The Trolley Dodger
Musings on transit, past, present, and future
Spence Ziegler
Our 225th Post
January 14, 2019 February 3, 2019 David Sadowski 16 Comments
A Ravenswood "L" train at State and Lake in April 1964. Trains ran counter-clockwise around the Loop in one direction until the opening of the Dan Ryan line in 1969. Fritzel's restaurant is at left. At right, you can just make out one of those "praying mantis" street lights, installed in 1959. Stee Felsenthal adds, "Ravenswood trains switched to the inner track after stopping on the outer track at Randolph & Wells except during weekdays rush hours during the CTA era from sometime in the early to mid 50s until 1969 when the direction of the inner loop track was reversed."
Happy New Year! We begin 2019 with classic traction photos for our 225th post. William Shapotkin has generously shared more with us, and we have some recent finds of our own to round things out.
It costs real money to bring you these fine images, and soon the bill will come due for maintaining this site. It's the time of year for our annual fundraiser, and our goal is to raise $436, to keep the Trolley Dodger blog around for another year. Can you help us?
We thank you in advance for your generosity in helping to keep this site going and free of advertising. If you wish to contribute, there are links at the end of this post.
We finished 2018 with 122,358 page views from 38,469 visitors. Page views increased by nearly 3% from the year before, making this our second-best year to date. We had about 10% more visitors than the year before, and in that category, it was our best year yet.
January 21 marks our fourth anniversary, and we will have another new post for you then.
During 2018, we made 22 posts in all. While this was less than in previous years, several of these posts had more than 100 images apiece (as does this one). With 225 posts, we have achieved our initial goal of creating an online archive and resource for people who are interested in vintage transit images. Our current goal is to keep the quality high while avoiding repeating ourselves.
We also published Building Chicago's Subways, our second book in two years. Information on that book can be found at the end of this post.
-David Sadowski
From the William Shapotkin Collection
Classic South Shore Line Photos
Here are 49 great South Shore Line images, all from the William Shapotkin Collection. We are very grateful to Mr. Shapotkin for his generosity in sharing these photos with our readers and the railfan community.
#8 heads up train #511 at Miller on May 30, 1988. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
#44 at Dune Park, headquarters of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transit District that funded the electric operation and the new cars. This was a charter train. (Walter Veilbaum Photo)
#3 at Michigan City in 1938. (C. V. Hess Photo)
#4 at Gary on June 16, 1946. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
#12 at Michigan City in 1939. (C. V. Hess Photo)
#22 in East Chicago, Indiana in 1953. (Richard Brown Photo)
#26 in Gary on October 29, 1949. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
#30 at South Bend in August 1938. (C. V. Hess Photo)
#30 at Tremont on May 17, 1941. (Charles Savage Photo)
#32 at South Bend on September 15, 1948. (Paul Stringham Photo)
#34 at Michigan City in September 1953. That's the note that came with the photo… on the other hand, Spence Ziegler says, "Looks more like CSS&SB Car #34 is in the South Bend coach yard." (Richard Brown Photo)
#100 at Chicago on February 8, 1944. The only patriotic car of CSS&SB. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo) (Editor's note: there is a different picture of car 100 in this paint scheme in my book Chicago Trolleys.)
#100 at South Bend, apparently in the 1940s. (Charles Savage Photo)
Another photo of #100 at South Bend, but not taken at the same time. Note how the windows have been changed, with the installation of air conditioning. This photo appears to date to the early 1950s. (Charles Savage Photo)
#100 at Wagner Siding, east of Gary, on May 30, 1940. (Eugene Van Dusen Photo)
#103 on September 20, 1942. (Paul Stringham Photo)
#106A at Chicago on August 22, 1968. (Will Whittaker Photo)
#102 at South Bend on July 8, 1947. At right, the auto appears to be a 1947 Studebaker, known as the "which way is it going" model. (Charles Savage Photo)
#201 at Michigan City in September 1953. (Richard Brown Photo)
Trailer #203 at South Bend in October 1938. (C. V. Hess Photo)
Dining car #301 in 1939. (Photo by A. Q.)
Parlor car #352 at Lydick, Indiana on September 20, 1942. It appears to have been rebuilt later and gone to the Canada Gulf & Terminal Railway. See their car 504 for comparison. (Paul Stringham Photo)
#354 was built by Pullman in 1927 as a parlor car trailer, and rebuilt as a passenger car trailer in 1939.
Loco #802 at Fremont, Indiana in June 1956. (Will Whittaker Photo)
Loco #701 at Michigan City on August 22, 1968. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
Loco 702, lettered for South Shore RR.
Loco #900. (R. Biermann Photo)
Loco #903 (ex-IC), and #503 (ex-Indiana Railroad #375.
Loco #1005 at Michigan City in April 1940.
