History of Gary Railways 19

Gary Railways 19 is pictured at an unknown location on March 19, 1939, the date of its famous CERA fan trip. Silas Sconiers Collection.

Magic City Streetcar

An Illustrated History of Gary Railways 19

by Frank Hicks

One of the Illinois Railway Museum’s more distinctive streetcars is Gary Railways 19. An exemplar of late-1920s lightweight streetcar construction, it is rare in several respects. It is the only surviving car built by Cummings Car & Coach; the only survivor from the Gary system; IRM’s only car built for streetcar service in Indiana; and one of only six Indiana city cars in existence anywhere. Though car 19 is a body in unenviable condition, it has serious restoration potential, and the components are on hand to someday return it to its former glory.

Many thanks to Art Peterson and William Shapotkin, for providing most of the photos used in this article, and to Nick Espevik and Carl Lantz for scanning documents from the IRM files.

The Magic City

Gary, Indiana, was called “the Magic City” and “the City of the Century.” As the 20th century dawned, the south shore of Lake Michigan east of the city of East Chicago, Indiana, was mostly deserted, though crossed by several railroad lines. In 1905, though, United States Steel acquired a large swath of lakefront land for a new steel mill complex. The following year they founded a city – named after Elbert Gary, the founding chairman of US Steel – where the steel mill’s employees could live. By 1908, the city’s population was nearly 6,000; by 1910, the population was over 16,000.

If there was one thing a growing city in 1906 needed, it was an electric railway system. For Gary, that came first in the form of the Gary & Interurban Railway (G&I), which was incorporated in July 1907. Some of the main thoroughfares in Gary, including Broadway, 5th, and 11th, had been laid out with a median strip suitable for streetcar tracks, and the G&I utilized this provision. The first streetcar in Gary ran on May 20, 1908, on the Broadway line, which initially ran from 4th to the Little Calumet River. Later that year, the 11th Avenue line was built west from Broadway to the edge of Tolleston. After a franchise dispute with the Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend was resolved, the 11th Avenue line was extended to Hammond, with service beginning in early 1910.

G&I car 112, built by McGuire-Cummings in 1910, was typical of the early city cars on the system. Krambles-Peterson Archive.

In 1911, the Gary system expanded eastward. The Chicago-New York Electric Air Line, a proposed electrified railroad between those two major cities that was primarily a scheme to swindle investors, built a short 21-mile segment between LaPorte and an isolated spot south of Chesterton called Goodrum between 1906 and 1911. The Air Line’s management recognized that the only significant source of traffic in the area was Gary, so two subsidiaries were organized, the Valparaiso & Northern (V&N) in 1908 followed by Gary Connecting Railways (GCR) in 1911. The V&N constructed a 10-mile north-south line between Chesterton and Valparaiso that connected with the Air Line at Goodrum. GCR then built a line from Broadway and 11th in Gary east through East Gary (today Lake Station) to a point on the V&N just south of Goodrum called Woodville Junction. When the GCR line was completed in August 1912, the G&I began operating the line from Gary to Woodville Junction and the V&N line north to Chesterton and south to Valparaiso.

There were several extensions to the Gary system in 1913. A line was built to Indiana Harbor in East Chicago that connected with the existing system via 5th Avenue. A short branch was also built north from 5th on Bridge Street to the American Bridge Company, while the Broadway line was extended south to 45th Avenue. A connection on Kennedy Avenue in East Chicago between the Indiana Harbor line and the Hammond line was also built.

A holding company formed in 1913 to manage the system went into receivership in 1915 and in 1917 the system was sold off in its constituent parts. The central city system and western lines to Hammond and Indiana Harbor were bought by Gary Street Railway (GSR); the line east to Woodville Junction, Chesterton, and Valparaiso became the Gary & Valparaiso (G&V); and the line to LaPorte, the old Chicago-New York Electric Air Line, was abandoned. In 1918, the GSR built a branch on Buchanan to the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company plant.

Car 8, a 1908 Niles product, was one of four interurban cars that were used on the G&S line to Crown Point that was absorbed by the Gary system in 1928. It was rebuilt into a snow plow the next year.

