THE CLIFFORD REIMS PHOTO COLLECTION
Clifford Reims was a long-time railroad and trolley enthusiast. He was a photographer and also an artist, who made a number of excellent line drawings of various electric lines. I knew him and his wife through church while they were living in Downers. About 1985 they retired to Fairhope, Alabama, a suburb of Mobile. Here, among other things, he collected a large amount of information on the Mobile street railway system. His photographs were collected in three carefully arranged and annotated photo albums.
Mr. Reims died recently, and his daughter has graciously contributed his collection of railroad artifacts, books, and photographs to IRM. The books will be delivered to the Strahorn, of course. The photo albums will be also, but first we would like to scan in and post his pictures, which presumably have never been published. Many of these he took during the 40's, and most of them are of East Coast lines. We will continue to add to the online collection as time permits.
Annotations are by Mr. Reims unless otherwise indicated.
These images are copyright by the Clifford Reims Collection. All rights reserved.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX
(Click on the underlined text)
Albany, N.Y. United Traction Co. (Aug. 1940)
Allentown, Pa. Lehigh Valley Transit (July 4, 1948)
Atlantic City, N.J. (May, 1940)
Baltimore, Md. Baltimore Transit (Aug. 1941)
Champaign, Ill. Illinois Terminal (May 1943)
Chicago Aurora and Elgin Revisited (Nov. 1983)
Allentown, Pa. Lehigh Valley Transit (July 4, 1948)
Atlantic City, N.J. (May, 1940)
Baltimore, Md. Baltimore Transit (Aug. 1941)
Champaign, Ill. Illinois Terminal (May 1943)
Chicago Aurora and Elgin Revisited (Nov. 1983)
New York City Brooklyn and Queens Transit (NRHS Tour, Oct 13, 1940)
New York City Farewell to Fulton Street (New York Car Riders Tour, May 25, 1941)
New York City Queens Photos (Nov. 25, 1939)
New York City Third Avenue Railway System (March, 1940 and July, 1946)
Newark, N.J. Public Service of New Jersey (May, 1940 and Jan. 1941)
Richmond, Va. Richmond Railways (Aug. 1941)
Sacramento, Cal. Sacramento Northern, Central Cal. Traction (April 1944)
South Elgin, Ill. Relic Trolley Museum (Nov. 1983)
New York City Farewell to Fulton Street (New York Car Riders Tour, May 25, 1941)
New York City Queens Photos (Nov. 25, 1939)
New York City Third Avenue Railway System (March, 1940 and July, 1946)
Newark, N.J. Public Service of New Jersey (May, 1940 and Jan. 1941)
Richmond, Va. Richmond Railways (Aug. 1941)
Sacramento, Cal. Sacramento Northern, Central Cal. Traction (April 1944)
South Elgin, Ill. Relic Trolley Museum (Nov. 1983)
UNITED TRACTION CO. - ALBANY
August, 1940
August, 1940
Master Unit #301. The only car of its type this line owned.
Al Reinschmidt comments:
The car was not a Brill Master Unit as we know that title, but a one and only Cincinnati-built car based on a
Versare design.
Here is another photo of the car.
Here is another photo of the car.
Versare was a little-known bus builder based in Albany, New York. They
tried to produce some very innovative but ultimately unsuccessful bus
designs. The concept was to produce an 8 wheel bus with independent,
rotating bogies like a streetcar. In fact most of Salt Lake City's
initial order of trolley buses were built by Versare but not of that
unique design.
In 1928 Versare merged with the Cincinnati Car Company. This car was built using Versare's construction techniques. It is unusual in that it is constructed almost entirely of aluminum and used foot controllers.
In 1928 Versare merged with the Cincinnati Car Company. This car was built using Versare's construction techniques. It is unusual in that it is constructed almost entirely of aluminum and used foot controllers.
It is notable that CSL's Cincinnati-built trolley buses were based on Versare designs.
More information on Versare here: http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/v/versare/versare.htm
NRHS TOUR - BROOKLYN AND QUEENS TRANSIT (BMT)
October 13, 1940
Tour Special #2538.
