Highlights of 2024

It's time once again to list some of the highlights of the past year.  As always, additions and corrections are welcome!

• Completion of the Barn 4 extension and reconstruction of Yard 4 East.
• The ITS annual meeting was held at IRM and was a great success, including the first public operation of the 1702.
• The C&NW Historical Society archives building opened on Main Street.
• Special days such as Pumpkin, Thomas, Vintage Transport, and Happy Holiday Railway all went well.  With the addition of new cars and fireworks, HHR in particular was a greater success than ever!
  

• The museum received two Heritage Rail Alliance Achievement Awards, for the restoration of the 1702 and the construction of the C&NWHS building.
• Operation of both the Decapod and the Shay several times this year.
• The volunteer entrance road, Museum Drive, was paved.
• Three new passenger cars were added to the collection: two ex-C&NW bi-levels and a Milwaukee Road "buffeteria" car.
• As usual, operations proceeded smoothly and safely during the year, thanks to the vigilance of our Operating Department.
• We can't list all the restoration projects that were either completed or made significant progress this year.  Ones that come immediately to mind are: IT 1702 (completed), AE&FRE 306, and CRT 1808
• 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!

Regarding the Red Cars

Regarding the Red Cars

by Art Peterson

All photos from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

Nope, it’s not about the Pacific Electric, but about that “other” red car outfit – Northern Ohio Traction & Light (NOT&L). This time of year, I always think of that great McKinley Crowley shot of the NOT&L cars working their way up the snow-covered Tuscarawas Street in Canton (see below). Of course, there’s a lot more to the NOT&L story than just that one photo, and as you dig into the pages of the Electric Railway Journal or other periodicals, you find fascinating tidbits. To vary things from the normal chronological order, the photos following are presented in car number sequence.

NOT&L 51 – Tuscarawas Street, Canton – McKinley Crowley Photo

This photo absolutely conveys that warm, inviting feeling of the big car having drawn up to rescue you from the bitter cold day. NOT&L 51, a 1902 St. Louis product, originally built for the Canton-Akron Railway, has crossed the B&O tracks near the Canton carbarn, headed for Massillon. Today, a Ford dealer occupies most of the former carbarn site (behind the photographer). The Canton-Akron was merged into the NOT&L on October 1, 1906. Eventually the 51 would be renumbered to NOT&L 1451. The three cars in this group were among the 1928 car scrappings, as interurban traffic fell off and lines began to be abandoned.

NOT&L 82 – Northfield Cutoff – Company Photo

For the 1916 car order, NOT&L turned to Jewett to deliver the 15 members of this group (cars 80-94). These cars were a little over 5% lighter than the road’s previous steel cars, which had come from Kuhlman in 1914. The Jewetts used a steel girder-type underframe (comprising commercial sections and pressings), which was expected to give a longer service life at lower cost. In addition, the 80-series cars were delivered with four GE 240B motors, each producing 105hp, where the previous cars had come with four 75hp GE motors. This order would come late in the life of the Jewett plant – the firm was in receivership by October 1918. Over three-quarters of NOT&L’s 1916 revenue had come from the railway (interurban and city car) operations; the balance was from the power business.

This photo was posed on the Northfield cut-off, which opened in 1913. The 7.5-mile section of line extended from Chittenden (north of Cuyahoga Falls) to Fells (north of Northfield). The double-track road took 2 years to construct. No curve exceeded 1 degree and no grade was stiffer than 0.5%. Catenary towers on a 300-foot spacing were supplied by Archibald-Brady of Syracuse, NY. Why Syracuse? Archibald-Brady had supplied nearly identical towers to the Rochester Syracuse & Eastern, whose line section to the west of Syracuse was the model for the NOT&L’s improved line.

NOT&L 1024 – Market at 6th Street, SW – Canton – 1927 – McKinley Crowley Photo

The rate of sidewalk superintendence to actual workers is extremely high in McKinley’s excellent period view. Love the letter-drop in the foreground, too!

NOT&L’s Market line served the Pennsy’s Canton station at 9th Street and stopped just shy of the W&LE line near 17th Street. Spun off from NOT&L control in June 1930, the Canton local lines continued operation as the Canton Traction Company until April 18, 1931, when all car operation ended.

The 1024 had been built in NOT&L’s shops in 1900 and was equipped with Peckham trucks, GE 68 motors, and K6 control. NOT&L scrapped this car on December 12, 1929.

NOT&L 1075 – South of Bedford – McKinley Crowley Photo

NOT&L’s shop crews did a superb job of converting passenger car 1462 (Kuhlman, 1908) into handsome box motor 1075. The 1462 had been a good choice for this service, since it was built with steel plate reinforcement on the carsides. Gearing was changed to 17/60 to provide greater starting torque, such as this nine-car train would require.

