7001’s True Colors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frank Hicks:

Interesting question! This is my kind of conundrum. 🙂

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

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

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

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

Modeler A:

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

Modeler B:

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

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

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

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

I replied:

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

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

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

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

Modeler A added:

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

Me:

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

Modeler B adds:

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

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

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

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

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

-David Sadowski

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

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

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

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

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

A 1950s brass model of 7001.

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

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

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

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

CSL 7001 as it looked after being repainted circa 1941.

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part Four

October 12, 2015October 20, 2015David Sadowski 26 Comments

4051 at the Imlay loop at the outer end of route 56 – Milwaukee, during the 1940-41 experiment with door arrangement. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

This is our fourth and last blog post featuring Chicago PCC pictures from the collections of George Trapp. To see the previous three posts, and another featuring Mr. Trapp’s pictures of historic Chicago buses, just type “George Trapp” in the search window on this page. Links to these various posts should come up.

Since this is our 86th post, you can also use the search window to find other topics that interest you.

Today’s photos are mostly comprised of the 83 prewar Chicago PCCs delivered in 1936-37 and retired in 1956. Of these, all were scrapped except for car 4021, which is preserved on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum.

In addition, there are pictures of the two 1934 experimental pre-PCC cars (4001 and 7001), plus the PCC Model B. That car was built by Pullman-Standard and was tested in Chicago during 1934. It later went to Brooklyn, where its brakes failed and it was involved in an accident with a truck. Although the body damage was repaired, the car never ran again and was eventually scrapped in the 1950s.

Both 4001 and 7001 were taken out of service in the 1940s and were used as sheds at South Shops. 7001 was scrapped in 1959, but the aluminum body shell of 4001 is now at IRM.

Interestingly, we have several early photos of PCC 7002, the first prewar car delivered to Chicago Surface Lines in 1936. In addition, there are various photos of car 4051 taken circa 1940-41 when it was tested on route 56 – Milwaukee Avenue, with an experimental door arrangement that was adopted for use on the 600 postwar cars. The design for these cars was finalized by 1941 but they were not ordered until 1945 due to outbreak of World War II.

Thanks to Mr. Trapp’s generosity, we now have at least another 150 additional images of Chicago PCC streetcars. Nearly all of these are previously unknown to me. Mr. Trapp has been collecting these type of pictures for nearly the last 50 years, and has let us borrow some of them so that we might feature them here and add them to our electronic book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story, available through our Online Store.

In the near future, we will post some of Mr. Trapp’s red car pictures of Chicago streetcars, so watch this space.

We also wish to thank the great photographers who took these pictures originally. We have provided attribution for each photo where we have the information.

Of course, the deluxe hardcover book Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: The PCC Car Era 1936-1958, published in June by Central Electric Railfans’ Association, is the premier volume covering the rise and fall of the modern streetcar in the Windy City. That book contains hundreds of great color photos and is a must-have for anyone who is interested in the subject, or even anyone who is interested in knowing what Chicago’s disparate neighborhoods looked like in a bygone era. While I am proud to be a co-author of that work, B-146 is available directly from the publisher. I would be remiss if I did not mention that Trolley Dodger Press is not affiliated with CERA.

In my humble opinion, B-146 is a fantastic bargain and a great value for the money, and I urge you to get a copy if you have not already done so.

My more recent E-book, available on a data disc in PDF format, is intended as a very unofficial supplement and companion to that noble work. One advantage that an electronic book has over a printed one is that more information can be added to it as things become available. We have already added numerous photos, maps, etc. to it, and the material from the Trapp Collection is a tremendous addition, which we are very grateful to have.

On top of that, we are adding another section of photographs to the book covering Chicago’s rapid transit system as it appeared early in the CTA era. That will give the reader a very clear idea of how badly the system was in need of improvement and modernization, a factor in the process by which CTA ultimately decided to eliminate streetcars.

With the E-book, we are not attempting to duplicate anything covered in B-146, which mainly showcases color photography. But there are still lots of great black-and-white photos that deserve to be seen, and lots of other information which could not be included even in a 448-page book. Chicago once had the largest streetcar system in the world, and chances are it will be a long time, if ever, before anyone has the “last word” about it.

If you have already purchased our E-book, and wish to get an updated copy with the additional information, this can be done at little or no cost to you. We always intended that it would be improved over time and offer an upgrade service to our purchasers on an ongoing basis.

As always, clicking on each photo with your mouse should bring up a larger version of the picture in your browser. You may be able to magnify this if you then see a “+” on your screen.

Finally, if you have any interesting tidbits of information to share about the photos you see here, don’t hesitate to let us know, either by making a comment on this post, or by dropping us a line to:

thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

Thanks.

-David Sadowski

PS- One of the photos in today’s post features the old Lindy Theatre. For more information, go here.

I think it’s a safe guess that the Lindy was named after Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974), who became an international celebrity with his 1927 solo flight from New York to Paris.

The marquee in this circa-1937 photo advertises the film Hell’s Angels (1930) starring Jean Harlow. She died from kidney failure on June 7, 1937 aged 26, which may explain why the film was being revived here.

Round Up Time in Texas is a 1937 Western starring Gene Autry. Despite the title, most of the film takes place in South Africa.

Dick Tracy is also mentioned on the marquee, and this would have been the 1937 Republic serial starring Ralph Byrd.

Thanks to the generosity of George Trapp, all of the photos in today’s post are being added to our E-book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story.

4051 with experimental door arrangement (1940-41), stopped at Washington and Clark, on route 56 – Milwaukee. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4051 southbound at Milwaukee and Thomas, during the 1940-41 door experiment that led to the configuration used on the postwar cars. Note the West Chicago Street Railway Company building at left. Perhaps the photographer wanted to contrast the old with the new. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

Milwaukee and Thomas as it appears today.

CSL 4051 at Kedzie Station circa 1940-41. (CSL Photo)

4051 on route 56 – Milwaukee. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4050, in experimental garb, at Madison and Austin circa 1945-46. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CTA 4050, with advertising signs on its side, at Kedzie Station (car house). John Marshall High School, located at 3250 West Adams, is visible in the background. (CTA Photo)

4041 eastbound on Madison. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4038 at Madison and Austin. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4021, the only prewar Chicago PCC saved, prepares to leave the Madison and Austin loop on August 27, 1940. This car is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. (Chicago Surface Lines Photo, Chicago Historical Society)

CSL 4006 in charter service, possibly on Western. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

4018 in experimental colors, circa 1945-46, at Madison and Austin. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4005, eastbound on Madison. Perhaps it is July 4th. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4030 at the Madison-Austin loop. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 7007 on Madison along Garfield Park in 1937. (St. Louis Car Company Photo)

PCC 7026, fitted with experimental roof-mounted forced air ventilation, of a type that was used in Boston, but did not find favor in Chicago. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CSL 7002 at Kedzie Station (car house) as new. (CSL Photo)

Prewar car 7004 and postwar 7148 rub shoulders at Devon Station (car barn) circa 1955. (Charlie Preston Photo)

Prewar car 7002, as new, at South Shops. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 7002, possibly on a 1936 inspection trip prior to being put into service. Note the 1934 Ford. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

A builder’s photo of CSL PCC 7002, the first car delivered in 1936.

CSL 7002 at the St. Louis Car Company plant.

The interior of PCC 7002 as delivered. (St. Louis Car Company Photo)

The interior of PCC 7002. (St. Louis Car Company Photo)

CSL 4001 at South Shops. (CSL Photo)

CSL 4001 at the Vincennes and 80th loop. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 7001 on Schreiber alongside Devon Station (car barn). (CSL Photo)

CSL 7001 at Clark and North Avenues, with the Chicago Historical Society building at rear (now the Chicago History Museum). (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

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

CSL 4001 may be on non-revenue trackage at the north end of South Shops. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

Red car 5549 and a couple of PCCs are on Clark and Armitage. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

Red car 967 and a postwar PCC are at Lawrence and Clark. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CTA salt spreader AA90, flanked by prewar and postwar PCCs. This work car, originally #1504, was scrapped on September 27, 1956.

CSL cars 5324 and 4008 on 64th just west of Stony Island in the 1940s. This was the east end of the 63rd Street line. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

CSL cars 4008 and 6202 on 64th just west of Stony Island in the 1940s. This was the east end of the 63rd Street line. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

There were three experimental streetcars built during the development of the PCC car, the CSL 4001 and 7001 and this car, the PCC Model B, shown here being tested in Chicago. The destination sign says South Chicago and 93rd. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

Red Pullman 225, with a postwar PCC follwing behind, on a circa 1956-57 fantrip on State Street. That looks like a 1953 Cadillac at left. The building at rear with the flags is Marshall Field’s. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

CSL 7018 eastbound on the west end of Madison, where the street was wider and diagonal parking was allowed. (Heier Industrial Photo)

Postwar PCC 7102 southbound on Clark along Lincoln Park. (Heier Industrial Photo)

A mid-1940s lineup of cars at Kedzie Station (car house) includes prewar PCC 7019 (in “tiger stripes”), some “Sedans,” and other red cars. (Robert V. Mehlenbeck Photo, Joe L. Diaz Collection)

The general consensus is this PCC, towed northbound at Kedzie and Harrison in 1947, may be going to West Shops for repairs. Note that the Kedzie “L” station on the Garfield Park line also served Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban trains. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Red Pullman 144 (or, perhaps, 225 masquerading as 144) on a fantrip, followed by postwar PCC 7236. Maurice Klebolt of the Illini Railroad Club promised fans that 144 would be used on a December 1956 fantrip, and 225 was substituted instead, with a piece of red olicloth used to change its number to 144. (Charlie Preston Photo)

Big Pullman 225 is shown here on an October 21, 1956 fantrip, followed by postwar PCC 4406. By this time, red cars ddi not run in regular service, and PCCs were only used on weekdays on routes like Clark-Wentworth. Car 225 is preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.

