Not only the cars I mentioned before, but I wanted to buy one of the cars which went to Downers Grove [ERHS], the railroad roof wood 2846.
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| The 2846 in work service (Mewhinney) |
The
sweeper was $437.00 [the E223, which Dick did purchase] but the 2800's price was around $850... money which no one
else had at the ready.
Also gone and forgotten were
other great work cars like the line car! I think the CSL had only the one
line car [V-201]:
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| Dick Lukin at left in 1959, with the E-223 at North Chicago (Mizerocki) |
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| (Don Ross) |
and there was the HUGE Supply car [S-201] which sort of hung out
at Burnside, as I used to see it on occasion.
(Don Ross)
We also missed a despised
car... a 5700 "Muzzleloader"!
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| A muzzleloader (Scalzo - Mewhinney) |
Why the Chicago City Railways ordered these stupid, slow cars and used them on one of the busiest cars lines... for ever.. was
always a mystery to me. Since I lived only feet from Cottage Grove Ave, we had a choice of riding them, or waiting for a 169--Broadway #1 or a 5600
off of Stony Island. Easy choice.
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| Another muzzleloader on the Windsor Park line, at 93rd and Baltimore (Scalzo - Mewhinney) |
So many unique street railway work cars were made, and so few survive. They're not the hottest things around by a long shot, but electric railway work equipment has a special place for me.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'd say that in many cases more work equipment survives than you might expect, mainly because in many cases work cars were useful for odd jobs or for switching. I was just thinking we should talk about TM next. There's a case where there's a lot of interesting work equipment saved, but of passenger cars relatively little. If Speedrail hadn't come to an untimely end, things would have been different.
ReplyDeleteDan Buck said...
ReplyDeleteI share Dick Lukin's love for the Chicago Surface Lines, but I'm surprised he doesn't mention the wonderful (so-called) sedans, the Peter Witt cars, the most modern cars before the PCC's arrived. I was born just a couple years too late to remember them in service. They disappeared so quickly!
I'm afraid my mind is a bit addled from being quarantined at home for so long. As Bill Wulfert gently pointed out to me, Dick Lukin did mention the CSL Sedans that got away, in a previous post that I missed. My apologies to Dick; please disregard my previous post. Now I'm going to lay down with a cool cloth on my forehead.
ReplyDelete