NOT&L predecessor, the Akron, Bedford & Cleveland had been a member of the Electric Package Company (agency) in concert with other area interurban roads. In April 1922, NOT&L reached agreement with other area roads on a joint freight service agreement; Detroit United was later a party to this agreement. In the interest of promoting the interline connections, NOT&L equipped its box motors with MCB couplers, as the 1075 has in this view. Within 6 months of having started the joint operations, NOT&L had doubled the freight car-miles operated. Fourteen additional trailers were on order and the shops were in process of converting another two cars to freight motors.

NOT&L 1148 – Kuhlman Plant, Cleveland - 1926

The photographer’s choice of cars to document for this order was fortuitous – the 1148 was burned the next year (on August 2, 1927) at Detrick Siding. The car was scrapped on March 1, 1928. This view also shows NOT&L’s practice of painting the body their traditional red while the cars ends were painted orange.

NOT&L went “from zero to 60 in 3 seconds” on the freight service. As written in the previous caption, the interline freight agreement dated to April 1922. By 1925, NOT&L was carrying nearly 107,000 tons of freight and posted revenues of $615,000 on this traffic, its peak year. A fleet of 59 freight trailers and 24 motors were engaged in this work. The road was advertising overnight freight deliveries to Detroit and to Pittsburgh and ERJ reported on NOT&L getting 670 pounds of forgings from Alliance to Detroit in just five hours.

But, at the same time, something else was experiencing an increase in Ohio. The number of trucks registered in the state increased by 140% between 1920 and 1926. In the next five years truck registrations would rise by a further 16%.

NOT&L 1434 – October 1920 – Company Photo

Major League baseball desperately needed to demonstrate that the scandal-plagued 1919 World Series was an isolated incident. There was a lot riding on the 1920 series, which pitted the Brooklyn Robins (the team name used from 1914 to 1931) against the Cleveland Indians (Cleveland’s first trip to the World Series). The first three games were played in Brooklyn and from Saturday, October 9th, the focus shifted to Dunn Field in Cleveland.

With attendance at the Cleveland games all exceeding 25-26,000, NOT&L and other carriers were ready to carry the fans to/from the game. This nine-car train was one of the specials assembled for this purpose. Franchise restrictions in Cleveland meant that the nine-car consist would have to be split into a trio of three-car trains within the city limits.

Head car 1434 (Kuhlman, 1910) wears the distinctive Washington sash side window design, as does the second car, 1478 (Kuhlman, 1914). The third car has conventional window sash design with a letterboard above the windows.

NOT&L 1511 – AREA Cleveland Convention, October 1926 – Company Photo

Those handsome 1500s! Kuhlman’s stunning design used on the 1920 and 1921 orders for NOT&L was further enhanced by the addition of 56” wide parlor windows (with Edwards brass sash); car 1511 also received Timken roller bearings as part of this September 1926 rebuilding, done at Kenmore Shops in Akron. Limited service had first been run by NOT&L from March 1911. The success of this service contributed to NOT&L’s 11.2% increase in gross earnings for 1912, compared to the 1911 results.

However, the year 1926 was marred by labor unrest on the NOT&L. Amalgamated Association members shut down interurban and most city car service on May 2, 1926. Accounts in the Electric Railway Journal ominously noted that 58 buses were running in place of the interurban cars, departing Akron every 9 minutes throughout the day. These accounts also observed that the bus fare was 40% higher than what was charged on the cars. The strike was finally settled on May 22nd. The operating results for 1926 showed the disturbing results – gross earnings for the transportation division were off 7.4% for 1926 compared to the previous year, while the power business increased nearly 19% over that same period.

NOI 1523 – Broadway-Miles, Cleveland – October 1931

The July 5, 1930, formation of Ohio Edison required that the rail operations be divorced from the utility business. With this separation, the interurban operations were carried on by the Northern Ohio Interurban (NOI) Company, while the Akron Transportation Company ran the city car service. Both companies were under the control of the Transportation Securities Company of New York.

Car 1523 (a member of the 1921 order for Kuhlman-built interurbans) is shown during the brief period in which NOI had this responsibility – the Ohio Public Utilities Commission would grant permission for abandonment of the interurban route on February 29, 1932. The last interurban train from Cleveland was a three-car train of 1500s leaving at 1 am on April 1, 1932.

The view also shows the item which most-handicapped the interurban – the long sections of street running in Cleveland or elsewhere. Harry Christiansen, in his 1965 book, noted that the average speed of the cars on private ROW could approach 47 mph – a very respectable average. However, when the entire 1 hour, 15-minute run time for a limited on the 33.78-mile Cleveland-Akron line is considered, the average speed falls to 27.02 mph.

NOT&L tried aggressively to improve its competitive position. For example, as late as 1925, the NOT&L had reached agreement with the Wheeling & Lake Erie to relocate 4.5 miles of its line between Bedford and Whitehouse adjacent to the steam road track, eliminating another section of in-road ROW.

