Welcome 2024

January 8, 2024January 19, 2024David Sadowski 16 Comments

PRC Pittsburgh Railways PCC Route 28
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Date: July 1958
Photographer: Unknown
Pittsburgh PCC #1562 was built in 1944 by the St. Louis Car Company. The Roxian Theatre is located at 501 Chartiers Avenue, McKees Rocks, PA 15136. It was built in 1928 and had 1,200 seats. It closed in 1979 and was converted into a concert venue for a time. In 2019, it reopened as a film and performing arts theatre. Stuart B. Slaymaker adds, “Route 26 was a West End Line, (and) died with the others, in June, 1959. 30 years later, most of the trackage up in West Park, was in perfect condition. We drove and photographed it. Looked like it was waiting for the PCCs to come back…” Larry Lovejoy adds, “Photo eba839 technically isn’t in Pittsburgh but rather the independent Borough of McKees Rocks. The car and the bus are both running inbound to downtown Pittsburgh. The bus was operated by Shafer Coach Lines, one of the 30-plus independent bus companies that was absorbed into the Port Authority of Allegheny County in 1964. Shafer and Pittsburgh Railways were fiercely competitive in the corridor running along the south bank of the Ohio River.” https://www.amcap.org/history/pghhistory/shafer.shtml

As we welcome the new year, this is also the third anniversary of our friend Jeff Wien‘s passing. We offer herein a special selection of some of the fantastic images from his vast and exceptional collection, as a tribute to him. He deserves to be remembered for all his contributions to historic preservation.

Jeff’s extensive collection covers steam and diesel trains, in addition to streetcars, rapid transit, and interurbans.

We also have some recent finds of our own.

-David Sadowski

Our Next Live Program

FYI, my next presentation will take place at the Edgewater Branch of the Chicago Public Library from 10-11am on Saturday, January 13, 2024. Admission is free, and copies of my four Arcadia books will be available for purchase at special prices.

The library is located at 6000 N. Broadway, Chicago 60660.

I will be covering the History of the Chicago “L”. This program is being done in partnership with the Edgewater Historical Society.

I look forward to seeing you there. As far as I am aware, this program is not being streamed.

More information here: CPL Event Page

Our Annual Fundraiser

Since we started this blog in 2015, we have posted more than 16,000 images. This is our 311th post.

In the near future, we will need to renew our WordPress subscription, our domain registration, and pay other bills associated with maintaining this site, so it is time for our Annual Fundraiser.

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

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

To date, we have raised $473.22 towards our goal.

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

We thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

-David Sadowski

PS- You might also like our Trolley Dodger Facebook auxiliary, a private group that now has 1,487 members.

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

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

Our Next Book Project

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

Chicago Aurora and Elgin wood car 317 is at the head of a westbound train at DesPlaines Avenue in Forest Park on September 9, 1953. This was about ten days before the CA&E stopped running downtown via the CTA and cut back service to here. The old station you see here was replaced with a hastily built one just a bit to the north, with a loop for interurban trains to turn back, and cross platform connections with CTA Garfield Park “L” trains. The old station was on the east side of DesPlaines Avenue, with the new station to the west.
The terminal was once again reconfigured in 1959, during construction of the adjacent expressway, but by then the CA&E had stopped running (although new tracks were put in place in case it had been able to continue). I am sure I will include this picture in my upcoming book. (Lawson K. Hill Photo) Lawson Kingsbury Hill (1910-1998) lived in Massachusetts, where he worked as a rate clerk.

Chicago’s Union Depot was built in 1881 and was on Canal Street between Madison and Adams streets. Stations that served more than one railroad were known as union stations. Construction of the current Union Station, a massive project, began in 1913. It opened in 1925.

South Shore Line car 26 is at the Randolph Street Terminal in downtown Chicago in December 1981. These venerable cars, built in 1926, were retired in 1983– a remarkable 57 years of service. You can’t get a picture like this any longer, as Millennium Park has since been built above this station. We are looking north.

Pittsburgh Railways PC car 1640 is at South Hills Junction in June 1965 (processing date). This car, looking a bit worse for wear here, was built in 1945 by the St. Louis Car Company. It was rebuilt as car 1799 in 1979, and in 1990 it went to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, Pennsylvania. (Rick Burn Photo)

Chicago Aurora and Elgin express car 9 was built by Niles Car in 1907, and was scrapped in 1959. Here it is on September 1, 1948 at Wheaton.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin express car 11 heads up a fantrip train in 1949. Don’s Rail Photos: “11 was built by Brill in 1910, #16483. It was rebuilt to a line car in 1947 and replaced 45. It was acquired by Railway Equipment Leasing & Investment Co in 1962 and became Fox River Trolley Museum in 1984. It was lettered as Fox River & Eastern.”

From the Collections of Jeffrey L. Wien

Philadelphia SEPTA PCC #2245
Location: Philadelphia (Route 60, Allegheny-Collins)
Date: September 8, 1976
Photographer: James J. Buckley
This was the second Philadelphia PCC numbered 2245. It was originally Toronto Transportation Commission car 4762. It came to Philadelphia in 1976 and was scrapped in 1982.

Pittsburgh PAT PCC Streetcar Trolley #1468
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Route 73 – Highland)
Date: January 20, 1967
Photographer: Unknown
Pittsburgh Railways PCC streetcar 1468 was built in 1942 by the St. Louis Car Company.

Pittsburgh Railways PCC Streetcar #1520 (and 1549)
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (North St. Clair and Bowden, Routes 71 and 73)
Date: July 3, 1964
Photographer: Unknown
Pittsburgh Railways PCC streetcar 1520 was built in 1945 by the St. Louis Car Company. It was later renumbered to 1795.

Pittsburgh Railways PCC Streetcar #1662
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Glenwood Bridge)
Date: October 7, 1962
Photographer: Unknown

Pittsburgh PAT PCC Streetcar Trolley #1646
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Route 10 – Perrysville at Towers Terrace, Ross Township)
Date: May 23, 1965
Photographer: Unknown

Pittsburgh Railways PCC Streetcar #1478
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Route 28 – Heidelberg, 1st and Railroad Avenue)
Date: July 1958
Photographer: Unknown

Pittsburgh PAT PCC Streetcar Trolley #1626
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Route 39 – Brookline at Jillson Street)
Date: April 22, 1966
Photographer: Joseph P. Saitta

Pittsburgh Railways PCC Trolley #1623
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Route 88 – Tioga Loop)
Date: September 13, 1964
Photographer: Unknown

Pittsburgh PAT PCC Streetcar Trolley #1619
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Fort Pitt-Smithfield)
Date: October 23, 1973
Photographer: Joseph P. Saitta

Pittsburgh PAT Streetcar Trolley #3756
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Grant and Fifth)
Date: July 3, 1976 (processing date)
Photographer: Joseph P. Saitta

Pittsburgh Railways PCC Trolley #1674
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (signed for Route 49 – Arlington)
Date: January 1, 1964
Photographer: Unknown

Pittsburgh Railways PCC Trolley #1685
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Route 10 – West View)
Date: July 21, 1963
Photographer: Unknown

Pittsburgh Railways PCC Trolley #1627
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Route 44 – Knoxville PA Station)
Date: May 1958 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

CTUSV Vera Cruz Mexico Tram Streetcar #212 (Operator: Sociedad Cooperativa de Transportes Urbanos y Sub-Urbanos de Veracruz)
Location: Vera Cruz, Mexico (Pages-Uribe)
Date: April 17, 1971
Photographer: Joseph P. Saitta

CMTC São Paulo Streetcar Tram #1813
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Date: March 11, 1965
Photographer: James J. Buckley
Ex-Third Avenue Railway, New York City, built 1936-37.

