Saturday, December 31, 2022

Highlights of 2022

After some delay due to the pandemic, it's time once again to celebrate as we review the accomplishments of 2022.  As always, additions and corrections are welcome!

  • Acquisitions:
    1. Pullman Villa Real
    2. Pullman John Greenleaf Whittier
    3. CB&Q baggage car 1554
    4. C&NW SD50 7009
    5. The Electric Traction Speed Trophy!
  • In building news, the structure and exterior of the C&NW building are now complete, and work on the interior is continuing.
  • Operation of both the Decapod and the Shay several times this year.
  • Special days such as Pumpkin, Thomas, Vintage Transport, and Happy Holiday all went well, with Pumpkin and HHR both setting all-time attendance records for those events.
  • Lots of track work, including the replacement of about a mile of main-line rail.
  • IRM hosted some important private events, such as the 100th anniversary of EMD and a visit from AAPRCO, the private car owners' group.
  • And as usual, operations proceeded smoothly and safely during the year, thanks to our operating department.
  • I can't begin to list all the restoration projects that were either completed or made significant progress this year.  
  • Hicks Car Works set a new record for number of posts this year, mostly due to Frank's just-concluded series of Scalzo articles on electric lines of Illinois, the Doerr photo collection, and our pre-2008 logs. 
  • Perhaps most importantly, we have several new active volunteers.  We are certainly grateful for their help, and hope they will stay with us for a long time!


And finally, a public service announcement:
There's plenty to celebrate, but don't let others talk you into overdoing things.  You might regret it.

Friday, December 30, 2022

Map of Electric Railways in Illinois

For those interested in maps, I've spent a little time putting together a Google map that shows every electric railway line in Illinois, at least as far as I can tell. The map is located here - it incorporates information from all of the Stephen Scalzo histories that have been posted to the blog, plus other lines that Stephen didn't write about: big systems like the IT, CA&E, North Shore, and CSL, as well as a smattering of small lines like Evanston and the Midlothian & Blue Island (don't ask) which for whatever reason didn't make the cut. Lines like the North Shore, South Shore, and Chicago Harvard & Geneva Lake, which had significant trackage in Illinois but were also interstate, are included to their terminals, but lines in adjoining states located just over the border (Hammond Whiting & East Chicago, Clinton Davenport & Muscatine, etc.) were left off.


This isn't a track map, just a route map, so plenty of minor bits of track - sidings, wyes, yards, etc - are omitted on purpose, though not necessarily with 100% consistency. And if I'm certain of anything, it's that this map is far from perfect. If you see anything that's incorrect or missing, please let me know!

Thursday, December 29, 2022

On Target

A friend recently sent us an interesting picture, dated 1949.  The main subject of the photo was obviously meant to be the New York Central streamliner leaving Chicago, but off to the right you can see a gondola with a Van Dorn target end.  This seems much later than we might have thought for these ends to be in service.   Who knew?  But Van Dorn is one of our favorite subjects, so here you go.


Correction!   Dennis Storzek points out that this is actually a Haskell & Barker design, not Van Dorn, since the ribs form a spiral and not concentric ovals.  This is an interesting example of a company making a trivial change to somebody else's design in order to avoid proprietary or patented intellectual property, something that has happened quite often.

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Elgin & Belvidere


The Elgin & Belvidere Electric Company
by Stephen M. Scalzo

Ed. note: This is the 55th and final Stephen Scalzo History Collection article we are publishing on the electric railways of Illinois. Stephen wrote histories of all but a handful of the state's lesser-known electric lines and we elected to save a hometown favorite for last. We'd like to again extend our thanks to Richard Schauer and Ray and Julie Piesciuk, who made available these materials, and to Kimberly Scalzo, Stephen's widow, who donated his priceless collection of historical documents and photos to IRM.

Headline image: One of the E&B's handsome St. Louis-built interurban cars, number 201, is turning from Logan onto State Street in Belvidere on June 6, 1907. All photos are from the Stephen Scalzo Collection of the Illinois Railway Museum except where noted.

The Elgin & Belvidere Electric Company (E&B) was incorporated on March 9, 1905, with $2,500 (later increased to $2,000,000) of capital to build a 37-mile long interurban line between Elgin and Belvidere. Mr. Bion J. Arnold, a distinguished city transit expert, was hired as the engineer to supervise the construction of the railroad by the Main Construction Company. When problems developed in the sale of the construction bonds, Mr. Arnold decided to use his own funds to finance construction. Mr. Arnold shortly thereafter became the principal owner and promoter of the railway. Surveying of possible routes for the company began almost immediately, and in the summer of 1905 actual construction began. Construction of the railway was completed by the spring of 1906 at a cost of nearly $2 million, which included the purchase of the Belvidere local streetcar line. The company encountered franchise problems in Elgin and Belvidere which were settled by early 1911.

Passenger service was inaugurated on February 2, 1907, with 11 single-ended interurbans operating 18 daily round trips on an hourly schedule that took one hour and 45 minutes to operate over the trackage. At Belvidere the company's interurbans made connections with the Rockford & Interurban Railway (R&I) interurbans operating west to Rockford and Freeport; at Elgin the company's interurbans connected with the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway interurbans operating east to Chicago and Aurora. Besides the terminal points, stops were at Almora, Gilberts, Freeman, Huntley, Coyne, Union, Marengo, Garden Prairie, and Camp Elworth. Interurbans entered Elgin over the Elgin Aurora & Southern Traction Company's trackage to the Union terminal. The population of the area served was estimated to be 52,000. The company competed with the Chicago & North Western Railroad for the Chicago-to-Rockford business, but effective competition was virtually impossible because interurban travel took considerably longer.

Car 201 was the first interurban car to run into Belvidere, presumably on the date passenger service was inaugurated, February 2, 1907. This photo is at Logan and Whitney looking east, with the old Methodist Episcopal church in the background.

The St. Louis-built combines on the E&B were not as long as the big 62' combines on some other Midwestern lines, but they were undeniably handsome cars. Car is shown in Belvidere.

The right-of-way was constructed with sufficient width to eventually allow for double-tracking. The topography of the area was level, with a maximum of 2% grades and with several long tangents, one extending west of Gilberts for over nine miles. Trackage consisted of 70-pound rail on cedar ties, although some cypress and tamarack ties were used, in gravel ballast. The overhead construction was of the bracket type in the country and cross suspension through towns, with high tension wires, feeder, telephone, and bracket arms to support the trolley wires supported on cedar poles. A telephone system was installed over the entire system that was used to dispatch trains from the Marengo station, with jacks located on poles every half-mile so that interurban crews could connect their portable box telephones. Electric power was purchased from the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway's Clintonville substation at 26,400 volts AC and transmitted over the power lines located on the right-of-way poles to substations at Gilberts, Union, and Garden Prairie, approximately 10 miles apart. The two rotary converters at those substations each had 300kw capacity to provide 600 volts DC to the overhead. A ribbed concrete-steel bridge was constructed over the Kishwaukee River near Belvidere.

Freight service was offered from the beginning, with express freight traffic interchanged between connecting interurban systems. A connection was installed at the Borden Condensed Milk Company at Marengo, and considerable milk was transported to Marengo from southern Wisconsin.

A three-car train of Niles car 209 bracketed by St. Louis cars 205 and 204 is westbound in Marengo on Prairie just west of State Street.

