We received a small collection of nice 8x10 prints of the CA&E right of way, most of which are quite old, apparently from the teens or twenties, from Bill Moran. Some of them are labeled, others aren't, but in most cases we can determine the location. These are ones I've never seen before. My comments are in italics.
17 Ave (Maywood) looking South West Really? Where are all the houses?
17 Ave looking North East (Looking across the CGW tracks)
3rd Ave (On the left is the siding for Standard Material Co.)
This seems to show an unusual warning device for the grade crossing.
This isn't identified, but is probably in Maywood also. We're looking across a street, then the CA&E, and then another street and one lonely house.
No. 4 (That helps a lot!)
This photograph shows completed Bellwood Substation of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin R. R. Co. located at Bellwood, Illinois. Station completed and placed in operation August 1st, 1923. This station is identical with Wheaton Substation located at Wheaton, Illinois. This view was taken from tracks of C. A. & E. R. R. Co.
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The last two pictures had notarized affidavits stapled to them originally, and it appears to me that they must document an accident that occurred at Washington St. in Wheaton. It's not obvious to me what legal use you could make of them, but they were taken by an industrial photographer named W. B. Cox and notarized by Selma Cox. At least we finally get to see a car, the 418. The paint scheme is certainly correct for 1949, although I would have thought this area of Wheaton was more built up by then.
Gentlemen of the jury, how do you find?
What happened to car 418? I don't find it in any of your listings.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been scrapped in 1962 along with all the other cars that weren't preserved. There's nothing mysterious about that.
ReplyDeleteTo my untrained inexpert eye, it appears that the steps are bent at the corner, perhaps in a collision at the crossing (car? horse and wagon?). I tried to research the name on the notarized page, but could find nothing in court records.
ReplyDeleteMike G.
Thanks for trying to find some court records. There's no doubt the bent step was part of the case, but without more pictures I don't see how we can figure out exactly what happened. Since the camera was set in the middle of the street, the eastbound 418 didn't continue very far beyond the crossing, less than a car length, so it must have slowed down considerably before reaching the crossing. And perhaps Melvin decided not to pursue the case.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope this never happens to us. But at least we wouldn't have to call in a professional photographer from Chicago. The internet would be instantly flooded with cell phone pictures from every conceivable angle.
W.B. Cox = Wilbourne B. Cox. He was active in the early years of CERA; I recall a newspaper photo of him attending to a large-format view camera (like an 8x10 Deardorff or similar) while on a fantrip. I suspect he died sometime around 1948; his pictures have been credited several times in older CERA books.
ReplyDeleteScott Greig.