Mexico City Streetcar #826
Location: Mexico City (Zocalo)
Date: September 30, 1950
Photographer: Unknown

TESCL Tampico Mexico Tram Streetcar #21 (Transportes Eléctricos Tampico Sociedad Cooperativa Limitada)
Location: Tampico, Mexico
Date: July 1972 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

South Shore Line Interurban Car #100
Location: Indiana (either Michigan City or South Bend)
Date: July 4, 1966
Photographer: Unknown
The South Shore Line, running between Chicago and South Bend, Indiana, is the one classic major interurban that has survived into the 21st Century. It is currently being upgraded and expanded. From Don’s Rail Photos (via Archive.org): “100 was built by Pullman in 1926, (order) #4936. It was lengthened in 1943, and received air conditioning and picture windows in 1949. It was sold to a shopping center at Chesterton, IN, in 1983.” Spence Ziegler adds, “The picture of CSS&SB combine #100 was taken at Michigan City.”

Philadelphia Market Frankford El 6-car arched roof elevated train
Location: Philadelphia (Market Street at 46th Street)
Date: September 12, 1955
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

Philadelphia Market Frankford El 6-car railroad roof elevated train
Location: Philadelphia (Entering 69th Street Terminal)
Date: September 12, 1955
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

PTC Peter Witt #8500
Location: Philadelphia (Market Street near 15th)
Date: September 12, 1955
Photographer: William C. Hoffman
Here is a classic view of a Philadelphia Transportation Company Peter Witt car. Philadelphia had 535 Peter Witt streetcars in all, built by Brill between 1923 and 1926. They were all retired from regular service by 1957.

PTC Peter Witt #8500
Location: Philadelphia (Route 32 – 17th Street at Market Street)
Date: September 12, 1955
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

Philadelphia Market Frankford El and PCC car
Location: Philadelphia (30th Street Station)
Date: September 12, 1955
Photographer: William C. Hoffman

NYCTA Manhattan Elevated
Location: IRT West Side Line at 125th Street
Date: 1953
Photographer: Unknown

Atlantic City Streetcar Trolley #213
Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Date: December 28, 1955
Photographer: Unknown
Mike Franklin: “This is the intersection of Fredericksburg and Atlantic Aves, Ventnor City, NJ.”

SF San Francisco Muni Twin Peaks Portal Reconstruction
Location: San Francisco, California
Date: May 1, 1977
Photographer: William C. Hoffman
The Twin Peaks streetcar tunnel was originally built in 1917. Here it is in 1977, while the tunnel entrance was being rebuilt. Our previous post A Colorful Harvest (October 28, 2023) included before and after pictures of the portal.

Fort Worth Tandy Subway xWashington PCC #3
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Date: January 1975 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown
From the Wikipedia: The Tandy Center Subway operated in Fort Worth, Texas, from February 15, 1963 to August 30, 2002. It ran a distance of 0.7 miles (1.1 km) and was, during the period of its operation, the only privately owned subway in the United States. The subway was originally built by Leonard’s Department Store in 1963, connecting the store to its large parking lots on the edge of downtown. Originally known as the Leonard’s M&O Subway, it consisted of one underground station beneath the store and four stations in the parking lots. Between 1962 and 1966, Leonard’s acquired a total of 15 PCC streetcars from DC Transit in Washington, D.C. These had been manufactured by the St. Louis Car Company in the 1930s and 1940s. The Tandy Corporation purchased the department store, its parking lots, and the subway in 1967. The corporation built its headquarters, the Tandy Center, on the site in 1974. Although it demolished the original store, Tandy retained the subway. The small subway primarily served patrons visiting the mall at the base of the Tandy Center, which also linked to the downtown location of Fort Worth Public Library. However, the anchor tenant moved out in 1995 and the mall declined. The Tandy Center Subway ceased operation on August 30, 2002. After the closure, one of the streetcars used on the subway was acquired by Dallas’s McKinney Avenue Transit Authority, which modified it to again make it suitable for in-street use, and it operated in service on the McKinney Avenue heritage streetcar line in Dallas until the mid-to late 2000s. As of 2012, it remained in storage in Dallas, out of use.

Fort Worth Tandy Subway xWashington PCC #24
Location: Fort Worth, Texas (Station #3)
Date: April 1975 (processing date)
Photographer: Philip Hom

Delaware & Hudson Baldwin RF16 Sharknose #1205
Location: Unknown
Date: May 1978
Photographer: John Swift
From the Wikipedia: “Delaware and Hudson 1205 and 1216 are two Baldwin RF-16 locomotives originally built for the New York Central Railroad in 1951 and 1952. They are the last two surviving examples of the Baldwin RF-16.” Dan Cluley adds, “The former D&H Sharks are in Cadillac MI at the former Ann Arbor RR engine house. The State of MI bought quite a bit of trackage that didn’t make it into Conrail, and then had contracts with several companies to run it. The Michigan Northern RR which operated several ex PRR & AA lines leased these sharks for a few years in the late ’70s.”

NWS&W Northwestern Steel & Wire Steam #74
Location: Sterling, Illinois
Date: May 1974 (processing date)
Photographer: Melvin Bernero

ICG Illinois Central Gulf E8A Diesel #4020 (The City of Miami)
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: April 25, 1971
Photographer: Unknown

C&WI Chicago & Western Indiana Diesel #256
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: October 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

CB&Q Burlington Diesel EMD E8 #9948B
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: March 1965 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

PRR Pennsylvania Baldwin RF16 Sharknose #9739, 9592
Location: Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Date: September 10, 1961
Photographer: Unknown

N&W Norfolk & Western Diesel #1371
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: April 1975
Photographer: Unknown

N&W Norfolk & Western Diesel #507
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: March 27, 1970
Photographer: Richard R. Wallin
N&W #507 was an EMD GP9 built in November 1958. Here it is seen in Chicago commuter train service. This is now operated by Metra.

