Thursday, April 21, 2022

Photos of the Tri-City car

Thanks to Jon Fenlaciki, who has sent along some photos of Tri-City Railway & Light 483 that were taken back in 2001 by Frank Sirinek when the car was being prepped for transportation from Cordova, IL, to IRM. All photos are property of Frank Sirinek.


This side of the car was attached to a house or cabin, as you can probably tell. The car was painted chrome yellow in service but the yellow visible on the upper half of the car was applied by the homeowner. The roof visible here is still atop the car and has largely protected it over the years.

Broadside view of the car with the demolished remains of the house in the foreground. I vaguely recall going to see the car shortly prior to this, before the house was demolished.

Then-General Manager Nick Kallas standing in the doorway that was cut into one side of the car when it was a house. This is the only significant part of the car structure that was removed - even most of the original doors are intact.

It's no exaggeration to say the car was located on the banks of the Mississippi - that's the river in the background, and it looks suspiciously like evidence of the most recent flood is still visible on the sides of the car. This side of the car faced outdoors, but got some sunlight, was kept well painted, and didn't seem to suffer from too much deterioration. This side of the car also didn't have a big door cut into it.

2 comments:

Matt Maloy said...

Oh wow! I didn't know this was that close to my area! I haven't been in Cordova in years, but chances are I've probably driven past the lot where the house used to be located and never knew what used to be sitting there.

-Matt Maloy

Ted Miles said...

+I am glad that you were finially able to discover the car's number. It was the only streetcar in the collection without its number, I believe. I hope it gets restored some day!

Ted Miles, IRM Member