In this view of Kedzie Station (car house), CSL Peter Witt “Sedan” 3368, at left, was built by Cummings Car Company in 1929. At right we see prewar PCC 4006. When delivered in 1936-37, the first 83 PCCs were not enough to run the busy Madison route. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Prewar PCC 4016, circa 1951, may very well be the first of the one-man conversions. The rear door here is completely blocked off, but soon the City of Chicago insisted on the addition of a rear emergency exit door. This was only a year after the terrible accident where a PCC collided with a gas truck and 33 people were killed. Notice how the middle door (for exit only) has been narrowed to try and keep people from sneaking on without paying. The location is Kedzie Station (car house). (Chicago Transit Authority Photo)

Andre Kristopans writes, “The last shot is indeed looking east on Madison from the Madison station of the Logan Square L. The big building in the background is in the triangle of Ogden-Ashland-Madison and later had the Turtle Wax Turtle on top of it.”
This is apparently a different Lindy Theatre than the one the Cinema Treasures web site says was located at 3437 West Odgen Avenue between 1930 and 1950. Must have been two Lindy Theatres.
The various films advertised on the marquee, and the automobiles, date this picture to circa 1937. The prewar PCC, heading east, may be car 4012. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part Three

October 7, 2015August 11, 2023David Sadowski 6 Comments

Although signed for Clark-Wentworth, this shot of 4160 is actually on Madison in Garfield Park. (CSL Photo) George Trapp says he got this picture from the late Robert Gibson.

This is the third of four installments featuring Chicago PCC pictures from the collections of George Trapp. You can find Part One of the Chicago PCC series here, and Part Two here. We also posted some of Mr. Trapp’s photos of historic Chicago buses here.

The fourth and final batch of Mr. Trapp’s PCC pictures will feature both the prewar Chicago PCCs and the experimental cars that preceded them. We will have those posted in the next few days, so check this space.

We also wish to thank the great photographers who took these pictures originally. We have provided attribution for each photo where we have the information.

In my humble opinion, B-146 is a fantastic bargain and a great value for the money, and I urge you to get a copy if you have not already done so.

As always, clicking on each photo with your mouse should bring up a larger version of the picture in your browser. You may be able to magnify this if you then see a “+” on your screen.

Chicago’s postwar PCCs were built by Pullman-Standard (310 cars) and the St. Louis Car Company (290 cars). You can readily tell which ones are which, since the Pullmans are more squarish in appearance, especially the windows, and the St. Louies have more curved lines.

thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

Thanks.

-David Sadowski

Thanks to the generosity of George Trapp, all of the photos in today’s post are being added to our E-book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story.

Car 7089 at South Shops.

PCC 7090 at 81st and Halsted.

St. Louis-built 7071 at 81st and Halsted. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

PCC 7096 at 81st and Halsted. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

PCC 7068 at 81st and Halsted on June 9, 1947. (James J. Buckley Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CSL 7068 on Western. A woman with a very striking 1940s outfit has just gotten off. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo) Mike Franklin adds: “The photo of the young lady stepping from CSL 7068 is looking NE on Western Ave from Berteau Ave. Harms Park is the property for sale to the right and there is enough still remaining on Western Ave to the left to confirm this location.”

A close-up of the previous picture.

7062 as new at St. Louis Car Company.

A St. Louis Car Company photo of 7062’s interior.

Another St. Louis Car Company photo of a 7062’s interior.

Car 7052 heading north on Clark near Lincoln Park. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

7047 at 81st and Halsted. (James J. Buckley Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

7094 southbound on Wentworth at about 44th. That’s the old Stockyards “L” in the rear. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

7047 at 81st and Halsted.

CSL 7047 at 77th and Vincennes. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 7035 at South Shops in 1947. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

A St. Louis Car Company picture of 7035. With some retouching and airbrushing, it was used in the photo that follows.

The result.

4160 northbound at Clark and Illinois in 1948. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4158, a southbound Broadway-State car, at Clark and Armitage in 1949. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4158 entering the Clark-Howard loop on July 15, 1953. (Thomas H. Desnoyers Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

I can’t make out the car number (41xx) but this is a Pullman heading southbound on route 36 on Broadway and Rosemont, with the old Granada Theatre in the background. The Granada, one of the great Chicago movie palaces, was built in 1926 and demolished around 1990. It was located at 6427 N. Sheridan Road and had 3,443 seats. To the right, just out of view, would have been a Chicago Motor Coach bus garage. This picture was taken in 1948. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

4157 southbound on Clark at Lincoln Park. (Chicago Transit Authority Photo)

4157 and 4156 being delivered to South Shops. CSL records indicate the date is January 18, 1947. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Another view of 4157 and 4156 being delivered to CSL on January 18, 1947. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

4151 northbound at Clark and Webster in 1947. Not sure what a French laundry does. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4109 southbound on Clark and Lincoln Park. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4122 northbound at Clark and Surf in 1947. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4144 southbound on Clark near Irving Park. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4137 is southbound on Clark near 16th, going under the St. Charles Air Line. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

4162 heads south on the Wabash bridge over the Chicago River, most likely in 1948. A new bridge on State Street opened in 1949.

4112 at the Madison-Austin loop in 1948. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

4132, newly repainted in Everglade Green and Cream, leaves the Madison-Austin loop on June 17, 1951. Note the difference in the roof treatment between this and some other cars in this paint scheme. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

4112 southbound at Clark and LaSalle in early 1947. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4112 going through track work northbound at Clark and Victoria, most likely in the summer of 1947. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4097 southbound at Clark and North Avenues in the spring of 1947. The building at rear is the Chicago Historical Society, now the Chicago History Museum. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4089 at the Madison-Austin loop on November 17, 1951. Note the unusual off-center placement of the car number. George Trapp says these are the same sort of “fuzzy” numbers that were applied to buses as well. (Thomas H. Desnoyers Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

George Trapp thinks this photo of 4076 is either on Vincennes or the wide part of Clark. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4076 at 81st and Halsted in October 1946. (William A. Raia Collection)

CSL 4075 at Clark and Granville in late 1946. George Trapp notes, “(This) car has (the) cream standee window band, all cars delivered like this (were) repainted in early 1947 to match later deliveries.” (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4079 westbound on Madison at either Sangamon or Morgan. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4067 on October 8, 1946 at the Pullman plant. It was delivered to CSL on the 24th.

CSL 4067 southbound on route 22. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4065 southbound at Clark and Pratt. The car at right is a body style known as a “fastback.” (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

4066 crosses the old Milwaukee Road freight tracks near Wrigley Field. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

CSL 4062, the first postwar PCC delivered, as new at 77th and Vincennes, most likely in September 1946. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

4065 being delivered at South Shops. The date would be October 19, 1946 according to CSL records. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

A CSL photo of brand new 4062. It was put into “preview” service in the Loop for a few days in September 1946 to introduce the postwar PCCs to Surface Lines riders.

4062 at the Pullman plant on September 3, 1946, just prior to being shipped to Chicago. It arrived there on the 9th.

A CSL photo showing the interior of 4062 as new.

A Surface Lines photo showing a side view of 4062, built by Pullman.

Trolley Dodger Mailbag, 10-4-2015, Etc.

October 4, 2015April 6, 2016David Sadowski 4 Comments

Updates

We are pleased to present a previously unknown two-color version of a 1936 Chicago Surface Lines brochure about the new streamlined PCC streetcars. This material has been added to our E-book Chicago’ PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story, available from our Online Store.

Milwaukee Electric Railway (The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Transport Co.) car 1137, westbound on the Rapid Transit Line, 68th Street Bridge, July 22, 1949.

Photo Updates

FYI, we now have an improved version of the TMER&T photo reproduced above, since we have been fortunate enough to acquire the original 1949 4″ x 5″ negative. This has been added to our recent post Traction In Milwaukee.

Three more photos have been added to our post West Towns Streetcars In Black-and-White. One of them shows a West Towns streetcar making the connection with its Chicago Surface Lines counterpart at Lake and Austin.

Reader Mail

The following question was posted to the Chicagotransit Yahoo Group by robyer2000:

I was looking at the letters in The Trolley Dodger about the construction of the reversing loop in the Howard Yard in 1949. The letter from the man at CTA public affairs indicated that before skip stop service trains that terminated at Howard were usually yard put-ins. That seems unlikely, at least since the opening of the State Street Subway in 1943, after which most Jackson Park trains terminated at Howard, other than during owl hours.

My question is this: before they built the reversing loop, just how did they reverse trains at Howard that weren’t put-ins?‎ In rush hours, they were 8 car trains. Where did they switch ends?

I replied:

You must be referring to our recent post Railfan Ephemera.

There is some circa 1975 correspondence between Tom Buck, then Manager of the CTA’s Public Affairs department, and an individual who had asked about a 1949 photo showing the construction of a turnaround loop in the Howard Yard.

The photo is reproduced, along with a brochure detailing the changes brought about by the adoption of A/B “skip-stop” service on the North-South L in 1949.

Previously, there were many trains that terminated at other places such as Wilson.

As Graham Garfield’s web site notes:

North Side “L” service used to be more commonly through-routed into Evanston, with Evanston trains running through to Jackson Park on what’s now the Green Line, from 1913 to 1949. In 1949, the CTA instituted a North-South service revision, at which time the suburban portion was divorced into its own line, running as a shuttle to meet the new North-South trunk line at Howard. Thus was the modern Evanston Route, with the shuttle service at all times and downtown rush hour express service, born.

Starting in 1949, there were a lot more trains terminating at Howard, both from the north and the south. Meanwhile, North Shore Line trains continued to pass through via the Skokie Valley and Shore Line Routes.

Around this time, CTA proposed turning over the Evanston/Wilmette service to the North Shore Line, in exchange for having all NSL service terminate at Howard. As CNS&M already wanted to abandon the Shore Line Route, this proposal went nowhere.

Robyer2000 wrote:

I don’t ever like to doubt Graham, but at least after the State Street Subway opened in 1943, few, if any, day time subway trains went past Howard and‎ fewer still terminated at Wilson unless they were putting in there. Consider there were only 455 steel cars that could operate in the subway and alternate daytime trains ran to Kimball, and assume 10 pct. of the cars were needed for spares, 410 steel cars were available for schedules of which 205 would have been in Howard service. That would be enough for 25 Howard – Jackson Park trains. If the route took 125 minutes round trip with lay over (remember in one direction it had to make all stops from Indiana to Congress), that would have been a steel train to Howard every 5 minutes, or a total of only 24 trains an hour through the subway. Even if I am wrong with my assumptions or my arithmetic, how wrong can I be?

I have seen many pictures of Howard Street Express Via Subway t:rains over the years, but never one signed Evanston Express via Subway, although I know it was an available route on the sign curtain because I have one.

Additionally, that red brochure the CTA issued on the opening of the subway indicated Jackson Park trains would terminate at Howard, except after midnight.

I know too that after 1943 there were Evanston Express via “L” Loop trains that circled the Loop at least many of which ran express south of Loyola and which presumably had wooden consists.