Locos #1009 and 1004 at Michigan City in June 1939. (Birney Miller Photo)
Loco #1013 at Michigan City. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
Loco #1014 at Michigan City. (C. V. Hess Photo)
Line car #1100. (Gus Wilson Photo)
Line car #1100 at Chicago on June 28, 1986 (for a fantrip, which I also attended). (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
#1100 in Chicago on June 28, 1986. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
Don's Rail Photos says, "73 was built by Niles in 1908. In 1927 it was rebuilt into work motor 1126. In 1941 it was sold and converted to a house. In 1994 it was purchased for restoration from a buyer who had picked it up the month before for back taxes. He really did not want the car, just the land. Bob Harris began restoration in 2005. There were delays when Bob had a heart attack. There is a recent report on June 17, 2017."
#1100 at Hudson Lake on June 28, 1986. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
#1100 at Dune Park on June 28, 1986. (Gordon E. Lloyd Photo)
Loco #1014A at New Carlisle, Indiana on August 7, 1938, during an Illinois Central excursion. (Eugene Van Dusen Photo)
Line car #1101, formerly a passenger car, at Michigan City in April 1940. (Eugene Van Dusen Photo)
#1126 in August 1938. (Photo by R. S.)
CSS&SB combo, used by railfans at South Bend on March 22, 1938.
An 8-car train at Lake Park in Fall 1940.
RTA loco #126 heads a leased 10-car train, which supplemented electric service for a time due to a car shortage. It made one round-trip a day out of Michigan City.
Loco #2000 at Michigan City in May 1988. (Walter H. Vielbaum Photo)
#2004 and caboose #003 at Michigan City in May 1988. (Walter H. Veilbaum Photo)
Misc. Photos From the Shapotkin Collection
On July 25, 1943 several railfans posed on the northbound platform of the as-yet unopened State Street Subway station at North and Clybourn. From left to right, we have J. Goehst, O. Scheer, George Krambles, N. Strodte, John R. Williams, J. E. Merriken Jr., R. Burns, J. Hughes, and R. E. Geis. (William Shapotkin Collection)
A train station at an unidentified location in February 1970. (William Shapotkin Collection)
This is car #202 of the Chippewa Valley Electric in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. (William Shapotkin Collection)
Grand River Railway (Canada) baggage car 622. (William Shapotkin Collection)
Yakima (Washington) trolley #1776 in 1976. (William Shapotkin Collection)
Two CTA 4000-series "L" cars in Sylvania, Ohio in August 1976. (William Shapotkin Collection)
Recent Finds
We have a picture of South Shore Line car 100 of our own. This one was taken on October 15, 1967 at the shops in Michigan City.
This picture shows CTA trolleybus 234 (prior to the renumbering, where a "9" was added before all TB #s) running on the 51st-55th line. Perhaps the machine at left is removing streetcar track. Presumably this is the early 1950s. (William Hoffman Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)
CTA trolleybus 9672 and red Pullman 685 are near the Montgomery Wards complex at Chicago and Larrabee. This would be a Halsted streetcar, running on diversion trackage via Division to Crosby and Larrabee, then Chicago to Halsted, when work was being done on the Halsted Street bridge over the Chicago River. That dates the picture to 1953– after Marmon trolleybuses were delivered, but before streetcars stopped running on Halsted in 1954. (William Hoffman Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)
Chicago's Initial System of Subways originally had parcel lockers for public use. This picture helps explain why they were eliminated. In this April 17, 1962 photo, bomb squad detectives are carefully removing some hand grenades that were found in just such a locker at State and Randolph, along with machine gun ammunition.
Jim Huffman: Pix #564 & 565 (below) are SB Cottages returning from Grand and State on Wabash. The #38 Indiana north terminal was Navy Pier via Wabash and Grand, when it ended as a route, the #4 Cottage took its place north to Grand on State & south on Wabash, for awhile.
CTA 4056 is running on Route 4 – Cottage Grove in 1953. This is one of the postwar PCCs that was converted to one-man operation.
CTA 7013 running on Route 4 – Cottage Grove in 1953.
A colorized postcard view of a two-car Lake Street train crossing the Chicago River in the early 1900s. The postcard itself was mailed in 1907.
This transit worker is wearing a Chicago Union Traction cap, and a Chicago Railways jacket. This may help date the photo, as Chicago Railways acquired Chicago Union Traction in 1908.
CSL 7003 on Madison.
CSL 4018 in experimental colors, at Kedzie Station circa 1945-46. It's signed for the Madison-Fifth branch line. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CTA 4012 and 4090 at Kedzie Station. Since neither PCC has a logo, this is probably early in the CTA era that started on October 1, 1947. Both cars would have been running on Route 20 – Madison. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CTA prewar PCC 4047 is running on the 10-cent Madison Shuttle.
CSL 7053, 4145, and follower, at the Vincennes and 80th turning loop.
