1931 as Bob Mehlenbeck Saw It

 1931

As Bob Mehlenbeck Saw It

by Art Peterson

All photos are by Bob Mehlenbeck, from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

A family trip in 1931 gave Bob Mehlenbeck, then approaching his 18th birthday, the opportunity to shoot a lot of traction action in nearby states. This trip wasn’t made by train; the family auto was the conveyance. If you look at the typical 1931 state road map, you’ll find paved roads, but also a lot of gravel (“improved”) roads and some that were clearly noted as not being “all-weather routes.” Despite the potential challenges these conditions represented, Bob and his family would visit some unusual destinations/properties in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

A couple of local shots are included prior to the road trip, just to illustrate the variety of subjects available to an enterprising traction photographer. The photos are arranged in chronological order. As a closing note, the prints were scanned straight from the album in which Bob saved them – we apologize in advance for any staining in the prints, etc., but that does make them authentic!

Illinois Terminal (IT) 1593 – Peoria Freight House – March 8, 1931

If you’d been here five days earlier, there wasn’t a trace of snow in Peoria. That all began to change on the 5th of March and the snow kept on through the 7th. Five inches of snow fell on just the 7th, which still is a record for that date in Peoria’s weather history.

The big Class C had been built at Decatur in September 1928, and in common with all other Class Cs, used three sets of cast frames (one each forming the end platforms plus one under the cab) from Commercial Steel in Granite City. The Niedringhaus brothers opened Granite City’s first iron rolling mill in 1878. Steel founding in Granite City dates to 1894 and has continued to this day.

This locomotive made it into the later days of the IT electric freight era, being retired on April 29, 1955, after which it was sold for scrap. IT’s Peoria freight house was located on the southeast corner of Washington & Walnut, just a block east of the passenger station.

Illinois Power & Light (IP&L) 359 – SB Knoxville & Nebraska – June 14, 1931

The franchise for the East Bluff Peoria Horse Railway Company was granted on September 21, 1886. Operation of horse cars on the Knoxville line commenced on Christmas Day 1887. Successor operator Central Railway converted the line to electric cars which entered service on July 29, 1891. Increasing ridership led to double-tracking of the Knoxville line from June 5, 1895.

In 1931, Illinois Power & Light was operating 113 passenger cars over 47 route miles. They already had 31 buses rostered with bus route-miles totaling 22.1. From November 13 of that year, IP&L would add five Brill trolley buses to the fleet when they converted the Monroe line (it would remain the system’s sole trolleybus line). Car 359 was one of 15 St. Louis-built cars delivered in 1918.  It would operate until the end of streetcar service on October 2, 1946. More information on the Peoria system is here.

Rockford & Interurban (R&I) 303 – EB Mulberry at Church – August 5, 1931

Although the negative is damaged, this is still a great shot of one of the seven American Car-built 1927 lightweights (Order No. 1445) at work on a Loves Park local trip. The Elgin, Belvidere & Rockford operation had ended on March 9, 1930, while the R&I interurban lines from both Beloit and Freeport finished up service on September 30, 1930. Delivered in a maroon & white scheme, Bob noted this car now wore an orange with yellow and black trim livery. The Electric Railway Journal reported on the R&I order in its 1927 issues, indicating the contract for the seven cars at a cost of $160,000 ($22,857 per car) had been signed in its March 19 issue and that delivery of the cars was expected in May.

The multi-story building in the back was the Lafayette Hotel. The 120-room hotel had opened in September 1927. The building still stands, now adaptively reused. After the end of the Rockford streetcars on July 4, 1936, the seven American lightweights were sold to the Oklahoma Railway. As it happens, Rockford was another property (like Bob’s hometown Peoria) that had converted one of its streetcar lines to trolleybus operation. Four Brill buses were delivered in late 1930 to operate the North Main-Harlem route, which coincidentally passed through this same intersection. More information on the Rockford system is here.

Twin Cities Rapid Transit (TCRT) – 7th-Wabasha, St. Paul – August 7, 1931

The dueling marquees of the Orpheum and Paramount Theaters identify this location as being in St. Paul’s theater district. The location remains the center of a thriving entertainment district today, though both theaters are gone and this section of 7th Street is now a pedestrian-only mall.  