FEC Florida East Coast EMD E8A Diesel #1031
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Date: April 8, 1968
Photographer: Raymond J. Muller

Delaware & Hudson Baldwin RF16 Sharknose #1205
Location: Unknown
Date: October 1975
Photographer: Robert Malinoski

Delaware & Hudson Diesels Alco P-4s #18, 17
Location: Unknown
Date: August 1975
Photographer: Unknown
Dan Cluley: “I believe the Alco PAs are at D&H’s Colonie Shops near Albany NY.”

Delaware & Hudson Diesels Alco P-4s #18, 17
Location: Mayfield, Pennsylvania
Date: October 19, 1974
Photographer: Unknown

Delaware & Hudson Diesels Alco P-4s #18, 17
Location: Unknown
Date: October 1975 (processing date)

RI Rock Island Diesel Alco RS-3 #493
Location: Chicago, Illinois (where the Rock Island crossed the Pennsylvania Railroad)
Date: November 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

Our resident south side expert M. E. has quite a lot to say about the Rock Island picture above:

There is a lot to talk about in this picture and about its component rail trackage.

This photo was taken, looking straight north, at the north end of the Washington Heights station platform of the Rock Island main line south of 103rd St. at Vincennes. In the foreground in the photo is the wooden walkway from Vincennes Ave. to the station. Note there were no safety setups to tell a pedestrian a train is coming.

Engine 493 is leading a main-line suburban train southbound. This train may, or probably may not, stop at Washington Heights, because main-line suburban service generally did not stop at stations along Vincennes Ave. except during rush hours. Judging by auto traffic, this is not rush hour. Also, this train has not yet cleared 103rd St., which can be seen to the east of the train’s last few cars.

Paralleling the Rock Island main line tracks is Vincennes Ave. heading north / northeast. The autos on Vincennes are waiting at the traffic signal for 103rd St. (It would appear the traffic signals did not turn green for Vincennes when a Rock Island train was near.)

Notice the space between the Rock Island tracks and Vincennes Ave. That space was once the private right-of-way for the Kankakee interurban that began at the Englewood Rapid Transit station at 63rd and Halsted, then ran south on Halsted, then Vincennes, past this spot, and on to Kankakee. Later in time, the Chicago Surface Lines Halsted service used this same trackage on its way to the end of line at 111th and Sacramento.

The cross tracks are a Pennsylvania freight line. This trackage started farther north in the city along Leavitt St. (2200 W.). Coming south, it eventually ran on the ground. At 91st and Hermitage (1732 W.), the Pennsy trackage crossed the Rock Island suburban line, then continued southeast to where this photo was taken, then all the way into Indiana. As a side note, the Baltimore & Ohio Capitol Limited ran along the Pennsy tracks south to 89th St., where the Capitol Limited then headed east along the Rock Island suburban line, the east-west Rock Island freight line into South Chicago, and finally on its own trackage.

The road paralleling the Pennsy tracks is Beverly Ave., which was basically an extension of Ashland Ave. south of 95th to 103rd St. There were no businesses on Beverly Ave., it was strictly residential.

Not shown in the picture, but off to the left, was the CTA bus barn, west of Vincennes and south of 103rd St.

Side note about 103rd St. bus service: As I recall calculating, the 103rd-106th bus line, which ran from Pulaski Rd. all the way east to the state line, crossed 13 railroad rights-of-way. It was a wonder that the bus could maintain a schedule with all these potential interruptions.
M E

D&RGW Rio Grande Diesel F7A #5674 (The Prospector)
Location: Salida, Colorado
Date: October 1966 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

RFP Richmond Fredericksburg E8A Diesel #1005
Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Date: April 22, 1971
Photographer: J. David Ingles

EL Erie Lackawanna Alco PA Diesel #853
Location: Lima, Ohio
Date: October 1967 (processing date)
Photographer: Eric Hirsimaki

GM&O Gulf Mobile & Ohio EMD F3A Diesel #882B
Location: Unknown
Date: August 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

GM&O Gulf Mobile & Ohio “Abraham Lincoln”
Location: Unknown
Date: August 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown
Mike Franklin: “Photo of GM&O Gulf Mobile & Ohio “Abraham Lincoln” is taken looking due south from Union Station, Joliet IL across what is today New St.”

GM&O Gulf Mobile & Ohio EMD F3A Diesel #882B
Location: Unknown
Date: August 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown
Mike Franklin: “Photo of GM&O Gulf Mobile & Ohio EMD F3A Diesel #882B is taken looking SW from Joliet IL Station. Building to the right (Beutel Nash Co. Inc.) stood at 67-69 N. Scott St.”

Monon Railroad “The Thoroughbred”
Location: Mitchell, Indiana
Date: August 25, 1967
Photographer: Tom Smart
The Thoroughbred was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway (Monon) between Chicago, Illinois and Louisville, Kentucky via Monon, Indiana. It operated from 1948 to 1967. The Thoroughbred was the last passenger train operated by the Monon. It was named for the Thoroughbred horse breeds, a nod to the horse racing heritage of Louisville.
Following World War II new Monon president John W. Barriger III embarked on a program to renew the Monon’s passenger service, long neglected. The centerpiece of this program was a group of 28 surplus hospital cars originally built by the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) in 1944–1945 for the U.S. Army. The Monon rebuilt these cars in their shops, creating enough lightweight coaches, parlor-observation cars, dining cars and mail/baggage cars to create three new streamliners: the Chicago-Indianapolis Hoosier and Tippecanoe, and the Chicago-Louisville Thoroughbred.
The Thoroughbred made its first run on February 15, 1948, replacing the Day Express. Monon discontinued the Thoroughbred on September 30, 1967. It was the final passenger service on the Monon, although Amtrak’s Hoosier State utilized part of Monon’s route between Indianapolis and Chicago.

Monon Railroad “The Thoroughbred” Chicago
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: October 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

Subject: C&NW Chicago & North Western EMD E8A #5024A
Location: Janesville, Wisconsin
Date: June 1962 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown

WMSRR Western Maryland Alco FPA4 Diesel #305
Location: Corriganville, Maryland
Date: July 31, 1991
Photographer: Bob Wilt

CNW Chicago & North Western Diesel Commuter
Location: Unknown
Date: November 1966 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown
Miles Beitler: “I believe the Chicago & North Western commuter train in photo eba994 is on the C&NW Northwest Line at Edison Park (near Devon Avenue and Northwest Highway) on Chicago’s far northwest side.” Patrick J. Cunningham: “M.P. Heinze Machine Co. looks to have been at 6300 Northwest Highway, so that picture may have been taken from the Harlem Ave. grade crossing.” Matt Cajda: “I second this opinion. I grew up in this area and it looks like Harlem Ave. at Avondale. We would be looking southeast towards the Norwood Park station but it is not visible behind the train.”