CSL 3300 on Montrose. Note the old Divco milk truck at left. Jim Hufman adds that we are "looking west on Montrose from Ashland, the building on the right is on the NW corner." (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CTA prewar PCC 4007 at 63rd Place and Narragansett, west end of Route 63, on September 11, 1948.
CSL 2730 and 2728, among others, at an unknown location. Jim Huffman: "Seems to be a Riverview-Larrabee car, could be Wrightwood car barn." (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 4080, a Pullman PCC newly delivered at South Shops.
CSL 3210 on Montrose at Milwaukee, west end of the line. Streetcars were replaced by buses on July 29, 1946. Trolley buses ran west o here. The entire line was converted to trolley bus on April 19, 1948, and they continued in used until January 13, 1973. Jim Huffman adds, "car #3310 is behind the car waiting to go east. This was always a problem with PM pull-out trippers at the end of line crossovers. The regular cars would have a longer layover/recovery time than the pull-outs would have. Often the tripper would arrive after their follower, hence the follower at the extreme end with its leader squeezed in so as to leave first. If two followers were there first, one would have to take the crossover & back up on the adjacent track. This I learned from observation when I was younger & also from CSL family members. Buses do not have this problem, they just go around." (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 3298 on Montrose. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 5702 on Archer. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 5731 on Route 5, South Chicago Avenue. Note two fans on the railroad embankment, taking pictures. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CTA 4036 is turning westbound on 63rd Place at Central. There was a section of nearly a mile of private right-of-way west of here. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 3287 on Montrose near Kedzie. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 2616, signed for 115th and Halsted. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 2733, signed for Downtown. Jim Huffman: "Riverview-Larrabee." (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 5073, signed for Archer and Western. (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 2754 on a wintry day, signed or Roscoe and Western. Andre Kristopans writes, "I strongly suspect (2754 is) northbound on Larrabee at Clybourn on Route 40 Riverview-Larrabee." (Joe L. Diaz Photo)
CSL 2816, signed or Cottage Grove and 38th.
CTA 4330, a Pullman PCC, heads south on Halsted, crossing a brand-new bridge over the Congress Expressway, then under construction, in 1950. In the background is the Met "L" main line, which remained in use at this location until June 1958. The PCC is signed for Route 42, Halsted-Downtown. M. E. adds, "The streetcar's destination sign reads route 42, but route 42 did not run when and where the picture was taken (Halsted at Congress). At that spot, only route 8 ran. The correct sign would have said 8 Halsted-79." Jim Huffman adds, "The motorman saw the 79th thru the little view window & stopped there."
CTA 282 and 285 at 63rd and Kedzie in August 1953.
CTA 6101-6102 on the Paulina Connector, crossing the Congress rapid transit line, on April 21, 1991. This trackage is now used by the CTA Pink Line. Ater being stored at the Fox River Trolley Museum for many years, these cars are now back on CTA property as part of their historical collection and it is hoped they will someday run again. (Albert J. Reinschmidt Photo)
CTA red Pullman 225 and PCC 4406 on an October 21, 1956 fantrip. M. E. adds, "This picture is at 16th and Clark, facing north. Streetcars had their own private right-of-way west of Clark going under the two railroad viaducts located here."
CA&E #321 is on the back of an outbound train at Marshfield Junction.
A train of CA&E woods near Wells Street Terminal in downtown Chicago.
CTA 2067-2068 head up a westbound Lake Street train in June 1965.
CTA 2175-2176, a northbound Lake-Dan Ryan "B" train, near Adams and Wabash station on August 2, 1974. (Douglas N. Grotjahn Photo)
Chicago, Aurora & Elgin wood car #30. Don's Rail Photos notes, "These 15 motor cars and 5 trailers were built by Stephenson Car Co. in 1903 and were part of the original stock. 30 was built by Stephenson in 1903. It was retired in 1959."
North Shore Line city streetcar #354, which once ran on the streets of Milwaukee and Waukegan, at the Illinois Electric Railway Museum in North Chicago, September 15, 1957.
CTA Pullman PCC 4111 heads west on Monroe Street in 1950, running on Route 20 – Madison.
A two-car train of CTA 6000s heads east on Garfield Park temporary trackage at Paulina on April 3, 1954. The photographer was standing on the platform of the Met "L" station at Marshfield Junction, then still in use or Douglas Park trains.
Red Arrow Brilliner #9 at the end of the Ardmore line in May 1965.
Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. (aka Red Arrow) #17, a double-ended interurban car built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1949, is at the west end of the long West Chester line, which was bussed in 1954 to facilitate the widening of West Chester Pike.
Philadelphia Transportation Co. PCC #2031 is on a section of private right-of-way at the end of Route 6 in the early 1950s. That looks like aa 1953 Cadillac at right. This section of route was eventually cut back due to highway construction. (Walter Broschart Photo)
Public Service #2695 is inbound on the Hudson line on the old Hoboken elevated near the Summit turnoff at Palisade Avenue.
A Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit articulated "Bluebird" set of cars, on its inaugural run in 1939.
A set of articulated Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit "Bluebird" cars on Fulton Street at Tompkins Avenue.
We recently purchased some original plans from the Initial System of Subways, which detail where various utilities were intended to be relocated at the subway station at Grand and State. This just goes to show the incredible level of detail required for a project of this sort. Interestingly, these plans were in London, England and have now been repatriated back to Chicago. They are dated October 1939, and this document was voided out in December of that same year (and no doubt replaced with an updated version, based on the actual locations of utilities).
Recent Correspondence
Ashley Koda writes:
I came across your website while researching the history of my apartment building. I have the attached photo reflecting a Chicago Surface Line Car No. 3098 on the corner of Erie & Bishop. I understand that this line was in operation between 1913-1947. I found a photo on your website of a 3098 car at Erie & Racine which looks identical to the one attached, so I was hoping you could please help me narrow the time frame of this photo or perhaps point me to some resources that may assist.
Thanks for writing.
Your note doesn't mention which route the streetcar is on, and neither does the caption on the picture you found on my blog. However, it is probably this one, although the dates don't quite match up with 1913-1947 (information from www.chicagorailfan.com):
23 Morgan-Racine
Horse car route introduced by Chicago Passenger Railway
Streetcar route introduced by West Chicago Street Railroad/Chicago Railways (north of 21st St.)
Streetcar route introduced by Southern Street Railway (21st St. to Archer)
Streetcar route introduced by Chicago City Railway (south of Archer)
1886 – horse car service introduced primarily on Erie between downtown and Ashland
1886 – horse car service introduced on Racine between downtown and 21st St.
1896 – service on Erie and Racine converted to electric streetcar
1898 – Racine streetcar extended south via Throop and Morgan to Union Stockyards
12/1/12 – Through Route streetcar introduced, combining Erie and Racine routes
7/25/48 – streetcar route converted to buses
9/13/81 – discontinued
Through Route operated between Union Stockyards and near northwest side. Segment between 21st St. and Archer actually introduced by Chicago General Railway Co., acquired by Southern Street Railway Co. in 1905.
Midday service discontinued 9/10/61
Car House: Noble (until 8/31/47)
Blue Island (8/31/47-7/25/48)
Bus Garage: Blue Island (7/25/48-1/16/55)
Archer (1/16/55-9/13/81)
As for the streetcar itself, Don's Rail Photos gives the following information:
3098 was built by CSL in 1922. It was scrapped in 1948.
More pictures of streetcars were taken by fans in the 1940s than in the 1930s, perhaps in part because it was widely known that the older ones would soon be disappearing. So while there may not be much in the picture that can help date it, chances are it is from the period 1940-1948 than anything earlier than that, just due to statistics.
PS- Here is the other picture of 3098 that we previously ran.
Andre Kristopans: "3098 SB turning off Erie into Racine." (Railway Negative Exchange Photo)
The Trolley Dodger On the Air
We appeared on WGN radio in Chicago last November, discussing our book Building Chicago's Subways on the Dave Plier Show. You can hear our 19-minute conversation here.
Order Our New Book Building Chicago's Subways
There were three subway anniversaries in 2018 in Chicago:
60 years since the West Side Subway opened (June 22, 1958)
75 years since the State Street Subway opened (October 17, 1943)
80 years since subway construction started (December 17, 1938)
To commemorate these anniversaries, we have written a new book, Building Chicago's Subways.
While the elevated Chicago Loop is justly famous as a symbol of the city, the fascinating history of its subways is less well known. The City of Chicago broke ground on what would become the "Initial System of Subways" during the Great Depression and finished 20 years later. This gigantic construction project, a part of the New Deal, would overcome many obstacles while tunneling through Chicago's soft blue clay, under congested downtown streets, and even beneath the mighty Chicago River. Chicago's first rapid transit subway opened in 1943 after decades of wrangling over routes, financing, and logistics. It grew to encompass the State Street, Dearborn-Milwaukee, and West Side Subways, with the latter modernizing the old Garfield Park "L" into the median of Chicago's first expressway. Take a trip underground and see how Chicago's "I Will" spirit overcame challenges and persevered to help with the successful building of the subways that move millions. Building Chicago's subways was national news and a matter of considerable civic pride–making it a "Second City" no more!
Bibliographic information:
Title Building Chicago's Subways
Author David Sadowski
Publisher Arcadia Publishing (SC), 2018
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.
The price of $23.99 includes shipping within the United States.
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Redone tile at the Monroe and Dearborn CTA Blue Line subway station, showing how an original sign was incorporated into a newer design, May 25, 2018. (David Sadowski Photo)
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Reader Showcase
February 20, 2017 February 23, 2017 David Sadowski 23 Comments
CTA 1758 at Randolph and Clark in the 1950s, with the Woods Theater in the background. It closed in 1989. "The Beauty and the Outlaw," playing at the Woods, is more typically known as Ride, Vaquero!. This western starred Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner and was released on July 15, 1953, which helps date the photo.
