CERA's South Shore Line Inspection Trip
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During the tour, most of us gravitated to the crown jewel of the shop complex.... line car 1100 which was parked on one of the old shop lead tracks. This former interurban railway post office car was purchased from the Indiana Railroad in 1941, and it was converted into a line car by the South Shore Line in 1947. With the exception of the new style pantograph, this photogenic beauty has changed little over the years and it is still used to maintain the railroad’s overhead trolley wires.
Line car 1100 was built in 1926 by the St. Louis Car Company as a railway post office car number 376 for the Indiana Service Corporation which was later absorbed into the legendary Indiana Railroad interurban network. After the Indiana Railroad was abandoned in the early 1940s, the South Shore Line acquired the car and converted it into a line car in 1947. It has been used to install and maintain the 1500 Volts DC trolley wire on the South Shore Line for 52 years!
This wonderful old car is almost unchanged since it was put into service on the South Shore Line. The wooden platform on the roof moves up and down and swings out over the side of the car to enable linemen to service the trolley wire. The car is complete with old style marker lamps and interurban headlights.
After the tour, CERA group members were given the option to take Train 511 farther east to South Bend, or westbound Train 510 back to Chicago. During the ride back, the latter train’s pantograph dewired at Burns Ditch between Michigan City and Gary. The pantograph damaged about one half mile of wire before becoming bent and tangled in it. After wrestling with the pantograph for nearly an hour, the motorman and a lineman managed to untangle it, lower it, and tie it down so we could be on our way. All-in-all, it was an interesting and informative fantrip.
The modern stainless steel interurban cars are equipped with very conventional-looking controls. The General Electric multiple unit controller (throttle) is on the left. It has six positions: OFF, COAST, SWITCHING, SERIES, PARALLEL, and FIELD SHUNTING. Depending on the number of cars in the train, track grade, and headwind, the train can reach around 75 miles per hour with the handle in the last position. The reverse key fits into the socket on the top, left of the controller. It has three positions: FORWARD, NEUTRAL, AND REVERSE. The controller handle cannot be moved without the reverse key in the forward or reverse position. The air brake stand is on the right. The brake handle fits in the socket at the top. When the handle is moved all the way to the left, the brakes are released. Emergency braking is achieved with the handle all the way to the right. The brakes are normally applied by moving the handle between the two extremes.
Chicago-bound Train 510 had to stop at Burns Ditch between Michigan City and Gary because the pantograph dewired, tore up the trolley wire support cables, and became tangled in the wires. The twisted pantograph can be seen above the middle of the first car. The pantograph is a spring loaded device on the top of the cars that rubs against the trolley wire to get the electricity to power the car's motors.
The South Shore Line was once a part of Samuel Insull’s great utility empire in the 1920s and 1930s. Insull’s empire included other legendary electric interurban railroads like the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad (a.k.a. the North Shore Line, abandoned 1963) and the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin Railroad (abandoned 1961).
The South Shore Line was the only Insull interurban to come into Chicago over steam railroad tracks when the ICRR granted trackage rights over its newly-electrified suburban line in 1926. Because it was built to high standards and runs through heavily industrialized portions of Chicago and northern Indiana, the South Shore Line outlived its sister interurban railways due to substantial revenues earned from freight and transfer service.
By the 1970s, the railroad’s owners wanted to shift all focus to diesel freight service and abandon electric interurban passenger operations altogether. Freight service was dieselized and passenger service was neglected. Coaches became rundown due to lack of maintenance and passengers began to leave in droves because of unreliable service. The interurban would be gone today if the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) was not formed in 1977.
Combination cars 101 and 108 sit at the Michigan City shops awaiting a westbound run to Chicago on New Years Eve, 1982. They were built by Pullman in 1926 and were lengthened and modernized by the South Shore Line in the 1940s. During the 1970s, the cars were allowed to become dirty and rundown in anticipation of abandonment of passenger service by the railroad.
NICTD was established by the state of Indiana to revitalize passenger service by purchasing new stainless steel coaches and upgrading the line to accommodate them. By 1983, all of the old orange 1920s-era interurban coaches were retired. The railroad still owned the line and operated freight service, but by the late 1980’s it declared bankruptcy. NICTD was forced to purchase the bankrupt railroad and now operates both passenger and freight service.
If you have any questions or comments about this story, please email Phil O'Keefe at:
Contrary to popular belief, this website is not supported or maintained by NICTD. To get information about South Shore Line passenger train schedules and ticket prices, go to NICTD's website by clicking on this hyperlink:
The Central Electric Railfans' Association (CERA) now has a website! To learn more about CERA trolley books, electric railway excursions, and social events you can get there by clicking on the following hyperlink:
Central Electric Railfans' Association
You can also write CERA at the following address:
Central Electric Railfans' Association
P.O. Box 503
Chicago, Illinois 60690
Did you ever hear about Chicago's 60-mile common carrier two foot gauge electric railroad? The Chicago Tunnel Company operated 149 locomotives and over 3000 freight cars through a maze of underground passageways 40 feet below the streets of downtown Chicago from 1906 until 1959. To find out more about this obscure railroad, visit my website by clicking on the picture above or the button below:
In September of 1999, the Chicago Transit Authority ran their two 1920s-vintage elevated cars on an exciting fan trip over the Orange Line to Midway Airport. Click on the picture above to find out about this trip and discover why these cars may never carry passengers again!