CNW Chicago & North Western EMD E7 Diesel #5020A 1963 35mm Original Kodachrome Slide
Location: Unknown
Date: August 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown
Patrick J. Cunningham: “The picture of CNW 5020A is in Fond du Lac, WI.” https://fdlhistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/old-pictures.html

ATSF Santa Fe Diesel F3
Location: Leaving the Santa Fe Yard in fort Worth, Texas
Date: April 1963 (processing date)
Photographer: Unknown
From the Wikipedia: “The Texas Chief was a passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway between Chicago, Illinois, and Galveston, Texas. It was the first Santa Fe “Chief” outside the Chicago–Los Angeles routes. The Santa Fe conveyed the Texas Chief to Amtrak in 1971, which renamed it the Lone Star in 1974. The train was discontinued in 1979.”

N&W Norfolk & Western Steam Loco #132
Location: Roanoke, Virginia
Date: June 4, 1958
Photographer: Unknown
N&W #132, a K2a 4-8-2, was built by Baldwin in 1923 and scrapped in July 1959. Among the major railroads, the Norfolk and Western was the last to dieselize. Many of these classic scenes of late steam were captured by O. Winston Link. This photo by an unknown photographer was shot on early Ektachrome, which has shifted to red over the years due to the instability of the dyes. We have color-corrected it here. It is kind of a monochrome image anyway, although you can see some natural colors in the background.

Milwaukee Road Electrification E29B
Location: Butte, Montana
Photographer: Keith E. Ardinger
Date: October 1972
In the early 1900s, the Milwaukee Road electrified over 600 miles of freight trackage in the northwestern United States. Use of electric locos ended in 1974. This was a very picturesque, if not a profitable, operation. Large parts of it were eventually abandoned. As these were rather remote places, there are not a lot of pictures.

Milwaukee Road Electrification E50B, E35C, E47C, E50A (Avery Helper)
Location: Haugan, Montana
Photographer: R. Bruce Black
Date: October 2, 1971

PRR Pennsylvania RR Baldwin Shark #5779
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Date: August 1956
Photographer: David R. Sweetland
From Facebook: “The PRR’s Baldwin passenger shark units were PRR class BP20 (Baldwin model DR6-4-20). It’s a shame none of these remain today. There are, however, two former D&H freight sharks still around that hopefully someday will see the light of day.”

NYC New York Central Steam Loco #5256
Location: Shelbyville, Maryland
Date: May 23, 1954
Photographer: Unknown
New York Central loco #5256 was a Hudson (4-6-4) type, class J1c, built by Alco circa 1928-29.

NYC New York Central Steam Locos #3132 #3014
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio (leaving Riverside Yard with westbound freight)
Date: August 11, 1956
Photographer: Unknown
New York Central loco #3132 was a Mohawk (4-8-2) type, built by Lima circa 1943-44. NYC #3014, also a Mohawk (4-8-2) type, was built by Alco in 1940.

CNW Chicago & North Western Steam Loco #620
Location: 4 miles east of Crystal Lake, Illinois
Date: August 31, 1955
Photographer: Unknown
Here is an excellent original Kodachrome slide of a classic C&NW steam engine, in its last days of operation before being replaced by diesels. The final C&NW steam commuter run took place on May 10, 1956.

Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks.

Our Latest Book, Now Available:

The North Shore Line

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

From the back cover:

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

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

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

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

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

For Shipping to US Addresses:

New Compact Disc Titles, Now Available:

HFIH
Hi-Fi Iron Horse
Price: $15.99

Hi-Fi Iron Horse is a unique collection of early steam recordings, made between 1949 and 1954. Portable tape recorders were not yet available when the earliest of these was made, but there was still another source for making high-quality audio– the optical sound track of motion picture film.

Featuring in-service steam of the Baltimore & Ohio, Bessemer & Lake Erie, Burlington, Canadian National, Delaware & Hudson, East Broad Top, Erie, Grand Trunk Western, Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain, Western Maryland, and Rutland Railway.

Total time – 50:49

TSOS
The Sound of Steam
Reading 2124
Price: $19.99

Three very rare, out of print North Jersey Recordings LPs, now digitally remastered on two CDs at a special price.

The Sound of Steam offers a comprehensive overview of the twilight days of steam railroading in North America, with sounds recorded between 1957 and 1964. Railroads featured include the Denver & Rio Grande Western, Union Pacific, Canadian Pacific, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway, Gainesville Midland Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading Railroad, Canadian National, Twin Seams Mining Company, Nickel Plate, Colorado & Southern, Norfolk & Western, Buffalo Creek & Gauley, Monadnock, Steamtown & Northern, Rockton & Rion Railway, and the National Railways of Mexico.

Reading 2124 features recordings made in 1959 and 1960 on a series of “Iron Horse Rambles,” excursion trips through eastern Pennsylvania. The Reading Company had retained this class T-1 4-8-4 for emergency use after steam was retired on the railroad. Seven years after the last Reading steam loco had hauled a passenger train, a series of 51 special excursion trips were held, ending in 1964. These have since been revived, and the Rambles continue.

Total time – 69:54 (Disc 1) and 61:20 (Disc 2)

RWW-V103
Rods, Wheels, and Whistles
Voice of the 103
Price: $19.99

Two very rare, out of print North Jersey Recordings LPs, now digitally remastered on two CDs at a special price.

Rods, Wheels, and Whistles features the sounds of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railway, recorded in the twilight years of steam. This LP was originally issued in 1958, but our version is taken from the revised and expanded edition, which includes additional recordings from 1959.

Voice of the 103 documents the former Sumter and Choctaw Railroad #103, a 2-6-2 locomotive built in 1925 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, after it was refurbished in 1962 to operate on the Middletown and New Jersey. This was an excursion service of the Empire State Railway Museum, which has since moved to a new location and no longer operates trains. The 103 is now on static display.

Our collection is rounded out with three bonus tracks from the Strasbourg Railroad, when old number 31 ran excursion trains on the oldest short line railroad in the United States (chartered in June 1832), joining the Pennsylvania Dutch towns of Strasbourg and Paradise in the early 1960s.

Total time – 46:15 (RWW) and 49:26 (V103)

Help Support The Trolley Dodger

This is our 311th post, and we are gradually creating a body of work and an online resource for the benefit of all railfans, everywhere. To date, we have received over 1,042,000 page views, for which we are very grateful.

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Our Sixth Anniversary

January 21, 2021February 8, 2022David Sadowski 21 Comments

North Shore Line car 413 heads up a southbound train under wire at the Loyola curve in June 1961, from a Kodachrome II slide. Kodachrome was first introduced in 1935, and it was reformulated in 1961 although still a very slow film at ISO 25. Prior to this it was ISO 10. Don’s Rail Photos: “413 was built as a trailer observation car by Cincinnati Car in June 1924, #2765. It was out of service in 1932. 413 was rebuilt on May 28, 1943.” (J. William Vigrass Photo)

The Trolley Dodger blog started on January 21, 2015, making this our sixth anniversary. We chose the date deliberately, as it was also the day when the fabled North Shore Line interurban ran its last. We wanted there to be beginnings, as well as endings, associated with that date.

