by Sue Weart
"Being a dyed in the wool railfan is in George Clark's blood. George has been around street cars and trolleys since he was a child. George's father was a streetcar conductor who worked for the Chicago Surface Lines such as the Ashland Avenue line. His father's favorite story was how he met his wife when she rode the street car each morning that he on which he worked. As a boy, George would meet his father when he was on the Armitage Line and ride the last ride to the barns.
"George joined IRM in May of 1956 but just six months later, he was in the U.S. Army in Germany. While there, he began his military service by working on atomic weapons maintenance and then transferred to the new computer (of the time). He had been in data processing before the army so this transfer was right up his alley and becoming a computer programmer was a natural extension. After the army, George joined Illinois Bell as a computer programmer and stayed for 26 years, retiring from Ameritech Service after 5 more years. George has been married to Lynn for 27 years.
"Although George had been inactive for some years, he has returned with enthusiasm. George trains new operators as well being the weekday crew caller for summer service. However, some Sundays, you may see George running an electric car for the visitors. When not running, you can find George helping out in the electric car department and there is plenty to keep him busy. He is working on the Michigan Electric Freight Trailer #1616, has worked on the Illinois Terminal line car # 1702 and #101 and the Milwaukee Electric L10 Freight Locomotive.
"George is one of the early members of the IRM and a former vice president and president of the Museum when the first office address was Walter Murphy's father's law office on Dearborn Street in Chicago. Ten railfans got together and bought one car from the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City. This car had been built for the Indiana Railroad as their 65. Initially, the museum was named the Illinois Electric Railway Museum but the members decided to become a general railway museum and the Illinois Railway Museum was born. Little did George and the other original members know that this one car would lead to a collection of over 350 pieces of equipment.
"The original acquisitions were located next to the North Shore Line's Pettibone freight yard in North Chicago. George has many interesting stories to tell from the early days at North Chicago. Things were to change however and George was part of the planning and moving of the Museum from the original North Chicago site to Union in 1964. After examining many sites, Walter Murphy obtained quit claim deeds for some of the right of way of the old Elgin and Belvidere Electric Railway. George was involved with moving of over 40 pieces of equipment to the current museum property.
"You can find this white haired, smiling gentleman at the museum's electric car department just about every Wednesday and Sunday. George's choices are still the electric cars and, although restoration has begun on some of George's favorites, much still has to be done. If you would like to help with the restoration, your donations to the electric car department or specifically to the Michigan Electric #1616 or the Milwaukee Electric L10 freight locomotive would be greatly appreciated."
["Michigan Electric 1616" is better known today as Lake Shore Electric 810]
4 comments:
Sad to hear. George lived near me in Palatine, so I would always catch a ride with him out to IRM. He loved his Saab's. It was always a fast trip! I always enjoyed how he'd scold vehicles that drove with their parking lights on, "That's the highest speed parking job that I've ever seen!"
So long George.
John Csoka
Yes, George was certainly a memorable person. When he started working on that box trailer, I was sure it would never be completed, being in such bad shape. But almost the entire car structure was replaced over the years, and when George had to retire due to health problems it was far enough along so that the other guys on the crew could finish it. George will certainly be missed.
By the way, his wife has said that there will be no services.
One other story came across my memory, from George. On one of our Saab rapid transit trips out to IRM he told me about how he found a full trolley pole laying along CTA Lake Street in Oak Park. This was in the 50's or 60's. He strung it up underneath his car that next weekend and drove it up to N. Chicago!
I think that I recall that his partner in the operation was Bill McGregor?
My favorite George story recorded for posterity. Maybe we still look at that same pole today?
That certainly sounds to me like something Bill would think up. Whether George thought this was a good idea is something else. Bill was nearly deaf and was never able to hear anyone offering objections to his outlandish schemes.
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