As we work hard to finish our new book Chicago Trolleys, we thought we would take this opportunity to share some interesting images that our readers recently shared with us. Most of these are from a single individual who would prefer to remain anonymous.
Many of these are slides that were sold by the late Jack Bailey, under the name Ashland Car Works. Mr. Bailey also sold models using the ACW brand name.
The collector who shared these purchased most of the black-and-white prints from Downtown Hobby, which is now called Chicagoland Hobby.
That doesn't tell you who took the pictures, in most cases, but that is where they came from.
We thank everyone for their contributions.
CTA PCCs 7070 and 7168 at Clark and Howard, the north end of route 22 – Clark-Wentworth, in the 1950s. (Ashland Car Works)
A CTA Sedan at 115th adn St. Lawrence, near the south end of the Cottage Grove line.
CTA PCC 4019 heads east on 63rd Place private right-of-way in 1949. This is a completely built up residential area today.
Patrick wirites,"CTA 1733 is actually on 25th Street east of Laramie. Ogden is a diagonal street and the street is too narrow for Cermak. The bank building seen over the top of 1733 is still there." This would be the west end of route 58 – Ogden.
Andre Kristopans: "Re 723 at 'Pulaski and North' – no way. However, look carefully at the front truck of 723. It is not following the curve to its right, but is turning left. Seems like we are looking east on Harrison at Halsted and that is a Blue Island car about to go down Blue Island Av. That was a very awkward intersection before Circle Campus street realignments."
CTA 7260 at 119th and Morgan. One of our regular readers writes, "I seem to recall that this photo was taken by Bill Janssen on December 4, 1955, the last day (early morning) that route 36 Broadway-State still existed. It is a Broadway-State car laying over, waiting to head north to Clark and Schreiber. It is not Broadway and Ardmore." We were only going by what was written on the slide, which appears to be in error, thanks. This picture appears to be a time exposure (see the light streaking at right). My guess is that the photographer had his camera on a tripod, and used an exposure time of a few seconds for each picture.
CTA 4408 is southbound on Clark at Lake Street.
CTA 653 is northbound on Dearborn.
CTA 144 on a fantrip at Broadway and Ardmore, with a PCC behind.
The view looking north from State and Van Buren in the 1950s.
CTA 7193 heads south on State Street in the 1950s.
CTA 7192 northbound on Dearborn, after both Clark and Dearborn were converted to one-way streets.
CTA 7175 is westbound and Polk and Dearborn.
CTA 7210, southbound at Clark and Van Buren.
CMC GM bus 624 on route 34 – Diversey in the early 1950s. The fare at this time was 13 cents.
Chicago Motor Coach bus 1281, newly painted, at Wilcox garage on May 11, 1946. The CMC assets were purchased by the Chicago Transit Authority on October 1, 1952. Route 26 – Jackson became CTA route 126.
CMC double-decker 146 in July 1936.
CMC double-decker 146 in the 1930s.
CMC 61.
CMC Mack bus 1005, eastbound on Addison near Wrigley Field. Andre Kristopans: "Cmc Mack was built in 1951."
In this tricked-up photo, we see a GM demo bus, the design of which eventually became the 500 series, at an unidentified location (not Chicago) circa 1950. George Trapp adds, "The bus is the GM Model TDH5502 Demo which became Chicago Motor Coach #500 in 1951. This bus may have been the first paired window version of the Yellow/GM so called "Old Look" buses. It differed somewhat from the production buses #501-600 delivered from Oct. – Dec. 1948. The demo lacks the "Michigan marker lights" front and rear and has two rectangular shaped vents between the headlights which the 501-600 lacked. The CMC TDH5103's 601-650 of 1950 and 651-700 of late 1951 as well as Fifth Avenue Coach TDH-5104's of 1952 also lacked them." Dan Cluely adds, "I believe that the demo bus picture is downtown Pontiac MI. The S.S. Kresge store seem to match, and this would only be a short distance from GM's bus plant."
Fifth Avenue Coach Company (NYC) double-decker 2030.
CSL gas bus #1 in the 1930s.
A CTA Lawrence Avenue trolley bus turning from Leland onto Broadway in the 1950s. This is how Lawrence TBs looped at the east end of the route. Notice the trolley bu wires were not shared with Broadway streetcars. (Gary Johnson Photo)
The famous Norfolk and Western Class J steam engine 611. Retired in 1959, and resurrected 21 years later, the 611 has three excursions planned for this April.
Illinois Terminal double-end PCC on the St. Louis-Granite City route.
CTA's historical cars 4271-4272, now 95 years young.