So the question remains, what was the operation for reversing trains at Howard before the reversing loop was built?

I know that what became the loop track at Howard Yard terminated in a bumping post at the landfill to Evanston before the loop was built by tunneling across the landfill. If they used that track to reverse ends, the trains must have had to go through the yard switches to that track, reverse ends and then return through the yard switches.

I replied:

Hopefully, someone here will know the answer.

If they did in fact use the yard track to change ends, they either would have needed personnel at both ends of the train, ready to reverse course, or the motorman would have had to walk through the train to do so, making it more difficult to maintain tight schedules.

The City realized that operating the subway with the 455 steel cars (there was actually a 456th but it was an older, experimental one, not part of the 4000s fleet) was not the optimal situation, but it was enough to get service going in the State Street subway in 1943.

Of course, they still had the “L” route to the Loop, so there were many additional wood car trains going that way besides.

M. E. answered:

I’m averse to posting in threads, but I want to chime in about the L turnaround at Howard St.

I grew up on Green St. south of 63rd. Between our residence and the L, the city tore down all the houses to make a parking lot for businesses on 63rd St. So I had a bird’s-eye view of the L.

Plus I rode the L a lot, by myself, when I was young. These days that’s a no-no, but back then it was safe.

The timing for all this was the late 1940s, after the State St. subway opened. I don’t remember seeing wooden cars on the Englewood L.

I rode the Englewood/Ravenswood L a lot, all the way to Lawrence and Kimball and back. I don’t think I ever changed to the Jackson Park L to go north past Belmont.

As an aside, I also remember wooden cars on the Kenwood L sharing the track with south side steel cars between Indiana and 18th St.

I distinctly remember that the Jackson Park L went north only to Howard. Not into Evanston.

Also, I remember being surprised one day by seeing that the CTA built a loop north of Howard to reverse direction. I don’t exactly remember when that was, just that I was surprised by it.

Given that the Jackson Park L terminated at Howard, and there was no reversing loop yet, there are several possibilities:

(1) The Rapid Transit system put two crewmen on every Jackson Park train — one at the south end, the other at the north end. This would have made it simple to reverse at Howard (as well as at 63rd and Stony Island). But very expensive to operate. This would also have had to be true of any other stub-ending L line with long trains.

(2) At Howard, trains pulled in from the south, changed crew at the station, and took off again heading south, all within a very short time. This seems not too feasible because it would probably delay Evanston and CNS&M trains from using the station.

(3) Suppose the trains proceeded north of Howard into the yard. Perhaps a new crew boarded the south end of the northbound train (which I want to call Train 1) at the Howard station. Then Train 1 pulled straight into the yard. The new crew at the south end took over and brought Train 1 back into Howard station heading south. Then at Howard the northbound crew got off.

(4) Train 1 arrived from the south at Howard. Its crew got off, and walked to the south end of the platform. Two other crews, assigned only to work at Howard, boarded Train 1 — one crew at the north end of the train, the other crew at the south end. These two crews took the train into the yard, reversed direction, and brought Train 1 south to the Howard station. There, the “road” crew, which had previously walked to the south end of the platform, re-boarded Train 1 and took it south from Howard. After that, the two Howard-only crews repeated to handle subsequently arriving trains from the south.

The more I look at these possibilities, I like #4 the best.

When I use the term “crew”, I mean motorman. That’s because on L trains back then, there were conductors between every car. Yes, really. Apparently there was no central control for opening and closing doors, so one conductor could control only his car’s doors. Also, every conductor from rear to front had to ring a bell twice to indicate all was clear to proceed. Those bells rang in each car, one at a time, from rear to front.

Furthermore, to my recollection, the longest trains through the subway had six cars. Not eight. For six cars there were five conductors. Another reason I say six cars is that station platforms were lengthened to accommodate eight cars. Those longer sections were narrower (not as deep) as the original platforms. In fact, the northmost track at the 63rd and Loomis terminal was extended over Loomis to accommodate eight-car trains. By that time there were no more double-deck buses on Loomis to preclude extending the L structure over the street.

Also, there were no married pairs of steel cars at that time. I remember seeing one-car trains on Sunday mornings. Consider also the Normal Park branch. Before it became a shuttle from 69th to Harvard, the Normal Park car coupled onto the back of an Englewood train. West of Harvard, people on the tracks coupled or uncoupled the Normal Park car, which had its own motorman and conductor. With a maximum of six cars, this means an Englewood train west of Harvard would have had only five cars max, so that the Normal Park car became the sixth car.

I have seen pictures of two-car Normal Park trains, but I never saw that personally.

I concede it’s possible that there were six cars on Englewood trains, plus one Normal Park car, total seven cars. I’m just not sure.

Everything I say here is based on 65-year-old memories. I may have some facts wrong, but I simply don’t know.

Then, robyer2000 wrote:

Thank you for your post. It is fascinating to me to hear your memories.

They in fact used 8 car trains, but due to the door control issues you mentioned, the furthest front and back doors were not used so an 8 car train could berth at a platform which would be a 6 car platform today.

I believe that trains of all 4000 series car only needed what they called a “gateman” every other car because the far doors of a car could be separately controlled at the opposite end of the car. One of the gateman was the conductor, I’m not sure where he stood in a long train. Logically, he would have been at the rear as he had to ascertain the train was properly berthed before opening the doors, but he may have been near the middle if at that time they already had lines drawn on the platform edge to assist the conductor.

Train door control wasn’t instituted until 1952-1954.

Your alternative 2 doesn’t sound possible because of the necessity of moving the train to the Southbound platform at Howard.

And then, M. E. wrote:

Some things I thought of after sending my last note:

Exit doors on 4000-series steel cars were at the ends of the cars. So at any coupled cars, there were exit doors at the rear of the first car and exit doors at the front of the second car. The conductor assigned to that location stood outside, over the coupling, and operated controls for the exit doors immediately to either side of him. The conductor could see the unloading and loading activity at each of the two exit doors, so he knew when all that activity was finished. He then rang the bell twice to indicate that his station was clear. As anyone can imagine, during winter the conductor had a very cold job.

The rearmost conductor was the first to ring the bells twice, then the second rearmost conductor, and so on to the frontmost conductor, who was stationed between cars one and two.

Because there was no conductor at the rear of the train, nor one at the front, passengers could not use the exit doors at the very rear and the very front. At the front, the motorman’s cabin occupied the right-side exit door area. And the motorman did not operate the left-side front exit door.

There was no public address system on those cars. Each conductor had to enter each of the two cars at his station to announce the next stop.

At that time it was permissible to walk between cars. Every car had doors at the ends of the cars that passengers could open to change cars. For safety, over the coupling area there were extended metal plates to walk on, and there were chains at each side of the walkway. (In effect, cars were connected not only with couplers but with chains too.) There were three chains vertically on each side of the walkway, from about knee height up to below chest height.

Unlike in the 6000-series cars, there was no railfan seat at the front opposite the motorman. As I recall, in 4000-series cars the seats closest to the exit doors were side-facing, and there was a solid partition between the seats and the exit door area. The only way to watch the track ahead was to stand at the front, next to the motorman’s cabin, and look through the glass in the end-facing door. Yes, there was a front-facing window in the exit door area, but that window was blocked by the route sign on the front of the train. The sign itself was wooden and was hung onto grillwork that spanned the window.

Earlier I mentioned another cold winter job: Coupling and uncoupling Normal Park cars to the rear of Englewood trains. Not only was it cold, it was also dangerous, because it was close to third rails. I cannot imagine the Environmental Protection Agency ever permitting such work today.

What became of the Normal Park car’s motorman and conductor? After a northbound run from 69th to the Englewood line west of Harvard, the Normal Park motorman likely detrained at Harvard, walked downstairs, across to the other side, and up to the south platform. Then he waited for the next southbound Englewood train, boarded it, and took his position in the last car, the one destined for Normal Park. Meanwhile, the northbound Normal Park conductor would have to stay with the Englewood train to be assigned to the newly coupled cars. In the southbound direction, the conductor assigned between the rearmost two cars on Englewood trains would therefore go to Normal Park after the uncoupling.

CSL Work Car Info

Following up on our earlier series about Chicago Surface Lines Work Cars (Part One here, Part Two there), Andre Kristopans writes:

I am sending you eight scans for your viewing (and distributing) pleasure. Four hand-written ones were copied from Jim Buckley’s notes in Roy Benedict’s possession by me years ago. The two lists of trailers were made from CTA records.You notice it goes back to 1914, and includes cars never r# by CSL.

Here is some more stuff:

Salt Cars
AA1 17266 12/27/55 ex 1430
AA2 17266 12/27/55 ex 1431
AA3 13266 08/02/51 ex 1433
AA4 13266 10/26/51 ex 1435
AA5 13266 07/03/51 ex 1437
AA6 13266 12/17/51 ex 1440
AA7 17266 09/08/55 ex 1441
AA8 19141 05/17/58 ex 1443
AA9 18181 09/27/56 ex 1444
AA10 16283 02/18/55 ex 1445
AA11 13266 10/26/51 ex 1446
AA12 16283 09/09/54 ex 1447
AA13 16283 09/09/54 ex 1448
AA14 16283 10/07/54 ex 1459
AA15 13266 01/07/52 ex 1462
AA16 13266 01/25/52 ex 1474
AA17 13266 10/30/51 ex 1475
AA18 13266 11/06/51 ex 1482
AA19 13266 01/07/52 ex 1483
AA20 16283 10/07/54 ex 1488
AA21 16283 05/26/55 ex 1492
AA22 13266 08/02/51 ex 1493
AA23 16283 09/09/54 ex 1496
AA24 16283 09/09/54 ex 1501
AA25 17266 09/08/55 ex 1502
AA26 19141 05/17/58 ex 1107
AA27 19141 05/17/58 ex 1142
AA28 18181 12/14/56 ex 1145
AA29 18181 12/14/56 ex 1166
AA30 17266 12/27/55 ex 1183
AA31 17266 09/08/55 ex 1198
AA32 18181 12/14/56 ex 1205
AA33 17266 12/27/55 ex 1213
AA34 16283 10/07/54 ex 1215
AA35 12603 02/09/51 ex 1219
AA36 19141 05/17/58 ex 1220
AA37 19141 05/17/58 ex 1224
AA38 18181 09/27/56 ex 1231
AA39 16283 09/23/54 ex 1235
AA40 13266 08/10/51 ex 1239
AA41 13266 11/06/51 ex 1240
AA42 13266 11/21/51 ex 1241
AA43 16283 10/07/54 ex 1243
AA44 13266 10/05/51 ex 1248
AA45 12391 08/24/50 ex 1249
AA46 17266 12/27/55 ex 1250
AA47 13266 10/26/51 ex 1252
AA48 13266 07/20/51 ex 1255
AA49 14175 05/27/52 ex 1259
AA50 17266 12/27/55 ex 1260
AA51 17266 12/27/55 ex 1266
AA52 17266 09/08/55 ex 1277
AA53 19141 05/17/58 ex 1302
AA54 18181 12/14/56 ex 1303
AA55 16283 11/10/54 ex 1304
AA56 17266 12/27/55 ex 1305
AA57 18181 12/14/56 ex 1306
AA58 18181 09/27/56 ex 1307
AA59 18181 09/27/56 ex 1308
AA60 17266 12/27/55 ex 1309
AA61 18181 09/27/56 ex 1310
AA62 18181 09/27/56 ex 1311
AA63 10218 03/11/59 ex 1374 to ERHS
AA64 16283 11/10/54 ex 1451
AA65 15451 04/05/54 ex 1453
AA66 19141 05/17/58 ex 1454
AA67 13266 08/17/51 ex 1455
AA68 13266 12/17/51 ex 1457
AA69 18181 12/14/56 ex 1458
AA70 15451 07/17/54 ex 1463
AA71 13266 08/02/51 ex 1465
AA72 19209 02/28/58 ex 1467 to ERHS
AA73 16283 09/27/56 ex 1468
AA74 16283 11/10/54 ex 1471
AA75 18181 09/27/56 ex 1472
AA76 19141 05/17/58 ex 1477
AA77 18181 09/27/56 ex 1478
AA78 17266 12/27/55 ex 1480
AA79 15451 04/05/54 ex 1481
AA80 16283 09/09/51 ex 1484
AA81 18181 12/14/56 ex 1487
AA82 13266 07/20/51 ex 1489
AA83 16283 10/07/54 ex 1494
AA84 15451 02/17/54 ex 1495
AA85 18181 09/27/56 ex 1497
AA86 18181 12/14/56 ex 1498
AA87 13266 01/25/52 ex 1499
AA88 13266 07/03/51 ex 1500
AA89 16283 09/09/54 ex 1503
AA90 18181 09/27/56 ex 1504
AA91 17266 09/08/55 ex 1545 /48 10143
AA92 17266 12/27/55 ex 2826
AA93 19141 05/17/58 ex 2841
AA94 13266 08/17/51 ex 2842
AA95 10218 06/18/59 ex 2843 to ERHS
AA96 17266 12/27/55 ex 2844
AA97 19141 05/17/58 ex 2845
AA98 10218 12/05/58 ex 2846 to ERHS
AA99 none 08/20/48 ex 2847 (replaced with another retired car from AFR 10412)
AA99 2nd 18181 06/06/56 ex 5031
AA100 13266 07/03/51 ex 2848
AA101 18181 12/14/56 ex 2849
AA102 13266 08/10/51 ex 2851
AA103 15451 02/17/54 ex 2852
AA104 18181 12/14/56 ex 2853
AA105 15451 02/17/54 ex 2854
AA106 13266 10/11/51 ex 2855
AA107 13266 01/25/52 ex 2856
1466 13059 03/09/51
2626 13059 /51
4001 T12 /53 to shed; from Pass 1948 S10143
7001 T12 /53 to shed; from Pass 1948 S10143

AA1-AA52 to salt cars 1930-31, AA53-AA62 01/34, AA6306/33; AA1-AA25 r# 10/1/41, AA26-AA90 r# 04/15/48

additional salt car conversions:
1122 scr 04/23/37
1188 scr 04/30/37
1201 return to passenger 3/6/43
1208 return to passenger 3/4/43
1211 destroyed 1/30/39 111th/Sacramento vs GTW, scr 3/8/39
1212 return to passenger 2/20/43
1223 return to passenger 4/11/43
1225 return to passenger 3/4/43
1226 r# 1357 1937, return to passenger 5/15/43
1228 return to passenger 5/29/43
1229 return to passenger 3/27/43
1234 return to passenger 3/5/43
1238 return to passenger 5/15/43
1244 return to passenger 3/12/43
1245 return to passenger 3/8/43
1251 return to passenger 5/9/43
1253 r# 1257 1937, return to passenger 5/11/43
1254 return to passenger 6/11/43
1257 r# 1253 1937, r# 1385 1937, return to passenger 3/11/43
1280 return to passenger 1/13/44
1286 return to passenger 7/3/43
1466 to instruction car 1/13/13
1486 to instruction car 9/30/12, sold 11/12/17 to Tri-City Ry (IA)

Interestingly, Andre’s information shows that CSL Mail Car H2, pictured as being operable and in its original paint scheme in 1938 (see our post Chicago Surface Lines Work Cars – Part 1), was apparently scrapped in 1942. This explains why H2 was not used in the 1943 parade celebrating the opening of the State Street Subway, or in the one day revival of street railway post office service for a convention in 1946.

Andre also wrote:

You have mentioned several times the B&OCT line that runs along the Eisenhower Xway. A couple of items of note: 1) The B&OCT ownership extends to Madison St, where SOO ownership started. CGW’s started at Desplaines Ave Jct. 2) Note I said B&OCT – this is still the legal owner of all CSX track north and west of Clark Jct in Gary. In fact, B&O still has its own employees, train service and others, and in a really odd twist, is the legal owner of a substantial number of CSX’s new GE locomotives!

Finally, for a while in the late 1950’s, B&OCT used the old L tracks from Desplaines to west of Central while their right-of-way was being dug out. Considering that this was light rail to begin with, and well worn at that, it must have been somewhat frightening to run a freight train thru there!

I replied:

Very interesting information. Wasn’t there some steam train type commuter rail service out to Forest Park along these lines?

I still wonder just why CTA paid the CA&E $1m for their fixed assets between Laramie and DesPlaines Avenue in 1953.

They didn’t buy the land, which I think was bought by the state for the highway project. They didn’t buy the Forest Park terminal, either. CA&E still had at least a partial ownership in this when passenger service was suspended in 1957 (I think Cook County had bought some for the highway project).

So, what did CTA buy other than some worn rail, signals, roadbed, stations, etc. that were all going to be replaced within a few years anyway?

Andre wrote:

Basically they bought the right to continue running to Desplaines after the line was rebuilt. Otherwise, if CA&E still owned it, the state would have been dealing with CA&E, and if CA&E just said “screw it”, the Congress L would have ended at Laramie. Remember, we are dealing with accounting stuff here. What was there then wasn’t worth much, though the ROW was probably CA&E owned, which CTA then bought and sold/traded to the state for where the L is today.

Back in the days of the “primordial ooze” there was service on the B&OCT out to Forest Park. This was part of the Randolph St business and the line out 16th St to Harlem. But it was all gone by early 1900’s, especially after the Met L was built.

SOO did run a more-or-less commuter round trip for many years, actually a local from I think Waukesha that ran at the right time.

We thank all our contributors. Keep those cards and letters coming in.

-David Sadowski

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part Two

October 1, 2015October 20, 2015David Sadowski 10 Comments

CTA 7100, as repainted. George Trapp notes, 7100 “may be (the) first painted in the ugly Everglade Green and Cream.” If so, this picture was probably taken in 1951. CTA chose a darker color green for repainting, since they were having difficulty matching the lighter Mercury Green paint, which had a tendency to fade over time. There were some variations in the roof treatment on some cars, and you can see examples of that in CERA Bulletin 146. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

Today we offer a third installment of pictures from the collections of George Trapp. You can find Part One of the Chicago PCC series here, and we also posted many photos of historic Chicago buses here.

Thanks to Mr. Trapp’s generosity, we now have close to another 150 additional images of Chicago PCC streetcars. Nearly all of these are previously unknown to me. Mr. Trapp has been collecting these type of pictures for nearly the last 50 years, and has let us borrow some of them so that we might feature them here and add them to our electronic book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story, available through our Online Store.

Mr. Trapps’ photos are an embarrassment of riches. Since there are too many to post all at once, check this space in coming days from further installments in this series.

This time out, a few of the pictures are in color, and we have done some restoration work on them. When older color prints have faded or have developed a color cast, sometimes we can correct for this using today’s computer technology.

In my humble opinion, B-146 is a fantastic bargain and a great value for the money, and I urge you to get a copy if you have not already done so.

As always, clicking on each photo with your mouse should bring up a larger version of the picture in your browser. You may be able to magnify this if you then see a “+” on your screen.

thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

Thanks.

-David Sadowski

Thanks to the generosity of George Trapp, all of the photos in today’s post are being added to our E-book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story.

CSL 7100 when newly delivered. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 7108, southbound on route 22. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 7108 at 81st and Halsted on August 15, 1947. (James J. Buckley Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

Glare on the front of the car makes the number more difficult to see, but it’s 4054 at 81st and Halsted. Since the cars are all signed for CSL, this photo probably dates to 1947.

CTA 4052 southbound on Western just north of North Avenue (see the 1607 address at right), making that the old Humboldt Park “L” at the rear. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4060, probably in 1947. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

PCC 4061, a St. Louis product, southbound on Halsted. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

CSL 4061 southbound on route 22, probably in 1947. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

A builder’s photo of Pullman PCC 4172’s interior.

A builder’s photo of Pullman PCC 4172 as new.

Another builder’s photo of Pullman PCC 4172’s interior.

A builder’s photo of Pullman PCC 4172 as new.

An early color photo of CSL 4179.

The boxiness of the Pullmans, compared to the St. Louis version, is clearly evident in this side view of CSL 4179.

4306 up in the air at the Pullman plant.

4346 is southbound on Clark at Lunt in this 1948 view. A banner on the front of the car heralds “Another New CTA Streetcar.” This one was delivered on December 29, 1947. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

This Pullman PCC is northbound on route 36 Broadway-State. Andre Kristopans adds, “on State, between Pershing and 40th. The building is the old cable powerhouse and carbarn. Note in background the two-level bridge. Bottom is CR&I from the IC to Stock Yards, top is the Stock Yards L.” (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

State between Pershing and 40th as it appears today. The building at left is the Dawson Technical Institute, part of the City Colleges of Chicago. It was established in 1968.