Acknowledgements: As noted in the captions, much of the material cited above came from the pages of the Electric Railway Journal and Electric Traction. In addition, CERA Bulletin 109 (1966) and Harry Christiansen’s 1965 book on interurbans of Northern Ohio were also consulted. Numerous on-line sources were reviewed to include local context.  As always, the willingness of Randy and Frank to publish this on the blog is most-sincerely appreciated!

Click here to return to the Krambles-Peterson Collection index page

This article was edited by Frank Hicks

Christmas Greetings

 

The Virgin and Child, c. 1490

Bartolomeo Montagna, c. 1450 - 1523

And as usual, greetings from the grandchildren to everyone at IRM.

This is the south end of Barn 9, back in July.  Most of them came a long way just to visit the Museum!

Happy Holiday Railway

Frank writes...

Our whole extended family bought tickets to Happy Holiday Railway on Sunday and took the kids through the whole experience, including the fantastic Barn 6 light display, the streetcar ride, and (of course) the mainline train ride. I barely took any photos, and the ones I did take didn't turn out that great, but the experience was a ton of fun.

The weather was cold, but not too terrible, and the snow on the ground made for a festive atmosphere. We also went through Barn 3, with its assortment of passenger cars nicely done up for the holiday.

A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers and staff who made this event happen! As I write this, HHR has just concluded, and we ended up with attendance roughly 30% higher than our previous record. This is due to the two new bi-levels that were added to the train this year, courtesy of the hard work of the Diesel Department crew, as well as all the additional staff and coordination that went with the new cars. This was the first year that HHR exceeded Day Out With Thomas as the museum's largest event by ticket volume, and given all the positive feedback, I am optimistic it will continue to grow. I certainly look forward to it being a "new tradition" for our family!

Pans Up in Virginia!

Pans Up in Virginia!

by Art Peterson

All photos are from the Valentine Collection, preserved by the Krambles-Peterson Archive

You could be forgiven if you read this title and thought “Ah – the Pennsylvania Railroad in Potomac Yard.” But it turns out there was another property in Virginia that (briefly) relied on pantographs and catenary for its traction power collection/distribution. This property was also a rare example of GE’s single-phase alternating current application.

The Richmond & Chesapeake Bay Railway (R&CB) was a project on which Frank Jay Gould of New York (youngest son of Jay Gould) was a key backer. Mr. Gould would also be involved in the establishment of the Virginia Railway and Power Co. in 1909. In the case of the R&CB, the franchises were being granted during 1906 (for example, the Richmond Municipal Franchise [with a 30-year term] was granted on March 22, 1906). The order for the four interurban cars required to run the planned service was given to St. Louis Car during 1906, as well.

The project to construct the line extended into late 1907, by which time the nation was entering a financial panic that spread through the trust houses, most of which were based in New York. The trust houses competed with banks for deposits, but typically had very little cash reserves, compared to deposits, making them highly susceptible to runs. This is exactly what occurred in late 1907. The result was a systemic financial panic that saw the nation’s industrial output fall by 17%, while the real GNP declined by 12%. One positive aspect of this crisis was that it led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank.

The most immediate impact of the crisis for the R&CB was that hoped-for expansions would not take place. Electric railway publications of the era frequently mentioned extension of the line to Washington, DC, while Gould was thinking along the lines of a Norfolk to Fredericksburg connection. As was typical of the era, even the road’s name implies that it hoped to eventually build east from Richmond to the Chesapeake Bay, but that tight credit and loss of confidence in the wake of the 1907 panic ensured this would not happen.

With only a 10-year existence for the single-phase AC operation, there are not a ton of photos of the R&CB during this period. Still, we hope you find them of interest. The captions below provide a bit more behind the R&CB story. The photos are presented in chronological order.

R&CB 104 - St. Louis Car - December 3, 1906

There’s no traceability as to who decided to ink in the thoroughly inaccurate trolley pole and hook on the roof of the 104 in this shot of the substantially complete car at the car builder’s plant. The pantographs and roof-mounted headlight would be installed in Richmond – R&CB’s yard/shop (still standing) was located on Brook Road on the north side of Richmond. The Baldwin trucks used under these cars clearly stand out in this view.  

Four GE A603A (125hp) series repulsion-type motors were used to give the cars some pep.  Accounts in period trade journals (ca. March 1908) claim the cars were designed for 90 mph operation, but with 19 stops on a 14.8-mile line, that meant there were only 0.78 miles between stops on average. Still, even with these challenges, a one-way trip was made in 40 minutes, working out to an average speed of 22.1 mph.

R&CB 101 - Approaching Richmond Terminal - ca. 1907

The road was built to very high standards. You can see a portion of the reinforced concrete viaduct in this view which extended for the first 2,800 feet on leaving the Richmond Terminal, and at some locations reached a height of 70-feet. Publicity photos of a steam engine and freight cars were taken on the viaduct to demonstrate its strength. The car is sitting on the switch that led into the double-track terminal, placing this location around Marshall or Clay Street in Richmond. The terminal headhouse building still stands, adapted for other purposes, on Broad Street at Laurel.

