The Electroliners to run again, hopefully...

Blutorse4792

Now T:ANE I can get into
http://www2.irm.org/blogs/archives/1505-Electroliner-News.html

The Illinois Railway Museum is trying to get their Electroliner set up and running by 2016, the 75th anniversary of their introduction on the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad.

electroliner6th.jpg


For those unfamiliar, the Electroliners were two high-speed (clocked at 110mph in a test run in 1941) articulated trainsets that were introduced to compete with the Chicago & Northwestern's 400s and the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha. They played a large part in prolonging the North Shore's lifespan for another 22 years, much longer than most U.S. interurban lines. After abandonment, they were sent to the Red Arrow Line in Pennsylvania (now part of SEPTA) and lived out the remainder of their operational lives as Liberty Liners.

ja-t052.jpg


Eventually, the two trainsets made their way into museums - The Illinois Railway Museum and the Rockhill Trolley Museum in PA. Apparently, the Rockhill Museum is also restoring their set, so in the near future, both could be riding the rails again.

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I can remove this if it constitutes spamming, but I implore any midwestern railfans to consider donating to the restoration project. Although it has been cosmetically restored, the trainset blew several of its traction motors during a test run several years ago, and the electrical system hasn't been touched since the 1960s.
 
This is awesome. I would love to see these running again. It's too bad that the North Shore didn't survive in its full length. It would be useful today with the traffic the way it is in greater Chicago.

John
 
I wonder what it would be like today if it had survived.
If Illinois had saved their portion, they could have let the C&NW and Milwaukee Road get rid of their competing commuter service in the late '60s and taken those riders.
It would have condensed two Metra lines into one, and freed the freight railroads from having to work around passenger service.
 
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I'm sure the freight railroads would have loved that too since they wouldn't have to run commuter trains which are expensive.

As they say hindsight is always 20-20.

John
 
Landrvr1 made an Electroliner* about 10 years ago.
I have it working in '06, but I'm not sure on what its status is in later versions.

*Metroliners were a different beast altogether
300px-Metroliner1968.jpg
 
Pardon the idiot here, but weren't there more than 2 electroliner sets? I thought it was more like 4-5? maybe I'm wrong there (been known to happen every now and again, lol)
 
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