In our six years, we have had 262 posts. Here is a breakdown of page views by year:

2015: 107,460
2016: 127,555
2017: 118,990
2018: 121,147
2019: 101,902
2020: 133,246
2021: 8,436 (21 days)
Total: 718,736

Add to that the 297,195 page views from my previous blog, and we are now over a million page views. We thank you for your support.

We have lots for you this go-round… plenty of new images, including many in color, a rare article about the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, some submissions from our readers, and more photos from the William Shapotkin collection, and even a product review. We also have some North Shore Line content.

Enjoy!

-David Sadowski

For more photos and discussions, consider joining the Trolley Dodger Facebook group, which, although new, already has 151 members.

Our Annual Fundraiser

We thank our readers for making 2020 our most successful yet, with 133,246 page views, surpassing our previous record of 2016, and a 30% increase over the previous year. Each January, we ask our readers to help defray the expenses involved with file storage, web hosting, domain registration and other overhead, the “nuts and bolts” things that make this blog possible. Fortunately, thanks to all of you, we have have received $565 to date, meeting our original goal. Additional donations are always welcome, and will be used to purchase more classic images for this site. If you enjoy what you see here, and would like it to continue, please consider making a donation by clicking on this link, or the one at the top or bottom of this post.

We thank you in advance for your time, consideration, and your generous support.

Recent Finds

CTA 979 is southbound on State, just south of Lake Street. Romance on the High Seas, playing at the State-Lake theater, was released on June 25, 1948, probably about the time when this picture was taken. The streetcar still has a CSL emblem as this was early in the CTA era.

A North Shore Line train at Randolph and Wabash.

The North Shore Line’s headquarters in Highwood, with line car 604 out front. Not sure what caused the lightstruck portion of the neg, but I may try to repair the image in Photoshop at some future date since it is distracting.

A close-up of the previous image. Don’s Rail Photos: “604 was built by the C&ME in 1914. It was acquired by IRM in 1963.”

I was very fortunate to purchase this 1950s negative showing the CTA Stock Yards branch. Daniel Adams: “The view is facing east, at the intersection of Exchange and Packers Avenues. Racine Avenue Station, the first station encountered when a train consist pulls into the famed Stock Yards loop, can be seen in the distance. This train is beginning to make the first curve of the loop, to be heading south and soon pulling into Packers Station, which just a short distance away. Way back in the background, we can see the rather hazy tower of the Stock Yards National Bank, which stood on the west side of South Halsted Street.” Andre Kristopans notes, “A correction re Stock Yards – the first station on the loop was Racine, the second SWIFT, then Packers, then Armour.” So this train is between Racine and Swift.

Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (aka Red Arrow) double-ended car 18 at 69th Street Terminal in July 1963. Don’s Rail Photos: “18 was built by St Louis Car Co in 1949, #1755. It became SEPTA 18 in 1970 sold to BERA in 1982.”

Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (formerly the Philadelphia & Western, aka Red Arrow) Bullet car 207 in July 1963. 207 was built by Brill in 1931, order #22932, as P&W 207. It became PST 207 in 1948 and SEPTA 207 in 1970. I understand it is now preserved at Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine. This car had extended wheelbase trucks and was tested up to 100 mph.

Chicago Aurora & Elgin wood car 28 in Forest Park in 1952. The front of the car is not in sharp focus because it was moving towards the photographer. Back then, film speeds, and therefore shutter speeds, were quite slow. The fastest film speed in use then was Kodak Super-XX, introduced in 1940, at ISO 200. But this is probably not that film. Panatomic-X, which Kodak began selling in 1933, was ISO 32, and Plus-X, introduced in 1938, was originally ISO 50 (later bumped up to 125). Photographers often dealt with the shutter speed problem by taking their pictures while a train was still at a distance. The tracks curve off to the right in the distance. I am not sure of the exact location, although the Eisenhower expressway is here now.

North Shore Line Silverliner 740 at Howard Street, probably in the late 1950s. This was an Ektachrome slide that was not date stamped, which means it is probably before 1958, but after 1955. It had faded to red, like many other such early Ektachromes that had unstable dyes. It was an attractive alternative to Kodachrome in that era, though, because the film speed was 32 instead of Kodachrome’s 10.

While not the greatest photo, from a technical perspective, this is an original Kodachrome slide taken by George Krambles. This is perhaps only the second such slide I have purchased. It was shot at North Chicago Junction on January 20, 1952. Occasionally, railfan photographers would trade original slides, and this one was owned by J. William Vigrass.

NSL 707 heads up a northbound train crossing Dempster Street in Skokie in September 1958. Just behind the train, you can see a tiny bit of the station, which has been preserved and moved to a slightly different location. The southbound shelter was much more basic, and was approximately where the CTA built a new platform for Skokie Swift trains in 1964. Again, this was an early Ektachrome slide that had shifted to red (actually, it was the other color dyes that badly faded, leaving mostly the red visible) and was restored in Photoshop. (J. William Vigrass Photo)

A northbound North Shore Line train rounds the curve at Lake and Wabash in June 1961. We are looking to the east. This is an early Kodachrome II slide. The film had a faster ISO than the original Kodachrome, and was said to be sharper, with a thinner emulsion. But not all photographers were happy about the change, and it had a bit less contrast, and some missed the “Rembrandt blacks” of the old version. (J. William Vigrass Photo)

A view of the North Shore Line’s massive station at Zion, taken from the front of a train in July 1960 by J. William Vigrass. The city insisted on a large station, as they were confidant that their religious community would quickly grow, which it did not. It was torn down soon after the line quit in 1963. This is from an Ektachrome slide that had not faded, suggesting that Kodak had fixed the dye fading problem by 1960.

Milwaukee and Suburban Transport car 995 is on Route 10, the last Milwaukee streetcar line in the classic era, in August 1957. The 995 was one of the last two cars operated (along with 975) there on March 2, 1958. Streetcar service returned to Milwaukee on November 2, 2018, when a 2.1 mile route, known as “The Hop,” opened.

The North Shore Line’s Harrison Street Shops in July 1960. (J. William Vigrass Photo)

J. William Vigrass took this picture in July 1960 and marked it as “NSL” at Harrison (presumably, by the shops in Milwaukee). Edward Skuchas: “This is a Western 20 yard air dump car. They were used on railroads and trolley lines. Wilkes-Barre Railways had 2 or 3 and they adapted the ends for a radial drawbar. Car Works imported models in O & HO scale brass. They tilt and the sides lift.” David Cole thinks this may be the remains of the NSL weed sprayer shown in CERA B-106.