The handsome substation in Union was located on Jefferson Street about where the pump house for the city water tower is located today. In 1915 it was rebuilt as the world's first fully automatic substation. This building was razed, but a surprising number of E&B structures still stand in one form or another, including the Kishwaukee River bridge in Belvidere, the substations in Gilberts and Garden Prairie, and the building in downtown Marengo that housed the dispatcher's office. The Marengo carbarn stood, albeit heavily modified, well into the 1990s.

On October 1, 1907, the company began operating a few daily limited interurban trains with R&I equipment between Elgin and Rockford. Earnings climbed from $118,478 in 1906 to a peak of $147,177 in 1918, with ridership peaking at 555,997 in 1908. Passenger revenue per mile was never very great as the population in the area served was not significant; the eastern half of the system carried most of the passenger traffic. The operating ratio was high and the rate of return for the company seldom was greater than 2%, even in the good years. During 1915, as a result of a fire at the Union substation, the country's first automatic substation was put into service, and gradually all the other substations were automated as an economy move. The company also experimented with gasoline generators to provide electric power for the overhead as a means of reducing power costs.

During World War I the company carried many troops. Wage hikes during World War I, a two-week strike by employees in 1919, and a tornado in April of 1921 all combined to reduce revenue. In September of 1918, the company petitioned the Public Service Commission for a 25% freight rate increase.

Car 204 is shown early in its service life on the Kishwaukee River Bridge east of Belvidere, certainly the most distinctive photo location on the E&B. The truss bridge in the background is on the Chicago & North Western; this route was the first railroad built west out of Chicago, in 1851.

In a scene encountered every day on the E&B, gentlemen wait at an attractive waiting shelter - in this case, Illinois Park - as an interurban car comes to a stop.  Illinois Park is a section of Elgin just west of Wing Park, on the east side of Tyler Creek, and this was the first stop for westbound cars after leaving city trackage.

The increased use of private automobiles and the construction of concrete highways in the area created serious financial difficulties for the company during the 1920s. By 1926, only 10 daily interurban trips were being operated, with earnings of $103,721 from 197,336 passengers carried. Most of the milk transportation was lost to trucks during the early 1920s, and as a result, freight cars were coupled to the rear of evening passenger trains in an attempt to reduce costs.

In 1926, the R&I system went into bankruptcy, and a year later the system's individual interurban lines were sold off. On May 1, 1927, the Elgin Belvidere & Rockford Railway was incorporated with $1,050,000 of capital. That company was the consolidation of the Rockford and Belvidere section of the R&I, and the E&B. The new company leased six lightweight streetcars from the Rockford local streetcar system for one year. Operation of those cars in place of the original interurban equipment was successful in reducing operational costs. However further concrete highway construction and the resulting bus competition quickly drew away more passengers and freight business, and the results were not financially successful for the company.

This view looking north on State Street in Belvidere shows an E&B car at the very western end of the system, at the corner of State and Pleasant. Here, passengers will need to transfer to an R&I car to continue west toward Rockford and Freeport.

Time grows short for the E&B as car 208, rebuilt late in its life with a bizarre "phone booth" protruding cab at each end, leans into a curve at an unknown location.

All freight service was abandoned in August of 1928 as an economy move, as that revenue only amounted to about 17% of the earnings of the company. After the lightweight streetcars were returned to Rockford, the old interurbans were modified for one-man operation and returned to service. Ultimately, the stock market crash of October 1929 and the resulting depression doomed the marginal profitability of the company. Gradually the number of round trips declined, until by early 1930 only four round trips were operating. Earnings declined to $70,668 in 1930 with only 19,533 passengers being carried. After a study by Insull determined that $1 million would be needed to modernize and repair the system, the company saw that raising that amount and continued operations were fruitless. All passenger service was suspended on March 9, 1930. The Illinois Commerce Commission approved the abandonment of the service on May 14, and over the next month, all the overhead was removed by company employees. Mr. Arnold then personally supervised the scrapping of the remaining trackage and equipment through the remaining 1930s. Two Forney steam locomotives were purchased, and the trackage was removed gradually until completed in 1935. Some electrical equipment of the remaining interurbans was sold, but eventually no buyers were located and the equipment was scrapped.

In 1964, the Illinois Railway Museum, at that time located on leased property at North Chicago, Illinois, purchased about six miles of the E&B right-of-way located east of Union at a delinquent tax sale for its new museum site. Over the ensuing years, the museum has reconstructed trackage on most of that right-of-way and on adjoining land in order to operate its collection of interurbans, streetcars, and other railroad equipment.

Belvidere City Railway

The Belvidere Electric Railway (BER) was incorporated in 1895 with $35,000 capital and received a franchise on September 5, 1895, to construct a streetcar line. A single-track line was constructed on State Street from Sixth Street to Madison Street, with a passing track located in the middle of the Kishwaukee River bridge. A carbarn was constructed at Madison and Webster Streets. After streetcar service began, another line was constructed on Lincoln Street to the City Park. The company never developed heavy traffic, and three single-truck streetcars provided all the service.

The Belvidere City Railway, affiliated with the Elgin & Belvidere, was incorporated on March 11, 1905. The E&B wanted its interurbans to enter Belvidere over the streetcar trackage. After a lengthy franchise conflict with the city, the E&B constructed trackage along Church and Logan Avenues to the east city limits at Warren Avenue in 1906, and shortly thereafter purchased the BER. On State Street, a connecting track was constructed to connect with the Rockford & Interurban.

Belvidere City Railway 2 is southbound on State and has just crossed the Kishwaukee River. On the left is the National Sewing Machine Company, which occupied the entire space north of Meadow to the River and the east-west span from State to Warren.

On December 11, 1907, a fire destroyed the carbarn and three streetcars, and service was halted until new streetcars arrived on April 1, 1908. Afterward, all maintenance was done at the E&B's Marengo shops. At its peak, the system only operated two streetcars over two miles of trackage. Earnings were never very much, and the company's paving assessments were sold for $275 during 1914.

The city council repealed the company's franchise on September 2, 1915, with all streetcar service being halted 11 days later. The physical plant of the system remained unused until November 1916 in hopes that another company would take over the operations. The unused trackage and overhead was then removed, with the E&B interurbans retaining trackage rights from the eastern city limits to the downtown terminal.

This article was edited and laid out by Frank Hicks. Thanks to Ray and Julie Piesciuk and to Richard Schauer for making available the materials from the Stephen Scalzo Collection that were used to publish this history.


