Swift Improvement

 Buzz Morisette reports:

I finished most of the lettering on the Swift reefer behind B&G today.  Good thing, as it's not getting any cooler in the near future.

Most people following their navigation systems from I-90 now come up Olson Road, so this is a nice improvement.  Thanks to Dave Diamond for the paint job, and thanks to Bob Albertson/Freight Shop for the research and $$$ for the vinyl stencils.

Special Trip

Frank writes...

A few hardy souls braved the heat for the first day of Traction Weekend today. Fortunately, there was a nice breeze that kept things bearable, and with a variety of electric trains running, it seemed like everyone was having a good time. I wasn't out to work in the shop - I just stopped out for an hour or so in the late afternoon for a special trip.

Remember our "Take a Seat" fundraiser that raised money to reupholster the seats in the three 450s? With the seats in the 460 nearly all done, we invited our donors along for the last trip of the day as something of a belated dedication. The 431 and 460 were on the day's schedule, but an issue with the 431 meant that the crew of Dan and Chris Buck had to take the North Shore train out instead. But thanks to Dan and Chris's flexibility, and invaluable assistance from Richard and Jeron in the car shop, the NSL cars got put away early and the 460 came out for a solo trip a little after 3pm.

A couple of our project donors were able to make it, including motorman Dan himself, pictured above.

And here's Bruce standing in front of the car with Dan in the window. If you donated, remember to take a look at the seat map we've inserted into the ad card rack in the car to find "your" seat. We'd like to extend a huge thank you to all our donors, both for the "Take a Seat" project and for all our other appeals. Your donations help us keep these cars running and we're always grateful.

Illinois Terminal: The Office Cars

Illinois Terminal Office Cars

All photos from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

Thanks to Art Peterson, who has sent a fascinating collection of IT photos. This page covers photos of cars 233 and 234, which in later years comprised the railroad's office cars, and are preserved at IRM as such.

Car 233 - Built 1905 by St. Louis Car Company

The oldest preserved IT interurban car, 233 was built in 1905 as a Corn Belt Route car named "Missouri." In 1909 it was sent to AC&F, which rebuilt it for use as an office car. The builder's photo above was taken that year following its conversion.

This photo shows the inside of the car looking forward as of its 1909 rebuilding. The motorman's cab is visible through the partition doorway at the front left corner of the car. Compare this with a photo taken in 2024 here, the second image under "main compartment." Many details have changed but the car's overall layout is largely identical to what it is today.

The office car is pictured at Emery on October 12, 1910. Check out that headlight!

Car 233's moment of fame was when it and 234 transported President Taft from St. Louis to Springfield on February 19, 1911, for a speech to the Lincoln Centennial Association. This photo was taken in downtown Springfield. I believe Taft is seated in the center window here, though he's hard to see due to the reflection.

When George Krambles took this photo in Urbana on October 13, 1934, the ITS had been gone for six years but the office car still wore its earlier owner's name complete with later-style oval herald. Behind the motorman's door it also has "I.T.INC." lettering.

This shot was taken the same day by George.

This photo was also taken by George that same day and shows motorman Tim Brusk in the motorman's cab doorway.

What a great shot! One year later, on October 26, 1935, George Krambles caught car 233 in fresh IT Traction Orange eastbound on University Avenue at Chester. It's towing parlor-observation car 511, the Urbana, and office-observation car Sangamon, which the following year would gain a number: 234.

William C. Janssen snapped this photo of 233 at Springfield on October 29, 1936.

Sometime around the late 1930s, car 233 was heavily rebuilt. It acquired "hips" that converted its railroad roof into an arched roof; had its arched stained glass windows plated over; and had air conditioning added, which meant installation of truck-mounted brake cylinders since the extra under-floor equipment meant there wasn't space for normal brake rigging. This undated photo was taken at Springfield and shows the car with storm windows installed.

Like most of the main-line IT fleet, car 233 ended its days in blue. But it and car 234, which by this time was paired almost permanently with 233 to form the "office train," acquired a unique variation of the blue livery. Both cars were blue with a silver letterboard, blue IT lettering, and a dark grey or black roof. This photo of 233 and 234 at the St. Louis terminal was taken on April 26, 1953, by Tom Desnoyers.

Car 234 - Built 1910 by Danville Car Company

Car 234 was built as an unnumbered parlor-observation and named Champaign. In 1927, it was renamed Sangamon. This photo is undated, but it shows combine 284 and the Sangamon in "Illinois Traction System" lettering and Traction Orange paint, a rare combination that suggests the 1927-1928 time period. Note the roof boards towards the rear of the Sangamon; I recall Bob Bruneau telling me that for a brief period in its earlier history, this car had actually been motorized.

