissue that had a bunch of echo added to create a fake stereo effect.

Mister D’s Machine
When diesel locomotives replaced steam in the 1950s, they offered a multitude of different sounds. This original 1963 stereo recording showcases the many sounds of diesels on the San Joaquin and Los Angeles Divisions of the Southern Pacific, including the Tahachappi Loop, an engineering feat that made modern railroading famous.

As with all of our recordings, this CD comes with the complete, original liner notes.

Total time – 72:56

Pre-Order Our New Book Building Chicago’s Subways

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

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

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

Bibliographic information:

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

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

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

For Shipping to US Addresses:

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For Shipping Elsewhere:

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

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