Roster of Equipment

Elgin & Belvidere

201-206 (six cars) - DE DT RR interurban combines - St. Louis, 1906 (order #609) - L 47'1", W 8'6", H 12'9", Wt. 61,000 lbs. - Baldwin MCB trucks, 4 x GE 74 motors, GE Type M control - car 205 loaned to Chicago Aurora & DeKalb, destroyed in wreck early 1920s

207-209 (three cars) - DE DT RR interurban coaches - Niles, 1907 - L 49', W 8'6", H 12'9", 50 seats - Baldwin MCB trucks, 4 x GE 74 motors, GE Type M control

301-306 (six cars) - DE DT AR lightweight interurban coaches - American, 1927 - L 45'6", W 8'8", H 10'8", Wt. 35,750 lbs., 52 seats - Brill 177E1 trucks, 4 x GE 247 motors, K-75 control - leased from Rockford Public Service from August 1927 to August 1928

105 (one car) - DE DT RR interurban coach - Jackson & Sharp, 1901 - L 44'7" - StL 23MCB trucks, 4 x GE 57H motors, K-14 control - ex-R&I, acquired as part of the EB&R reorganization in 1927

198 (one car) - DE DT RR interurban coach - rebuilt ex-Manhattan Railway elevated car, acquired as part of the EB&R reorganization in 1927

199 (one car) - DE DT RR interurban coach - rebuilt ex-R&I parlor car, acquired as part of the EB&R reorganization in 1927

101-102 (two cars) - DE DT RR express motors - McGuire-Cummings, 1906 - L 45', W 8'8", H 12'9" - Baldwin trucks, 4 x GE 74 motors, GE Type M control - 101 wrecked early 1920s

103 (one car) - DE DT RR express motor - built 1909 (builder?) - ex-Chicago Aurora & DeKalb 21, acquired 1923 following wreck of car 205

151 (one car) - DE DT RR express motor - built by R&I, 1907 - L 46'7", W 8'7", H 12'8", Wt. 46,000 lbs. - Peckham 14AX trucks, 4 x GE 57H motors, K-14 control - ex-R&I, acquired as part of the EB&R reorganization in 1927

93 (one car) - line car - built by R&I, 1911 - L 40', W 8', H 12'7", Wt. 64,488 lbs. - Peckham 14AX trucks, 4 x GE 57H motors, K-14 control - ex-R&I, acquired as part of the EB&R reorganization in 1927

97 (one car) - cab-on-flat utility car - built by R&I, 1907 - L 46'7", W 8'7", H 12'8", Wt. 46,000 lbs. - Peckham 14AX trucks, 4 x GE 57H motors, K-14 control

54, 64 (two engines) - 0-4-4T Forney steam locomotives - built by Pittsburgh in 1893-1894 (builder #s 1506 and 1513, respectively) - ex-Manhattan Elevated, acquired September 1930 for use in dismantling the line

500 (one car) - MOW boxcar

Belvidere City Railway (incomplete roster)

1 (one car) - DE ST DR city car

2 (one car) - DE ST DR city car

3-4 (two cars) - DE ST AR city cars - St. Louis, 1911 (order #894) - St Louis 72 truck

Car 201, which was the first car into Belvidere in early 1907, was still in service and largely unchanged at the end. Here, it's parked alongside the Marengo shop building in the late 1930s.

Car 203 acquired a few minor modifications over its service life, including roof mats. It's shown parked alongside the Marengo shop building in the 1930s.

Another view shows the slowly deteriorating car 203 at Marengo, though here it's been adorned by fans with flags and a headlight.

Car 205 and another unidentified car are westbound at Marengo on the west side of State Street. The protruding bay window on the right was the E&B dispatcher's office and is still evident at this location. Car 205 was loaned to the Chicago Aurora & DeKalb in the early 1920s and wrecked while on the CA&D.

Car 208 was rebuilt in the 1920s with strange, diminutive motorman's cabs protruding from each end, presumably to increase visibility. The experiment was not repeated. Other changes included steel sheathing on the sides and unusual, possibly pneumatic or hydraulic, trolley bases. Heavy rebuilding work like this was done not at Marengo, but at the CA&E shop in Wheaton. Car 208 is shown at the Marengo shop complex after abandonment.

Cars 207-209 were extremely attractive cars as built and were typical of Niles practice. Car 209 is shown in Marengo after abandonment, mostly unchanged from as-built condition other than paint.

One of the E&B's first two freight motors, 101, was said by one source to have been wrecked in the early 1920s but it's pictured here at the Marengo shops in August 1932. Its poor condition, though, may suggest it's been out of service for some time. To the right can barely be seen Chicago Aurora & DeKalb 24, an interurban car acquired from that line in the early 1920s as a replacement for E&B car 205, which was wrecked while on lease to the CA&D. It is thought that car 24 never ran on the E&B. 

Car 102 was the second of the E&B's original freight motors, and lasted until the end of freight service on the line. It's shown after abandonment flanked by the two Forney steam engines that arrived to help scrap the line. The one on the left exhibits the makeshift platforms mounted to the engines to help remove overhead line hardware.

Freight motor 103 was ex-Chicago Aurora & DeKalb 21 and was purchased around 1923, supposedly to replace E&B 101. It's shown at the Marengo shops after abandonment.

Forney 54 was an ex-Manhattan Railway elevated 0-4-4T built by Pittsburgh in 1893. It and another identical engine numbered 64 (both their Manhattan numbers) were among the last four elevated Forneys left in New York and were purchased from Interborough Rapid Transit in September 1930. The final two Manhattan Forneys were squirreled away but scrapped on orders of the Office of Defense Transportation in 1943 (thanks to Bill Wall for this information).

E&B 500 appears to have been a tool car or MOW car of some sort, obviously rebuilt from a steam road boxcar.


Route Map


Elgin & Belvidere Stops - Mileage from Elgin

0.0 - Elgin
0.1 - West Side Junction
1.0 - Hamilton Avenue Siding
1.1 - Larkin - Edison Switch
1.9 - Wing Park Siding
3.3 - Almora
8.1 - Gilberts
8.7 - Evans Pit Siding
9.4 - Marks Siding
13.0 - Huntley Siding
13.1 - Huntley
14.7 - Coyne
17.6 - Smith Siding [located roughly where Johnson Siding is today]
20.5 - Union
21.5 - Schneider's Siding
24.2 - Marengo
24.7 - Marengo Shops
27.4 - Thorne Siding
30.3 - Garden Prairie
32.4 - Camp Epworth
34.4 - West Pit Siding
36.4 - Belvidere

This photo, taken on May 14, 1933, just after the E&B rails were removed, shows the interurban's underpass on the east side of Belvidere where it crossed under the C&NW line from Belvidere to DeKalb. The grade in the background is the C&NW line that paralleled much of the E&B. Today this is approximately at the corner of Jamestown Avenue and Bridgewater Drive in Belvidere.

This photo was taken on the same date and shows the E&B bridge at West Pit, located just north of where the Farm & Fleet is today. The bridge bears a striking resemblance to IRM's Boot Creek bridge.

In happier times, a St. Louis E&B car crosses the bridge east of Belvidere over the Kishwaukee River. This distinctive bridge still exists today.

This view, taken in May 1938, shows some of the last E&B trackage to be taken up. We're looking north on Sponable Street in Marengo at the "Borden Curve" on the E&B, where the interurban cut north from Prairie Street to rejoin the C&NW alignment on its way to Belvidere.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

End-of-the-Year Doerr Collection Additions

We've added another 30 photos to the Doerr Photo Collection of 1980s IRM photos. The new additions, photos #350 through #379, mostly cover freight cars and electric cars, including a few that have since been scrapped or sold. Enjoy!

Monday, December 26, 2022

Trolley Bus Update

Thanks to Richard Schauer for sending along this update of progress on Milwaukee trolley bus 441, which is being externally restored and repainted by an off-site contractor, last Friday:


I have a great update for you this week... and no photos for it.  The picture files on my camera show up as corrupted, and I have to wonder if the weather had something to do with it.  So, I'll describe what I saw!