Remnants of the the two-level bridge Andre refers to. The lower level took the Chicago & Rock Island from the Illinois Central to the Stock Yards, on top was the old Stock Yards “L”, which closed in 1957.

Is 4233 coming or going? I guess a case could be made either way. The car doesn’t seem to have any dents, and there isn’t a logo. Yet it’s not shiny, either, although that could simply be due to the weather. That decides it- this car was scrapped on 8/20/53 and delivered on 3/6/48, so this must be its arrival. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Pullman PCC 4259 is turning from diversion trackage on Chicago Avenue onto southbound Halsted on July 30, 1952. This would be due to the bridge carrying Halsted over the Chicago River being out of service. The landmark Montgomery Wards complex is at rear. (Thomas H. Desnoyers Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

PCC 4232 is northbound on Clark at Armitage (on route 22) in this June 1948 view. Note the lack of either a CSL or CTA logo on the side of this car. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

It’s May 1951, and CTA 4248, newly repainted in Everglade Green and Cream, is at 119th and Morgan on the south end of route 36 – Broadway-State. There is an ad for Gibson refrigerators on the side of the car– not the same company that makes guitars. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

The interior of a PCC on the St. Louis Car Company assembly line. Car 7227 is ahead, which means this is probably either 7226 or 7228. All were delivered to CTA on March 29, 1948.

This picture of CTA 7129 has the appearance of a posed shot. The woman at right is apparently a “Bobby Soxer.” According to the wikipedia, “A bobby sock is a type of sock that was especially fashionable in the 1940s and 1950s. Bobby socks had thick uppers that were turned down to form a thick cuff at ankle height. They were sometimes worn by girls as part of a school uniform. They were popular to wear with saddle shoes, loafers, or Oxfords.” My mother was a Bobby Soxer. 7129, delivered on January 20, 1948, is labelled as “Another New CTA Streetcar.” (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

St. Louis-built 7155 is on Ravenswood Avenue with the Chicago & North Western embankment in the background. The side sign advertises AM radio station WGN, which still offers news and sports, but very little music nowadays. (CTA Photo)

CTA 7142, “Another New CTA streetcar,” is southbound at Wentworth and 24th. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

7178 and 7199 at Devon Station (car barn) circa 1954. George Trapp says you can tell this is Devon since they had wooden beams near the front, not steel. (Charlie Preston Photo)

PCC 7179 in front of red car 5096. From the destination sign you would think we are southbound on Western Avenue. Not sure what route the older car is on. Don’s Rail Photos says, “5001 thru 5200 were built by Brill in 1905, #14318, for the Chicago City Ry. where they carried the same numbers. They were rebuilt in 1908 to bring them up to the standard of the later cars.” George Trapp adds, “car 5096 could be on way from Archer car barn to 77th shops for scrapping as these cars were taken out of service in 1948 after Archer was converted to bus. Car 7179 may be in service on Western before official date of PCC service on Western as photo looks to be in Summer of 1948, 7179 has no logo.” Andre Kristopans writes, “I would bet at Western and 71st SB. The 5000 would have been on 67th-69th going to 71st & California. It looks like they are changing crews as the conductor is walking towards the car.” On the other hand, George Trapp says, ” Andris Kristopans mentions that he thinks it was taken near 71st St. because 5096 was on the 67th-69th-71st Route. I don’t believe this to be the case as that route used one man MU cars. Also, if you enlarge the photo, car 5096 is missing its side route sign box, there’s no glass in the upper sash window opening, the front destination sign seems to be missing as well. Perhaps the conductor of car 7179 just finished throwing the switch so it could go into the 79th loop and had to wait for it to pass so he could throw it back to the straight route for 5096 to continue south to 79th Street to go East. Car 7179 looks very pristine and is missing a CTA logo so this has to be right around the Aug. 1st official debut of PCC’s on Western or possibly earlier. The run number indicates a car from Devon Depot.” (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

This photo of PCC 7195 was probably taken by the CTA and the car is heading south on Clark Street opposite Lincoln Park. The ad is for TV station WBKB, which was originally called W9XBK and was Chicago’s first television station starting in 1940. The B and K in WBKB stood for the owners, the Balaban and Katz chain of movie palaces. It was eventually a CBS affiliate on channel 4 and became WBBM-TV channel 2 when the FCC reassigned frequencies. There was a second WBKB then on channel 7, now WLS-TV, and there is yet a third WBKB nowadays in Alpena, Michigan, a CBS affiliate that airs on channel 11.

I believe this iconic picture of CTA 7213, leaving Clark and Kinzie on the last Chicago streetcar run in the early morning hours of June 21, 1958, is a CTA photo.

CTA 7218 is heading north on shoofly trackage at Hasted and Congress circa 1952, while the bridge that would take Halsted over the Congress (later Eisenhower) expressway was being built. There was a photo taken near this location, facing west, in our first post of PCC photos from the Trapp Collection. (Originally from the collections of Joe L. Diaz)

CTA 7254, southbound on Clark and Wacker on April 6, 1950, having just crossed over the Chicago River. (Traction Chicago Photo)

George Trapp writes, “7244 is westbound on Devon at Ravenswood, (the) car is getting ready to turn north on Ravenswood , then will turn East on Schreiber and lay over just west of Clark before making it’s run to 119th-Morgan.” Jeff Wien adds, “Car 7244 is a Broadway-State car on Devon at Ravenswood heading west. The conductor was throwing the switch so that the car would head north on Ravenswood to Schreiber. With the 36 119-Morgan destination sign, I would gather that the car was going to make a run to the south end of the line.” (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

PCC 4390, “Another New CTA Streetcar,” is heading eastbound on Roosevelt between Paulina and Ashland in 1948. Route 9 – Ashland cars ran on Paulina between Lake and Roosevelt, since streetcars were not allowed on boulevards, but Ashland never had PCCs and this car is not in service. In the background at left we see the marquee of the Broadway Strand Theatre. According to http://www.cinematreasures.org, “The Broadway Strand Theatre opened on November 10, 1917 on Roosevelt Road (then still called 12th Street) at Ashland Avenue on the Near West Side (close to what is today the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center). In its prime, this theatre had a 2/8 Kimball theater organ.
The Broadway Strand Theatre was demolished in 1998 after a long period of disuse.” A Chicago Motor Coach bus is at right, and a route 12 – Roosevelt Road red car behind the PCC. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

PCC 7267, “Another New CTA Streetcar,” stopped at a safety island southbound on route 49 – Western. (Ed Frank, Jr. Photo)

CTA 4402 at the Western and 79th terminal, ready to head back north. (Traction Chicago Photo)

The curved lines of St. Louis-built PCC 4404 are evident in this view. The car is signed for Western and Devon on route 49, meaning we are heading northbound. Likely, this picture was taken prior to the opening of the CTA loop at Western and Berwyn on August 1, 1948. George Trapp adds that this photo was probably taken “between Aug. 10th, 1948 when the car was delivered and Dec. 12th, 1948 when Berwyn became the official North terminal. Before Dec. 12th, 1948 the Schreiber Loop at the Devon Depot was the North terminal when PCC’s were put on Western and the route was cut back from Howard on the North and 111th on the South.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

It would appear that CTA L-201 is taking PCC 7142 off to be scrapped in this scene from 77th and Vincennes. The scrap date for 7142 was May 23, 1958, which is probably about when this picture was taken. (J. Schmidt Photo)

CTA 4384 is apparently southbound on Western in the mid-1950s. and signed to go only as far as 69th, making this a pull-in.

A PCC passes the historic Pui Tak Center Building in Chinatown while heading south on route 22. The building is at 2216 South Wentworth Avenue, just south of Cermak Road. The car at left is a 1957 Buick.
There is a similar (better, actually) picture taken at this location by Charles L. Tauscher on page 211 of CERA Bulletin 146.

An undated view of PCC 4391 at the Illinois Railway Museum, probably in the 1980s.

CTA 4248 is heading north on Halsted at Root on the south side in this July 21, 1952 view. The occasion was the Democratic Convention, held at the nearby International Amphitheatre, which took place from July 21 to the 26th. The Republican Convention was held there as well between July 7th and the 11th. The Dems nominated Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson for president, and the GOP General Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Thomas H. Desnoyers Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

More Historic Chicago Buses

September 30, 2015October 18, 2015David Sadowski 5 Comments

A lineup of CSL trolley buses purchased in 1937 from Brill. The location probably Central and Avondale, now the site of the Kennedy expressway.

We generally don’t feature buses on this blog, since our main interest is in streetcars, light rail, and electric rail transit. But we do get requests to post more bus photos, and we are fortunate to have some excellent ones to show you today, thanks to the incredible generosity of George Trapp. Mr. Trapp has been collecting these type of pictures for nearly the last 50 years, and we thank him for sharing them with us.

We featured some of Mr. Trapp’s PCC pictures in our last post, and there will be several more such posts to come in the near future. Watch this space for more great Chicago PCC pictures.

From 1930 to 1947, the Chicago Surface Lines had an operating philosophy called “Balanced Transit,” whereby streetcars were for the ehaviest lines, trolley buses for the medium-sized routes, and gas or diesel buses for the lightest lines. Trolley buses were first used on new routes that went into the northwest side of Chicago, which was then developing rapidly.

There had been a competition between CSL and the Chicago Motor Coach Company to see which firm would get these routes, and CSL won out. While it may be that their intention was to eventually convert trolley bus lines to streetcar once they had developed sufficient ridership, in actual practice, this never happened.

The Chicago Transit Authority took over from CSL on October 1, 1947, and converted some additional streetcar lines to trolley bus. But the last such vehicles were purchased circa 1951 and by 1959, one year after streetcar service ended in Chicago, began a gradual phase-out of trolley buses in Chicago. The last one ran in 1973.

A 1951 CTA consultant’s report, the full text of which is included in out E-book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story (available in our Online Store), recommended that the agency not purchase any more electric vehicles, due to the cost of electric power purchased fro Commonwealth Edison. A 1954 study by CTA Board member Werner W. Schroeder (which is also included in our E-book) said that trolley buses were the most profitable vehicles used by the CTA, but explained this away by saying they were being used on the cream of the routes.

During the 1950s, CTA’s preferred type of surface vehicle was the propane-powered bus. Propane was very cheap for most of the decade, but by 1960 costs had risen to the point where there was no cost advantage over diesels. There were many operational problems with propane buses, which were underpowered, sluggish, and had difficulty maintaining schedules. There were also a few spectacular fires and explosions involving propane.