1898 – General Electric and the forerunner to the Chicago Transit Authority make history with the world's first electric multiple-unit cars. That must be inventor Frank Julian Sprague at the front of the car.
In 1972, CTA 4358 emerged as rail grinder S-I "Shhhicago." Don's Rail Photos: "4358 was built by Cincinnati Car in 1924, (order) #2860."
A CTA wooden "L" car, signed as a Lake Street "B" train.
The Lake Street Elevated Railroad in the 1890s, when it was steam-powered.
A train of CTA 2000s on the Lake Street "L".
CTA GMC New Look bus 1305, on State near the Chicago Theater.
Chicago Motor Coach double-decker buses on Michigan Avenue.
Chicago Motor Coach double-decker buses on Michigan Avenue. Note Kroch's bookstore, which later became Kroch's and Brentano's.
Although the Chicago Surface Lines built some replica vehicles in the 1930s, North Chicago Street Railroad car 8 is not among them. An original built in 1859, we see it here in demonstration service during the 1948-49 Chicago Railroad Fair on the lakefront. This car is now preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum.
Chicago Motor Coach Ford bus 434, circa 1946.
An artist's rendering of a CTA New Look bus.
This is the upper deck of CMC double-decker bus 146.
A CSL streetcar at Western and Devon in the 1930s, near the old Nortown Theater. That appears to be a Chrysler Airflow in front of the streetcar.
CTA 7155 signed for route 49 – Western.
CTA 4160 on Madison near the Garfield Park field house. George Trapp notes, "CSL PCC #4160 on Madison, while photographed on Madison in Garfield Park, this is a publicity photo. The side sign reads Clark-Wentworth and was probably taken in the summer of 1947 before cars in this series, although not necessarily this one, went to Madison."
CTA 225 in the 1950s, probably at 77th and Vincennes prior to a fantrip. This car is now preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.
CSL 297 on Belmont.
It's hard to make out the number, but this shows a CSL one-man car at Armitage and Hudson in the 1940s. That is not far from Lincoln Avenue.
Neil Pantelis writes:
Thank you for such a great page and for sharing an incredible amount of information.
Can you tell me by looking at this photo if the subject is wearing the uniform of a conductor, driver, motorman etc? He is in a group photo from my grandparents engagement party.
The photo is from the Douglas Park area of Chicago in the year 1917. It is very likely near the intersection of California and Ogden.
Anyone working for the Chicago Surface Lines in 1917 would most likely have had a CSL badge, with a number, on their hat. The resolution on this picture is such that it's difficult to tell whether or not there is such a badge.
Perhaps our readers can weigh in on this. This appears to be but a portion of a larger photo. If I could see the rest, perhaps we can try to put this into the proper context.
Glad you like the blog.
A Chicago City Railway Co. hat badge.
Spence Ziegler writes:
I tried to access this website recently and I noticed that it's gone; do you know anything about this? Any information or thoughts on this would greatly be appreciated. It's address was CAERR.com.
Looks like someone didn't pay for the domain renewal. Julie Johnson died in 2011, and presumably left some money to pay for this, and now the registration has run out. Not sure who else was involved with this web site.
I did a "Whois" search and it looks like someone updated the site several months ago, so someone else must be involved:
Expires On 2017-02-14
Registered On 2000-02-14
Updated On 2016-06-22
Jack Bejna writes:
I enjoy the Trolley Dodger immensely, especially anything CA&E! I grew up in Broadview and walked to Proviso High School every day along the CA&E right of way from 9th avenue to 5th Avenue. This month's CA&E images are some that I haven't seen before and are great, especially since they're medium format images. I have a request… I would like to see a good image of the old dispatcher's office (before it was repainted and the upper windows covered over. I'm sure someone took pictures of the office but I've never seen one.
Thanks for all you do; it sure makes my day!
PS- Here are some CA&E shots that I have Photoshopped. All of them except CA&E 26 are from the JJ (Julie Johnson) collection.
What you call "Photoshopping" is nothing new, when you consider that retouching and airbrushing has been around for a long time. There is nothing wrong with creating idealized versions of photographs that eliminate unnecessary parts of the background that are distracting, as long as everyone realizes what they are.
If anyone is familiar with promotional materials from General Motors, St. Louis Car Company, Chicago Surface Lines, etc., you will see all sorts of retouched and airbrushed images. Photoshop is just a different way of achieving the same result.
My own approach to photo restoration is to eliminate imperfections to make the image look more realistic. It's a big world, and there is plenty of room for both approaches, as long as there is "truth in packaging," so people will know the difference.
Thanks for sharing these with our readers. Another good reason for posting these is that Julie Johnson's web site has, for the moment, disappeared.
CA&E 46: This builders photo of CA&E 46 was too good not to improve; looks a lot better.
CA&E 28: A really poor print that I worked on to improve; not a bad shot.