The rear end of the 441 below the belt rail is done.  A leveling coat was applied to the whole thing after the dent in the lower part was pulled out, and it's in good shape.  The lower rear curb-side corner showed something was amiss underneath the wrap-around of the bumper, and it was removed (the bumper is three pieces, counting the wrap-arounds). The body skin underneath it had been eaten away, as the bumper piece trapped salt and moisture inside.  This was being fixed on Wednesday, and appears to be a simple job.  The street side behind the rear wheels had received a first sanding, and looked good.

For the big news, the front end received a lot of work.  The front sheet under the headlights had been removed, and will be replaced as one piece.  A couple of small breaks in the framework were found, and won't be a big deal to fix.  They found something unusual inside the dash, practically unreachable from inside the bus unless you had long rubber arms-  someone had stashed two brand new hubodometers and two trolley carbons and holders inside.  Milwaukee didn't use hubodometers to my knowledge, so I suppose this was done at IRM; they appear to be the same type CTA used.

I will check in again next week at the shop to shoot some more pictures and see if they've made more progress.  Until then, Merry Christmas to everyone, and stay warm!

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Christmas Greetings

 


The Holy Family and Saints
Niccolo di Bartolomeo Pisano, 1520

(The five saints are the patron saints of stonemasonry, as the original donor was a local mason.)


And then, we have Christmas greetings from the grandchildren:












Friday, December 23, 2022

Line Car Update

 Gregg Wolfersheim sends us another update as his work continues on IT 1702:  


The motorman's window is now in place. This was made new a month ago.


The side windows that were also rebuilt are now in place. About a third of the siding is also up.

Thursday, December 22, 2022

The Peoria Railway Company


The Peoria Railway Company
by Stephen M. Scalzo

Headline image: Northbound Birney 466 passes southbound trolley bus 602 on Adams at Main Street in downtown Peoria. This scene today is unrecognizable, with the giant Caterpillar administration building taking up the entire block to the right. All photos are from the Stephen Scalzo Collection of the Illinois Railway Museum except where noted.

Peoria is located in mid-Illinois along the Illinois River, and is the county seat for Peoria County. By 1860, the city had a population of 14,000 that was located in an area of about 40 blocks between the river and the river valley bluffs. It soon became apparent that some means of public transportation was needed from the riverfront business community to the surrounding area to carry the citizens.

The first company that took steps to provide rail transit service in Peoria was the Central City Horse Railway (CCHR), which was organized on February 21, 1867, with $100,000 of capital. In 1869, that company was granted a franchise by the state legislature, and on January 15, 1870, the first four horsecars, each with a capacity of 18 passengers, operated over a line from Hamilton Street on Adams Street to South Street, a distance of 1.6 miles. The fare was five cents, and cars operated every five minutes between 5:30am and 12:00 midnight; it took 45 minutes for each car to make a round trip. Later that year, the line was extended to Central Park near Abington Street. In its first year, the company earned $20,382.

This picture was taken some time after the horsecar era, by which time this car was a relic, but it probably shows an original CCHR car.

In 1871, the City granted a franchise to the Peoria Horse Railway Company (PHR), which had been incorporated on February 18, 1865, with $100,000 of capital. The company, delayed by financial problems, did not begin operating its first route until June 1, 1872. Horsecars operated over trackage from Harrison Street to Washington Street, on Washington to Main Street, and on Main to Elizabeth Street (later renamed Sheridan Road). An extra team of horses was needed to pull the cars up the Main Street hill, and a hand-operated turntable was installed at Elizabeth Street. The company eventually operated 11 horsecars and 22 horses over 2.4 miles of trackage.

The PHR was foreclosed on November 29, 1876, and was reorganized as the Peoria City Horse Railway on December 2. At the end of 1876, the company was purchased by the CCHR; horsecars then operated down Main Street to Adams, to Chestnut Street (later renamed State Street), and then to Union Station. Within 10 more years, the company was operating 12 miles of trackage with 59 horsecars, 100 horses, and 35 mules.

FCHR horsecar 10, a two-horse, double-end car, in operation in Peoria, date and location unknown.

FCHR open horsecar 20, shown at Springdale Road according to the writing on the print.

The Fort Clark Horse Railway (FCHR) was organized on May 17, 1873, by rival real estate backers, with John H. Hull, Jacob Darst, John D. French, W.E.S. Bunn, and Jacob Littleton as commissioners. The company began operating a new six-mile line on July 3 with 14 horsecars. After only one year, the system was operating 32 horsecars and 80 mules. Eventually the company operated several routes from the intersection of Franklin and Second Streets: one route followed Franklin and Bridge Streets to Water Street; a second route followed Second, Spencer, Smith, McReynolds, South Madison, Howett, Shelby, and Lincoln Streets west to the city limits; and a third route followed Franklin, Monroe, Mary, and Perry Streets east to the city limits. In 1874, another line was built from the intersection of Jefferson and Second Streets to Harrison Street, along Harrison to Adams Street, and then along Adams and Main to Monroe Street. In 1890, ridership was 73,750, with earnings of $38,063.

Three other horsecar lines were formed in 1885 and 1886. The Central Horse & Cable Railway (CHCR) was organized on March 11, 1885, and after receiving a franchise, constructed a line on Main Street west of Elizabeth Street to a watch factory. Service began on May 30, 1886, on the initial trackage. The remaining trackage of the system was not constructed until 1888, when the name was changed from the Main Street line to the West Bluff line. The Peoria Horse & Cable Railway (PHCR) was organized in 1886, and constructed the Hurlburt Street line; construction began in April and horsecar service began in May. The East Bluff Peoria Horse Railway (EBPHR) was organized on August 18, 1886, and after receiving a franchise in September, completed a single-mile line up the Knoxville Avenue Hill by January of 1887, which was then leased to the CCHR. The EBPHR and the PHCR were subsidiary companies of the CCHR.

CR 101, shown in 1889 when new, was the first electric car to run in Peoria. Its trolley pole is a very early Sprague design and it has enclosed vestibule, a very unusual feature for electric cars of the day. It is pictured on North Adams at Wayne Street.

CR 107 tows a quintet of single-truck open cars, surely repurposed horsecars, for a St. Joseph school picnic on June 25, 1890.

On April 20, 1888, the Central Railway (CR) was organized with $50,000 of capital by H.R. Woodward, Eliot Callender, and Samuel A. Kinsey. The new company then purchased the CCHR, CHCR, PHCR, and EBPHR on January 5, 1889. Soon afterwards, the company was given permission to use electricity to operate streetcars. A Thomson-Houston system was chosen for installation, and construction began immediately. On September 26, 1889, the first electric cars operated on Adams Street along with the horsecars, which were still operating. That new type of motive power soon proved very successful, and before long, every company was using electric cars. Those early electric streetcars had 15-horsepower motors and a short wooden trolley pole with a wheel at one end to collect power from a wire that was located over the street. Within one year there were 31 electric streetcars and 60 trailers operating over 13 miles of trackage.

