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.