Passenger Trains > In Memoriam: IC's Highliners

Well, Friday saw the very last run of the ex-IC electric Highliners up in the Chicago area, and in honor of that, I decided to dig through the files and see what I could find.  This is from June, 2014 at the 55th-56th-57th St. Station (yeah, that's its name...) in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. I had actually ridden a set of Highliners up here from Blue Island, and was waiting for my outbound on the South Shore when this one came roaring out of the city.  

I can't honestly say that these were my favorites, as they were exceptionally spartan on the insides, but it's always sad to see "the end," especially considering that these started off life as Illinois Central electrics over 40 years ago. RIP.

Thanks for looking,
- Jeff Carlson



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/16 07:54 by bnsfsd70.

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I remember a disastrous wreck they had wit the old MU's around 45 years ago. They lost that battle.

Yeah, I've seen the pictures of that. It was a BAD one, with 45 fatalities and over 300 injuries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Chicago_commuter_rail_crash

Wow.

- Jeff Carlson

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> I remember a disastrous wreck they had wit the old
> MU's around 45 years ago. They lost that battle.

When I visited Chicago in 1980 I rode on one....very cool....

 

Here's a mix of old and new paint schemes.  They had a peculiar interior smell to them.
It's a long ride to University Park!  Let's see, how old are the Superliners in comparison?

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I prefer orange and brown.

I still can't believe how busy that corridor is anyway after watching a few times of Rails Chicago from Green Frog!  Sad to hear that the electrics are retired though!

You know, at the time I really disliked the orange and brown, but with time, I've really come to appreciate it.  Fortunately, a fair number of these cars have been preserved, and I'd assume that one/two of them will eventually receive fresh IC paint.

- Jeff Carlson

mp51w Wrote:
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> Here's a mix of old and new paint schemes.  They
> had a peculiar interior smell to them.
> It's a long ride to University Park!  Let's see,
> how old are the Superliners in comparison?

Yeah, esp. between Randolph St. Station and Kensington where the South Shore splits off, they run a TON of trains up there.  Easily Metra's busiest corridor.

- Jeff

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> I still can't believe how busy that corridor is
> anyway after watching a few times of Rails Chicago
> from Green Frog!  Sad to hear that the electrics
> are retired though!