Back on Home Rails

Frank writes...

We come to you today not from Union, but rather from the Pullman neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. This weekend was Railroad Days in Pullman, and in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the electrification of the Illinois Central Railroad suburban line, there were some unusual festivities.

The highlight for me was that IRM sent the last surviving set of 1920s IC MU cars, motor car 1198 and matching trailer 1380, to Chicago to participate in the celebration. This was the first time these cars have left IRM grounds since they first arrived back in 1972, and a lot of planning and effort went into making it happen. The cars were on display at Millennium Park Station on Thursday, where there was a presentation made by the head of Metra, and their next time on display was this weekend in Pullman. After this weekend, they'll head back to Union. In the above photo, you can also see South Shore car 3, but more on that later.

My daughter and I drove down to Pullman to see the sights as visitors. The display cars were on the west side of the 111th Street platform of the Metra Electric line. It was really cool to see the IC MU cars back on home rails and in their element. Above, motor car 1198 was facing south in proper IC fashion. I think the last time an electric car from IRM's collection left the property was the "Ali" film shoot some 25 years ago; does that sound right?

NICTD, for its part, took their car 3 - part of the original order for Sumitomo interurban cars that replaced the old "orange cars" back in the early 1980s - and painted it back in as-delivered colors. This included broad orange and maroon stripes as well as fully lettered letterboards. The car looks very sharp!

Here's the inside of car 1198. The Railroad Days volunteers were bringing groups of attendees through the cars, while a few of our volunteers were there to talk about the IC MU cars and answer questions.

There were a bunch of these very nice exhibit boards displayed throughout the 1198.

Look who's escaped from IRM! It's Zach, in full IC uniform, and Nick, our current and erstwhile presidents, respectively.

Inside of South Shore 3, the railroad had removed half the seats and put up some nice exhibits. In one half of the car there were various "3-D" displays like thsi large steam engine model.

And then in the other half of the car were display boards about the South Shore, which of course was electrified at high-voltage AC prior to the IC electrification, but which changed to 1500V DC in the 1920s and began running over the IC into downtown Chicago to provide a one-seat ride from northern Indiana to Randolph Street.

There was also a very nice neighborhood fair-type setup in the park just east of the station, next to the Hotel Florence, where a variety of nonprofits had tents set up. And the CTA Historic Fleet even brought a fishbowl bus, on which they were giving rides. Steven, who volunteers regularly at IRM working on buses, has a "day job" with the CTA and was there helping the bus crew. My daughter and I dutifully went for a ride. I snapped the above photo of the interior, however I forgot to get an exterior of the bus. But you know what a bus looks like, you've seen them before.