Car 101 was the only combine in the four-car order from St. Louis Car. This car seated 48, while the straight coaches in the order each accommodated 64 riders (being south of the Mason-Dixon Line, all cars provided separate accommodations for white and black passengers). A 1914 R&CB timetable showed that eight trips per day accommodated baggage handling services. Service between Richmond and Ashland ran essentially hourly in both directions from 7:00 am until 10:00 pm, with outlier trips before and after that time block. Around this same time, the paralleling Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac was offering 10 daily round trips between those same two cities.

R&CB 103 - Upham Brook, near Hilliard Road - ca. 1908

As mentioned previously, the line was built to extremely high standards – no grade more severe than 1% was allowed, and no curve tighter than 2 degrees was permitted. A 1914 tabulation indicated the cost of construction of the R&CB totaled in excess of $996,000. Considerable use of reinforced concrete structures was included on the R&CB mainline. With this construction work being completed in late 1907 (the line entered operation on October 28, 1907), this project immediately pre-dates the Lackwanna’s extensive undertaking using reinforced concrete construction on the New Jersey Cutoff, which was built between 1908 and 1911. The bridge shown here still stands today.

Sprague-GE M Type MU control was used on the R&CB cars. Two oil-cooled compensators and associated contactors carried undercar were used to step down the 6600 volts to the proper voltage for the traction motors. A system of “duplicate control” was provided on these cars where a compensator and respective contactors were associated with a pair of motors on the car, allowing the car to continue operation in a two-motor configuration in the event of a failure. Ed. note: The CA&E, or AE&C as it was known at the time, was ordering 600V interurban cars with "duplicate control" at this time as well.

R&CB 103 - Gwathmey Church Road - ca. 1908

This location is about two miles south of Ashland, with a decent crowd on-board the southbound car. Ashland’s central Virginia location has led to the city advertising itself as the “Center of the Universe.”

Period trade journals noted the line had no on-line substations, except for a town-lighting-related substation in Ashland. All power for operation of the railcars was generated at the Twelfth Street Powerhouse of the Virginia Passenger & Power Co. on the James River in Richmond, which had been dammed to provide water storage capacity. A steam engine and turbines (located under the boiler room) were installed in the powerhouse. The powerhouse was about 1.6 miles from the R&CB’s Richmond terminal station.

R&CB 101-Class - Unknown Location - March 6, 1912

Richmond’s typical winter sees a total snowfall of 11.” So, the winter of 1912 must have been quite a shock, when 10.6” of snow fell over a four-day period in early March (Sunday the 3rd through Wednesday the 6th) of that year. The final day of the storm packed the worst wallop – delivering 7” of snow on top of the previous totals.

Fiscal Year-end (June 30th) results for 1912 showed that the R&CB had gross earnings of $54,286 on operating expenses of $44,858. Net earnings that year were $9,428, however the interest totaled $60,119, leading to a deficit for the year of $55,270. R&CB operated a total of 171,967 passenger car-miles that year and carried 374,726 passengers during its FY.  

Unfortunately for the R&CB, the deficit situation continued to prevail year after year. The annual deficit in the period 1911-1913 averaged $53,139, but the accumulated deficit by June 30, 1913 totaled $310,307. The Electric Railway Journal of January 12, 1918, reported that the R&CB had ceased operations. By the magazine’s March 20, 1918, issue it was noted that Garnett Tabb had secured the option to buy the dormant road.

Re-organized as the Richmond-Ashland Railway, the road was converted to 600V DC operation and it replaced the St. Louis-built cars with second-hand equipment (double-truck city cars) from nearby Virginia properties. The line to Ashland continued to run in this manner for the next two decades.

The demise of the AC operation on this line is likely due to the same cause as we saw in the earlier blog installment on the Indianapolis & Cincinnati Traction (I&CT) – the hoped-for economies failed to materialize. While the I&CT had a better traffic base (more on-line communities, longer hauls, decent freight traffic), the R&CB lacked many of these important facets and could not offset the interest expenses. Earnings and expenses per car mile for the R&CB were reported in the 1914 “McGraw Electric Railway Directory.” For the FY1911 period, the R&CB was making a profit (before interest was calculated) per car-mile of $0.063, but by FY1913, this profit per car-mile was down to $0.023.

Acknowledgements: Several industry publications (as noted above) were consulted to put a little more meat on the bones of this piece. Numerous on-line sources were reviewed to include local context. As always, the willingness of Randy and Frank to publish this on the blog is most-sincerely appreciated!

Click here for a route map of the R&CB

Click here for information on the Richmond-Ashland Railway

Click here to return to the Krambles-Peterson Collection index page

This article was edited by Frank Hicks.