The propane vs. diesel debate prompted a rare public spat between Chicago Transit Board members, which was settled when the CTA began purchasing GM diesel buses in 1961. The heyday of the propane bus, once the CTA’s darling, proved to be much shorter and less successful than that of the trolley bus (aka trolley coach or trackless trolley), which was fast, quiet, efficient, and very popular with the riding public.

Trolley buses are still being used in a half dozen North American cities, more than 40 years after Chicago stopped using them. Today, the only electric buses on the CTA system are a couple of battery-powered ones recently put into use.

Most of today’s pictures feature buses purchased by the Chicago Surface Lines prior to the 1947 CTA takeover.

As always, if you have any interesting tidbits of information to share about the photos you see here, don’t hesitate to let us know, either by making a comment on this post, or by dropping us a line to:

thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

Thanks.

-David Sadowski

PS- Today (September 30th), The Trolley Dodger blog reaches another milestone with 75,000 page views, and has been read by over 22,000 individuals. We thank you for your continued support.

CTA trolley bus 116.

CSL 1602. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CSL 6518. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CTA 6615 and 6622.

CTA 6410.

CTA 6830 – March 1951. (Chicago Transit Authority Photo)

CSL 6410, a General Motors gas bus from the 6401-6410 series, on March 5, 1944.

CSL 448. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CTA 6206, a GM gas bus, built in 1942, in March 1951. The photo caption says that one bus in this series, #6306, was a diesel, used on 115th Street. Andre Kristopans adds, “In March 1951 CTA sent a photographer out to shoot exteriors and interiors of every bus and trolley bus series in the city. Most of the GM/Yellows were at Beverly Garage at the time. The 6200 photo caption is a bit incorrect. The 6201-6220 series were gas TG-3205’s, while the 6301-6306 were indeed diesels, TG-3605’s, one window and four seats longer.” (Chicago Transit Authority Photo)

CSL 3444. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

White-built CSL bus 3426 in 1945. (CSL Photo)

An ACF builder’s photo of CSL 507. (Railway Negative Exchange)

CSL 506, an ACF gas bus, in 1935.

CTA 9763, dubbed the “Queen Mary” by fans, was an experimental articulated bus that was converted to a trolley coach. It is now preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

A CTA trolley bus used on route 80 – Irving Park.

CTA trolley bus 192, signed for route 72 – North Avenue.

CSL trolley bus 198.

CSL trolley bus 184. Interestingly, a sign on the front urges people to ride streetcars for short and long trips. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CTA trolley bus 176, signed for route 77 – Belmont.

CSL trolley bus 173, built by St. Louis Car Company in 1935, signed for route 86 – Narragansett. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CSL 177, signed for route 76 – Diversey. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CSL trolley bus 165 on route 76 – Diversey. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

CSL trolley bus 106 on route 76 – Diversey on November 14, 1930. (Railway Negative Exchange)

CSL trolley bus 80.

CSL trolley bus 116, signed for route 85 – Central Avenue.

A 1931 CSL trolley bus equipped with a snow plow. (CSL Photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive)

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part One

September 27, 2015July 26, 2020David Sadowski 9 Comments

CTA 4061, a product of St. Louis Car Company, heads southbound on route 8 – Halsted near Congress. A shoofly is under construction to divert streetcars around the site where a bridge will soon be built for the Congress expressway. The old Garfield Park “L” at rear remained in service until the new Congress median rapid transit line opened in June 1958. In this area, the “L” ran just north of the highway. Other photos taken in this area show the shoofly in use during 1952. Car 4062, the next in sequence, was built by Pullman and was the first postwar PCC delivered to Chicago Surface Lines. Despite being numbered lower, 4061 was delivered 10 months later. (Edward Frank, Jr. Photo)

I like to think of this web site as a collaborative effort with our readers. Since we started this enterprise at the beginning of this year, I believe I have learned as much from you as vice versa, and today’s post is but the latest example of how that can work to everyone’s benefit. If people are willing to share their material with us, and this seems to be happening with increasing frequency, it is probably because our previous 80 posts have shown that we are serious about the original research we are engaged in, and sharing it with you.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of George Trapp, we now have close to another 150 images of Chicago PCC streetcars that we can post. Nearly all of these are previously unknown to me. Mr. Trapp has been collecting these type of pictures for nearly the last 50 years, and has let us borrow some of them so that we might feature them here and add them to our electronic book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story, which is available through our Online Store.

Mr. Trapps’ photos are an embarrassment of riches. Since there are too many to post all at once, check this space in coming days from further installments in this series.

In my humble opinion, B-146 is a fantastic bargain and a great value for the money, and I urge you to get a copy if you have not already done so.

As always, clicking on each photo with your mouse should bring up a larger version of the picture in your browser. You may be able to magnify this if you then see a “+” on your screen.

This being our 81st post, perhaps it is fitting that several of the pictures here were taken at 81st and Halsted.

thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

Thanks.

-David Sadowski

PS- I did some checking on the Railway Negative Exchange, the source for many of the photos in today’s post. It was started by Warren Miller (1923-1989) who operated out of California. Upon Mr. Miller’s passing, his collection went to his nephew, Bob Hall, who I understand was still continuing these efforts as of 1996. I do not know whether they are still in business today.

All the photos from today’s post, and many more courtesy of Mr. George Trapp, are being added to our E-book this week, along with a section covering Chicago’s rapid transit system early in the CTA era.

7213 and 7274 are side-by-side in this scene from 81st and Halsted. As the south end of the busy Clark-Wentworth route, it was a favorite place for railfan photographers (and also close to the south terminus of route 8 – Halsted’s PCC at 79th). Due to the advertising signs on the PCCs, this photo is from 1950 or later. 7213 was the last streetcar to run in Chicago in 1958. Jon Habermaas adds, “The cars at 81st and Halsted were turned by wye-ing using a portion of abandoned track of the former Halsted line to 111th.” (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

The interior of prewar PCC 4051, as it appeared in July 1939, at the Madison and Austin loop. Circa 1940-41, CSL modified the doors on this car as part of their work on the development of the postwar cars. With the revised configuration, 4051 was tested extensively on route 56 – Milwaukee, which did not otherwise use PCCs. (S. Walker Photo)

CTA 4400 at Ashland and 71st. This picture was probably taken in the Fall of 1952. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

CTA 7122, signed for route 49 – Western, at Ashland and 71st. The election ad on the side of the car and the lack of leaves on the trees would date this picture to the Fall of 1952. Sherwood Dixon (1896-1973) was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor that year, losing to State Treasurer William G. Stratton, who served two terms. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

PCC 7132 going south on route 36 – Broadway-State, having just passed the Santa Fe Freight Office. Just to the left of the streetcar, you can see an entrance to the State Street subway, which opened in 1943. That looks like a Continental Air Transport bus behind the PCC. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

CTA PCC 7262 at the Western and 79th loop when it was brand new. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

PCC 7116 is laying over at 119th and Morgan before heading north on route 36 – Broadway-State. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

PCC 7228, signed for route 36 Broadway-State, crosses the Chicago River towards the Loop. This car was delivered March 29, 1948, and scrapped March 1, 1957, a service life of about 9 years. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

CTA 7116, built by St. Louis, at the Museum Loop. The Field Museum of Natural History would be off to the left, as is Lake Shore Drive. At rear, we can see the old Chicago Park District headquarters and Soldier Field. This loop was built to bring large numbers of visitors to A Century of Progress in 1933, Chicago’s second World’s Fair. The Illinois Central suburban electric tracks are at right. The streamlined moderne Park District building was built as the headquarters of the World’s Fair administration. Unfortunately it was demolished as part of the project to renovate Soldier Field. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

PCC 4057 is laying over at Cottage Grove and 115th before heading north on route 4. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

St. Louis-built PCC 4056. At irst I thought this was 81st and Halsted, but as Mike Engelberg points out, “Notice there is only a single track on this street. Therefore it is not at 81st and Halsted. Methinks this is on Emerald south of 79th, particularly because the roll sign is for Halsted route 8, not Clark-Wentworth route 22. Also compare the two-story building here versus the two-story building in photos of 81st and Halsted. They are not the same.”
That appears to be a 1949 Ford at right, but this picture was taken later, due to the presence of advertising frames on the side of the streetcar. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

St. Louis-built PCC 4056, signed for route 4 – Cottage Grove, has just crossed the Chicago River. While the iconic Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower are at rear, the Sun-Times building (1958) had not yet been built when this picture was taken. Note a Chicago Motor Coach bus at rear. CTA purchased Motor Coach’s assets as of October 1, 1952, probably not too long after this picture was taken. In the 1950s, some Cottage Grove cars (usually signed as Route 38) went north of the river and terminated at Grand and Navy Pier. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

PCC service on Cottage Grove was mainly provided by prewar PCCs in the early 1950s, but here is postwar car 7044, which has been converted to one-man. (And we do mean “man,” since CTA did not hire any female operators until 1974.) Here, we are at Cottage Grove and 115th, the south end of the Cottage Grove line on route 4. The car is using route 38 as a sign although PCCs never ran there. The reason is the northern terminus of route 4 was changed, and this roll sign had the correct end point. 7044 was delivered on April 29, 1947 and was scrapped on January 16, 1957, a service life just short of 10 years. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

St. Louis PCC 4054 at 81st and Halsted. It was delivered on July 17, 1947 and scrapped on January 10, 1957, a service life of less than 10 years. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

PCC 4227, at Clark and Howard, prepares to head south on route 22 – Clark-Wentworth. The building on the left is still there. You would hardly recognize this location, which has been converted to an outdoor cafe. When this turnback loop was constructed, the surface and rapid transit systems competed against each other and there was little effort to coordinate them. After CTA was created, buses were diverted to bring passengers directly to the Howard “L” terminal, some distance behind the scene of this photo. Car 4227, a Pullman product, was delivered on March 7, 1948, and scrapped on August 15, 1953, a service live of less than 5 1/2 years. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

A current view of the location of the previous picture. Streetcars once ran right between these two buildings. Interestingly, the address on the building at right has been changed from 7547 to 7545. Jeff Wien writes, “The building identified now as 7545 is not the same structure that was there in streetcar days. The original building was torn down and replaced with a new brick building which looks similar as a part of the redevelopment of the Clark/Howard Mall about 15 to 20 years ago. How the address of the two commercial spaces located at almost the same spot could change by two digits is something that only the County Assessor would be able to explain.”