A northbound Electroliner stops at Adams and Wabash on the Loop “L” in September 1959. While I am sure the sailors are about to board, chances are the woman in the blue dress is too, since she is carrying a small suitcase. (J. William Vigrass Photo)

A closer view of the last image. Carl Fischer Music, at 312 S. Wabash Avenue, was a place where you could buy sheet music for both popular and classical. They still sell online. This location closed on April 16, 1999. The Epicurean Restaurant, at 316 S. Wabash, served Hungarian food and may have closed in the 1970s.

Although photographer J. William Vigrass labelled this September 1960 slide as “NSL,” readers on our TD Facebook group have identified it as the Chicago & North Western’s Racine Depot, which still exists, although no longer used as a train station.

This circa 1955-58 Ektachrome slide, with the color restored, shows an Electroliner on the four-track section of the north side “L”. Not sure of the exact location. (J. William Vigrass Photo) Mike Franklin: “This is looking west from the Sedgwick Station on the North side L. (House to the right is still there at 1542 Hudson Ave.)”

CA&E 410 awaits scrapping at Wheaton on April 23, 1962. It was built by Pullman in 1923. sister car 409 is now at the Illinois Railway Museum. (K. C. Henkels Photo)

Red Arrow car 83 on the Media line in September 1959. The street sign says School Lane.

Red Arrow car 77, signed for the West Chester line, is at 69th Street Terminal in January 1954.

From the standpoint of classic railfan photography, this is perhaps the best shot in today’s post, and shows Red Arrow car 24 on the Media line in May 1956.

Red Arrow car 13 on the Media line in November 1959.

Red Arrow Brilliner 5 on the Ardmore line in July 1959. This narrow street may be why this line was somewhat rerouted after being converted to bus at the end of 1966.

This map, although not very clear, shows the track arrangement on the Loop “L” as it was in 1906, seven years before it was changed to run counter-clockwise, with all trains going in the same direction. That was done to facilitate through-routing north side and south side trains. North is down on this map. In 1906, the Loop was bi-directional with left-hand running. The Lake Street and Northwestern “L”s also ran left-handed, while the South Side and Met trains ran right-handed. From the October 19, 1906 edition of the Electric Railway Review.

Although this old real photo postcard identifies this as the “N. W. “L”,” this is actually the Met crossing the Chicago River over two side-by-side bridges. According to Daniel Adams, this picture cannot have been taken after mid-1915, as swing bridge shown, on Jackson Boulevard, was replaced then. Once I receive the original of this in the mail, I will post a better version. Thanks to J. J. Sedelmaier for improving this one.

The Metropolitan West Side Elevated – 1895

We recently purchased the June 6, 1895 edition of Leslie’s Weekly, which has an extensive article, including numerous photographs and drawings, of the then-new Metropolitan West Side Elevated in Chicago:

The Normandy Flats was a large apartment building, purchased by the Met and moved to a new location. The 1894 Chicago Blue Book gave the Normandy Flats’ address as 2300-2302 S. Indiana Avenue, presumably where the building was relocated during the construction of the Metropolitan West Side “L”, as it was apparently in the way of something.

The original Franklin Street Terminal was only open from 1895 to 1897, and this is the first time I have seen a description of what it looked like. As far as I am aware, no one has yet found a photo. It closed when the Union Loop opened. At the same time, a new “L” station was opened at Franklin and Van Buren. Another terminal was later built on this site, extending back to Wells Street. It opened in 1904.

Why aren’t there more images of the Franklin Street Terminal? Well, for one thing, it opened late, apparently too late to be photographed for the big publicity push that coincided with the opening of the Met “L”. Hence this illustration. There is a photo showing the other side of the building (or buildings– the accompanying article seems to indicate the terminal went through two buildings). Then, it closed little more than two years later, coinciding with the opening of the Union Loop, and any publicity surely concentrated on that, and not the terminal closing.

From the Collections of William Shapotkin:

A “meet” between a steam train and a Chicago & West Towns Railway streetcar in LaGrange in the late 1940s. You can see evidence of the postwar construction boom in the background. Not sure if this was a fantrip.

This picture has been the subject of some discussion on Facebook. It’s a Pennsylvania Railroad “Doodlebug,” probably after 1948, at Baltimore, MD. It is apparently a Parkton local. John Engleman: “Actually, actually, it’s just sitting in what was called “the sleeper yard” at Pennsylvania Station probably between morning inbound and afternoon outbound trips to Parkton. A and B tracks and the platform that served them can be seen just beyond the Charles Street bridge.”

A Delaware, Lackawanna and Western electric commuter train in New Jersey. This railroad merged with the Erie in 1960 to form the Erie Lackawanna. The commuter service continues under NJ Transit.

Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric diesel switcher #5, which continued freight operations after the remaining remnant of the line was de-electrified. A section of this line is now the trackage of the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin, IL.

Chicago & Eastern Illinois #4, the “Whippoorwill,” arrives at 63rd Street (Little Englewood Station) in July 1947.

A Milwaukee Road diesel engine at Fox Lake, IL.

Milwaukee Road passenger trains at Fox Lake, IL.

Louisville & Nashville Railroad passenger engine #241, taking water.

Louisville & Nashville Railroad freight engine #1827 after being overhauled at the South Louisville Shops.

Wabash #21 Blue Bird at 63rd Street (Little Englewood Station) in July 1947.

A Chicago & Interurban Traction Company car. This line operated between 63rd and Halsted and Kankakee, and was abandoned in 1927, due to increased competition from the Illinois Central Electric.

Chicago & Joliet Railway #212. This system ran from Archer and Cicero Avenues in Chicago and connected to the Chicago, Ottawa, & Peoria interurban. It was abandoned in 1933.

Chicago & Joliet Electric car 200. This car, the “Louis Joliet,” was built by C&JE in the 1920s.

Milwaukee Road #E-5.

Long Island Railroad snow plow #193.

Pittsburgh Railways at Resee-Charleroi. The car is signed for Riverview. Larry Lovejoy adds: “The picture of Pittsburgh Railways Company low floor car 3769 is on the Charleroi line northbound at White Barn Siding. The date is 27 July 1952 and the occasion is a fantrip sponsored by the Pittsburgh Electric Railway Club. The line was abandoned ten months later. Today’s Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is the direct descendant of PERC and preserves sister car 3756. While “Riverview” was a turnback point on the Charleroi line, that destination sign is actually inappropriate at this particular location.”

Pittsburgh Railways line car M212 at the Washington Junction Yard. Larry Lovejoy: “The photo of Pittsburgh Railways line car M212 is at Castle Shannon Car House. There was no yard at Washington Junction, which is about a mile south of Castle Shannon.”

Philadelphia & Western Strafford car 161 at Norristown on December 27, 1958. It was built by Brill in 1927 and continued to operate until sometime between 1888 and 1990. It is now owned by the New York Museum of Transportation.