Sunday Report

Frank writes...

It was another happy day on the holiday railway on Sunday. The weather was foggy and in the low 40s, which all things considered wasn't too bad.

After arriving, I ran the 3142 for a little while so that its regular crew could get a lunch break. Zach was piloting a trainee motorman, Josh, in service. Above, the car sits at Depot Street while the ghostly figure of North Shore 749 lurks in the background, spotted on the west wye for a crew lunch break.

Here's Zach in the back window of the car. He observed that I was wearing a Chicago Railways hat badge, he had his nice CSL badge, and Josh had a CTA badge, so between the three of us we spanned the last 50 years of Chicago streetcars.

Over in the depot, Joel was filling in for HHR stalwart Bob Opal and tickling the ivories for the enjoyment of the visitors.

It was damp, but most of the time it wasn't really raining outright, and overall everyone seemed to be having a great time. It's always nice to see the property hopping like this!

After my stint on the Surface Lines, I changed into work clothes and spent some time working to install another newly reupholstered seat in the 460. It's the third nice one, behind the two previously installed seats. I didn't get it fastened in; I'll need to do some more persuading.

Meanwhile, over in the car shop, Jimmy (shown here, clearly thrilled at having his photo taken) and Brian were hard at work fixing air gauges. This is painstaking and often thankless work, but it's vital to keeping our cars operating safely. Today they were concentrating on repairing gauges for CSL 1374 and for CA&E 308, which we hope will see a few days of service again in 2025.

At the west end of Barn 4, Norm (right), Ashton (left foreground), and Will (behind Ashton) were installing hardware under the front end of Michigan Electric 28. Norm was practically giddy at being able to resume work on this car, which has been paused for a few years due to Barn 4 construction. They got cut lever chain hangers and stirrups hung, as well as most of the circle iron supports.

Finally, Nick and Joel exhumed some spare items from storage that are going into an auction IRM will be holding. We'll pass along details when we have them, but some spare items are being auctioned off to open up space and raise money. Don't get your hopes up too high - as far as I know, we're not auctioning off railroad items, much less railroad equipment. But you'll have to check it out for yourself. If you're looking for a microwave, window air conditioner, or a little cart for painting stripes in parking lots, you're in luck!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays Railway was in full swing as always yesterday.  Here are just a few quick videos of the action.  Our thanks to all the volunteers who have been working hard to make this a success!

Great News for Hicksco Preservation

Here at Hicks Car Works, we're always interested in news about preserved cars from the original Hicks Locomotive and Car Works, in addition to our flagship, of course, the 309.  And today's news involves one of the best of the preserved cars, Virginia and Truckee #20.  For the past 60 years or so, it had been stored at the Orange Empire Museum in Perris, after its star-studded career in the movies.  But now it has been transferred back to its home in Nevada at the modern incarnation of the V&T, the Nevada State Railroad Museum at Carson City.

To see the news, for the immediate future follow this link to the Facebook post.  You don't need a Facebook login, just exit out of the pop-up.  But we've copied some of the better pictures, hoping they won't object.  Next time we're passing through Nevada, I'll be sure to stop in!

Caboose Update

 Buzz Morisette says:

I thought I would send a few pictures of work the Freight Dept. has done on the Milwaukee X-5001 caboose/business car this year.

An old photo, provided via the MRHA, shows the office area just after the 1979 rebuild to a superintendent's car:

Next is the extensive demolishing that had to be done to repair wood rot in the walls and floor. Note the sealed FRA glazed window that was added later:

Final photo from last week showing the new floor and finished repairs and painting.  Close at the left is one of the Brooks Stevens designed lounge chairs. Most likely recycled from the Priest Rapids, a Skytop lounge car scrapped in 1970 at the Milwaukee Shops.

Thanks to, and Happy Holidays from, the IRM Freight Department!

Sleigh Ride

Frank writes...

The weather on Sunday was spectacular, as December goes, with a high around 50 degrees and sunlight all day. What a great day to take out the open car!

Nick E got Veracruz 19 out of the barn in the late afternoon, and once I was done working car line relief, which took longer than expected, I high-tailed it over to Yard 7 to join him on the crew. Here's the car ready to go into service just after sunset.

And here's yours truly once we got around to Barn 9 North. My wife found these nifty AA battery-powered LED light strings on sale at a local big-box store, so we decorated the front and rear of the car a bit for the occasion.

The open car proved pretty popular; once the sun went down it was definitely chilly, but we had a good crowd of riders on most trips and everyone enjoyed touring the light displays arrayed along the car line. We ended up making 11 loops before putting the car away after the last HHR train of the night returned, while CTA 3142 and North Shore 749 provided heated car line service all day. The Happy Holiday Railway event has now completely sold out for the year, which is quite an accomplishment given that we've added a car and a half's worth of seats. Kudos to the huge crew of people who have worked to organize, promote, assemble, and operate this event!