CTA 7207 at Schreiber and Clark. Half the car barn lacked a roof due to a fire in the early 1920s. This photo probably dates to circa 1955-56 due to the presence of a prewar car at rear, which would have been used on route 49 – Western. 7207 had a scrap date of July 30, 1958, meaning it lasted until the end of Chicago streetcar service on June 21st of that year. The “Enter at Rear” sign means this car was still being used as two-man, with a conductor. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

CSL 7047, delivered on May 3, 1947, at 81st and Halsted, site of many railfan photos back in the day. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

CSL 4010, in 1945-46 experimental paint, heads east at 5322 West Madison. The Surface Lines tried out various color schemes before deciding on the iconic combination of Mercury Green, Croydon Cream, and Swamp Holly Orange for the postwar cars. Interestingly, none of the six cars that were repainted had the exact color scheme that was ultimately selected. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

Prewar PCC 7027, in “tiger stripes,” heads east at 5054 West Madison. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

The experimental pre-PCC car 7001, built by Brill in 1934, spent its final years as a shed at 77th and Vincennes before being scrapped in 1959. It was briefly considered for purchase by the fledgling Illinois Electric Railway Museum, but was passed up because its windows were considered to be at the wrong height for its intended use as a hot dog stand. Ideas about historic preservation were different back then. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

Prewar PCC 4050, in experimental colors, heads east about a block from the turnaround loop at Madison and Austin on route 20. This photo was taken circa 1945-46 and you can just barely make out a Chicago & West Towns streetcar further back. Austin Boulevard is the boundary between Chicago and Oak Park. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

CSL 4080 heads southbound on the route 22 – Clark-Wentworth. According to Jeff Wien, this is “Vincennes Avenue near 76th.” (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Pullman-built PCC 4205, without a logo on the side, does have a sign at front heralding “Another New CTA Streetcar.” It was delivered on on February 18, 1948 and is shown here at 81st and Halsted, the south end of route 22 – Clark-Wentworth. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Brand new PCC 4315, which already appears to have been sideswiped by something, does not have a CTA logo on the side in this view taken at the loop at State and 84th. But it does have a banner across the front advertising “Another New CTA Streetcar.” This car was delivered in December 5, 1947, just two months after the CTA takeover. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Experimental 1934 pre-PCC car 4001, built by Pullman. This is similar to a photo on page 5 of CERA Bulletin 146, although it is a different photo. They may have been taken at the same time, however, and if so, the date would be July 1936. The location is 78th and Vincennes. It’s definitely early, since the trolley is still painted like a barber pole.

Some PCCs are visible at rear in this view of the barn at 77th and Vincennes. But the foreground shows both Twin Coach buses and trolley coaches. George Trapp says, “The trolley buses in the photo with the new Twin Coach gas buses are St. Louis Car products, also new in early spring of 1948 and mainly used on 78 Montrose line.” Jeff Wien adds that they were also used on route 80 – Irving Park.

PCC 4396 southbound at Clark and Devon. The election poster would indicate a date of 1955 for this picture, since, as Jeff Wien notes, this car has already been repainted in Everglade Green, which the CTA started doing around July 1952. (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)

Traction in Milwaukee

September 16, 2015March 20, 2016David Sadowski 9 Comments

Milwaukee Electric 1121 crosses the Chicago and North Western on a 1949 fantrip over the North Shore Line. It even has a Skokie Valley Route sign on it.

Our last post featured the Kenosha streetcar, which has been running now for 15 years. Milwaukee is planning a streetcar line of its own, and may begin construction next spring.

Today, we pay tribute to this rich traction history with a selection of classic photos showing Milwaukee streetcars and interurbans. Much of the information we are sharing about these railcars comes from Don’s Rail Photos, an excellent online archive. Don Ross has been collecting photos since 1946 and if you have not yet checked out his web site, I hope you will do so.

Milwaukee once had an interurban system, part of which was called a “rapid transit” line. The last vestige of this once-great system was called Speedrail.

Speedrail was a valiant effort to keep service going on a shoestring, in an era before government funding for transit. Unfortunately, there was a horrific accident on September 2, 1950 that led directly to the end of the interurban on June 30, 1951. That this crash was involved a train full of railfans, many of whom had come to Milwaukee from out of town to attend a convention, made things even more tragic. Jay Maeder, head of Speedrail, was at the controls of one of the two trains, which hit head-on on a blind curve. The exact cause of the accident was never determined. You can read more about it here.

Milwaukee’s last streetcar ran in 1958. If you would like to hear the sounds of Milwaukee streetcars in action, you may be interested in our compact disc of Railroad Record Club LPs #35 and 36, which you can find in our Online Store.

This Hi-Fi recording, made in the 1950s, has been digitally remastered and sounds great. It is paired with additional vintage recordings of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee, Chicago, Aurora & Elgin, plus the Chicago Transit Authority’s Garfield Park “L”.

When the Illinois Electric Railway Museum, then located in North Chicago, purchased a Chicago, Aurora & Elgin railcar after the “Roarin’ Elgin” was abandoned, the suggestion was made to use a CA&E car on a North Shore Line fantrip. And although an inspection showed that the CA&E car was, most likely, in better shape than some of the CNS&M’s existing rolling stock, IERM was unable to get permission to use the car, and this historic opportunity was lost.

However, about a dozen years before this, a similar sort of trip was run, when Milwaukee Electric interurban car 1121 ran on a fantrip over North Shore Line trackage. We are pleased to offer three photos from that trip in this post.

According to the book Kenosha on the Go, by the Kenosha Streetcar Society, page 79, this fantrip took place on Sunday, December 4, 1949, with North Shore motorman Howard A. Odinius at the controls. It had been 27 months since the abandonment of the MRK (Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha) interurban line of KMCL (Kenosha Motor Coach Lines), which ran to downtown Kenosha. (Speedrail ran service to Waukesha.)

You can read Don Ross’ account of the fantrip here.

After Milwaukee lost its streetcars, the era of traction continued there until the North Shore Line quit in 1963, and the last Milwaukee trolley bus ran in 1965. Now, the Illinois Railway Museum has a variety of Milwaukee equipment in its extensive collections.

Let’s hope events in Milwaukee are gaining traction, and not losing it.

-Ye Olde Editor

PS- Here’s a video showing Milwaukee’s route 10 streetcar in 1957:

Milwaukee Electric car 1121 and an Electroliner near Racine on the 1949 North Shore Line fantrip. Don’s Rail Photos adds, “1121 was built by Kuhlman Car in February 1909, #405. It was rebuilt in 1927. It was equipped with GE-207B motors to allow it to pull trailers. In 1949 it was found to have the best wheels, and thus it was selected for the fantrip on the North Shore Line to Green Bay Junction near Rondout. It was also used as a freight motor after the last regular freight motor was wrecked in 1950.”

Milwaukee Electric car 1121 alongside an Electroliner (probably 803-804) at the Kenosha station. This was a 1949 fantrip where a TMER&T car was operated on part of the North Shore Line.

Don’s Rail Photos says, “1182-1183 was rebuilt from an I&C (Indianapolis & Cincinnati Traction Co.) car in 1929 and scrapped in 1952.” The car is shown at the North Side station in Milwaukee, signed for the Port Washington interurban line.

Don’s Rail Photos says, “1196-1197 was built at Cold Spring in 1929. The second car was equipped with small dining facilities but it was shortly rebuilt with a baggage compartment at the rear end. It was stored at West Allis Station after a few years. In 1942 it was rebuilt with all coach and scrapped in 1952.” This car is shown in downtown Milwaukee, signed for the Port Washington interurban line.

Milwaukee Electric Railway (The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Transport Co.) car 1137, westbound on the Rapid Transit Line, 68th Street Bridge, July 22, 1949.

Speedrail cars 300 and 65, both signed for Hales Corners. According to Don’s Rail Photos, “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.” Car 65 at right is a “curved side” car built by the Cincinnati Car Company. It also came by way of Shaker Heights.

Speedrail car 66, shown here on the Waukesha loop, was a Cincinnati “curved-side” car. It had formerly been used by both Lehigh Valley Transit and the Dayton and Troy. This car, after having been refurbished for Speedrail, was only in service for a short period of time before the line quit in 1951.

The tragic result of a head-on collision between two Speedrail cars on a blind curve on September 2, 1950. Heavyweight cars 1192-1193, at left, ran into lightweight articulated cars 39-40. Ten people were killed and dozens were injured.

Here is a video about the Speedrail wreck:

Milwaukee city streetcar 570 on route 15. Don’s Rail Photos adds, “570 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1911. It was one manned in 1931.”

The caption to this photo reads, “City car – Milwaukee. Last 2-man car pulling into station on last run in West Allis.” Charles Kronenwetter adds, “Car 638 appears to be coming Northbound on 84th St approaching the National Ave intersection.” Don’s Rail Photos: “638 was built at Cold Springs in 1913. It was reconditioned as a two man car in 1928.”

Don’s Rail Photos says, “589 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1911. It was rebuilt in 1927.” This car is shown at the end of one of the Milwaukee city streetcar lines in West Allis. Charles Kronoenwetter says, “589 is coming off the short section of private right-of-way which ran between Mitchell St. and Becher St. onto Becher St.”

Milwaukee city car 556 on Becher St. in West Allis. Don’s Rail Photos adds, “556 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1911. It was one manned in 1928.”

Railroad Record Club LP #35 features Hi-fi audio recordings of Milwaukee streetcars in the 1950s. We have digitized this and many other recordings, which you can find in our Online Store.

Updates

FYI, we’ve added another picture to a previous post, More Hoosier Traction:

Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago car 74.

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Historic Chicago Buses

September 8, 2015September 9, 2015David Sadowski 8 Comments

CTA Marmon-Harrington trolley bus 9620 at the Cicero/24th terminal on July 3, 1967. (Stephen M. Scalzo Photo)

While our main interest is in electric transit (streetcars, light rail, rapid transit and interurbans), from time to time we get requests to show bus pictures. We don’t have many, but we figure it’s time to make good on our promise to show what we do have.

Buses have been an important part of Chicago’s transit scene since the 1920s, when the Chicago Motor Coach Company began using them.

Whether you call them trolley buses, trolley coaches, or trackless trolleys, rubber-tired buses with overhead wires were used in Chicago from 1930 to 1973 and were very popular. I have fond memories of riding them as a kid, since I lived near Grand, Fullerton, North Avenue and several other such northwest side routes.

