|
Jeremy Whiteman photo, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
Chicago's best version of the PAYE type is represented at the museum by No. 225, built by the Pullman Company in 1908 for the Chicago Railways. It was one of 600 cars of this type. The order for these cars specified that they were to have the best of everything, regardless of weight or cost. Car 225 has sliding doors that, in its operating days in the Windy City, were supposed to be opened and closed by the conductor whenever the car stopped to pick up or discharge passengers. As many Chicagoans still fondly recall, however, these doors seldom were shut and full stops were made only for the lame, halt, and blind. The conductor was allowed to give the proceed bell if a man had one foot on the step and his hand on the grab iron; a women had to be inside the vestibule.
Chicago Surface Lines, which took over operation of all the city's street railways on February 1, 1914, was for many years the world's largest street railway with over 1000 miles of track and more than 3000 streetcars. During the 1930s, CSL carried more passengers each day than all U.S. steam railroads and fledging airlines combined, while competing with the separate Chicago Rapid Transit Company, which operated the city's very extensive system of elevated lines.
After the Chicago surface and rapid transit lines were taken over by the publicly owned Chicago Transit Authority in 1947, the trolley cars gradually were replaced by buses and trackless trolleys. As the conversion process progressed, many cars far newer than No. 225 and hundreds like it were scrapped first. They were outlasted only by CTA's large fleet of PCC streamliners. Seashore purchased Car 225 from the CRA in 1957, after all of the class had been withdrawn from service.
History from Historic Cars: The National Collection at the Seashore Trolley Museum by Ben Minnich
Photos on this website are not to be used elsewhere without permission from the photographer or the Society.
Return to - National Streetcars - Collection Index
|