The Milwaukee Electric Interurban Cars

HISTORY OF

THE MILWAUKEE ELECTRIC INTERURBAN CARS

1129 AND MENOMINEE

Many thanks to Scott Greig who provided several of the photos (labeled SG), much of the text, and made many valuable suggestions and corrections.

Thanks also to Tim Fennell for supplying the builder's photo from the Don Ross site.

By far the largest electric railway system in Wisconsin, and one of the larger Midwestern systems, was The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co., usually abbreviated “TMER&L” or just “TM”.  TM had all types of electric railways: it operated the extensive city system in Milwaukee, streetcar operations in small towns, a network of interurban lines radiating outward from Milwaukee, and some electrified industrial freight lines. And parts of the interurban system were built to rapid-transit standards.

Out of this variety, the interurban lines were, not surprisingly, the first to fall victim to the automobile. As a result, while many pieces of TM equipment have been preserved, there are only two TM interurban cars in existence, both at IRM. They have a convoluted and interesting history.

AS BUILT

1101 at Watertown, en route to Oconomowoc

During the period of expansion, in 1909 TM ordered a series of 15 deck-roof interurban cars from Kuhlman, very similar to a series of ten cars built by St. Louis in 1907.  These were not built to the usual design for wooden interurban cars of the period, but more like over-sized streetcars. As built, they were equipped for operation on both 600V DC and 3300V AC, although AC operation did not last long.

1102 showing some of the underbody equipment.

And at the same time, an associated company, Wisconsin Traction, purchased six cars to the same design for use on its DC line in the Appleton area.  They are said to be identical to the Kuhlman 1100’s on the Milwaukee lines, although presumably without AC electrical equipment. They were numbered 101-106, and ran in this form for the next 15 years on Wisconsin Traction.  Here is the builder's photo from Kuhlman, before installation of electrical or brake equipment.

The only picture we have found of the Appleton cars in service doesn't show very much.  As built, the controls were on the left side (facing forward), and in the picture below, from left to right are the hand brake, the Christensen straight-air valve, a sander, and the C-6 controller.  Neither the Milwaukee nor Appleton cars were equipped for MU operation. 

Wisconsin Traction car, 101-106 series (SG)

The car is signed for APPLETON-NEENAH-MENASHA.  And I believe the dash sign is advertising a Chautauqua at Sunset Point Park, Jun30th(?) - Jul3rd, and is probably covering the car's number.

The Kuhlman cars, however, were bigger and heavier than Wisconsin Traction needed, and so in 1924 they were traded to TM in exchange for ten streetcars. And at the same time, TM was planning to upgrade its interurban service with parlor and dining cars, and more modern and comfortable coaches. Rather than buy new equipment, TM decided to undertake an intensive rebuilding program at its Cold Spring shops.

THE 1924 REBUILDING

1136 Menominee on the Greendale line (SG)

The first step was to rebuild four of the Kuhlman cars into parlor cars, of a completely different appearance than as built.  One of these was WT 102. The shops made the following changes:

1) The double-ended cars were converted to single end, although they still had two trolley poles for backup movements. Instead of four doors, there was now a single passenger door and stepwell at the right rear, and a small motorman’s door at the right front. The left side was blind.

2) Since train operation was desired, the ends were rebuilt with train doors.  Controls were moved to a motorman's cab at the right side of the front end.

3) The deck roofs were changed to railroad roofs.

4) The window arrangement was completely changed. The narrow single windows as built were replaced with much wider windows, and wider posts in between.

5) The interior was arranged with a small smoking section at the front, with parlor chairs and two booths with space for removable card tables on one side, facing a vertical parcel rack, followed by a washrooom on one side, and then the main compartment with large, comfortable parlor seats.

6) The rear platform received solarium windows.

Parlor car Mendota at Cold Spring shops after rebuilding (SG)

Parlor car interior (SG)

7.) The original St. Louis 23 trucks and GE  motors were replaced with new Baldwin trucks and Westinghouse motors, and the original straight air brakes were replaced with new Westinghouse AMM automatic brakes.  The original control equipment under the cars was reused during the 1924 rebuilding.

WT 102 initially received the name Menominee, but soon lost its name and was instead renumbered “2”.

In 1926-1927 the car underwent a complete mechanical rebuilding and received new trucks and control. This included an eighteen-switch contactor box of the same type as the 600/1200 volt cars that were being rebuilt as the "deluxe" 1100s at the time. It also received new Standard C-80P2 trucks and Westinghouse AMU brakes to match the deluxe 1100s. At that time it was again renumbered, to 1136. Regarding the electrical equipment, both of our cars were originally equipped with GE C-6A controllers, and initially retained them when rebuilt. However, both cars later received C-74A controllers to match the rest of the 1100 fleet.