When the city council opposed the FCHR using electric streetcars, the company announced plans to operate gas motorcars. However, the FCHR was quickly reorganized into the Fort Clark Street Railway (FCSR) on March 11, 1892, with the articles of incorporation allowing the use of electric streetcars. The Thomson-Houston Company then agreed to install an electric system, and the initial electric streetcar line began operating on the Monroe and Lincoln lines on May 12, 1893. By 1894, the company operated 14 miles of track with 20 streetcars. The depression of 1894 wiped out the company's backers, and the company went into receivership on January 24, 1895. The company was reorganized by the bondholders as the Peoria & Fort Clark Street Railway (P&FC) on August 23, 1895, with $150,000 of capital. On Adams and Main Streets, the P&FC trackage ran parallel to the CR trackage because the two companies could not reach a usage agreement. As a result, the P&FC was unable to effectively compete, and the company was finally sold to the CR on August 27, 1895.

Most electric streetcars of the early 1890s were single-truckers, but CR ordered a dozen of these gangly-looking double-truckers between 1891 and 1893. Nicknamed "Moguls," they were fitted with "portable vestibules" as shown during the winter.

A southbound single-trucker and a northbound "Mogul," both apparently towing open trailers, pass on Adams Street in downtown Peoria sometime around the turn of the century.

The CR also operated three subsidiary companies. The first one, the Lakeside Electric Railway, was organized on April 2, 1890, constructing trackage north on Adams Street into the Village of Averyville; horsecar service began in September 1891, and was converted to electric streetcar service on February 2, 1892. The second one, the Richwoods Street Railway, was incorporated on April 2, 1895, with $50,000 of capital; after constructing trackage from the north end of the Knoxville line over Corrington and California Streets to the racetrack and beginning streetcar service in September, it was merged into the parent company on December 23. The third company, the Peoria & Northwestern Railway, was organized in September of 1895 to initially build a steam or gas-electric line. That company was purchased by the City of Prospects Heights Street Railway, which was incorporated on April 27, 1895, with $150,000 of capital; however the company was quickly reorganized as the Glen Oak & Prospect Heights Railway, which was organized on May 9, 1896. Construction began shortly thereafter on the 3.4-mile electric line to Prospect Heights, and streetcar service began on March 9, 1897, using 23 streetcars. The line operated from the Peoria business district over trackage on Glendale, Jackson, and Berkley Streets to Pennsylvania Street, where trackage to Prospect Heights (later renamed Peoria Heights) was over the same streets that used it until 1946. The company was again reorganized into the Peoria & Prospect Heights Street Railway, which was incorporated on December 17, 1897. The CR purchased the company on April 13, 1903.

In December of 1891, the Peoria Rapid Transit Company (PRT) was organized with John S. Stevens, Isaac Taylor, and Luke S. Stevens as commissioners, and the company built trackage and operated cars on Fifth, Sixth, and Monroe Streets. However, the company was acquired by the CR in 1895. By 1895, there were three separate railway companies operating in Peoria; each entered the business district over different tracks, and no interchanging transfers were given. Thus, travel from one section of the city to another was impossible without having to change streetcars and pay another fare. However, by 1896, the CR owned all of the streetcar lines operating within the city with the exception of the Peoria Heights line. The Heights line was finally purchased on April 13, 1903, and for the first time, all the formerly separate line were operated by one company.

Open car 51, built in 1898, crosses the spindly wooden trestle that spanned the Rock Island & Peoria Railroad in Prospect Heights from 1897 until a replacement steel structure was built in 1902. As a point of trivia, if you left St. Louis on the Illinois Traction System, the furthest north you could get via contiguous electric railway wasn't on the ITS at all - it was the north end of Peoria's Heights car line.

Single-trucker 242 and another single-trucker also built in the first decade of the century pass each other at Main and Adams in front of the Peoria courthouse.

The Peoria Railway Company (PR) was incorporated on May 5, 1906, by McKinley interests, and that company purchased the CR. Considerable expansion and improvements then took place. Fifty new PAYE streetcars were ordered to replace older equipment and placed into service in 1905. By 1907, the company's earnings were $550,625. A new 4,000-kilowatt power station was built at Water and Walnut Streets, and in 1911, double tracks were laid on Main Street from Elizabeth to Western Avenue. Extension of lines and more double-tracking also took place. A shortage of coal, which was used to provide power for the generators, during the winter of 1919 caused streetcar service to be cut back 50 percent. On May 14, 1920, the Streetcar Men's union went out on strike for higher wages and service was not resumed until May 17, 13 days later. Wartime wage increases resulted in a seven-cent fare on June 21, 1920. Despite those problems, the company earned $1,316,245 in 1920. In 1922, the first gasoline motor buses were added to the system. On August 1, 1922, new "Three Class" streetcar fares were ordered into effect by the Illinois Commerce Commission. Fares were five cents for everyone having a 50-cent monthly commutation or identification card, seven tokens for 50 cents, 10 cents for those who did not have monthly commutation cards, and four cents for children.

The Illinois Power & Light Company (IP&L) purchased the PR in May of 1923. The city council approved the operation of all lines with one-man streetcars in April. During November of 1923, the company began placing new lightweight four-wheel Birney streetcars into service, with eventually 80 of those streetcars being operated. Those streetcars were operated by one man, an economy move intended to keep down costs because of the rapid growth of automobile usage. By 1924, Birney cars had been substituted for most of the older streetcars, with the remaining large streetcars converted to one-man operation. Under the guidance of IP&L, the transit system grew and prospered in Peoria. Buses were purchased during 1924 to provide service in areas which were not served by streetcars. On November 30, 1926, the Glendale and Johnson Street trackage was abandoned, and replaced with a double-track connection on Pennsylvania from Knoxville to Glendale. On February 12, 1927, the Illinois Commerce Commission ordered that the steel streetcar viaduct over the Rock Island Railroad tracks in Peoria Heights be removed within six months in order to facilitate repaving Prospect Road; streetcar service continued there but at street level.

Most of the Peoria streetcar fleet was comprised of single-truckers, but there were 15 of these big double-truck cars built in 1907 by American. Car 806 is shown near the end of its service life in East Peoria, probably in Caterpillar tripper service. Photo by R.V. Mehlenbeck.

Newer double-truck streetcars in Peoria included the 300-series of steel cars built between 1914 and 1917. The class car is shown in original condition, with an ungainly fender draped over the front end, on Bradley Avenue at the Institute (today Bradley University).

On Sunday, August 1, 1927, streetcar service on the Second and Sixth Avenue lines was abandoned because of deteriorated trackage, and replaced with buses. The Second Street line ran on Second from Jefferson to Seventh and on Seventh to Western Avenue, with parts of the trackage being the famed Rapid Transit and Fort Clark lines in the old mule car days.

On March 1, 1928, fares were increased to 10 cents in order to meet increased operating costs. On October 29, 1930, the Illinois Commerce Commission approved abandonment of streetcar service on the Galena Road line from the end of the Adams Street car line at Lorentz Street out to the I.V.Y. Club because of the lack of passengers. On November 12, 1930, the Monroe streetcar line was abandoned because the tracks were in disrepair. The Monroe line ran on Jefferson Street to Hamilton Street, on Hamilton to Monroe Street, on Monroe to Abington Street, on Abington to the Cemetery Road, and along the northwest side of that road to the Springdale Cemetery.

It's 1916 in downtown Peoria and Adams Street is graced by a cross-section of open and closed single-truck cars, 800-series double-truckers, and one- and two-car Illinois Traction System interurban trains.