P&W Strafford car 163 on June 24, 1955. After retirement in the 1990s, it was rebuilt into a gas-mechanical car and operated in Mt. Dora, Florida, but it is not certain whether it still exists.

P&W Strafford car 162 on September 28, 1958. Don’s Rail Photos: “62 was built by Brill in June 1927, #22529. It was rebuilt as 162 in 1931 and became PST 162 in 1948. It became SEPTA 162 in 1970. It was sold to Rockhill Trolley Museum in 1991.” Today it is the only survivor of the fleet preserved as a modernized 160 series car.

Don’s Rail Photos: “64 was built by Brill in June 1927, #22529. It was rebuilt as 164 in 1931 and became PST 164 in 1948. It became SEPTA 164 in 1970 and became a de-icing car in 1989. It was sold to Travel Northern Allegheny in 1992 but never used. It was sold to East Troy Electric Ry in 1994 and rebuilt as ETE Ry 64 in 2000. It was sold to Electric City Trolley Museum and will be restored as P&W 164.” Here it is on September 28, 1958.

P&W 165 at 69th Street Yards on November 12, 1958.

Product Test – The Pixl-Latr

The Pixl-Latr is an interesting new product that may be useful to people who have film negatives, but no easy way to scan them. It was developed as a Kickstarter project.

I decided to purchase one, and here are my results.

The Pixl-Latr is a negative holder that can accommodate 35mm, medium format, and 4″x5″ size films. It has a diffused backing to prevent the formation of Newton Rings on your scans. It pairs well with this LED light box. I practiced using it with a cellphone camera. The Pixl-Latr is not a substitute for a flatbed scanner, but is certainly more portable, and may come in handy in certain situations where a scanner is not available.

My cellphone picture, before working on it with an image editor.

I reversed out the negative into a positive image.

After cropping and adjusting both density and contrast. But the image is still technically a color image, and could be improved further by eliminating those subtle color casts.

The finished product, as a black-and-white image. Not bad! Compare with the scanned image elsewhere in this post.

The only downside of my usual method of scanning negatives is the formation of Newton Rings, caused by the negative coming into direct contact with the bottom glass of the scanner. I do use ANR (anti-Newton Ring) glass on top of the negative, which diffuses the light and prevents their formation. Fortunately, these are only noticeable at high magnification.

You can read more about Newton’s Rings here. They are an interference pattern, caused when one of the two items pressed together acts as a lens.

Recent Correspondence

LeRoy Blommaert writes:

How I met (and rode) the North Shore Line

I remember quite vividly the first time I saw the North Shore Line as well as the first time I rode it. It was the same time.

I was a sophomore in high school and I was on the debate team. We were to participate in a round robin tournament at St Mary’s in Evanston. We were given the address and told to take the L and change at Howard—but nothing beyond that.

While I had taken the L many times from Bryn Mawr to Wilson Ave, and downtown and to my grandmother’s on the west side, it was, with one exception, with my mother. I had never taken the L north. Neither apparently had my three companions.

We get to Howard; we get off; and we wait—but not too long. Soon something pulls in unlike anything I had ever seen before on the L. It was beautiful; it was powerful. I was entranced and I wanted to ride it. And not just sometime in the future. But now! Immediately! And I did. I persuaded my colleagues that this was the train we needed to take. They were somewhat skeptical but in the end they agreed.

I was generally a good boy (a very good boy in fact) who always followed the rules and rarely did anything I thought was wrong. But this time? This time was different! I wasn’t sure that it was not the train to take, but I had doubts that it was the right train. These doubts I dismissed.

We got on. It was one of the older cars. I remember it had a stove inside. I also remember how fast it went once we left the station and entered the cut. The conductor dutifully asked for our tickets. Obviously, we did not have them. I explained where we wanted to go; he said we got the wrong train, and we were left off at the first station—Skokie.

There we waited for the first train south. It was getting dark and no one was around. In those days, unlike today, there was very little around. We waited about an hour. Needless to say, we did not make it to the debate tournament.

The next time I rode the North Shore, the trip was much longer: to Milwaukee and back. It was a fan trip. I believe it was a Klebolt trip. I went with my father. How I found out about it, I don’t remember, as I did not know any railfans then. It was on this trip that I met Roy Benedict. I remember he wore a football helmet, not the kind we know today, but a leather one, the kind they wore in the 1920s. He had made some track maps that he either gave away or sold.

As fate would have it, in my freshman or sophomore year of college, we moved to Skokie—within walking distance of that same station. One summer I got a job in the Loop—in the Insurance Exchange Building. The best part of the job was riding the North Shore each week day. I got off at Quincy and Wells and for the trip back home, I walked to the station at Adams and Wabash. It was there I met Jeff Wien, who was a ticket agent for the summer. From there it was onto CERA meetings, to and from which I was able again to ride my favorite railroad in those early days. It is still my favorite railroad, except that sadly I can no longer ride it, except at the Illinois Railway Museum, but that is not the same. The speed is absent as is the distance and the varying landscapes.

FYI, a slightly edited version of this was published in the Edgewater Historical Society newsletter.

This prompted Jon Habermaas to write:

I first became aware of the North Shore from seeing the trains stored on the L south of Roosevelt Rd. Taking the Englewood L into the loop and as our train descended into the subway our tracks were straddled by the tracks holding the stored North Shore cars. My first trip on the North Shore was when I was in HS and needed to cut short my time with family on vacation and return to Chicago. I caught the first southbound train from Racine. I became a regular weekend rider when I was getting technical training as a new swabbie at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Getting off at LaSalle Street Station to catch a Rock Island commuter train I now realized that the large crowd of sailors we had often encountered coming down from the L platform had come from a North Shore train from Great Lakes.

LaSalle Street Station was the only one of the Chicago downtown railroad stations with direct access to the L. As a kid when we were downtown on shopping trips we often took the L to the department stores. Because the L trains were circling the loop in one direction it wasn’t possible to return that way and we would catch the Division/Van Buren streetcar on State for the return to LaSalle Street Station.

This prompted a discussion on the Trolley Dodger Facebook group about two other not-so-direct connections between the “L” and downtown train stations. Between 1970 and 1989, the Northwest Passage connected the C&NW terminal to the Clinton “L” station. It displaced Track 1 during those years.

The Canal Street station on the Met main line had a passageway leading to Union Station until the Garfield Park “L” was replaced by the new Congress median line in 1958. Here is a description from Graham Garfield’s excellent web site:

A new Union Station, serving several main line intercity railroads, was formally opened July 23, 1925, replacing an earlier railroad station on a similar site. The Chicago Daily Tribune on same day contained a paid advertisement stating, “A short enclosed passageway connects the station directly with the Canal Street Station of the Elevated Railroad.” Within the Canal “L” station a stairway went down to Union Station’s underground track level, then a walkway ran for half a block, separated from Union Station’s track area by an iron fence, and finally into the lobby of Union Station. The article “Chicago’s Stations: Gates to Everywhere” from the August 1948 issues of Trains magazine also discussed the “L”-Union Station tunnel:

“It’s kind of tough, also, that we can’t get out on the platform and look at the prow-pointed T1 at the head end of many Pennsy trains. But Union is all business, and frowns at folk who try to sneak by the gatemen ‘just to see the trains.’ Here’s a tip, though: if you go along ‘frustration walk’ — which is the entrance leading from the Canal Street ‘L’ station — you can get a squint of a train or two at the southwestern end of the terminal. Like as not, there will be some Burlington open-platform cars used on suburban runs out Aurora way.