As it happened, the original deployment of the parlor cars on Waukesha and Watertown runs did not prove viable, so they were reassigned to operate parlor service on the Sheboygan line, in two-car trains with a coach, and we believe these changes were made both to make them more compatible with the deluxe 1100s and to simplify support in the field.  In 1930 the 1136 was rebuilt to a coach.  (When IRM was given Cold Spring Shops' woodworking equipment in 1972, Bill Nedden found several original parlor car chairs being used as office furniture around Cold Spring.  We were able to exchange newer office chairs for them...there wasn't a full car's worth, but most of one.)

The four parlor cars, and the seven Green Special coaches that followed, were essentially prototypes for the eventual conversion of the rest of the 1100 fleet. Cold Spring Shops tried out different ideas and made changes to the design as they progressed to the 1111-1125 group in 1926.

One of the rebuilt coaches

When more of the original cars, including WT 104, were rebuilt to "Green Specials" the following changes were made:

1) Converted to single end, with two poles, and a single passenger door at the right rear, small motorman’s door at right front, and blind left side.

2) Roofs rebuilt

3) Window arrangement completely changed, as with the parlor cars.

4) The interior was arranged with a smoking section at the front and larger coach section at the rear.  Nice new seats were installed, not really "bucket" seats, but called "Sedan" seats.  They were Spanish-grain leather like the deluxe 1100s, but had lower backs.  Some were destroyed at North Chicago, others were in the 1136 during its meeting-room years, but at least half of them are still in the car.

5) The rear vestibule had a washroom and the stove cabinet.

6) As with the initial parlor car rebuilds, the cars received new Baldwin trucks and Westinghouse 548 motors, but retained their original control equipment.  Westinghouse AMM brakes were applied to the cars.

1129 and 1128 at National Station
Image copyright Krambles-Peterson archive

Interior of car 1126 (SG)

WT 104 was renumbered to 1129.

The "Green Special" 1100s were initially assigned to the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha route, but were soon reassigned to Burlington-East Troy runs and special service, such as summertime Waukesha Beach specials and employee trains for WPA projects, that kept them closer to Cold Spring. Their last use was reportedly as extras during the American Legion convention in Milwaukee in the spring of 1941.

SALE TO L&PS

The Depression further cut into the interurban business, and by 1940 several of the interurban lines had been cut back and service reduced, so that some of the rolling stock was surplus. However, the London and Port Stanley, an electrified steam road in Canada, was in immediate need of more passenger cars, since Canada was already engaged in WWII, and to meet wartime requirements they arranged to buy four TM cars, including the 1129 and 1136, in 1941.  These cars were already out of service by this time, and they were sold as bodies on trucks, without propulsion or braking systems.

The L&PS operated on 1500V DC, so the TM cars received completely new equipment.  The 1129 remained an unpowered control trailer.  The control and air brake equipment now under the Menominee is ex-Toronto Suburban Railway equipment that the L&PS managed to purchase from the Niagara St. Catherines & Toronto in 1941-42.  

And the cars were renumbered: the 1129 became L&PS 21, and the 1136 became 16.

The 1129 on the L&PS. Note the lack of underbody equipment and poles, the roof-mounted headlight and horn, and the huge pantograph on the following car, a TM ex-parlor car.

The Menominee on the L&PS.

The four TM cars continued to operate on the L&PS until 1955.  They generally were operated in two-car trains of a powered ex-parlor car and a trailer coach, and occasionally as a four-car train.  They could not train with other L&PS equipment.  For reference, here is a table of the various renumberings and names of the TM - L&PS cars.

As built		On TM			L&PS	Today
TM	WT	c.1924		c. 1927
1101(1st)		4	Winnebago	1133	Scrapped in 1952
1110(1st)		3	Waubeesee	1134	23	Part of house in Ont.
	102	2	Menominee	1136	16	1136	Menominee
	104			1129	21	1129
	106	1	Mendota	1135	18	Scrapped c. 1955?

Meanwhile in Wisconsin, TM’s business had declined rapidly after the end of the war, and by 1950 the company was trying hard to get out of the interurban business. There was a brief and disastrous period of operation by the Speedrail company, but in 1951 that came to an end. All remaining TM interurban cars were scrapped in 1952, with the exception of car 1138. It was set aside by request of Jay Maeder, the president of Speedrail, to be shipped to his home in Avon, Ohio, near Cleveland. He had wanted the complete car, but by mistake at Waukesha the trucks and underbody equipment were removed and scrapped, and only the car body was delivered. He was naturally outraged, but there was nothing to be done, so the body was set on the ground at his property.

ACQUISITION BY IRM

That meant that when the Illinois Electric Railway Museum was founded in 1953, there were no TM interurban cars remaining in the US. The museum consisted of a single car, IRR 65, plus the derelict 354, which still belonged to Frank Sherwin. Several of the early members were TM enthusiasts, though, and were eager to do what they could to preserve its legacy.

