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Historic interurban equipment returns to service in Pennsylvania
One remembers an era when “interurbans” competed against “steam roads”…granted that there were probably none quite like the North Shore against the Milw. and CNW. Back then riders could choose where to get on and off among the competitors, or more precisely phrased, “I have an appt. at 8am at Marshall Fields and live in Racine…” so C,NS&M fit the bill better than anything since. Duh, you could walk across the platform and into Fields’ mezzanine. Frangos anyone?
Of course many people are angry about the direction of our culture, but it should be properly placed.
IRM’s Electroliner is in need of restoration too. The paint is beautiful, but the interior and running gear are in sad shape. Most importantly, it needs some new traction motors (at least half of them). They are trying to raise the funds necessary to restore it by its 75th birthday in 2016. See the donation page for more details.
http://www3.irm.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_5&products_id=2004
These were used on the Philadelphia and Western Norristown line. P&W got a very good deal on then. Also Model Railroader did an article on them in May 1974. I thought that someone who was working with them wrote some commentary about the units their operation and maintenance at the time.
I am pleased to see the Electroliner/LibertyLiner returned to service. They were great trains that were perfectly suited to their role on the North Shore Line. They will ill suited for the NHSL but fun to ride anyway.
Bill Vigrass
These were awesome trains and in a perfect world with governments subsidizing the car industry should have become the basis of short/medium range transit nationwide. They were at home on street railways, but put them on their own RoW and they could easily travel at 110mph (they did 90mph in service, but only because the railroad crossing infrastructure wasn’t set up for such fast trains.)
Hard to believe we threw that away in favor of forcing every commuter to guide a metal death box between two painted lines on a strip of tarmac for an hour a day.
Great to hear that an Electroliner is back in service. I still contend that the “railfan” seat opposite the motorman’s cab at each end of the Electroliner was the best seat in railfandom. I rode those seats many times in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I still think about those exciting times.
I wonder if SEPTA could borrow the “Liberty Liner” for use on the Norristown Line as part of its 50th. Anniversary?
As a teenage fan of the North Shore, I preferred the 1155am “conventional” from Roosevelt Road, as it didn’t have a combine - so one could ride in the older car’s “railfan seat”.
As age advances, perhaps I recall only the good, but on one Electroliner trip, I do recall the speedometer reaching 95. Seems like it faced toward the railfan seat, rather than toward the Motorman!
I’ve enjoyed the railfan seat of the 'Liner on the North Shore and the Norristown Line. Somebody has always beaten me to it on the few occasions it’s running in Union.
The closest one can get to the railfan seat these days is the smoking section on one series of German ICE trains, which is immediately behind the motorman. You have to go to the vestibule, though, to look at that speedo readout of 285 km/h.
I am sure I heard or read a couple of years ago that the Rockhill museum was going to sell off their Electroliner because their generator couldn’t produce enough juice to operate it safely. Am I mistaken? Does anyone else remember this?