Big changes came to the Gary street railway system in 1924. Midland Utilities, run by Samuel Insull, gained control of the GSR, G&V, and the Gary & Hobart (G&H), which operated a line to Hobart that connected to the Broadway line at 37th Avenue. Lines to the new National Tube Company plant in northeast Gary and east to Miller via 5th and 7th Avenues also opened, while the unprofitable Kennedy Avenue line in East Chicago was abandoned. The following year, in 1925, new company called Gary Railways was formed to operate the unified system. Midland Utilities purchased the Gary & Southern, which operated a line from 45th Avenue south to Crown Point, in 1928 and added it to Gary Railways as the system’s final extension.

Modern Streetcars

Most city systems the size of Gary Railways opened before the turn of the century and started with small single-truck cars, but by the time the Gary system was created, double-truck cars were the accepted standard for larger street railways. The early G&I cars were large, sturdy, deck-roof wooden cars built by Danville or McGuire-Cummings, of which the latter would soon become Gary’s car builder of choice. The cars built to serve the 1913 extensions were more modern heavyweight steel cars with arched roofs. These were joined by a handful of heavy wooden interurban cars that handled longer-distance service to Valparaiso and LaPorte. In 1916, G&I also purchased several secondhand “Bowling Alley” cars from the Chicago Surface Lines.

Car 213 started life in 1919 as a Kuhlman-built Peter Witt but was rebuilt by Cummings as a standard layout car, with doors at all four corners, in 1927. It was one of the last pre-lightweight cars in service. It’s pictured on August 18, 1946, at Ivanhoe Siding in West Gary on the Hammond line. William Shapotkin Collection.

After the 1917 reorganization, GSR purchased a series of modern steel cars. In 1918 and 1919, two standard cars and 16 Peter Witts were purchased along with nine center-entrance trailers and 10 single-truck Birneys. A few years later, GSR would purchase four more trailers and 10 more Birneys.

The Birneys were the first real lightweight cars in Gary, but they wouldn’t be the last. By the early 1920s, street railways were experiencing real difficulties. The most obvious was the automobile, which was siphoning off customers, but there were others. Jitneys sapped revenue with their unregulated competition while inflation and rising wages increased costs for the railways. Streetcar design for many cities focused on reducing costs. One method was through one-man operation, using a front-entry pay-as-you-enter design that before the Great War had been known as a “Nearside” layout. Another method was lightweight construction, which lowered the initial cost of the cars themselves. Lightweight car construction also provided long-term benefits in lower power consumption and less wear and tear on the track. The Birney was the ultimate expression of this, but its four-wheel design was uncomfortable for riders and unsuitable for heavily traveled routes.

Car 2 was one of Gary’s first modern lightweight cars. Delivered with “Gary & Valparaiso” lettering, it spent much of its career on the Valpo line and is shown here on May 1, 1938, northbound at Burlington Beach Siding. John Humiston photo, William Shapotkin Collection.

Gary 18 was part of a two-car order placed in early 1927. It is shown on June 5, 1938, on the Bridge Street branch north of 5th Avenue, crossing the South Shore Line. John Humiston photo, William Shapotkin Collection.

Car 9 was among the lightweight cars delivered in 1926. Initially these cars were assigned to the Indiana Harbor and Hobart lines, but car 9 is shown in Hammond on Sibley at Sohl Avenue bound for Gary. Ed Frank photo, William Shapotkin Collection.

Gary ordered its first double-truck lightweight cars in 1924, following the Midland Utilities takeover but before the system was formally combined into Gary Railways. Cars 1-5 were delivered in 1924 and 1925 by Kuhlman, which had built the five-year old Peter Witts. The first two cars were lettered for G&V and the remaining three for G&H, indicating their intended use on the system’s longer routes. The cars were double-ended and set up for one-man operation, but with a rear exit door on each side. High-back walkover seats, a separate smoking compartment, a lavatory, roof-mounted headlights, and boiler tube pilots were reminiscent of interurban practice.

In 1926, another 12 lightweight cars on two orders were delivered. This time they came from Cummings Car & Coach of Paris, Illinois, which had succeeded the storied McGuire-Cummings company the previous year. These cars, numbered 6-10 and 11-17, were the same dimensions as the earlier Kuhlman cars but lacked the interurban accoutrements like smokers and lavatories. They were assigned to the Indiana Harbor, Hobart, and Hammond lines. They were also the first cars delivered in Gary Railways traction orange with a brown roof, maroon doors, and black underbody. Two more cars identical to 11-17 would come in 1927, numbered 9 (to replace the original car 9, which was destroyed) and 18.