Despite an internal CTA study that showed trolley buses were very profitable in the early 1950s, the agency gradually phased them out between 1959 and 1973. (You can read more about trolley buses here.)

They remain in use in half a dozen North American cities to this day.

It is not widely known, but the Illinois Railway Museum has an operating trolley bus line and actually has six Chicago trolley buses in its collection, in addition to some from other cities.

In our recent E-book Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story, available in our Online Store, we discuss how Chicago transitioned to an all-bus surface fleet.

From 1930 to 1947, the Chicago Surface Lines believed in “Balanced Transit,” where streetcars were best for the heaviest routes, trolley buses for the medium sized ones, and gas buses for the lightest routes. The 1937 “Green Book” study commissioned by the City of Chicago, following national trends, envisioned replacing about half of the streetcar system with buses. However, the report, mainly written by Philip Harrington, who became the first head of the Chicago Transit Board, governing body of the CTA, also said that in the future, it might be advantageous to replace all the streetcars with buses.

If not for World War II, Chicago might have undergone a more orderly transition to buses over a longer period of time. But the delays caused by wartime shortages and the Great Depression meant that much of CSL’s rolling stock was quite old by the end of the war.

There was a pent-up need for change, and it should therefore be no surprise that as soon as CTA was created in 1945, they pressed CSL and the bankruptcy courts that controlled it to order large numbers of buses in addition to the 600 PCCs that were purchased for the busiest lines. (You can view the original CSL/CTA delivery records for those 600 streetcars further on in this post.)

Although CTA did not take direct control until October 1, 1947, they felt they had been given a mandate to make transit improvements immediately. Therefore, they “stage managed” equipment orders and actually dictated on what routes the new equipment was used on.

During this period, many CSL routes received extensions to areas of the city that had been developed since the last streetcar lines were built. Express bus routes were also started.

Transit unification in Chicago finally became complete when the CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, effective October 1, 1952. CMC was a privately owned bus operator whose routes mainly ran on Chicago’s boulevards and parks. By 1952, they had a fleet of about 600 buses.

The Motor Coach was profitable, while CTA during this period was losing money. CTA felt that CMC was skimming the profitable “cream” off the city’s surface routes, and they wanted desperately to buy them out.

As it happens, the CTA had to pay at least $1m more for Motor Coach than they had wanted to, since they were, after all, a profitable enterprise that was owned by a national company that did not really want to sell.

The CTA applied some “hardball” tactics in the run-up to the sale. They tried to stop accepting transfers from CMC buses, and since there was a fare differential, began collecting the difference between the lower CMC fare and the higher CTA fares when riders did transfer.

In addition, they began competing directly against CMC on the Austin Boulevard route. There was more of this to come, and CMC saw the handwriting on the wall and sold out. After all, they had never actually been operating under a franchise from the City of Chicago, while the CTA, the courts determined, had few constraints on what they could do.

Mayor Martin H. Kennelly made public statements that opposed the sale, although there is some evidence that he was in favor of it privately.

Immediately upon taking over Motor Coach, the CTA raised the fares on those routes so that they matched the CTA’s higher rate.

Perhaps not coincidentally, it was right at the time that the CTA announced their so-called “PCC Conversion Program,” whereby 570 of the 600 Postwar cars were eventually scrapped, and some of the parts recycled for use in new rapid transit cars.

At this point, the CTA had achieved a virtual monopoly on surface transit in Chicago, and no longer had to try and compete with the Motor Coach Company. Interestingly, CTA did not purchase the Motor Coach name, which is why it is now in use by a private operator.

-David Sadowski

PS- For more Chicago trolley bus pictures, check out Tom’s Trolleybus Pix.

CSL trolley buses at a storage yard at Central and Lexington. The Garfield Park “L” is at left.

CSL 6511 and other TDH 4506’s in Garfield Park.

CSL 623 at the North and Cicero garage.

CSL 3405 at Archer and Rockwell.

From the St. Petersburg Tram Collection web site:

The largest group of coaches ordered by CSL from a single builder was 3400-series White 798 buses, 297 units at total. First 40 were delivered in 1944-45 (allocated to CSL by Office of Defence Transportation). In 1946-1948 257 coaches of 3441-3697 series arrived, last 100 were ordered by Chicago Transit Authority and had some improvements, such as marker lights on the roof, brigher interiors with improved lighting. Coaches 3496-3697 were automatic transmission-equipped. The post-war Whites arrived in then new Mercury green and Croydon cream livery and the fleet was centralized at Archer for turns on the new 62X Archer Express service, CSL first limited-stop bus line, which made its debut on October 21, 1946 between the Loop and Midway Airport.

Trolley bus 395 on route 78 – Montrose.

CSL 516, signed for route 57 – Laramie.

Chicago Motor Coach Company 63 on Michigan Avenue, in front of the Fine Arts building.

Chicago Motor Coach Company double decker bus 162.

The cover illustration from a Surface Lines brochure printed in August 1947.

Postwar Chicago PCC Delivery Dates

Thanks to the generosity of Andre Kristopans, we now have copies of the original CSL/CTA records that give exact delivery dates for all 600 Postwar Chicago PCC streetcars. This information has been added to Chicago’s PCC Streetcars: The Rest of the Story:

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

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

We thank you for your support.

Chicago Motor Coach’s routes as of 1943.

Chicago Surface Lines Work Cars – Part 2

September 7, 2015September 7, 2015David Sadowski 9 Comments

Work car AA59 at Devon Station (car house) on November 15, 1953. Andre Kristopans gives a scrap date of 1956 for this car. Don’s Rail Photos says, “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. A number of these cars were converted to sand and salt service and as flangers.” The “Matchbox” 1374 at IRM is part of this same series (1101-1425). Looks like a Postwar PCC behind it.

Celebrating Labor Day, here is the second in a two-part series featuring Chicago Surface Lines work cars. You can find part one here.

Much of what we know about these cars comes from Don’s Rail Photos, a very comprehensive source of information.

As always, if you know more than we do, please share it with us, so we can improve our efforts. You can leave a comment on this post, or e-mail us directly at: thetrolleydodger@gmail.com

We asked Andre Kristopans if it might be possible that CSL streetcar RPO (railway post office) car H2, shown in our previous post, may be the same car also pictured later as money car M201.

Here is his reply:

CSL did a lot of scrapping in the late 30’s, partially in order to “balance the books” after the pre-war PCC’s came. They had to retire an “equivalent value”, which is why a lot of Matchboxes (1100-1400’s) were scrapped around then, along with old work cars, and interestingly some old single-truckers that had been in storage since about 1918 as what would now be called a “contingency fleet”. More than likely H2 went in that purge, though I can’t say for sure.

Sometimes the Surface Lines kept cars in storage for decades, just in case they might be usable for some purpose in the future.

Sweeper E223 is one of the very few pieces of CSL work equipment that have survived. It was purchased by Dick Lukin in 1956 and eventually made its way to the Illinois Railway Museum.

You can read the story of how that came to be here on the excellent Hicks Car Works blog.

Thanks.

-David Sadowski

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

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

We thank you for your support.

This former mail car ended its days as a CSL supply car. Not sure if this is the same car as H201 in our previous post. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

SS1 appears to be a portable substation. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)

Don’s Rail Photos says, “S3 was built by Chicago Rys in 1911 as 3. It was renumbered S3 in 1913 and became CSL S3 in 1914.” Note the trolley coach at rear.

Don’s Rail Photos says, “L202 was built by Chicago City Ry in 1909 as CCRy C50. It was renumbered L202 in 1913 and became CSL L202 in 1914. It was rebuilt as S343 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.”

Sweeper E18 in action. From the Park Theatre in the background, we can tell that this is Lake Street at Austin Boulevard, the west city limits and end of the #16 Lake Street route. There are a couple more photos of the same movie theater in our earlier post West Towns Streetcars in Black-and-White.

E304 at work.

E209 at 69th yards in January 1941. (Vic Wagner Photo)

Sweeper E215.

Sweepers E8 and E7. (Stephen D. Maguire Photo)

Plow E6 on January 9, 1954. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)

CSL 701, built by the Pressed Steel Company in 1909. According to Don’s Rail Photos, “These cars were built to the same design as the Pullmans.” (Earl Clark Photo)

Snow plow F305.

Sand car/snow plow D212 at 70th and Ashland.

Home-made snow plows F301 and F304. Chances are these were scrapped prior to the 1947 CTA takeover of CSL.

Don’s Rail Photos says , “E57 was built by Russell in 1930.” (Stephen D. Maguire Photo)

Sweepers E27, E221, “Matchbox” 1362, and sprinkler/plow D4. Don’s Rail Photos says, “E27 was built by McGuire-Cummings as CRys E27. It became CSL E27 in 1914.”

Sweeper E227 in action.

Sweeper E234.

Sweeper E205.

Apparently this photo, which was mis-marked as Chicago, must be from somewhere else. As Andre Kristopans points out, Chicago’s sweepers were all in an E or F series, and the paint scheme of the streetcar at right is not CSL. Perhaps one of our readers can help us figure out where this is from. (Roy Bruce Photo)

Heavy duty sweeper E18 in action. (Stephen D. Maguire Photo)

Sweeper E25 in action on February 5, 1942. (Robert S. Crockett Photo)

L201.

Sand car R202 at South Shops in March 1948. (C. Edward Hedstrom, Sr. Photo)

Sweeper E40 awaiting scrapping at South Shops, with L201 at rear, on February 22, 1955. (C. Edward Hedstrom, Sr. Photo)

Sweeper 0103 on Sloane Avenue in 1941.

While not Surface Lines equipment, electric loco S-104, which CTA inherited from the Chicago Rapid Transit Company, does fit in with the overall theme of this post (labor). Don’s Rail Photos says, “S-104 was built by Baldwin-Westinghouse in August 1920, #53555, as Northwestern Elevated RR S-104. In 1923 it became CRT S-104 and CTA S-104 in 1948. In 1978 it was sold to Toledo Edison Co as 4. It was sold to Rail Foundation in 1996.” This photo was taken in April 1955.

The Trolley Dodger

Musings on transit, past, present, and future

St. Louis Car Co.

7001’s True Colors

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part Four

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part Three

Trolley Dodger Mailbag, 10-4-2015, Etc.

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part Two

More Historic Chicago Buses

More Chicago PCC Photos – Part One

Traction in Milwaukee

Historic Chicago Buses

Chicago Surface Lines Work Cars – Part 2