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Chicago Surface Lines An Illustrated History by Alan R. Lind w Dust Jacket 1974
Chicago Surface Lines An Illustrated History by Alan R. Lind w Dust Jacket 1974
DUST JACKET HAS DAMAGE - PLEASE VIEW PHOTOS TO ASSESS CONDITION
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
Copyright 1974
By Alan R. Lind
400 pages
The complete story of the worlds largest street railway system, illustrated with more than 500 photographs, many equipment rosters, tables, and detailed system maps.
About this book: Many books have celebrated Chicago's pre-eminent place as a railroad, airline, truck, and waterway center; few books have focused on the city's internal transportation system. For more than a half-century electric streetcars were the prime movers of Chicagoans, and this book tells the story of those cars.
It's a big story. The Chicago Surface Lines was the world's largest street railway, with more miles of track, more cars, and more passengers than any other company. In fact during the 1930s the Surface Lines carried more passengers each day than all the nation's railroads and airlines combined. Although always overshadowed by the streetcars, CSL's fair-sized fleet of gas buses and trolley coaches carried more passengers than the'CSL's arch rival, the Chicago Motor Coach Company, an all-bus operation.
Old-timers browsing through this book will recall the Chicago of their youth, when clanging scarlet and cream trolleys rumbled down a hundred streets. Younger readers will recall with equal vividness the sleek streamlined streetcars that might yet be running today, had circumstances taken a different turn.
In these pages every aspect of the Surface Lines is explored, from the cars to the routes to the day-to-day operations. Over 500 photographs, more than a dozen maps, and a score of tables and rosters complement the text. For that growing band of CSL enthusiasts who like to build scale model streetcars, there are some scale car drawings and equipment diagrams. The CSL's early gas buses and trolley coaches get full coverage too.
Chicago Surface Lines was formed in 1914 as an operating association by the four major streetcar companies then operating in the city. The four companies owned all the streetcars and buses, the track in the streets, and the carbarns and shops that maintained the cars and buses. As far as the public knew, it was all one company. Transfers were issued between all lines, the same fare prevailed throughout Chicago, and for many years all buses and cars carried the carmine red and cream paint scheme that was CSL's standard.
Following the passage of the Settlement Ordinances in 1907, which paved the way for the Unification Ordinance of 1913, there was a period of unprecedented rehabilitation and growth of the street railway system. This period ended abruptly in the early Thirties. The Surface Lines struggled against the Depression and the rise of automobile, and the four underlying companies went into receivership. In the 1930s CSL brought a new form of public transportation to Chicago - the trolley coach. This cross between a streetcar and a bus caught on, and the system grew until it became the largest in the nation. Started in the late Twenties, CSL's gas bus fleet
Introduction3
Acknowledgments5
Cottage Grove Line: 1859 to 1914 8
Introduction to passenger cars15
Surface Lines passenger cars50
CSL work and utility equipment 129
(Roster on pages 156-159)
An introduction to CSL routes 175 Where the cars and buses ran 221
(Maps on pages 332-345)
Competition and co-operation 347 Carhouses, garages, and shops 356
Wooden cars and iron men368
Buses with sticks on top379
Equipment appendix388
(Motor bus roster pages 388-389)
(Equipment drawings pages 398-399)
(Streetcar & trolley bus roster page 400)
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
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