Passenger Trains > When did Illinois Terminal stop running motorcars?

I recently acquired a collection, and this shot was processed in August 1973.  It's not soft or fuzzy like a lot of dupes, but I suspect it is one.

IT 274 at Decatur, Illinois station.

TIA,

BobE

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BobE Wrote:
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> I recently acquired a collection, and this shot
> was processed in August 1973.  It's not soft or
> fuzzy like a lot of dupes, but I suspect it is
> one.
>
> IT 274 at Decatur, Illinois station.
>
> TIA,
>
> BobE

That's not a motorcar, it's an interurban, electrically powered through an overhead wire.  Passenger service ended in the mid-1950s but diesel-powered freights continued into the early 1980s when the line was bought by the N&W (or was it NS by then?).

BTW, neat pic.  I have a soft spot for interurbans even though I'm 1-2 generations too young to have experienced them.

niagara484



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/16 13:35 by niagara484.

Couldn't see the cat pole, my mistake.  Looks like I got dog hair on the slide----call it an occupational hazard.  We have five dogs plus  12-week-old puppy, so dog hair Is *everywhere.*

BobE

Last passenger operations north and east of Springfield (two routes: Peoria-Lincoln-Springfield and Champaign-Decatur-Springfield) took place June 11, 1955. Springfield-St. Louis continued for a few more months, ending in March 1956. After that, only the suburban service to Granite City (using PCCs and other lightweight, one-man cars) was left and that ended in June 1958.

​While IT had a "Steam Division" serving the East St. Louis/Wood River/Alton industrial complex that was never electrified and systematically dieselized their electric freight operations, the passenger service remained 100% electrically-powered to the end.

​NZ

BobE Wrote:
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> Couldn't see the cat pole, my mistake.  Looks
> like I got dog hair on the slide----call it an
> occupational hazard.  We have five dogs plus
>  12-week-old puppy, so dog hair Is *everywhere.*
>
> BobE

Cat pole.  <face palm>

BobE

Illinois Terminal 274 is long gone, but a similar car, 277, is preserved at Illinois Railway Museum.  Here it is running during the 60th Anniversary event at IRM on July 6, 2013.

What makes 274 look like it might be a self-powered motor car is that it was set up as a single-ended car, with controls at one end and the trolley pole on the other.  Single-ended cars require a wye, a loop track or a turntable at terminals or turnback points. Preserved car 277 has poles at both ends, although the front pole is secured in a "backwards" position.  This may have been added at IRM to facilitate operation.
 

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DNRY122 Wrote:
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> Preserved car 277 has poles at both ends, although the front pole is
> secured in a "backwards" position.  This may have been added at IRM to facilitate operation.
>
​Not really....but it IS quite handy since there is no way (yet) to turn equipment at the east end of the main line.

​While the IT had quite a bit of double-ended equipment, some of the "big" single-ended interurban cars were also equipped with a second pole. Some in the conventional fashion, like the first photo of car 263 out of the Barry Lennon collection. This particular car was set up to run the stub train out of Champaign to Delong after the line from Delong to Danville was abandoned in 1952. With no way to turn at Delong, the second pole was necessary and was set up for easy access.

​OIther cars had the second pole mounted in the trailing position as seen on the 277. Whether this pole was used as a "sleet cutter" in winter or strictly for emergency use I can't say with 100% certainty, but here are two photos showing them in place on other cars:

• ​IT 278 in Bloomington, IL, date and photographer unknowm from the Roger Holmes collection.
• IT 284 out side the "new" motor house in East Peoria, IL Nov. 11, 1949. Not sure but believe this is a Paul Strigham photo (print not marked).

Hope this answers your curiosity,

NZ

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An eastbound electric freight in 1953 climbing Caldwell Hill about four miles out of East Peoria and five miles over to Morton, where I was raised.  From 1952-55 I was at Morton Grade School and the IT came down the middle of Jefferson Street right next to our school.  I stopped to watch all trains, such as the one in the pic.  Suddenly the passenger trains were gone as noted in the Summer of '55.  Then they moved freight operations over to the PRR tracks at Allentown and came through Morton on that line.  4th grade was boring with few trains.......   I don't know the photographer of this fine pic. 

 

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Thanks for the additional information from someone "who was there".