Passenger Trains > End of the line for the Highliners

The old IC Highliners are being retired. This is the second set delivered to Rondout for storage until a scrapper is found.

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What is that thing on the front of the locomotive?

Looks like a fire monitor to me.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

Railbaron Wrote:
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> What is that thing on the front of the locomotive?


Third arm for the brakey

I think we see Iowa Pacific's latest purchases

Railbaron Wrote:
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> What is that thing on the front of the locomotive?
I was wondering that myself. Could be a hoist for the coupler adapter. The Highliners have a unique coupler and we use an adapter to move them. I'll check later in the week.

Aren't these like the high levels that the Boone and Scenic acquired a few years ago?If so they have been used some at least.
Steve

metra6924 Wrote:
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> Railbaron Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What is that thing on the front of the
> locomotive?
> I was wondering that myself. Could be a hoist for
> the coupler adapter. The Highliners have a unique
> coupler and we use an adapter to move them. I'll
> check later in the week.
I'll have to second that! If you zoom in you will notice that it is merely a simple swivel electric hoist for the adapter that is below the coupler and to the right.

Posted from BlackBerry

wpjones Wrote:
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> Aren't these like the high levels that the Boone
> and Scenic acquired a few years ago?If so they
> have been used some at least.
> Steve

Look a little closer, these are electric powered units. Check out the step on the end of the roof for the pantograph.

Having help handle coupler adapters for Pacific Electric cars, I would say that small derrick is greatly appreciated by the maintenance crews. Those suckers are HEAVY!

They served faithfully and well. Sorry to see them go, but they have probably served out their economic lives (they're about 40 years old).

I used to ride them daily into the Loop, and always liked them. They represented a huge step forward over the IC Electric's previous single-level coaches, complete with their open windows and wicker walkover seats. Those old cars were fun to ride in their own way, except on a hot summer's day (or a very cold winter day). Lots of the unmotored trailers worked their way into later service on various tourist railways. But the old single-level cars also represented a huge lag as compared to other Chicago commuter services: the Burlington, Milwaukee and North Western had long had their bi-level, air conditioned gallery cars before the IC ever got the first of the Highliners.

I think the Highliners will be marked notably in railroad history for several reasons. They represented the first bi-level self-powered electric commuter service design, and as such were the pregenitor for cars we see today. They took the gallery-type interior layout, which had been pioneered in diesel-hauled service on other Chicago railroads, and applied it to a self-powered electric design - no mean feat at the time. Finally, the funding agency for their purchase, the Chicago South Suburban Mass Transit District (CSSMTD), established in 1971, was the first of the several community-based agencies formed in the Chicago area in support of commuter services. These agencies were the progenitors for today's Metra, and still exist under its banner. The Highliners also will be remembered sadly for the involvement in a terrible collision accident in October 1972 with a train of the old and heavier single-level cars, which telescoped into their lighter structure, causing many deaths and injuries. And they also represented the end of St. Louis Car Company, being one of the the last railcar orders SLCC produced.

But during their time in service, they served daily, and served well. Farewell, old and faithful friends.

MC
Columbia, Missouri



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/13 08:29 by ironmtn.

(photos 1 & 2) When I visited Chicago in July, there were still some of the oldies in service.

(photo 3) When I visited Chi-town in 1971, the Hi-Liners were the "new kids on the track".

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Thank you for your explanation. I was wondering about the historical significance of these cars. I rode them once or twice to get to the Museum of Science & Industry from the Loop.

ironmtn Wrote:
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> They served faithfully and well. Sorry to see them
> go, but they have probably served out their
> economic lives (they're about 40 years old).
>
> I used to ride them daily into the Loop, and
> always liked them. They represented a huge step
> forward over the IC Electric's previous
> single-level coaches, complete with their open
> windows and wicker walkover seats. Those old cars
> were fun to ride in their own way, except on a hot
> summer's day (or a very cold winter day). Lots of
> the unmotored trailers worked their way into later
> service on various tourist railways. But the old
> single-level cars also represented a huge lag as
> compared to other Chicago commuter services: the
> Burlington, Milwaukee and North Western had long
> had their bi-level, air conditioned gallery cars
> before the IC ever got the first of the
> Highliners.
>
> I think the Highliners will be marked notably in
> railroad history for several reasons. They
> represented the first bi-level self-powered
> electric commuter service design, and as such were
> the pregenitor for cars we see today. They took
> the gallery-type interior layout, which had been
> pioneered in diesel-hauled service on other
> Chicago railroads, and applied it to a
> self-powered electric design - no mean feat at the
> time. Finally, the funding agency for their
> purchase, the Chicago South Suburban Mass Transit
> District (CSSMTD), established in 1971, was the
> first of the several community-based agencies
> formed in the Chicago area in support of commuter
> services. These agencies were the progenitors for
> today's Metra, and still exist under its banner.
> The Highliners also will be remembered sadly for
> the involvement in a terrible collision accident
> in October 1972 with a train of the old and
> heavier single-level cars, which telescoped into
> their lighter structure, causing many deaths and
> injuries. And they also represented the end of St.
> Louis Car Company, being one of the the last
> railcar orders SLCC produced.
>
> But during their time in service, they served
> daily, and served well. Farewell, old and faithful
> friends.
>
> MC
> Columbia, Missouri

shavano Wrote:
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> I think we see Iowa Pacific's latest purchases

Maybe. Did the Boone & Scenic in fact purchase some of the first of these to be retired or was that a different type of hilevel? [If so, some photos of the Boone & Scenic cars or a link to an older thread would be useful to see what these look like in a different paint scheme & in excursion service]. Oh, please no invites to use the "Search Function." I know full well how to do that for those of you that already know where subject matter is (this is the same type of snobbery as saying "Why don't you just GOOGLE IT, dude?!?").

