Monday, June 27, 2016

Moving the CTA Collection

The CTA inherited a collection of historic cars and vehicles from CSL, and most of this collection was donated to IRM in July of 1985.  From Bill Wulfert, we have a set of slides showing the cars at the Lawndale station, and the process of moving them to Union.

Car 4

This is a very early single-truck electric car, built by Pullman in 1895.
At Lawndale.



And after arrival at IRM.  It has since been on display in Barn 7.


Car 8
Our horsecar, built by Stephenson in 1859.

Except for a movie appearance, it has been on display in 7 also.


Car 209
This is thought to be a replica built by CSL in 1930 or so of an early cable trailer.



Car 460
A "Big Pullman", built in 1908, and of the same class as our 144.
 At Lawndale.  And next, several views of its progress out of the barn...





And after arrival at IRM: 



In front is the late Bill McGregor, who helped with many such moves for the Museum. 



 Car 4021
 This is the only surviving CSL pre-war PCC.

 Being hauled up a ramp at Lawndale...




And on arrival at IRM:

L to R: Tim (I think), Steve, Dan, and Nick.   Bill is behind the camera.



Miscellaneous

This one has me stumped.  It appears to be a horse-drawn omnibus, but I don't remember seeing it before and have no idea what happened to it.   Help?

The mail car went to South Elgin, where it is in storage and occasionally displayed.


If you have any questions, just wait for the information bus to drive by.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Update from Bill Wulfert: That's Tim Peters, Steve Iversen, Frank Sirinek & Nick Kallas.

Unknown said...

Great aPhotos, have been going out to Union since 1969-what's this about no trolley pagent on Sunday?

Anonymous said...

Randall,
All this took place back in the days before the Rail & Wire had many pictures. and a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Chicago had the nation's largest cable car system. It is good to see those cars again.

Ted Miles, IRM Member

Randall Hicks said...

So I guess we disagree on the identity of Contestant #3. This will have to be appealed to our secret panel of judges, but since Bill took the picture, he'll probably win.

Chris said...

The omnibus may have ended up with the Chicago Historical Society. If so, they don't appear to have it any more.

Other cable car replica went to Museum of Science and Industry but they just sold it- where?

Anonymous said...

I think MSI kept their replica cable grip car; it's popular with the kiddos. They sold a replica horse car at auction last year, plus replicas of the John Stevens and York locomotives, plus an original 1830's locomotive, the Mississippi. The York ended up at the B&O Museum, but there's been no news about the other pieces. Last week I put up a posting on the RyPN interchange asking if anyone knew the whereabouts of these items. Over 1,000 views later and not a single response, so who knows? Maybe private collectors who don't want publicity snagged them.

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39521

I wonder if the omnibus was original or a replica like the cable cars and the MSI horse car? Either way, I hope it survived.

Cliff McKay

Richard Penn said...

Does anyone know what happened to the cta information bus and if it is still around? Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

Anonymous said...

I hope the omnibus still exists; the only others in preservation that I know of are at Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine. They began the public transportation family tree

I too am hoping to hear what happened to the cars that the Museum of Science and Industry sold. It is a good thing that the replica of York went back to the B&O Museum. It was built in the B&O Shops for the Fair of the Iron Horse in 1927.

Ted Miles, IRM Member

Anonymous said...

A Chicago History Museum curator told me last year that the omnibus is stored in their warehouse. The Henry Ford also has one, but I'm unsure of its history.

Fred Ash

Randall Hicks said...

Thanks, Fred. So what is known of its history, such as when it was built?

Anonymous said...

Folks,
Thank you Internet! The Henry Ford Museum's Omnibus was Built in St Louis, Missouri by
Andrew Wight for the Hotel Del Monte at Monterey, California. It was in service from 1880 to the 1920s. There is a picture of it on their web site.You have to love a wealthy and well staffed Historical Museum!

I sent an e-mail to the Chicago History Museum, so we will get an answer I hope.

This brings up an interesting area to research. There are several carriage museums that have horse drawn collections. Maybe others have examples of this type of early public transit vehicle.

Ted Miles, IRM Member