Car 19 was photographed at the Cummings Car & Coach plant in Paris, Illinois, when brand new. As built, the end window nearest the photographer was single-piece, but Gary Railways added a separate two-light horizontally sliding sash at the bottom of this window that is visible in later photos. Paul Schneble/Illinois Railway Museum Collection.

This interior photo, from a 1928 Electric Railway Journal article, is the best available of the 19-27 series.

Car 19 is at the North Broadway Loop in Broadway local service to 45th and Grand in the Glen Park neighborhood of Gary. William Shapotkin Collection.

The last city cars purchased for Gary were arguably its finest. Cars 19-27 were ordered from Cummings in January 1927 and entered service in June of that year. The nine cars retained the dimensions of the earlier lightweight cars but differed in styling, with a deeper letterboard and lower dash on the ends. They were set up similarly to the earlier cars, with a double-end design and doors at all four corners. Like cars 11-17, but unlike the earlier lightweights, they used sliding doors, with a wide door at the front corner and a narrower exit door at the rear. Their ends were festooned with signage and gadgets: Beside two illuminated destination signs, they often bore one or more hanging metal signs with further route information and were fitted with built-in markers, a "stop light" that illuminated when the brakes were applied, a mirror, steel bar pilot, and an air whistle at each end.

The 19-27 series were built for city service but used a low-profile MCB truck known as the Cummings 62. They had four 35-horsepower GE 265 motors and modern K-75A controllers with a “dead-man” handle augmented by a foot-activated “button.” Their interiors boasted semi-bucket walkover seats upholstered in brown Spanish leather. The floor was covered in green battleship linoleum, in contrast with the wooden floors of older cars. The cars were equipped with brass window sash with an unusual feature: sturdy wire mesh panels affixed to the bottom of the sash. When a window was raised to the open position, the wire mesh panel rose with it, guarding the window opening while admitting air. This system prevented passengers from sticking their arms out the windows but avoided exterior window guards, giving the car sides decidedly clean lines. Car 19 was painted overall white in 1928 and for a few years carried various advertising slogans before it was returned to the standard Traction Orange company livery.

These images from a 1928 Electric Railway Journal article depict 19 during the period it was painted white and covered with advertising slogans. It also looks like a trough, presumably to illuminate the car sides at night, was hung along the windowsill. Note the ends of the ventilators are painted with the letters "Be Safe." The car is missing its whistle, removed as part of a short-lived system-wide experiment. 

The Decline

Gary Railways 19-27 spent most of their time holding down base service on the Broadway line, which was the backbone of the system and the north-south trunk which most of the other lines used to access downtown Gary. The cars replaced the Peter Witts, which were taken out of service in 1927 and rebuilt to remove their center exit doors and convert them into cars with door at all four corners, like the newer lightweights. During rush hours, passenger loads could reach 100 riders per car. At these times, the 19-27 series were supported by the rebuilt Peter Witts pulling trailers and by Birneys, though the Birneys and trailers were retired by 1935. In service on Broadway, the 19-27 series cars ran from the North Broadway Loop at the north end of the line, located just north of the Elgin Joliet & Eastern railroad underpass, south to 45th Avenue and Grant in the Glen Park neighborhood. Local service on Broadway ended at that point, but the Crown Point line tracks continued west to Cleveland Street and then south to Crown Point. Some cars short-turned at the loop at 26th Avenue. The main Gary Railways carbarn was located at about the midpoint of the Broadway line, three blocks west of Broadway on Jefferson between 22nd and 23rd Avenues.

Car 19 is in Broadway local service signed for 45th and Grand in Glen Park. This is likely on 45th Avenue near the south end of the line, the only part of the line that was single-track. Silas Sconiers Collection.

Car 25 is departing the North Broadway Loop at the north end of the line, signed as a 26th Avenue short turn. The United States Steel administration building is just out of sight to the left, but the horizon is filled by the buildings of the giant USS Gary Works. Krambles-Peterson Archive.