A TCRT “standard car” (one of 1,234 the company built, first at its Nicolet Shops, and from 1907 at the Snelling Shops) is working Minnehaha Falls-Hazel Park through-routed (Minneapolis-St. Paul) trip. This route pairing became effective in August 1927 and was superseded in September 1932. The 1931 “McGraw Electric Railway Directory” reported that TCRT had a fleet of 1,045 passenger cars and was operating a system that encompassed 522.6 track-miles. The following year, TCRT would report income of $9 million and had transported 113 million passengers. St. Paul’s 17 streetcar routes were abandoned between November 1951 and October 1953.

Duluth Street Railway (DSRy) – Duluth Incline – August 9, 1931

“Other Duties as Assigned” – the job description catch-all describes Snelling Shops’ responsibilities, as in addition to building all the “standard” streetcars for both the Twin Cities and Duluth-Superior systems, the shops also built the two incline cars supplied to DSRy (and assigned car numbers 220-221) in 1911. These cars replaced a pair of deck-roof cars that had run the incline since 1890.

The counter-balance transported riders up/down the 500-foot rise along 7th Avenue West in Duluth. At the top of the incline was the isolated Highland Avenue car line. These cars were 24 feet long by 11 feet wide and could make the ½-mile, one-way trip in 16 minutes. Buses finally replaced the incline operation on September 16, 1939. A walkway along the route of the former incline railway still exists.

DSRy 176 – WB Superior near 6th Avenue W – August 10, 1931

The multiplicity of hotel signs in this view (two immediately alongside the streetcar, plus the Lenox Hotel beckoning in the next block of Superior Street) tells one that this was a key arrival point in Duluth at the time. Indeed, it was – just one block removed from the NP’s Duluth Union Station (today, the Lake Superior Railroad Museum).

DSRy 176 (a member of the 163-177 group, built in 1904-05 at Nicolet Shops) is working a Hunter’s Park line trip in Bob’s view. TCRT supplied 142 “standard” cars for the Duluth system, with build dates between 1901 and 1918. The streetcar lines were replaced by buses on July 8, 1939, though Duluth had begun to convert some lines to trolley bus from October 1931.

The Keynoil truck drawing alongside the streetcar is also worthy of comment. Keynoil was a product of the White Eagle Oil Co., which was formed in the wake of the Standard Oil break-up in 1911. White Eagle Oil disappeared into the Mobil empire during the 1930s.

Lake Superior District Power Co. (LSDPC) 18 – EB Main near Vaughn – August 10, 1931

LSDPC Birney 18 heads east on Main Street near Vaughn in Ashland, Wisconsin, in Bob’s view. The spire in the background is the Ashland City Hall. Vaughn Street, which the car had just crossed is named in honor of Samuel Vaughn a prominent businessman and a backer of some of the early railroad ventures in this part of the state.

Horse cars began running in Ashland on November 2, 1887. Converted to electric operation, the first test runs were made on January 22, 1893. Streetcar operation in Ashland ended on September 25, 1933. The 1931 issue of the “McGraw Electric Railway Directory” noted that LSDPC was controlled by Northwest Utilities, based in Chicago. LSDPC rostered five passenger cars and one service car at the time and was operating on 4.8 miles of track. The fare in 1931 was seven cents.

As for car 18, it had been built by American Car in 1922 as part of a three-car order (cars 16-18) for the Ironwood & Bessemer Railway & Light Co. of Ironwood, MI. When LSDPS bought the Ironwood system (also in 1922), the three cars were transferred to the Ashland property.

Wisconsin Public Service Co. (WPSC) 56 – August 12, 1931

WPSC 56, a member of the six-car order from St. Louis Car (Job No. 1284, with an order date of September 5, 1922) was photographed on South Washington near Crooks in Green Bay. A similar photo of one of the Green Bay Birneys working the Main-Mason line appeared in CERA Bulletin 111. This location was on the way to the carbarn, meaning that Bob (and other fans) would have a better-than-even chance of capturing more “action.” In addition, the Milwaukee Depot was also on this street, explaining presence of the “tourist information” office off to the right of the streetcar.