Peoria tried standard Birneys but they couldn't handle the crowds; larger cars with double-stream front doors and single-stream rear doors, among the largest Birneys ever built, became the standard. A "ground man" would control boarding at the rear door at heavy traffic spots. Two of the bigger single-truckers pass on California at Forest Hill. Photo by R.V. Mehlenbeck.

Peoria became one of the relatively few Illinois cities to introduce trolley bus service. Starting from the old North Monroe Street barn, the trackless buses operated on Monroe to Hamilton Street, down Hamilton to Adams Street, on Adams to Franklin Street, up Franklin to Jefferson Street, on Jefferson to Hamilton, and then over the same route to the end of Monroe Street. At the same time, streetcars on the Lincoln line were linked with those of the Knoxville line.

The IP&L offices were moved on November 22, 1930, to the newly completed Illinois Terminal station at Adams and Walnut Streets, where they were to remain until the company quit the transit business. As the Depression continued and automobile usage became more abundant, IP&L decided to curtail service on streetcar lines that had little passenger traffic. In April of 1933, the North Adams streetcar line was cut back from Lorentz Street to Camblin Street when the state repaved that section, with the Monroe Street trolley bus line being extended over North Adams Street when the construction was completed in December. By 1935, the company had 100 streetcars, six trolley buses, and 32 motor coaches in operation.

An IP&L line truck installs trolley bus overhead at Monroe and Hamilton, likely in 1933.

A particularly photogenic part of the Peoria streetcar system was the East Peoria line over the Illinois Terminal bridge. Here, Birney 456 descends on its return trip from the east side of the river.

On October 31, 1936, the Garden Street shuttle streetcar service was replaced by buses. In December of 1937, two new trolley buses were purchased for use on the extended Monroe Street line. On August 31, 1936, streetcar service from the junction of Prospect and Seiberling Streets to the Peoria Country Club on the Heights line was abandoned. On May 5, 1937, the company changed its name to the Illinois-Iowa Power Company (IIP).

On December 16, 1938, the trackage on South Jefferson Street from Main to Lincoln was abandoned in order to facilitate the repaving of the street. The Knoxville-Lincoln streetcars were rerouted over the Adams Street tracks, and at Lincoln a new track extension was built from the South Adams tracks up Lincoln to the existing tracks; also a cutoff was built at Linden Street on Lincoln to the existing tracks on Howett.

Birney 444 is eastbound on Walnut just east of Adams, passing Illinois Terminal combine 275 sitting in the cramped yard behind the IT passenger station. The oval IP&L emblem has been replaced by an IIP roundel on the side of the streetcar.

An unusually late snowstorm has one of the company's four-wheel McGuire-Cumming sweepers out on Knoxville Avenue at Arcadia on April 10, 1931 to clear the tracks. Photo by R.V. Mehlenbeck.

During the winter of 1939, ice caked streetcar tracks, caused by heavy snow, blizzards, and low temperatures, completely halting streetcar service throughout Peoria for the first time since the advent of electric operations. That disruption lasted four days while IIP regular and emergency crews battled night and day to restore streetcar service. The major portion of the trouble was attributed to automobiles driving on the tracks in the fast-falling snow and packing the snow to icy hardness. As quickly as the ice was cleared, continued auto traffic recreated the problem, and the work of clearing had to be repeated. In the meantime, every available motor bus was pressed into service and most of them ran without regard to schedules.

Track mileage had dropped from 42.37 to 34.5 miles between 1935 and 1940, and 10,506,328 riders were carried in 1938. On July 1, 1939, there were a number of streetcar re-routings. The Hurlburt streetcar line was consolidated with the North Adams line and the Heights streetcar line with the South Adams Street line. Buses too over all "owl" service on the Heights line. The Main-Bradley streetcars, which formerly served Union Station, were cut back to the downtown area. The North Adams line was routed to Union Station.

Garden Street in southwest Peoria is the site of this slice of mid-century Americana, with neighborhood boys playing while a streetcar passes in the background.

Birney 478 is crossing the IT Illinois River bridge on March 28, 1946, heading back to Peoria. Photo by Gordon E. Lloyd.

On June 2, 1940, buses replaced streetcars on the Sheridan Road line, and the tracks were later removed when the street was repaved. On the same day, regular streetcar service to Union Station ended, and the Main-Bradley streetcars were extended to the Illinois Terminal station. World War II, however, halted any further abandonments; tire and gasoline rationing compelled the people of Peoria to rely on IIP for their transportation. The only real auto traffic developed in the early morning and late afternoon hours. The Peoria system was the only city transit system operated by the parent Illinois Power & Light Company at the beginning of World War II.

On April 19, 1943, to rectify congestion on streetcars and buses, three major changes were made for the 30,676 industrial workers and 3,187 office workers in the Peoria area so that the transit equipment could more efficiently handle the crowds. First, "skip stop" bus systems were put into effect. Second, all shifts at Caterpillar Tractor Company were moved back 15 minutes. Third, the shifts of all other industrial plants and all offices in the business district were moved up 15 minutes. Those changes helped to ease the wear and tear on the transit equipment because every piece of equipment - 72 streetcars, seven trolley buses, and 59 gas and diesel buses - was in service during peak hours. On November 1, 1943, the company again changed its name; it was shortened to the Illinois Power Company (IPC).

The Caterpillar plant in East Peoria was a major source of traffic for the streetcar system. Here, car 355 leads off a procession of three 300s and five Birneys awaiting shift change at the plant.



Car 448 passes the Peoria courthouse westbound on Main Street on March 26, 1946. The square emblem on the side of the car reads Illinois Power Company.

In 1944, streetcar and bus travel was up 20% over 1943, while a similar increase had taken place during 1943 over 1942. However the company was struggling along without new parts for repairs, and a shortage of mechanics and operators. Eight to 10 buses and streetcars were being overhauled daily for emergency use, with eight to 10 more laid up until equipment and repairs could be effected. Many buses were operated that were short of parts, and major streetcar repairs were deferred due to the pressing need to transport passengers. In 1945, ridership was 19,337,260.

In 1946, the Security and Exchange Commission ruled that privately owned electric companies could not operate transit systems. That ruling helped to doom streetcar operations in Peoria. Additionally, the city council scheduled the consideration of the granting of a new franchise on the evening of April 2, 1946, as the IPC transit franchise was scheduled to expire in the fall; however, an unforeseen event was to complicate the situation.

The Peoria streetcar system was unusual in Illinois: outside of Chicago, it was one of only two systems that ran trolley buses and one of only two that lasted past World War II, well into the color film era. Here, Birney 471 is shown in the waning days of the streetcar system.

It's July 2, 1946, and the storage yard off Jefferson Street is chock full of streetcars and, in the background, motor buses as IPC employees go on strike.

On April 2, approximately 40 passengers on one of the large Heights streetcars suffered varying degrees of injury and shock at 7:30am when the air brakes failed; 12 passengers were taken to the hospital. The streetcar careened out of control at high speed down the Knoxville Avenue hill, finally smashing to a stop against a heavy steel guywire post when it failed to negotiate the turn from Knoxville onto Globe.

That evening the city council unanimously awarded a 20-year all-bus franchise to the Peoria Transportation Company (PTC), which was said to be a dummy corporation for the National City Lines. The accident earlier in the day was said to have had much to do with the bus company getting the franchise. Immediately, an engineering study was started to determine where new bus routes and those streetcar routes to be replaced by buses would be located. Three problems developed: some streetcar lines on the south side ran on their own private right-of-way, most city streets were not built to handle the big, heavy buses, and most streetcar operators had to be trained to drive a bus because most of them had never driven an automobile.