Hoyt-Sackett route sign was rolled in place by a tour member. The line had long since been abandoned.
Tour Special #8131
Tour Special #8101 [Kent Ave under the Williamsburg Bridge - FH]
#5012. Rebuilt center entrance car
#5012. Electrified trailer.
#773. Oldest series of cars in service at that time.
4109. Single direction convertible
4502. Convertible out of service
4504 Convertible out of service
9927 Scrap metal car
9740 Sand car
9880 Sweeper
9410 S. Brkln Ry freight car
BALTIMORE TRANSIT
August, 1941
5549 in old yellow and cream livery
5833 in new red and cream livery
PCC 7308 bound for Towson
RICHMOND RAILWAYS
August, 1941
424
448 [westbound on Broad Street at 7th - FH]
FAREWELL TO FULTON STREET
(New York Car Riders Association Tour)
May 25, 1941
67 Seventh
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.
May, 1940
NEWARK -- PUBLIC SERVICE OF NEW JERSEY
Jackson Ave. Barn -- March 9, 1940
2695
2689
3273 Out of service
Old car used as a waiting room [Old Bergen & Gates looking southeast - Dave Pirmann]
Canal Bed Lines -- Jan. 1941
3216 -- City subway [Orange Street - FH]
3216, 3212 -- City subway
2681 -- Bloomfield
2715 -- Bloomfield
8000
Car showing roof detail
March, 1940
1130 - convertible
239 - convertible
293 Convertible
Parkchester, summer 1940
TARS -- July, 1946
379 - Broadway car at far north end of the line
Hastings-on-Hudson (see Queensborough Bridge Ry.)
51 - convertible
169th St. Parkchester
View eastward on El tracks at 169th St.
9 - converted horse car (oldest known car on system)
Mt. Vernon Car House
1 - being prepared for museum
Mt. Vernon Car House
SACRAMENTO NORTHERN
Central California Traction, Sacramento City Lines
April, 1944
CCT -- 84 City Car, Sacramento
Freight Motor #3 Stockton
Freight Motor #6 Stockton
Barns at Stockton
Barns at Stockton with 2 freight motors
101 Car Body at Stockton
Car bodies #202 & ? Stockton
SN -- Freight motor #650 Sacramento
300 -- last interurban passenger car on line (Oakland)
Freight motor #601 Sacramento
Freight motor #441 Sacramento
Freight motor #652 Sacramento
Birney #65 Sacramento
Sacramento City Lines 59
ILLINOIS TERMINAL
May 1943
All at Champaign Station
LEHIGH VALLEY TRANSIT TRIP
July 4, 1948
Easton Limited -- outside Bethlehem headed for Allentown
Liberty Bell Limited 701
Liberty Bell Limited 69th St., Phila.
CITY CARS, ALLENTOWN
216
440
Barn view, Allentown 213, 214
812
Phila. Suburban Cars 86, 74, 69th St.
Phila. Suburban 68 69th St.
(This car was stored at IRM for several years; it was then sold and later scrapped. - RH)
QUEENS PHOTOS
Nov. 25, 1939
Queensboro Bridge Ry. 653 at Queens Plaza three weeks after abandonment of the remainder of Steinway Lines. Leased from TARS (see TARS #379)
Queensboro Bridge Ry. 654
1670 Steinway Birney at barn, three weeks after abandonment. The other end of this car was badly damaged from an accident on the last day of service.
New York and Queens double truck Birneys at Steinway barn two years after abandonment
Fresh Pond 8100 series car about to leave
B & QT Fresh Pond Barn
6044 and other single direction cars
Fresh Pond 9816 Sand Car
Fresh Pond 9155 scrap metal car
B & QT 1100 series car at east end of Jamaica Ave. line.
Track in foreground is abandoned Long Island Electric - Jamaica Central siding.
CHICAGO AURORA AND ELGIN REVISITED
November 2-3, 1983
Cemetery spur from present end of track looking north; occasionally used as a freight spur.
Note poles and wire hangers.
Cemetery spur, looking south from same point.