The above photo was taken by George Krambles on October 13, 1934, and shows the Sangamon trailing another parlor-observation and a combine on Bash Court, on the line into downtown Champaign from Urbana and Danville. By this time, the car has been relettered for Illinois Terminal.

This interior photo by George Krambles is dated to the same October 1934 date. It was taken looking out the rear of the car onto the observation platform. Today, the door onto the platform is centered, but during this period it was offset to the left side of the car.

Taken one year later, on October 5, 1935, this beautiful shot shows the attractive original lines of the Sangamon, with arched stained-glass windows and a railroad roof. Note that the car lacks a front stepwell and only has a stirrup at that location. The lamp under the platform appears to have been added within the previous year.

This shot was taken the same day. In front of the Sangamon is car 513, the Clinton, with "Reserve Seat Coach" lettering; coach trailer 528; and an unidentified combine. The arched windows on this car were apparently single-pane, in contrast with the leaded stained glass windows on the combines.

This evocative shot shows combine 278 pulling 234, just given a number in place of the name Sangamon within the previous few months, at East Peoria on April 8, 1936. Photo by Robert V. Mehlenbeck.

Car 234 only looked like this for about two years, between when it acquired its number and went through a major rebuilding. It's shown at Springfield in an October 29, 1936, photo by William C. Janssen.

It's fall 1938 and car 234 looks like it's fresh out of its major rebuilding at Decatur Shops. It lost its arched stained-glass windows and had "hips" added to its roof to make an arch roof. It also acquired ice-bunker air conditioning, though unlike the motor cars, there wasn't so much equipment under the floor so as to necessitate conversion to truck-mounted brake cylinders.

This side view was taken at the same time. Note that although the car had acquired steel sheathing over the windows, the window posts and sides were still tongue-and-groove siding. I recall that Bob Bruneau, who was certainly a fan of this car, bemoaned that after it lost its railroad roof it "looked like a loaf of bread."

This William C. Janssen photo is undated but shows car 234 at Decatur in a fresh coat of blue with a silver letterboard and black or dark grey roof.

The "office train" of 233 and 234 is shown at the St. Louis terminal on April 26, 1953, in this Tom Desnoyers shot. After these cars were retired, they were purchased by the Illini Railroad Club and eventually made their way to IRM.

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Sunday Report

Frank writes...

Sunday was a very pleasant Father's Day, sunny and warm, and there was a rather large crowd out - I was told it was our best-attended day so far this year.

I spent most of my time on Shaker Heights 63, shown above in a view you're probably getting tired of. It's hard to tell, but the belt rail stripes now have a first coat of maroon, while the drip rail below the standee windows is now in primer all the way around the car. I also marked the belt rail stripes down the left side of the car in preparation for masking them.

Brian and Joel were working on finishing up the 277 brake rigging project; all the new bushings have now been pressed into place, some in the original brake heads and beams and some in newly fabricated brake beams, and any needed grinding has been done. The 277 is on the schedule for Trolley Weekend, coming up this weekend, so the guys will be working on reinstalling all the rigging during the week. A couple of the other car shop regulars were in revenue service. In other news, Jacob brought out the advertising cards shown above. These seem to range from the late 1960s to maybe the late 1970s, so you won't see them in our CA&E cars, but they're perfect for some of our CTA 'L' cars and buses.

Illinois Terminal: The Main-Line Cars

Illinois Terminal Main-Line Cars

All photos from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

Thanks go to Art Peterson, who has sent a fascinating collection of IT photos. This page covers some of the combines, trailers, and sleepers that were used on the system's main-line trains.

Car 241 - Built 1908 by American Car & Foundry

In 1908, AC&F built 10 cars numbered 240-249 for the Illinois Traction System (ITS). Per standard ITS/IT practice, they only had baggage doors on the right side. They were wood cars but had steel-sheathed sides as built. The above photo, taken at AC&F, is dated April 3, 1908.

Here's a builder's shot of the same car dated April 9, 1908. These cars were set up for either AC or DC operation, so they could be used over the AC line between Peoria and Champaign, but that system was short-lived and the AC equipment was removed within a year or two. Note the trolley base supports raised up on insulators.

This interior view of car 241 shows the smoker/baggage compartment with the motorman's cab on the far right and the baggage door on the left. I've been inside car 241, which is preserved today at the National Museum of Transport in St. Louis, and from memory I believe there's no full-height cab door. It's a "duck-under" with the door only extending about 3' up from the floor for some reason.