In 1931, the “Electric Railway Directory” noted that WPSC was under the control of Standard Gas & Electric of Chicago. There were 22 passenger cars and 5 service cars available for use in Green Bay at that time and the company operated over 15.1 track-miles. A single fare cost 10 cents in 1931.

After the end of the Green Bay streetcars in 1937, car 56 headed to the Columbus & Southern Ohio, becoming that property’s car 874. The six cars of this series next moved to Virginia Electric Power’s Norfolk operation in 1940, where the former 56 became car 903.

Escanaba Power & Traction (EP&T) 115 – August 12, 1931

EP&T interurban combines 114-115 were built on American Car Order Number 539 of March 30, 1904. Note the unusual truck design used on these cars – that’s an American 11A truck. Normally, American would have been using trucks designed by Brill, its parent company. American, founded in 1891, was in the hands of trustees by 1902. On September 12, 1902, interests associated with the Brill Company bought American Car.

The interurban car is shown in front of the EP&T carbarn on Stephenson north of Ludington. EP&T had its beginning the development of the in-city lines and the line to Wells in 1892. Service was expanded in 1911 from Wells to Gladstone, where a chemical extraction plant provided considerable traffic for the electric cars. The company’s franchise expired in 1932, at which time the streetcar and interurban service ceased.

EP&T 118-120 – Stephenson/Ludington – August 13, 1931

Despite years of searching, the author has never been able to come up with a complete order list for the McGuire-Cummings Car Co. or any of its predecessors. William McGuire built his first interurban/streetcar truck as early as 1888. Originally based on Sangamon Street, Chicago, the company established its Paris, IL, manufacturing facility in 1902. Reorganized as McGuire-Cummings from January 1, 1904, the company went on to patent numerous electric and mainline railroad devices and car designs. The Chicago plant was closed in 1919.

These two EP&T cars certainly have the look of other McGuire-Cummings products and the trucks under that car closest to Bob look like McGuire 10As. CERA Bulletin 80 indicates that EP&T ordered a single double-truck “semi-steel” city car in 1914, another in 1916 and two similar cars in 1920 (though the 1920 pair were said to be for “interurban” use). The two cars are turning off Stephenson onto Ludington, which would take them to the terminal at the Municipal Docks.

EP&T rostered 10 passenger cars, one freight motor and three service cars in 1931. The company’s rail line consisted of 16.8 track-miles at the time.

Milwaukee Electric (TMER&L) 176 – WB Wells-4th – August 13, 1931

Development and rebuilding of older Milwaukee streetcars into two-car articulated trainsets addressed several problems this property faced coming out of World War One. Crew shortages had meant there were times when TMER&L couldn’t put all the required equipment on the street. The property found that increased costs of labor and materials consumed 90% of the increased operating revenue TMER&L had posted in 1917. These trends continued into the 1920s; from 1918 to 1926, the Electric Railway Journal found that wages (industry-wide) had increased by 85%.

Rebuilding of the older (in this case, 1899 St. Louis-built double-truck cars) into articulated units allowed TMER&L to do more with the available crewmen it could muster. To achieve this economy, a clear center aisle between the cars of a unit was essential, so that passengers boarded at the center entrance and the train could begin moving while fares were still being collected.  Wells-Downer (all branches included) was a line that benefited from the assignment of the higher-capacity trains. In 1926, this route carried 24.6 million riders and reported 8.1 revenue passengers per car-mile, the highest of the Milwaukee streetcar lines at that time. Depression-era ridership decreases led to the withdrawal of these older articulated sets over the 1933-35 timeframe.

Acknowledgements: Several industry publications (as noted above) were consulted to put a little more meat on the bones of this piece. In addition, CERA Bulletins 97 on Wisconsin (1953), 99 on Illinois (1955), 103 on Michigan (1959) and 111 on TMER&L (1972) were of use, as was Interurbans Special 14 on the TCRT (1953). Numerous online 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! This article was laid out and edited by Frank Hicks.