But for those of us interested in any possible future for these cars--and if in fact ANY of them have survived (the previously-retired unpowered ones, if in fact they went into excursion service on the Boone & Scenic and or anywhere else), this would be another "node" of information for those interested in these cars. Which is why I didn't just "Use the Search Function," (privately), or, "Google It." There are quite a few of us on here and a good number of my friends that are rather sick of being told to "Search It/Google It." Because often when a major historical retirement even like this comes up, a thread like this becomes a good "clearinghouse" or, one of several nodes for info on a certain historical subject.

Two of the 1926-vintage IC electric control trailers wound up at Ely, Nevada for passenger service on the Nevada Northern. They run as a two-car set, with the MU (Tomlinson?) couplers in the middle and standard railroad couplers on the ends. The motorman's cab in one is now the restroom. They have run behind both steam and diesel locomotives.

I remember enjoying the ride on the then-new high level coaches when I was a graduate student in Chicago in the early 1970s. Hard to believe that was 40+ years ago.

ironmtn Wrote:
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> The Highliners also will be remembered sadly for
> the involvement in a terrible collision accident
> in October 1972 with a train of the old and
> heavier single-level cars, which telescoped into
> their lighter structure, causing many deaths and
> injuries.

At least part of the rest of the story.

Part 1:
As delivered, the brakes were unreliable. Engineers complained about not being able to dependably stop where they intended to. Run by stations became regular. That's how the Highliner train wound up running by 27th Street.

from <http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1764736,1764860#msg-1764860&gt;
There was some complaint by engineers at the time that they could not reliably tell where this equipment was going to stop. (I found it really interesting that post-accident testing of another set produced no such problem.) This station run-by was not an isolated incident.

Part 2

In those days, the attitude of IC management was get over the road, whatever it takes. If you don't want to do whatever it takes, we'll get somebody else who will. On IC Electric in particular, charging yellow or red expecting them to come up to a better indication was common. Backing back into a block without a flag was common on the Highliner sets.

<http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2153442,2154071#2154071&gt;

TAW

Railbaron Wrote:
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> What is that thing on the front of the locomotive?

Portable Hulcher for retailing itself ....

Posted from iPhone

TAW Wrote:
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> At least part of the rest of the story.
>
> Part 1:
> As delivered, the brakes were unreliable.
> Engineers complained about not being able to
> dependably stop where they intended to. Run by
> stations became regular. That's how the Highliner
> train wound up running by 27th Street.
>
> There was some complaint by engineers at the time
> that they could not reliably tell where this
> equipment was going to stop. (I found it really
> interesting that post-accident testing of another
> set produced no such problem.) This station run-by
> was not an isolated incident.
>
> Part 2
>
> In those days, the attitude of IC management was
> get over the road, whatever it takes. If you don't
> want to do whatever it takes, we'll get somebody
> else who will. On IC Electric in particular,
> charging yellow or red expecting them to come up
> to a better indication was common. Backing back
> into a block without a flag was common on the
> Highliner sets.
>
>
> TAW

TAW: Thanks for the additional information, for "at least part of the rest of the story." I chose not to go into some of the details of the collision in my previous post, so yours adds to the thread, and gives some information about that saddest of days in the service lives of the Highliners.

You note the reputed issues with the braking systems, and the platform overshoots that occurred. I experienced several platform overshoots as a regular passenger before the accident, and always found them to be disconcerting. My understanding as a young railfan of the operational implications of them was quite limited at the time. That understanding, and appreciation of the safety issues involved, grew exponentially and instantly after the cause of the collision became clear. My own personal reaction of, "There but for the grace of God be I", was echoed by many fellow passengers and people in the South Suburban community at the time, even as we mourned those who were killed, and wished well for the speedy recovery of the injured.

I recall but one platform overshoot after the crash, and remember how much more careful the crew seemed to be as compared to previous such incidents. A stop was made, garbled radio transmissions could be heard (I was in the lower front section of the lead car, near the center). In the passenger section there was total, dead silence except for the hum of the HVAC system. Every conversation stopped cold, instantly. We did not reverse to make the station (my recollection is that it was 55th St.), but moved ahead to the next station (51st St., as I recall) at slow speed, and then stopped there. I can also recall the collective sigh of relief among passengers that we did not make the reverse move, but went ahead to the next station. There was a group of people standing in the aisle near my seat to file into the center vestibule to detrain. There was not a whisper of complaint.

You mentioned "charging a yellow" as common. I saw it occur often. In the naivete of my railfan youth, sitting as close to the front of the lead car as I could for a view down the track ahead, I thought it represented sharp operation, as well as a commitment to keeping schedule, and skill by engineers. Wiser today these many years later, and a proponent of the logic that compliance action begins when the signal indication is first seen, I would take a far different view. As in so many things on the railroad, it is a vastly different world today, and the safety culture is much stronger. It's part of the sad side of the Highliners' legacy of service that they were associated with a tragic accident that represented that earlier, less stringent operational culture.

MC
Columbia, Missouri



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/13 19:14 by ironmtn.

Various questions:

Are the (retired) Highliners still stored in Blue Island?

As built, they had hydraulic brake cylinders with some sort of air to hydraulic pressure converter. Did they / do they still have this?

Regarding the 1972 crash, one element cited in the NTSB report was some sort of welding issue with the end sills and crash posts. After the crash changes were made such as seriously powerful red marker lamps, and painting the previously black parts of the car A ends into, initially, "day-glo" orange and later the IC/ICG's Panama Orange. Did they ever address the crash post welding?

As to the coupler adapter lifter, the adapter does go on the Highliner's coupler, right?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/13 11:36 by filmteknik.