“‘Frustration walk’ is so dubbed because commuters must walk along an iron-railed thoroughfare beside the tracks to enter the terminal. Then to go out to the train they are obliged to hike back from whence the came on the other side of the formidable railing. Short-cutting is verboten at Union. Many a commuter has seen his train pull out as he dashed madly down ‘frustration walk’ in an attempt to catch the train.”

There are some conflicting descriptions of how the tunnel actually connected to the “L” station. According to some accounts, the passage was accessed from within the Canal Street station building, suggesting the connection was to the station house. Others recall that the passage from Union Station deposited them on the Canal station platform, not in the station house, with fare collection in between.2 It is believed that there were, in fact, two access routes between the elevated platforms and the tunnel. Passengers en route from the elevated platform walked through the headhouse of the rapid transit station. While passengers from the tunnel went directly to the platforms after passing through a fare collection point.

Stuart B. Slaymaker adds:

The walkway was along Track 2. This would have been Track Zero. I seem to recall, it dumped you at or near the original outbound cab court. It was still there in 1979, when I worked at Station Services for Amtrak. Dark. Gate was locked with a big switch lock and an iron chain. In the dim light, I could see check-in desks from long-discontinued streamliners, like The Olympian Hiawatha and the Trail Blazer. All stored along the walkway, that formerly went to the Canal Street L Station. It must have been a LONG walk. The signs and ephemera behind the locked gate were covered with inches of black sooty dirt. I left CUS in September of 1979, and never saw this, again. I always wondered if any of the displays ever got saved.

Daniel Joseph found another one– Parnell on the Englewood branch. From www-chicago-l.org:

The Parnell station was adjacent to the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad’s 63rd Street station, sometimes also called the “Little Englewood” station. Although the C&WI’s station fronted onto 63rd Street, there was also an enclosed pedestrian connection from the Parnell “L” station to the steam railroad’s facility.

Mike Jacob writes:

Hello. I came across your website while trying to find information on a print I have. Please see the attached. Have you seen it before or have any idea on the artist? Thank you in advance.

Thanks for writing. I can’t quite make out the signature, although the first name seems to be Jerome.

The artist is not familiar to me, but I would imagine they were copying an old photograph. There were two North Shore Line stations in Wilmette, and it’s not that easy to identify which one this is. This was part of the Shore Line Route, which was abandoned in 1955.

Perhaps our readers might know something more.

John G. Gaul writes:

Dempster Street- January 20, 1963. Nine years old at the time and living in Evanston, my Dad took my brother and I to Dempster St one last time. They’re not very good, but I’m glad I brought my little old box camera with me. It was a very cold day I recall.

Photos by John G. Gaul:

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

-David Sadowski

New Steam Audio CD:

FYI, we have digitally remastered another classic steam railroad audio LP to Compact Disc. Many additional titles, including the complete output of the Railroad Record Club, in our Online Store.

STEAM CDs:

RGTS
Rio Grande to Silverton:
A Sound Portrait of Mountain Railroading
Price: $14.99

These are vintage 1960 narrow gauge steam train recordings, in true stereo, and originally released on LP in 1961. It is long out of print.
Includes:
01. Riding The Train To Silverton
02. Photo Run At Elk Park
03. Arriving At Silverton
04. Train Time At La Jara
05. Illini Special At Cumbres Pass
06. Doubleheader Starting At Monero
07. Eastbound Freight
08. Arriving At Chama
09. Whistles At Coxo
10. Freight With Pusher At Coxo

Gone are the nostalgic sounds of steam echoes and thundering exhausts, but the memory is immortal. May they live on in the locomotive lexicon, as a monument to the era when trains were pulled by STEAM POWER.

As with all of our recordings, this CD comes with the complete, original liner notes.

Total time – 45:49

The Trolley Dodger On the Air
We appeared on WGN radio in Chicago in November 2018, discussing our book Building Chicago’s Subways on the Dave Plier Show. You can hear our 19-minute conversation here.

Chicago, Illinois, December 17, 1938– Secretary Harold Ickes, left, and Mayor Edward J. Kelly turn the first spadeful of earth to start the new $40,000,000 subway project. Many thousands gathered to celebrate the starting of work on the subway.
Order Our New Book Building Chicago’s Subways

There were three subway anniversaries in 2018 in Chicago:
60 years since the West Side Subway opened (June 22, 1958)
75 years since the State Street Subway opened (October 17, 1943)
80 years since subway construction started (December 17, 1938)
To commemorate these anniversaries, we have written a new book, Building Chicago’s Subways. While the elevated Chicago Loop is justly famous as a symbol of the city, the fascinating history of its subways is less well known. The City of Chicago broke ground on what would become the “Initial System of Subways” during the Great Depression and finished 20 years later. This gigantic construction project, a part of the New Deal, would overcome many obstacles while tunneling through Chicago’s soft blue clay, under congested downtown streets, and even beneath the mighty Chicago River. Chicago’s first rapid transit subway opened in 1943 after decades of wrangling over routes, financing, and logistics. It grew to encompass the State Street, Dearborn-Milwaukee, and West Side Subways, with the latter modernizing the old Garfield Park “L” into the median of Chicago’s first expressway. Take a trip underground and see how Chicago’s “I Will” spirit overcame challenges and persevered to help with the successful building of the subways that move millions. Building Chicago’s subways was national news and a matter of considerable civic pride–making it a “Second City” no more!

Bibliographic information:
Title Building Chicago’s Subways
Images of America
Author David Sadowski
Edition illustrated
Publisher Arcadia Publishing (SC), 2018
ISBN 1467129380, 9781467129381
Length 128 pages
Chapter Titles:
01. The River Tunnels
02. The Freight Tunnels
03. Make No Little Plans
04. The State Street Subway
05. The Dearborn-Milwaukee Subway
06. Displaced
07. Death of an Interurban
08. The Last Street Railway
09. Subways and Superhighways
10. Subways Since 1960
Building Chicago’s Subways is in stock and now available for immediate shipment. Order your copy today! All copies purchased through The Trolley Dodger will be signed by the author.
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Redone tile at the Monroe and Dearborn CTA Blue Line subway station, showing how an original sign was incorporated into a newer design, May 25, 2018. (David Sadowski Photo)
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