Between bucolic 45th Avenue at the south end of the Broadway line and the steel mill gate at the north end was the commercial district along Broadway. Here, car 21 is shown southbound at 8th Avenue. Krambles-Peterson Archive.

During the late 1920s, streetcar fare was 8¢, though the longer lines had additional fares. Starting in 1931, the Broadway line was one of three routes that started using a reduced fare within the downtown area to attract short-distance ridership. North of the Pennsylvania Railroad crossing (at about 20th Avenue), the fare was just 5¢. This was controlled by changing fare collection to pay-as-you-enter inbound and pay-as-you-leave outbound. The rear door could be set for control by the motorman or to allow for automatic treadle operation so that boarding and alighting could be properly controlled.

Gary Railways experienced serious difficulties during the Great Depression, as did most of the country. The steel mills saw their business hit badly and National Tube shut down completely in 1932, which had the immediate effect on Gary Railways of ending trailer operation. The Crown Point line was abandoned in June 1933, with its two splendid four-year old lightweight interurbans moved to tripper service. The Miller line was abandoned in 1935 and the Tin Mill line was cut back to the Sheet Mill in early 1938. Later that year, the Valparaiso line was abandoned east of Garyton. The lines to Indiana Harbor and Hobart were abandoned on March 18, 1939, but on the following day Gary Railways 19 made a final inspection trip over those lines on one of the earliest Central Electric Railfans Association charters.

Car 19 is making the last-ever trip on the Indiana Harbor line on March 19, 1939. It’s shown southbound in East Chicago, turning from Main onto 145th with the St. Catherine’s Hospital, which still stands, in the background. Don Idarius photo, William Shapotkin Collection.

We’re looking southeast from Cline Avenue at the Calumet River as car 19 crosses headed north toward Indiana Harbor on its 1939 fan trip. The railroad crossing barely visible in the background is the South Shore Line. Ed Frank photo, William Shapotkin Collection.

The other “last trip” made by car 19 on March 19, 1939, was to Hobart. Here, the car is eastbound alongside 37th Avenue with the signal for either Froebel or New Chicago Siding visible next to the car. William Shapotkin Collection.

The system continued to contract steadily, with buses replacing streetcars line by line. The Bridge Street and Buchanan Street branches were abandoned in late 1940 and the 5th Street line was abandoned in January 1941. A year later, in January 1942, the line to Garyton was abandoned, leaving only three car lines in service: Hammond, Tube Works, and Broadway.

Due to the war, the Office of Defense Transportation decreed that bus replacements would end and these lines would remain in operation for the duration of the war. As with most public transit systems, ridership rose dramatically during World War II. From a low of 7 million passengers in 1932 – when the system was almost at its fullest extent – ridership jumped to 21 million in 1942, 31 million in 1943, and 33 million in 1944. Gary Railways only had 41 cars still in service during the war, including all 27 of its lightweight city cars, the two Crown Point interurban cars, and 12 of the rebuilt Peter Witts.

This picture was taken on the March 19, 1939, fan trip just west of the 3rd Street Bridge in Hobart. It was the last time a streetcar would ever run to that city. The ACF-Brill bus to the right was posed alongside its vanquished predecessor. George Krambles photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive.

On October 5, 1941, B.L. Stone exposed some of the new Kodachrome film recording Gary Railways cars. Here, car 27, the last city car delivered to the system, loads at the North Broadway Loop. Krambles-Peterson Archive.

Car 20 is at the North Broadway Loop on October 5, 1941. Even though the system was converting to buses as quickly as it could, the streetcars were kept in good repair. B.L. Stone photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive.

After the war ended and buses could be purchased, line abandonments resumed. The Hammond line was abandoned on August 21, 1946, and 10 days later, the Broadway line was abandoned. This left only the short Tube Works line operating, as buses couldn’t be delivered quickly enough to retire it. Ten of the lightweight cars were moved to the Tube Works line and parked on a siding near its terminus. Only two cars were required to transport the mill workers from the Tube Works to 5th and Broadway, but without a shop, major repairs couldn’t be effected, so extra cars were kept around to replace any equipment needing significant work. Some six months later, on February 28, 1947, the last streetcars ran in Gary.