Birney 463 is inbound at Lincoln and Linden on September 19, 1946. The end of streetcar operation in Peoria is two weeks away. Photo by Paul Stringham.

Birneys 472, 455, and 478 are being scrapped on June 2, 1947, as double-truckers in the left background wait their turn. If you've ever wondered how lightweight a Birney is, it's light enough to support on a pair of 50-gallon drums. Photo by Paul Stringham.

Since the IPC franchise did not expire until September 14, a short-lived transit war developed. A strike by employees between June 27 and July 4, 1946, and the realization that the IPC was not willing to lose its investment and merely set aside quickly resulted in the purchase of the IPC's Peoria holdings on September 27 by the PTC. Finally, on October 2, 1946, the last streetcar operated in Peoria. The streetcar barns on the south side, on Main Street, and in the Heights had earlier been closed, leaving only the barn on Jefferson Street in operation at the time of abandonment. A fleet of 65 buses took over transit service which prior to that time had been operated by 125 pieces of equipment. The overhead wires were removed and scrapped, and the remaining streetcars were scrapped in the storage yard. The seven trolley buses were sold to Des Moines, Iowa, for further use.

This article was edited and laid out by Frank Hicks. Thanks to Ray and Julie Piesciuk and to Richard Schauer for making available the materials from the Stephen Scalzo Collection that were used to publish this history.


Equipment Roster

1-14 (14 cars) - ST DR DE six-window closed cars - built 1892 by St. Louis - originally FCSR 101-107 and 201-207, re# by CR c1895, rebuilt with closed vestibules c1899, four cars resold to Argenta, Arkansas

50-54 (five cars) - ST DR DE 10-bench open cars - built 1898 by Laclede - McGuire truck - originally Peoria & Prospect Heights

55-59 (five cars) - ST DR DE 10-bench open cars - built 1902 by Laclede - McGuire truck - originally Peoria & Prospect Heights

56-57 (II) (two cars) - DT RR DE suburban cars - built 1903 by St. Louis (order #401) - St L 23A trucks, 4 x GE 57 motors, K-14 control - acquired secondhand from Chicago Ottawa & Peoria in 1920, returned to CO&P in 1927

61 (one car) - ST DE 9-bench open trailer - builder/year unknown - possibly one of five trailers purchased 1897 by Peoria & Prospect Heights

101-115 (I) (15 cars) - ST DR DE six-window closed cars - built 1889 by St. Louis - 2 x Thomson-Houston motors - built with closed vestibules, originally used on Adams, re# to 300-series in 1890 for use on Knoxville, re# to 500-series in 1893 for use on Rapid Transit line

101-112 (II) (12 cars) - DT DR DE nine-window closed cars - built 1891-1893 by Laclede - nicknamed "Moguls," one car resold in 1909 to Taylorville

101-107 (III) (seven cars) - ST DR DE six-window closed cars - built 1897, builder unknown - McGuire truck, 2 x WH 12A motors - possibly ex-Peoria & Prospect Heights 1-7, car 103 rebuilt as line car, 104 rebuilt as work car, 105 rebuilt as wreck car

116-127 (12 cars) - ST DR DE six-window closed cars - built 1890 by St. Louis - rebuilt with closed vestibules c1899

132-133 (two cars) - DT DR DE ten-window closed cars - built 1905 by American (order #606) - Brill 27G trucks, 4 x GE 1000 motors, K-28 control - ex-Danville Street Railway & Light 132-133, acquired in 1928

134 (one car) - DT DR DE ten-window closed car - built 1902 by Stephenson - Brill 27G trucks, 2 x GE 80 motors, K-10 control - originally Danville Urbana & Champaign, later Danville Street Railway & Light 134, acquired in 1928

146 (one car) - DT DR DE ten-window closed car - built 1900 by Stephenson - Brill 27G trucks, 2 x GE 80 motors, K-10 control - built for Metropolitan Railway (Washington, DC), sold 1901 to Danville Paxton & Northern, later Danville Street Railway & Light 146, acquired in 1928

150, 151, 155 (three cars) - DT RR DE 12-window closed trailers - built 1908 by Danville - acquired secondhand from Chicago Ottawa & Peoria in 1917, returned in 1927

201-207 (seven cars) - ST DE six-window closed cars - built 1890 by St. Louis

208 (one car) - ST DE closed car - built 1893, builder unknown

209-210 (two cars) - ST DR DE closed cars - built 1901 by Laclede - car 209 rebuilt as work car

211-216 (six cars) - ST DR DE seven-window closed cars - built 1902 by Laclede - McGuire truck

217-222 (six cars) - ST DR DE seven-window closed cars - built 1903 by American (order #495) - McGuire truck

223-231 (nine cars) - ST DR DE seven-window closed cars - built 1904 by American (order #548) - McGuire truck

232-249 (18 cars) - ST DR DE seven-window closed cars - built 1905 by American (order #607) - three cars including 232 sold to Ottawa

250-259 (10 cars) - ST DR DE seven-window closed cars - built 1906 by American (order #675) - car 250 burned in 1918

250 (II) (one car) - ST closed car - secondhand body purchased from Terre Haute and placed on truck from original car 250

260-269 (10 cars) - ST DR DE closed cars - built 1909 by Danville (order #522) - Brill 21E truck, 2 x GE 80 motors, K-10 control - cars 263, 264, and 269 sold to Chicago Ottawa & Peoria in 1923

270-273 (four cars) - ST DR DE seven-window closed cars - built 1911 by American - Curtis CS 58-96 truck, 2 x GE 216 motors, K-36 control - built for Wichita, Kansas, but not put into service, acquired by Peoria in 1912, car 270 rebuilt to wreck car c1920s, car 271 rebuilt to line car c1920s, car 272 rebuilt to work car c1920s

301-315 (I) - renumbered 1890 from cars 101-115 (I), which see

300-303 (II) (four cars) - DT AR DE closed cars - built 1914 by St. Louis (order #1017) - St L 99B trucks, 2 x GE 216 motors, K-36 control - rebuilt 1923 to one-man

304-306 (three cars) - DT AR DE closed cars - built 1917 by St. Louis (order #1136) - St L 106A trucks, 2 x GE 216 motors, K-36 control - rebuilt 1923 to one-man

350-364 (15 cars) - DT AR DE closed cars - built 1918 by St. Louis (order #1148) - St L 123 trucks, 4 x GE 258C motors, K-12 control - rebuilt 1923 to one-man

365-367 (three cars) - DT AR DE closed cars - built 1918 by St. Louis (order #1154) - St L 123 trucks, 4 x GE 258C motors, K-12A control - built as Danville Street Railway & Light 160-162, sold to Illinois Terminal 360-362 in 1932, acquired by Peoria in 1934

400-415 (16 cars) - ST DE nine-bench open cars - built 1892 by Laclede

416-423 (eight cars) - ST DE 10-bench open cars - built 1893 by Laclede

424-443 (20 cars) - ST DE 10-bench open cars - built 1896 by Laclede - of cars 400-443, originally they ran only in the summer and exchanged trucks and equipment with closed cars; later some cars acquired trucks and equipment permanently, while others were made into trailers; all gone by 1927

