Lake Shore 73 progress

 Many thanks to Bob Harris, who has sent along photos showing recent progress on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73, the only surviving wood car from the predecessor to the South Shore Line. This is a truly stunning project and has entailed a tremendous amount of rebuilding and restoration. The car being restored is pretty unique - it may be the only surviving wooden AC car, not too surprising given how few early interurban lines used AC power transmission. Since the last update, the car's copper-sheathed roof has been completed and exterior painting is now well underway.

And a late addition showing additional progress:

South Shore departs Fox River

Thanks to Bob Harris, who has alerted me that both of the Fox River Trolley Museum's South Shore Line interurban cars have departed South Elgin for good. The photo above, from Bob, shows CSS&SB 7 at its new home on private property in Michigan City, Indiana where it has just arrived.

Car 7 - shown above in a photo taken at FRTM in 2014 - is a standard un-lengthened South Shore car built by Pullman in 1926 as part of the railroad's initial order for steel coaches. It was part of the collection of South Shore cars acquired in 1984 by the National Park Service and didn't show up at FRTM until 1988. At that point it was on "permanent loan" but in 2010 the NPS divested itself of its far-flung collection of South Shore cars and at that time it was formally conveyed to FRTM. During its entire time in South Elgin it's been a static display piece, far heavier than the museum's line was designed for, and its condition has slowly deteriorated.

So that's the first of the two South Shore cars to have left FRTM. The second is the one above, South Shore car 14, shown in another photo from 2014. Car 14 was also built in 1926 as part of the railroad's first order for steel cars but it was one of the cars stretched in the 1940s by the railroad's shops to an overall length of 77'6" (compared with its 60' original length). This car was acquired by FRTM straight from the South Shore in 1984 so it's been a static display piece at South Elgin for more than 35 years. The years have not been kind to this car and its condition had deteriorated badly. It was scrapped, with its parts going towards car 7 and other preserved South Shore cars in Indiana. It has been removed from the PNAERC list.

By my estimation, Fox River is to be commended for getting rid of these two cars, as they had become little more than eyesores. The museum's public presentation can only benefit. There is no loss from an historic standpoint as there are still 28 extant South Shore coaches including 11 from this exact order. The new owner of car 7 is also to be commended for taking on a significant, though certainly feasible, project.

Miscellaneous updates

A few updates to the PNAERC list have come across my desk recently, so here's a general housekeeping update. First, Bob Harris has sent in a couple of photos showing recent progress on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73:

These are brand new clerestory window frames to go with the nice copper roof that was recently documented. The amount and quality of craftsmanship going into this car is extremely impressive.

Second, a huge thank you to Bill West, who sent me an extensively-researched roster of every Pennsylvania Railroad MP-54 ever built. The sheer amount of data in the roster is staggering; many cars were renumbered one, two, three, or even four times during their lives and in most cases these renumberings are listed along with the year and month. This invaluable resource has allowed me to fill out the ownership history of all nine of the PRR MP-54 type cars included on the PNAERC list. I'm still not sure exactly when most of the cars were sold by SEPTA to their respective preservation-industry owners, but I finally have a full and accurate picture of their service lives. Thanks, Bill!

And finally, circling back around to car 73, I received news from Bill Wulfert that South Shore interurban car 205 has been scrapped. The 205 was the second-to-last surviving trailer from the South Shore - and the very last one is in peril. Car 205 was stored in steadily deteriorating condition at the Indiana Transportation Museum from its retirement in 1984 until 2018, when the eviction of the ITM collection from the park in Noblesville led to the car's sale to a private party and removal (shown above) to an off-site storage location. Car 205's generally poor condition did not make it a good candidate for restoration but it was thoroughly stripped for parts which will aid in the restoration of car 73 and possibly other preserved South Shore cars from the steel era.

Lake Shore 73 update

Thanks to Bob Harris for sending along another set of photos documenting progress on the last Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend interurban car, CLS&SB 73. Recent work by project workers Glenn and Gary has focused on installing new copper sheathing on the car's roof. While this is an unusual roof coating for interurban cars, it was used by the Lake Shore and (I believe) some other high-voltage lines early in the 20th century.

 Note the intricate bends needed to shape the copper around the clerestory window frames. I'm not certain how much of the clerestory will get copper sheathing.

The following photos were taken a few days after the previous ones and show significant progress being made as the copper steadily marches down the length of the car:

Here we see Gary working to seal the seams of the copper sheets:

The curves at the corner of the car's roof give you an idea of the craftsmanship needed to create something like this:

South Shore 73 update

Many thanks to Bob Harris, who has forwarded a series of photos detailing recent progress on the roof of Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73. This is the last surviving South Shore Line wood car and it is the subject of a tremendous restoration project from chicken-coop condition. Recently the focus has been on the roof of the car, which was sheathed - unusually for an electric car - in copper. Well-known wood car restoration expert Glenn Guerra has been heading up this work.

The first five photos from a week or two ago detail various stages of installation of the copper sheets on the front end of the car's roof:

And the last two photos, taken more recently, show the front end of the car's roof following completion of the copper sheeting installation with all of the joints sealed up. Very impressive work!

Car 73 is a big car and there's a lot of work left to do, but the compound curves on the ends of the roof are obviously the most intricate and complicated parts of the roof work. This is a fairly unique accomplishment; I can't think of any other cars in traction preservation that have had this kind of copper sheathing totally replicated from scratch.

Progress on the Lake Shore car

Many thanks to Bob Harris, who has sent along some more photos of restoration progress on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73. The car is being worked on in Murphysboro, Illinois and work is progressing at a steady pace.

