Chicago taxicabs in the 1950's

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Can anybody tell me what colour Chicago cabs were in the 1950’s. I need one to finish off this scene, as the bloke on the left seems to be hailing thin air.

Thanks,

Jon

2

In the 50’s they were checker board green & white.

I thought the cabs were made by the Checker Car Company, perhaps out of Kalamazoo Mi.

3

There were two big taxicab companies in Chicago in the 1950’s, Checker and Yellow. Checker cabs were green and white; Yellow cabs were yellow. Both companies used Checker Marathons from the late 1950’s to the 1980’s.

4

There were possibly as many cab companies in Chicago in the 1950s as there are today. More probably. I’ve seen orange, red, black, brown…you name the color.

Where did I see these? In the Indiana University’s Charles Cushman 1930-1960 COLOR photo collection. Cushman was a regular Joe who’s hobby was taking color slides. IU’s got thousands of them online. Want to know what a Chicago cab looked like in the 1930s? Theyre in there. Of course, I have no idea what the web address is right now, but just Google “Charles Cushman Photo”.

5

Thanks for the link Ray. I found some - taken in 1963, when I was under 6 months old!!

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/results/detail.do?query=chicago&page=61&pagesize=20&display=thumbcap&action=search&pnum=P12897

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/results/detail.do?query=chicago&page=61&pagesize=20&display=thumbcap&action=search&pnum=P12894

Jon

6

Jon,

That is a fantastic piece of modeling in your pic! I love the way the road disappears into the backdrop. Excellent work!

7

Thanks Dave - pity it’s a bit out of focus. Here’s a better one before I stuck the vehicles on. I still have loads of street furniture to do up for the scene - one of these days.

Jon

8

Jon,

Any color photos? What is the building to the right of the street?

9

David:
Go to the 'RailRoadForum" in the mid scale-HO section for a series of pictures of Jon’s “Sweet Home Chicago” modules. His is some of the finest work you are likely to see around the internet. The “Sweet Home Chicago” theme is doucmented over 8 or 9 topics on the forum. Make note of the time frame his modeling progressed to meet a show deadline in Britain in October.
Will … just a fan of great modeling!

10

I just realized that Jon lives in the UK. Wow!!! I would have thought he lived in downtown Chicago. It totally amazes me how many true artists there are in this hobby. If I can half as good it will be twice what I think I can do. These guys give me so much inspiration and motivation to improve my skills. I keep saying “I think I can, I think I can, oops…I think I can, I think I can…”

11

OR, you could just go here: http://www.railimages.com/gallery/jongrant and browse to your heart’s content.

Andre

12

Thanks Will, The show was actually at the start of September and boards 5,4, and 3 were only done in the last week of August - I’m still recovering [xx(]

Jon[:D]

13

Here ya go Dave

The building on the right of the street is Nelson’s Break Room - a pool hall/meeting place, named after, and in honour of Nelson (Shay Driver) over here…

http://www.railroadforum.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=6

You may recognise the building as the one that comes with the Cornerstone kit of the coal merchants - Ol King Coal

Jon

14

Both Yellow and Checker used Checker Marathon’s as their cabs. those two companies were the “OFFICIALLY franchised” cab operators in chicago.
Additional cab licenses (riveted to the “bonnet” (Hood here) on the right side were issued to groups of Veterans after the second world war. namy of these were ford and plymouth taxis and were white with blck and white lettering (Flash Cab and Veteran’s cab).
On Chicago’s South side on South Park (now Martin Luther KIng Drive) and Drexel were the Jitney serviceswho used mostly Checker Marathon and were painted White over Blue.

Hope this helped a little.

Doug, in Utah