CA&E 26: The nice original was marred by the fence in front of it so I removed it and it looks much better.
CA&E 24: A washed out shot that deserved to be worked on a bit.
CA&E 14: Pretty much the same as CA&E 12.
CA&E 12: The original was coupled to another car and looked a little crowded, so I got rid of the car and cleaned up the image as well.
In my search for CA&E car Photos, sometimes you just can"t find what you want. Recently, I was looking at an image from the WCJ collection – ETRM, specifically car 46, a 1902 Stephenson Motor. I had been searching for a good image of car 101, a 1902 Stephenson trailer. Hmmm, the wheels started turning and here you see the result. I'm sure a purist would be able to pick apart some details, etc., but it sure looks like CA&E trailer 101 to me!
(Editor's note: I assume WCJ stands for early railfan William C. Janssen.)
As we mentioned in a previous post, we also are on a tight deadline to finish our new book Chicago Trolleys. Your financial contributions will help make this book better, and are greatly appreciated.
More Color Restorations
August 9, 2016 August 16, 2016 David Sadowski 16 Comments
Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban car 460 at Trolleyville USA in July 1963. This was part of an order of 10 cars built by St. Louis Car Company in 1945-46. Brookins managed to save four of these cars.
Time was, faded-out color slides, usually old Ektachromes from around 1956 that had turned red, were considered a "lost cause," suitable only for converting to black-and-white. But today's software and digital technology has made it possible to bring many of these old images back to life, with spectacular results.
However, we tackle an even more intractable problem today- Anscochrome, a "grade Z" cheaper alternative to Kodak film that appealed to thrifty photographers back in the 1950s and 60s. These images have not held up well over the years, exhibiting color shifts that are all over the place. In some cases, it may not be possible to make these pictures look 100% normal, even with all the tools in our digital toolbox.
We have also included some faded Ektachrome slides, and even one Kodachrome example. For many years, Kodachrome was the benchmark, the "gold standard" against which all other slide films had to be judged, in terms of dye stability and color accuracy.
By the 1990s, Fujichrome Velvia had caught up to Kodachrome in terms of sharpness, color, and resistance to fading. With the rise of digital photography, demand for Kodachrome slide film gradually declined, to the point where Kodak discontinued it, and the last roll was developed in 2010. It used a considerably more complicated and difficult developing process than other slide films.
Most pictures in today's post were shot on Anscochrome in the early 1960s, at two early railway museum operations in Ohio, Trolleyville USA and the Ohio Railway Museum. Presumably, they were taken by the same unidentified photographer.
The former operation is now history, after an aborted effort to re-establish it in Cleveland, while the latter has had its problems over the years. (As of this writing, the Ohio Railway Museum has not yet opened for the 2016 season, with an August 21 date scheduled.)
Trolleyville USA was a labor of love for the late Gerald E. Brookins, who owned a trailer park in Olmsted Township, Ohio. He built an operating trolley to bring people who lived in the trailer park to his general store. Starting around 1954, Mr. Brookins developed an extensive collection of equipment, and was responsible for saving many streetcars and interurbans from what would have been certain destruction.
While the Brookins concern no longer exists, much of its collection lives on in a variety of other places, such as the Illinois Railway Museum. (To see a list of equipment owned at various times by the Ohio Railway Museum, go here.)
In addition, there are a few interesting shots taken on other electric railways of the 1950s and 60s. I have only included a few of the "before" pictures, but except for the two shots from 1972, all of the originals looked just as bad as the samples shown.
These images will give you a good idea of what these two early museum operations were like in the 1960s. Recently, we learned that North Shore Line car 154 (a sister to the 160 at Union), built in 1915 and now 101 years old, has deteriorated so much in outdoor storage at the Ohio railway Museum that it is going to be scrapped.
Norfolk and Western steam engine 578, shown in operation below, last ran in 1978.
This makes the point that historic preservation will likely always be two steps forward and one step backward, in spite of everyone's best efforts. However, there is also good news– Chicago "L" car 24, built in 1898, is far along in its restoration at IRM, and recently ran under its own power for the first time in more than 50 years.
In a few instances, we show the process of color restoration step-by-step. Of course, we can only work with what's already there to begin with. There is a difference between color restoration such as this, and "colorizing" a black-and-white image. To see examples of colorized railfan images, you can check out Rick Foss' work on his Facebook page.
PS- This article is intended to be a brief introduction to the subject of color-correcting badly faded images. It's been pointed out to me that several of these still have a definite color cast.
In most cases, I spent only a few minutes working on each one. Otherwise, this post would still be far off in the future. Sometimes it is necessary to work for hours on a single image to make it look "right," if it can be made to look that way.
However, using the right tools, including Photoshop, even the worst of the images shown here is a definite improvement on its badly faded original. It's remarkable that ANY of these pictures can be color-corrected, all things considered.