Cemetery spur, rotting trestle just north of Roosevelt Road, about 3/4 mile west of Mannheim
Villa Park station, now home of Villa Park Historical Society
Same, showing replica of "Pioneer" tender.
Steel Bridge over CNW tracks at Wheaton. Foot and Bicycle span just now completed. Large buildings in background stand on site of CA&E yards.
Orchard Road crossing. It was easier to leave track than to tear up the road.
Footbridge over DuPage River replaces trestle -- Warrenville
Warrenville station, now its municipal building. Notice bay window. What looks like sidewalk is actually the old station platform.
Mainline to Aurora, looking north approximately 3/4 mile north of Aurora terminal. About 250 yards farther north, line is occasionally used as feeder for several scrap metal companies.
"Terminal to nowhere", Aurora
RELIC TROLLEY MUSEUM
#20, Relic Trolley Museum, S. Elgin
#316, Relic Trolley Museum
#317, Relic Trolley Museum
#11, Line Car, Relic Trolley Museum. Car is disintegrating from rot.
Also at Relic Trolley Museum: 2 car train, CTA Evanston Express cars.
CNS&M #756
CTA Steeple Cab Switcher
(Behind it is Philadelphia sweeper C150, scrapped in 1991 - RH)
San Francisco Muni PCC #1030
6 comments:
Randall,
I perused the C.A.&E. photo collection. Does the "platform to nowhere" still exist in Aurora?
Ken MacLeod
No, it was removed several years ago, and that whole area has been redeveloped.
The thing that makes his pictures from 30 years ago so valuable is that most of the CA&E remnants he photographed have either disappeared or been modified. The remains of the Cook Country branch, the Warrenville station, and any traces in Aurora are long gone. The Villa Park station is still there, of course, but the Pioneer tender was scrapped long ago. It was always an incongruous display there anyhow, I thought.
Now I just wish somebody would comment on the Relic pictures....
Hi, Randy.
Okay, I'll bite. It is at least heartening that FRTM hasn't scrapped any of the pictured cars, besides the sweeper you mentioned in the caption. It's also nice to see that the CA&E Line Car 11 has at least seen a coat of paint in thirty years.
We SHOULD remember two things, though. 1. FRTM is better than a scrapper, and 2. They are a MUCH smaller operation than the IRM. We could fit their entire collection in one of our barns. On the other hand, we could send a "traveling exhibit" and occupy every last inch of their track, and only our "hard core" fans and volunteers would notice what was missing.
It would be nice if Fox River Trolley Museum (formerly RELIC) could do better with their collection. But, they are getting by as best as they can.
Thanks.
Brian J. Patterson
IRM Member.
Relic was organized not as a volunteer-based group. but as a privately-held corporation with stockholders, although the primary purpose was not to make a profit but to preserve and operate the equipment. I can remember visiting there with my father back in the 60's, and we asked if they were looking for volunteers. (The other museums we were familiar with, such as IRM and MC, were always asking for volunteers, and still are!) I'm not sure who we were talking to, it may have been Don MacBean. He explained that their thinking was that volunteers could not be relied on to get the necessary work done, but if people had money invested in the organization they could be counted on to keep it going. Of course, at that time I didn't have any money to invest, and whether I might have considered joining otherwise is doubtful. Just another "what if"!
I guess this business model didn't work out, and in 1984 Relic was reorganized as the Fox River Trolley Museum, a non-profit volunteer organization like any other. (Ralph Taylor says he never liked the name "Relic" anyhow.) For that matter, even today I wouldn't want to "invest" money in IRM. I'm glad to contribute to a good cause, but it seems to me that if I had money invested, I'd be more worried about whether I was ever going to see my money again than whether IRM was actually making progress towards fulfilling its mission.
I'm not aware if there are any other railroad museums organized like that, although of course there are many for-profit tourist lines that are corporations of one sort or another. Strasburg, for instance.
Are the rails still embedded in Orchard Road? I think it might have been paved over or removed. I do know that they removed the rails from the Jewell Road crossing, so they likely removed the rails.
It seems clear to me that the rails were removed long ago when the road was repaved. As it happens, I often drive that way when I'm on my way to have breakfast with Frank!
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