We seem to be looking forward with all the seats facing rearward, which seems odd for a single-ended car. The window shades are mounted up inside the tops of the walls and obscure the stained-glass upper sash, similar to how the CA&E 300-308 series were arranged.

This December 31, 1932, photo shows car 241 crossing the P&PU at East Peoria. Photo by Robert V. Mehlenbeck.

Brrr! Car 241 is at Big Rock Wye in Georgetown, south of Danville, during a sleet storm on February 3, 1936. Photo by William C. Janssen.

Car 241 was painted during the period between the transition from the ITS to the IT and the adoption of Traction Orange as the IT color scheme, so it wore an increasingly tired coat of Pullman Green - but with IT lettering and oval herald - through much of the 1930s. Here it is spotted at Springfield in the early/mid-1930s in a photo by Robert V. Mehlenbeck, with car 245 from the same series behind it.

It's  around 1939 and car 241 is in the traction orange livery it would wear for the last 12+ years of its service life, until it was retired and donated to NMoT in 1950. This photo was taken by William C. Janssen in Peoria.

This undated photo by Robert V. Mehlenbeck shows car 241 and trailer 524 on street trackage. Today, car 241 is in rough shape but it is preserved indoors after many years of outdoor storage. It's the last IT car in existence with a railroad roof. UPDATE: Zach Ehlers has determined that this location is in Danvers, on the Bloomington line, probably on Exchange at West Street.

Car 277 - Built 1913 by St. Louis Car Company

Combines 273-285 were the culmination of the Bosenbury design. They were similar to earlier combines like the 240-series in layout, but sported the arched roofs that had started appearing with the sleepers a few years earlier. This photo, said to be at Mattis, shows 277 and two trailers followed by another combine pulling two trailers of its own. The banner on the second car is only partly legible but refers to an "Annual Picnic, Bloomington, Ill."

That's a bit of a "yikes" - the 277 seems to have sideswiped something that knocked a queenpost over and took out its step well, also damaging the step on the following trailer. This photo by HGS is dated July 7, 1934, and the 277 appears largely unmodified from original condition except for orange paint.

This undated photo shows 277 pulling trailer 532 at Matheny, near East Peoria. Car 277 has now been rebuilt with its upper sash windows plated over.

Car 277 is at 21st & Madison in Granite City in this undated photo by William C. Janssen. At the same time 277 had its upper sash windows plated over, it also acquired air conditioning, and the amount of space under the car taken up by the A/C equipment necessitated changing the brake rigging to truck-mounted cylinders.

Car 277 is pulling parlor car 512, the Cerro Gordo, at Champaign in this undated George Krambles photo.

It's November 21, 1943, and car 277 with trailer 528 in tow is boarding passengers at the Peoria terminal as train #93.

Car 277 and trailer 532 are at Washington & Walnut in Peoria, having just departed the terminal. This photo is undated but shows car 277 with the "safety window" added to the motorman's cab, making this a close match for the target date of its restoration at IRM.

Car 277 ended its career in blue paint with a silver roof, as shown in this July 29, 1954, photo credited to Willis A. McCaleb. UPDATE: Art has determined this photo was taken in Morton.

In another photo taken the same day by the same photographer, car 277 is stopped in the street. UPDATE: Thanks to Zach Ehlers, who has identified this as Chicago Street in Lincoln, right across from the GM&O depot. The single-story buildings are still there. Art confirms the location.

Car 518 - Built 1911 by St. Louis Car Company

Trailers 516-527 were all-wood cars constructed with traditional tongue-and-groove siding that was only plated over with steel later in their careers. They did, however, sport new high-arched roofs that matched the sleeping cars. Here, car 518, today preserved at IRM, is seen sometime around 1934 in largely original condition. It still wears ITS lettering but has the later IT-style oval herald. Photo by Robert V. Mehlenbeck.

Taken at about the same time (possibly the same day) by William C. Janssen, this photo shows car 518 at Springfield.

Tom Desnoyers photographed car 518 on March 4, 1950, at Decatur. By this time, the car had acquired floor-to-letterboard steel sheathing, including over its arched upper sash windows, and had also acquired a trolley pole at one end. The car is preserved in this condition at IRM.

Car 504 "Peoria" - Built 1910 by American Car & Foundry

In 1910, AC&F built two modern sleeping cars for the ITS numbered 504-505 and named Peoria and St. Louis, respectively. Three more cars of similar design followed over the following three years. Car 504, today preserved at IRM as the last IT sleeping car in existence, is pictured here in IT orange in a photo by Robert V. Mehlenbeck.

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