In some cases, you may get lucky, and it may take a few brief minutes to make your problem picture look 100% better.
Chances are, I will continue to work on these as time permits, and will post improved versions of some images in future.
As always, you can leave a Comment on this post, or contact us directly at:
thetrolleydodger@gmail.com
Trolleyville USA (most pictures taken in July 1963):
After.
Here is Chicago, Aurora & Elgin car 36 at Trolleyville sometime in mid-1962. This car left Wheaton on April 14, 1962, and had already been repainted by January 1, 1963, so this picture must have been taken between those dates.
This is CA&E car 36 after being repainted at Trolleyville sometime during 1962.
These last two pictures were taken a few years later, circa 1972:
Ohio Railway Museum, circa 1965:
Montreal and Southern Counties interurban (quit in 1956):
Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee (North Shore Line, including a CERA fantrip:
The location of this photo has puzzled even some experts. However, one of our regular readers may have the answer: "I think that it is looking north on the old Shore Line route post abandonment say in 1957 or 1958 when brush had grown up on the right of way. I would say that the location is where the old Lake Bluff Shore Line station was located, you can see a part of the old platform on the left side of the photo. If you go to that location today, the North Shore bike path curves slightly just south of where the Mundelein-Lake Bluff shuttle used to pass under the CNW. One track of the Shore Line route was retained from North Chicago Jct to the Highwood Shops until the last day of service. That was how they got cars to the Highwood Shops to be serviced and painted. The train is on the remaining track that led south to Highwood."
South Shore Line/Illinois Central Electric:
Red Ektachromes
Noted railfan Ray DeGroote recently celebrated his 86th birthday. In his honor, I have attempted to color-correct an Ektacrhome slide he shot in 1955.
The original Ektachrome had a film speed of 32, slow by today's standards, but preferable to its contemporary, Kodachrome 10. Unfortunately, the dyes used in early Ektachrome were unstable. This problem was corrected by the early 1960s.
Ray DeGroote took this picture at the old CTA Garfield Park "L" Laramie stop on May 1, 1955. We are looking to the west. About 30 years later, he had a duplicate slide made for me. That's what I scanned. Chances are, the original slide looks even more red than this today.
First, I brought the image up in Photoshop, and let the program try to color-correct the image automatically. As you can see, it already looks better but still has a ways to go.
Next, I added some yellow to remove an overall blue cast. But due to how the original color dyes had faded, the resulting image is lacking in color intensity. It looks "flat." Keep in mind that the amount of red had to be greatly reduced to match the intensity of the greens and blues, which were greatly diminished.
Here, I increased the overall color saturation and tweaked the color balance a bit. The picture looks better now, but we are not yet satisfied.
Finally, I boosted the color saturation again. This seems to me about the best result. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and the top of the railcars are close to a neutral grey. While the platforms may be slightly red, they may have looked that way, and meanwhile the lighter parts of the CTA cars look slightly cyan. Since we do not want to add any more red back into the picture, this is where we stop and say we are done.
I also corrected a couple of Ektachrome slides from 1959 that have shifted to red. They show D.C. Transit car 766 in fantrip service. These are extreme cases, and it wasn't possible to bring the color back to 100% normal for these two slides:
Don's Rail Photos says:
766 was built by Kuhlman Car Co in 1918 as Capital Traction Co 27. It was rebuilt in 1931 and became Capital Transit 766 in 1934. It is now at the National Capital Trolley Museum.
Here's a picture showing Pacific Electric 1543 and others in a yard in the Los Angeles area on August 11, 1959:
Here is the original faded slide.
Here, we have applied the auto color function in Photoshop. It has taken us part of the way, but we are not done yet.
We have reduced the amount of red further, and increased color saturation a bit. The picture is starting to look better.
Finally, we boosted the contrast a bit to give the image some "snap." Now we are finished. The dirt is red, but that is probably how things looked, since the sky is blue, without any trace of red.
Faded Kodachrome
Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a faded Kodachrome slide. This 1939 photo of the Trylon and Perisphere at the New York World's Fair has shifted to magenta over the years. Apparently, the dyes in the earliest Kodachromes were nowhere near as stable as they soon became.
We have eliminated the magenta cast, but now there hardly seems to be any color at all. It's almost monochrome now.
Here, we have boosted color saturation and have added some yellow. Unfortunately, it looks like we have gone too far, since the sky is now beginning to turn yellow as well.
Here, we have backed off a bit on color saturation and while there is still a bit of yellow in the sky, the image overall looks much better than it originally did.
Spence Ziegler writes, regarding the Illinois Central Electric suburban service (now the Metra Electric):
Dates of all of the station closures, last run of the turnaround trains (Hyde Park, 72nd St., Burnside) and on what date the original Blue Island Coach yard closed and when the CJ/CR&I viaduct was removed. Any information would greatly be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
We will try to find answers to your questions, thanks.
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