The latest progress is that the copper sheathing is going onto the roof. The what? It turns out that the CLS&LS cars had wooden roofs sheathed with copper instead of covered with canvas. This seems improbable on an electric car but there were evidently a few lines that did this and of course electric cars with steel or, later, aluminum roofs weren't at all uncommon. Evidence suggests that the CLS&SB left the roofs unpainted so that the finish would end up with an oxidized copper look. It should be quite striking when done. Above and below, Glenn is working on installing the copper sheets on the end of the car.

UPDATE: Bob has sent along two more photos, including one showing one end of car 73's roof already clad in copper sheets. Pretty sharp!

Progress on CLS&SB 73

Many thanks to Bob Harris, who has sent along several photos showing recent restoration work on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73, the last surviving wood car from the South Shore. The car is currently undergoing a major restoration from "chicken coop" status at a facility in Murphysboro, Illinois.

A lot of recent work has concentrated on the interior, particularly bulkhead seat frames. Note the finished bulkhead and wall woodwork.

Here's a newly-built seat frame adjoining the restored toilet compartment.

The amount of work that goes into accurately replicating woodwork like this is incredible.

Doors have also been a recent focus. Here's the train door at one end of the car.

Gary, one of the project workers, looking out one of the side doors. Primer has been applied to portions of the car's exterior.

Here Glenn, the project foreman, uses a hand planer to shape another door, just like the way it was done in the old days.

Two electrics leave Noblesville

The City of Noblesville has now officially evicted the Indiana Transportation Museum from Forest Park. Most of the remaining electrics owned by ITM are still in the park and are now under the authority, if not the property, of the city. A previous post on Wednesday had noted that Singer 1 was moved to temporary storage in Francesville on Wednesday the 10th. It's now been confirmed that the locomotive was sold to RAIL Foundation of Michigan City. Definite plans for the diminutive locomotive have not been finalized but it is intended that it be preserved and placed on display. For the time being its ownership has been updated.

Another piece of electric equipment that left Forest Park on Wednesday was the Lafayette Birney body shown above (well, you'll have to use your imagination!) in a photo taken about a week ago. This car, whose number is unknown, has also been acquired by RAIL Foundation and moved into temporary storage in Francesville. It is intended that the car be preserved and, eventually, restored.

These two departures leave a total of 12 pieces of electric railway equipment still listed under ITM ownership. Three are Lackawanna MU cars stored in Cicero on a privately-owned siding, so it's thought that those cars are still under ITM ownership and control. Of the other nine, ownership is uncertain given the eviction order but most are thought to have been sold (at least on paper) to other organizations. For the time being, I'm following my longtime practice of not considering a car's ownership to be formally transferred until the car itself has moved, hence the nine pieces of equipment remaining in Forest Park will remain listed under ITM ownership until they're relocated. Whether that happens sooner or later is tough to predict.

Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73 update

Many thanks to Bob Harris of RAIL Foundation who has forwarded along some update photos showing recent progress on Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73. This historic wooden interurban is the only surviving car from the CLS&SB, the predecessor to the Chicago South Shore & South Bend, and was rescued in "chicken coop" condition in the early 1990s. Bob and master woodworker Glenn Guerra have been rebuilding the car and, after a hiatus, work has recently resumed. It will truly be a spectacular car when it's complete.

Second car leaves Noblesville for preservation

A second car has left the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville for preservation. This time it's Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee 606, later Chicago Transit Authority S-606, a wooden line car built for the railroad in 1923 and shown above in service in a 1952 Don Ross photo.

It doesn't look quite so good now. After the North Shore quit the 606 was sold to the CTA, which renumbered it S-606 and rebuilt it somewhat for use as a line car for its Skokie and Evanston lines that still used overhead wire at the time. Around 1975 the car suffered a grievous fire which led to its immediate retirement and in 1978 the hulk was sold to ITM and moved to Noblesville. It has been stored there in steadily worsening condition since (the above photo is from 2001).

Its new owner is RAIL Foundation, which has moved the 606's body (really more of a stripped frame at this point) to Murphysboro, Illinois where the organization is rebuilding South Shore wooden interurban combine 73. The trucks and mechanical components have been put into off-site storage. The eventual plan is to recreate the 606's body, using the original frame and what metal components can be salvaged, and restore the trucks and equipment for use under the car. It's a daunting prospect but if it happens this really will be a phoenix story like few others in rail preservation.

Chicago 'L' car leaves Noblesville

This news is a couple of weeks late, but a Facebook post here confirms that one of the 4000s at the Indiana Transportation Museum has, indeed, been moved to the RAIL Foundation site in Michigan City. It's impossible to tell from the photo but other sources suggest that this is car 4293, built by Cincinnati in 1922. It was acquired by ITM directly from the CTA and was the second 4000 to operate in Noblesville. It seems that after car 4454 (recently scrapped) was taken out of service, apparently in the 1980s, car 4293 was fixed up and painted in 1920s Chicago Elevated green and orange. It ran until sometime around 1999 or so, when it suffered a failure and was taken out of service, thus closing out forever the era of traction operation in Forest Park. I recall riding it in about 1996 and then seeing it again in 2001, by which time it was in the workshop and partly disassembled.

Anyway, car 4293 was in the best condition of the 4000s at ITM so it's good to see it saved. Its move to Michigan City makes it the first electric car to leave Noblesville intact since Chicago Aurora & Elgin 308 was sold to the Illinois Railway Museum back in 1996.

CLS&SB 73 interior

Bob Harris was kind enough to send along this recent interior photo of Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend 73 showing the state of the restoration at the moment. Glen Guerra and Gary Stott have been working on the car and Bob has said he will forward some additional photos as he receives them. Stay tuned!