I got to thinking this morning about how I used to commute back and forth to and from downtown Chicago in the 1960s and early 1970s on the old heavyweight IC commuter cars. No air conditioning, windows that opened, wicker seats that could rip one’s suit pants. Nostalgic, but I don’t miss them.
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And then there were the Highliners, which to this day I remember as really modern and brand-spanking-new… even though they themselves have been gone many years. Never actually made the time to ride them.
Of course, the old cars could open a Highliner up like a beer can in a collision…
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When the IC purchased the new Highliners, they place one at the Van Buren station right after rush hour, so commuters could tour the double deck car. I made it a point to be there. It was a bit of heaven, light and airy, air conditioning and the upper deck.
The upper deck was a tight stairwell access. One day, after just buying a new leather winter jacket, it snagged on a screw head while working my way up the twisted step. When the train arrived downtown, I told the conductor what happened. He took my name and phone number, and I was contacted by an IC representative. They bought me a brand new leather winter jacket. I’ll never forget that.
Rich
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And, one did a year after introduction of the Highliners in 1972.
October 30, 1972 – Illinois Central Railroad Crash Kills 45 | Connecting the Windy City
The highliners had a nice ride. Better than the bilevels on the CNW. They were heavier thanks to the motors so that may have been it. Also seats were comfier too. Otherwise pretty much the same inside layouts as the others except seats didn’t flip in travel of direction. But that allowed more seat padding.
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Oh, you’re right. I forgot about that.
Rich
From the Builder:
ACF 1970s072 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
The buyer supplies their own headlight lamps?
ACF 1970s073 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
In all my visits to Chicago I never had the opportunity to ride these…
Cheers, Ed
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Weren’t the Highliners the last major order for St Louis Car?
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Some real nice photos, Dave. Thanks for posting.
Rich
I don’t know the answer to that question. The St. Louis Car Company ceased operations in 1974.
Here is relevant excerpt from Wikipedia:
The final St. Louis Car products were R44 subway cars for the New York City Subway and Staten Island Rapid Transit, and the USDOT State of the Art Car rapid transit demonstrator set whose design was based on the R44.
Rich
The Highliners at Roosevelt Road.
Source: Railroads, Chicago-style, “A pair of IC Highliner MUs are on train 403…
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Old meets new at Blue Island.
Source: Illinois Central at Blue Island IL 1975 | Its Nov 1975 towar… | Flickr
One photo of the Blue Island line shows it as weedy single track, but the cat supports look like it once covered double track. Was the line at one time all double track?
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Most of the Blue Island line has steel bracket arm supports on single poles. The line was (and is) single track except for a passing siding at the West Pullman station. The photo with the wire train is probably on the South Chicago branch, which had several freight customers, and was double track its entire length.
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I believe that is correct.
Rich
I rrenenber the South Chicago Branch as mostly center-reservation in a street, and the two-track nright-of-way atv the south bendc of that branch. Is that correct?
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Yes it’s mostly in boulevard medians.
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