It’s May 26, 1946, and car 21 is on Broadway at the New York Central underpass near the line’s northern terminus. The car is near the end of the line in more than one way; in just a matter of months it will be retired and sold for scrap. William Janssen photo, William Shapotkin Collection.

Sole Survivor

Gary Railways 19, the lead car of the last series of city cars built for the system and the car used on the well-known 1939 CERA charter, was stripped of its electrical and mechanical equipment after abandonment. Its body was sold for use as a dwelling near Lake Village, Indiana, 30 miles south of Gary near the Illinois state line. Traction fans knew of the car’s existence and remained in contact with its owner, Howard Wiseman. In 1988, Wiseman agreed to donate car 19 to the Illinois Railway Museum. In May 1989, the car was jacked up and loaded onto a flatbed trailer. The IRM volunteers doing the work had a couple of unwelcome surprises, including that the car’s structural strength was poorer than expected. The car was also found to be infested with cockroaches, requiring multiple “bug bombs” to get rid of the infestation. However, the car was successfully moved to IRM in early July 1989 and was placed atop Wisconsin Electric Power Company flat car M26.

Car 19, nicknamed the “roach motel” by IRM volunteers in honor of its former denizens, was covered by a tarpaulin and stored outdoors atop flat car M26 until the construction of Barn 8, around 1995, permitted it to be moved indoors. Since that time, car 19 has remained in protected indoor storage atop the flat car. Its side sheets are severely rusted at the floor line in several places, and due to the car’s lightweight construction, it lacks a heavy underframe and the side sheets are a major contributor to its structural rigidity. Because of this, until replacement steel can be welded in place to repair the car’s sides, it is too fragile to place on trucks.

Car 19 is on the inspection pit lead in 1989, soon after arrival. It’s obvious that the car had retained its ventilators and one of its headlight brackets. The orange patch visible in the middle of the car is original Gary Railways paint. Illinois Railway Museum Collection.

In April 2016, car 19 was moved from Barn 11, where it had resided for a few years, to a new spot in Barn 13. The poor condition of the side sheets at the floor level and the weather damage to the car’s ends are apparent. Author’s photo.

The interior of car 19 as it appears today. The flip-down motorman's seat mounted to a pair of stanchions is still in place at one end of the car. Author's photo.

Despite the car’s rough appearance, though, work has been done to prepare for the possible restoration of the car. A pair of trucks virtually identical to 19’s original Cummings 62 low-floor MCB trucks was acquired from Melbourne, Australia, and the correct-type GE 265 motors are on hand too. One of the two K-75 controllers the car needs is in storage. In theory, Gary Railways 19 would make an ideal car for IRM, capable of double-ended, one-man operation on either the main line or streetcar line, with simple-to-maintain K-control and modern, comfortable seats.

Of course, the reality is that car 19 would require one of the most intensive restoration projects IRM has ever done. While a daunting challenge, though, the future restoration of the car is certainly plausible. Gary Railways 19 is undoubtedly historically significant. It is one of only six streetcars from the Hoosier State preserved (two complete cars from Terre Haute, one of which is also at IRM, and one car body each from Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, and Gary). It’s also the only extant piece of equipment built by Cummings Car & Coach. With enough determination and support, the last Gary streetcar may someday run again.

Car 19 is pictured in Hobart, just west of the Lake George Bridge, flying white flags for its March 19, 1939, fan trip. George Krambles photo, Krambles-Peterson Archive.

Appendix A: Gary Railways 19 Specifications

Builder: Cummings Car & Coach

Date: Ordered January 1927, delivered June 1927

Length: 44’0”

Width: 8’8”

Height: 11’0”

Weight: 37,000 lbs.

Seating Capacity: 52

Trucks: Cummings 62, 5’4” wheelbase, 26”-dia. wheels

Motors: 4 x GE 265 (35hp each)

Control: K-75A

Brakes: GE

Compressor: CP-27

In February 1930, when the 19-27 series cars were over two years old, they were still being highlighted in advertising in Electric Railway Journal. This ad from General Electric trumpets the all-GE Gary fleet and boasts a picture of a 19-27 series car at the top.

Appendix B: Gary Railways Map

Click here for a Gary Railways route map

On one side of car 19, a section in the center of the car was covered by a wall and never painted during its years as a house, leaving the Gary Railway emblem intact. Tim Fennell photo.