Wow! This is an excellent find. North Shore Film including color shots at the end of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee terminal. For those that do not know Milwaukee the trains had to switch from 5th Street onto 6th Street due to 6th Street having a street viaduct across the Menonminee River Valley…5th Street did not have a viaduct. The 6th Street Viaduct still exists today but has been redone and bridges just West of the current Amtrak Depot over the Amtrak Depot lead tracks. The big hotel in the background of the Milwaukee North Shore Line Terminal still exists and is called the Pfister Hotel these days, still a four star hotel.
Have fun watching…(Color Electroliner footage as well).
Yes in its time the NS was one of the premier passenger railroads in the country. Consider hourly service Chicago to Milwaukee with several short turn locals in between. And a ride in the railfan seat on the 'liner was unparalleled ( why you boarded at Rosevelt Rd.)
Besides the video gave you a chance to see what an Electroliner looks like compared to a Highliner!
Did you notice the clever design of the North Shore Line Depot in Milwaukee with the inspection pit incorporated into the passenger boarding area so that the underside of the interurban and wheels could be inspected while the train is in the station without the need to tow the equipment elsewhere? Seems to be an innovation to me that perhaps was later lost.
Thanks for sharing such a fine video. Too bad the RTA (started in 1973) wasn’t around to save the North Shore (ceased operations 1963) and the Roarin’ Elgin (ceased passenger service in 1957).
Next weekend I have some pics of The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company abandoned Right of Way I’ll post. It takes a horrendous amount of time to post photos here though. Much faster to upload to photo bucket and provide a link.
The video is great, but I’m pretty sure the hotel you can see in the background at the Milwaukee terminal is the Schroeder Hotel, later called the Marc Plaza, and currently the Hilton Milwaukee City Center. The Pfister Hotel has always been the Pfister Hotel, since it was built in 1893.