400-419 (II) (20 cars) - ST AR DE Birney safety cars - built 1921 by American (order #1264) - Brill 79E truck, 2 x GE 264 motors, K-10A control - renumbered 100-119 in 1923 and transferred to other IP&P properties

420-469 (II) (50 cars) - ST AR DE Birney safety cars - built 1923 by American (order #1317) - Brill 79E truck, 2 x GE 264 motors, K-10AR control - double doors at front, single door at rear

470-479 (10 cars) - ST AR DE Birney safety cars - built 1924 by American (order #1371) - Brill 79E truck, 2 x GE 264 motors, K-10AR control - double doors at front, single door at rear; cars 426-430 renumbered in 1940 to assume numbers of other cars in this series scrapped at that time

500-509 (I) (10 cars) - renumbered 1893 from cars in the 301-315 (I) series, which see

500-507 (II) (eight cars) - ST AR DE Birney safety cars - built 1924 by American (order #1390) - Brill 79E truck, 2 x GE 264 motors, K-10A control - acquired secondhand from Champaign-Urbana in 1930, original Champaign numbers uncertain, used in "owl" service

801-813 (13 cars) - DT DR SE closed cars - built 1907 by American (order #717) - Brill 27G1 trucks, 4 x GE 80 motors, K-35GR2 control - car 806 badly damaged by fire and rebuilt as DE in 1918; cars 805, 806, and 811 rebuilt 1920s to DE

814-815 (two cars) - DT DR DE closed cars - built 1907 by American (add-on to order #717) - Brill 27G1 trucks, 4 x GE 80 motors, K-35GR2 control

Work Equipment

1, 2, 6 (three cars) - ST salt cars - homebuilt 1896 - rebuilt from old horsecar bodies

7 (one car) - ST salt car - built 1894 - McGuire 11A truck

1-2, 4-8 (seven cars) - ST snow plow - homebuilt 1890

100-101 (two cars) - ST sprinkler - built 1896 by Studebaker - McGuire truck, 2 x WH motors

103 (one car) - ST line car - built 1897 - rebuilt from streetcar of same number, which see

104 (one car) - ST work car - built 1897 - rebuilt from streetcar of same number, which see

105 (one car) - ST wreck car - built 1897 - rebuilt from streetcar of same number, which see

209 (one car) - ST work car - built 1901 by Laclede - rebuilt from streetcar of same number, which see

270 (one car) - ST wreck car - built 1911 by American - rebuilt from streetcar of same number, which see

271 (one car) - ST line car - built 1911 by American - rebuilt from streetcar of same number, which see

272 (one car) - ST work car - built 1911 by American - rebuilt from streetcar of same number, which see

1001-1002 (two cars) - ST AR DE snow sweepers - built 1910 by McGuire-Cummings - McGuire truck, 2 x GE 67 motors

1003 (one car) - ST AR DE snow sweeper - built by McGuire-Cummings - McGuire truck, 2 x WH 49 motors, K-10 control - acquired secondhand c1931 from Quincy Railway (unnumbered)

1004 (one car) - ST AR DE snow sweeper - built by McGuire-Cummings - acquired secondhand c1931 from Galesburg Railway Lighting & Power

1005 (one car) - ST AR DE snow sweeper - built by McGuire-Cummings - acquired secondhand c1936 from Kewanee Public Service 110

(no number) (one car) - ST work trailer - Peckham truck

Trolley Buses

601-605 (five buses) - model T40 - built 1931 by Brill - resold 1946 to Des Moines Railway 218-222

606-607 (two buses) - built 1937 by St. Louis (order #1594) - resold 1946 to Des Moines Railway 223-224

Among the earliest cars to run in Peoria were the 116-127 series built in 1890. Here, car 116 is shown in service on Adams Street sometime in the 1890s.

Car 107, one of the double-truck "Moguls" built in 1891-1893, is shown in as-built condition. The car appears to have Bemis #29 trucks, an early single-motor design with an offset bolster.

Car 111 is shown later in life, probably c1900-1905, with its "portable vestibules" installed. It's acquired different trucks, apparently of Barney & Smith design.

Open car 402 was built by Laclede in 1892 as part of CR's first order for open cars.

Car 439, of similar design to 402, was built by Laclede in 1896.

Car 146 was unique in Peoria. It was acquired thirdhand from Danville in 1928, having been built for Washington, DC, in 1900.

Open car 57, a Laclede product of 1902, was a bit more modern. It was originally built for the Peoria & Prospect Heights.

Car 223, one of nearly 50 cars of this design built in the early 1900s, is pictured at Bradley and Western around 1905. The motorman is Andrew Kenega.

Car 246 is shown in an American Car Company's builder's photo.

This interior photo shows how the 200-series single-truckers looked inside.

Double-truck car 351, one of 15 built by St. Louis in 1918, is snowbound on Main at Glendale. Snow sweeper 1005, purchased secondhand from Kewanee in 1936, is behind it. Photo by R.V. Mehlenbeck, Krambles-Peterson Archive.

It's March 27, 1946, and car 363 is passing the Illinois Terminal depot on Adams Street. Photo by Gordon E. Lloyd.

The 20 standard Birneys purchased in 1921 didn't last long: after only two years they were resold. Here, two of the cars are outside the North Adams barn already repainted and renumbered 113 and 114 for use on other IP&L properties, while older deck-roof cars 263 and 267 - signed for Main and Bradley, respectively - are to the right.

Car 431 was an example of the classic Peoria Birney, with double-stream front doors and single-stream rear doors. In later years, the rear doors were deactivated - note the lack of steps at the rear. "For indigestion - Taber's Tablets, 30-60 cents at your druggist."

Two Birneys pass on the Hurlburt line.

Car 439 is in service on Main at Madison.

On August 17, 1946, just a couple of weeks before the streetcar era in Peoria would end forever, Tom Desnoyers snapped car 469 southbound on Adams crossing the CRI&P. The netting over the trolley wire is to prevent the car from losing power and getting stranded on the railroad crossing due to an untimely dewirement.

Only four systems in Illinois ever ran trolley buses: Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, and the Illinois Railway Museum. Here, new Brill trolley buses are in operation on Monroe Street. Only a year newer than CSL 84, preserved at IRM, their design has already been refined with smoothed corners and partially steel roofs.

St. Louis was a major builder of trolley buses, especially before World War II, and constructed a pair for Peoria that arrived in 1937. Photo by R.V. Mehlenbeck.

Line car 271 was rebuilt from a single-trucker that was originally built for a McKinley property in Kansas.

Work car 272 is pictured, possibly in the North Jefferson yard, on March 28, 1946. For whatever reason, the car doesn't seem to have trolley hooks and it looks like the pole is tied down to the coupler. Photo by Gordon E. Lloyd.

This photo was evidently taken in the South Adams barn, and judging from the equipment it likely dates to around 1905, give or take. The back right corner is mostly full of ex-horsecar trailers, including car 2, evidently modified for work service.


Route Map


The North Adams Street carbarn is shown in a 1902 Sanborn fire insurance map

This is the Monroe Street carbarn in a 1902 Sanborn fire insurance map

The South Adams Street carbarn was built in 1903 and doesn't appear on available 1902 Sanborn maps, but is the only Peoria streetcar barn still standing.