Thus, when the TM cars of the L&PS were offered for sale in 1955, the one-car railway museum embarked on a new course: acquisition and expansion!  IERM members traveled to London (Ont.) and selected what had been TM 1129 and 1136 for preservation.

As government property, the cars were sold via sealed bid, and our group went out on a bit of a limb and stated that they would bid $1 above the next highest bid submitted.  In the end, the Museum paid roughly $850 for the two cars and additional parts.  Tom Jervan recalled that the L&PS personnel, and their master mechanic in particular, were very helpful throughout the process.

  A famous TM company photo of the parlor car Mendota was used for fundraising (see above), and many people got the idea that the Mendota, not the Menominee, was the parlor car the Museum was acquiring.  Be that as it may, the two cars and some spare parts were transferred across Michigan to Ludington, and then across Lake Michigan by a C&O car ferry to Milwaukee. And so they arrived at North Chicago on Sept. 8, 1955. The second issue of the IERM newsletter has all the details.

It appears that even at the beginning there were doubts about the structural integrity of the cars, especially the 1129. In 1957 three of the Museum’s members (Larry Goerges, Don Ross, and Joe Barth) drove out to Avon to inspect the body of the 1138, which was still stored at Jay Maeder’s home. They reported that the appearance was discouraging, but nonetheless recommended that the Museum acquire the 1138, put the 1129’s body on the ground for use as a storehouse, and put the 1138’s body on the 1129’s trucks.  Tom Jervan purchased the body of 1138 from Jay Maeder c. 1958, during one of several visits by him and Howard Odinius.  But Frank Sherwin reportedly forbade its being brought to North Chicago, because he did not want any car bodies without trucks on the Foundry property.  Museum members subsequently went back east and stripped what they could from it for our two cars; the remaining hulk was finally hauled away for scrap around 1960.

Tom Jervan with the newly-arrived TM cars at North Chicago, 1955.  Photo by Bob Konsbruck. (SG)

 

Scott adds:

I'm not sure how much of an issue was made of the 1129's structural integrity vis-a-vis the 1138 in the 1950s, so much as seeing the chance to preserve a real "deluxe" 1100 instead of faking one up.  A major problem with the 1138 was that, in order to load it on the flatcar for shipment, the lower chords of the bolsters had been torched off, similar to what happened with Michigan Electric #28.  While not impossible to repair (as demonstrated by the 28), at North Chicago in 1958 that would have seemed like an impossible task.  (I recall Tom telling me that an additional idea that was floated was to put the 1129's trucks under the 1138, put St. Louis 23 trucks under the 1129, and super-backdate it to its Wisconsin Traction Light Heat & Power origins.  Could you imagine that??)

The two TM cars saw minimal maintenance or restoration done at North Chicago, and further deterioration of the bodies was unavoidable.  While at North Chicago, the Menominee was used as the Museum's board meeting room.

TM Cars at North Chicago, August 1959
Used by permission of TrolleyDodger.com

The cars were relocated to Union in 1964 along with the rest of the collection, and they have been stored inside since about 1985. 

TM cars in Yard 1, 1968.  Photo by Tom Desnoyers.

 The exteriors have been painted, and the 1129 has been lettered as 1111 (known as the "Four Aces").

By the mid-80's the 1129 was inside, and had been repainted by Bill Nedden.  Photo by Ron Doerr.

The longtime plan had been to make the 1129 into a replica “1111” in the flashy “speed stripes” paint scheme of the mid-1940s.  Tom Jervan wanted to recreate the deluxe 1100s that he fondly remembered riding as a child, and only three of them (1111, 1112, and 1119) had the same window spacing as the Green Special coaches.  Car 1119 was never a speed striped car (and was destroyed in a collision in August of 1949), so that left only the 1111 and 1112.  1111 was nicknamed “Four Aces” by the fans of the day, and Tom had ridden it on a charter trip over the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha line in June of 1946, so that car was chosen to be “recreated”.  While no significant alterations were made to the 1129 at IRM (though the interior was substantially dismantled), the late Bill Nedden repainted the car as a speed striped “1111” on his own initiative in the 1970s.

1129 on display in Barn 6 in 2010.  Photo by Frank Hicks.

Menominee during switching in 2016.  Photo by Frank Hicks.

Menominee during switching in 2021.  Photo by Bill Wulfert.

These two cars remain an instructive and essential part of IRM's unparalleled collection of Midwest electric equipment.  And if you want to read even more about them, there's an excellent article by Jack Gervais in issue 202 of Rail&Wire from 2004.

And some miscellaneous info: The body of parlor car 1134 Waubesee (L&PS 23) was incorporated into a house in Grand Bend, Ontario at 35 Alberta Street [sources: Canadian Trackside Guide 2020 p. 3-75, and photo of cottage in Wisconsin Electric Lines 2009 issue 272].  Wisconsin Electric Lines issue 272 supplement has detailed information as to how the cars were transported from Ontario to IERM and info on changes made by L&PS.