1945 Interurban Trains - The Transport Company, Milwaukee Electric Lines, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

[@MA-wq2ih]

These were taken between about 1942 and the end of 1947. Scenes in order: *Two views from northbound train departing Kenosha for Milwaukee. *Southbound Chicago & North Western freight train, between Racine and Milwaukee. *Speeding along northbound between Racine and Milwaukee. *View from northbound train in south side Milwaukee street (probably Howell Ave.) with passing southbound interurban. *2nd and Michigan, downtown Milwaukee, as an interurban from the west pulls into the Public Service Building terminal. Note that the train is completely empty--rain or shine, Milwaukee Electric cars ALWAYS unloaded out in the street. *3rd and Michigan, with a duplex interurban departing the Public Service Building and heading west on Michigan. *View from the rear of a westbound car on the Rapid Transit Line, at about 16th Street. *View from the same train at about 37th Street. *West Junction (100th just south of Greenfield Avenue) with a Local Rapid Transit car turning on the Junction turnback loop to return to Milwaukee. *West Junction again, with another Local car switching over to the Junction turnback/Hales Corners connection track. *A Waukesha Limited cruises south through the Junction and turns to head west for Waukesha. *A Chicago & North Western freight train passes beneath the Hales Corners line at the Junction and heads west. *A quick overview of West Junction from the Hales Corners branch. *A Local car turns on the West Junction loop. *An inbound car from Hales Corners crosses over the Chicago & North Western, and stops for a signal just outside of West Junction. *Having a clear signal, the Local car continues north into the Junction. *An inbound train from Waukesha turns north into the Junction. *A rush hour Local Rapid Transit car takes the loop track to return to downtown Milwaukee. *Another Waukesha train skips West Junction and turns to head west. *Another Local car at West Junction. *Interior of one of the 1102-04 Local Rapid Transit cars. Not as nice as the rest of the 1100-series cars seen. *Head end view from an inbound (eastbound) Rapid Transit Line train at about 25th Street. *Outbound North Shore Line Electroliner leaves downtown Milwaukee terminal at 6th/Clybourn/St. Paul Ave. *North Shore Line "dinky" local streetcar outside the terminal. *Two views of outbound Milwaukee Electric cars at 6th and Clybourn.

[@rexracernj7696]

PA railfan here. Wow, Milwaukee had some MAJOR trolley infrastructure here, hard to believe they gave it all up. Esp because I'm sure some of the rural areas seen here are now fully suburban & would benefit from rapid-trans service.

[@Richb144]

Sad, really.

[@mattpronovost2170]

I know, it is quite ridiculous! Now especially that climate change is a huge issue we could really benefit from some great commuter rail systems like these! I think we need to go back into the past and reinstate a light rail system that can serve the suburban-city metro of Milwaukee as really the only mode of transit is driving nowadays!

[@emjay5577]

When I lived in Milwaukee from 1986-2000, I was a member of the East Troy Electric Railroad from 1988-1999. That is the least remnant of the TMER&L RR. I was able to meet some of the men who rode the TM, and were quite familiar with the railroad. My late friend Tom Matola modeled it in O Gauge, and one of the young men at East Troy had a grandfather was a motorman on the TM. I am sure there are some railfans of the TM still around who could add to the locations shown in this video. I enjoyed it very much.

[@stratkiller86]

My school brought us out there on a field trip in 1997, very fascinating history. I hope to return soon with my little ones.

[@stratkiller86]

Very awesome to see these historic images. I live close to the remains of the NSL near 6th and Oklahoma ave, love seeing what once was.

[@northshoreline6704]

Fun fact: there were actually tentative plans drawn up in the late 1950s to re-route its Milwaukee entrance into the median of I-94.

[@cats0182]

Some of those interurban cars were articulated. A concept ahead of it's time.

[@trainrover]

very fortunate to have lived in the midst of COUNTLESS interurbans stretching inland off the Malaga coast, stock as old as these too 🍷 more thrilling than either the metro or the Expo-Express, both of which were then brand new...

[@craignehring]

Great footage, thank you for sharing this

[@michaelvalentino8633]

LOL! Someone chucks garbage out from the train stairway at 6:50. Too funny.

[@BRUCE0591]

Yeah, I caught that too 😆

[@northshoreline6704]

I don't think I've ever actually seen the TM in action before, thank you for sharing.

[@kevineadie1719]

Amazing!......I wasnt aware of such heavy articulated inter-urbans.......wish I had been there!

[@SHKarlson]

Rebuilt, in fact, from heavy Indiana steel combines. Two that were originally set up with dining compartments were scratch built in Cold Spring Shops by the same craftsmen that also created articulated streetcars out of older cars.

[@trainrover]

diaphragm linking those articulated cars together must've been snazzily modern

[@rony.3836]

At 6:50, a litter bug slid the door open and tossed trash onto the tracks. Still a big, widespread problem in the city.

[@solidarityrail2551]

Beautiful

[@redwisconsin]

Do you have any more of the TMER&L? I'm searching for pictures of the inside of the Kenosha station that was built in 1932.

[@Isochest]

The US was a pioneer of electric traction only to see the corporate oil interests destroy the lead they had. In the UK we had the forced grouping of rail companies in 1923 which thwarted and stopped long distance rail electrification the North Eastern Railway Midland Railway and London Brighton and South Coast Railway had proposed

[@pjpace]

So excited to see the Electroliner in action... until someone opened the door and threw out garbage in front of the cop. See 6:47. Guess it's not just people nowadays.

[@barbaraedgley2634]

Anyone know what street the Ben Franklin store was on in Milwaukee in mid 40-50s?

[@pilsudski36]

Ex Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Artic unit from .48 to 1:01.

[@SHKarlson]

Sorry, no, those are homebuilt by The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light from heavy steel combines originally used in Indiana. But among those yellow wooden cars on the West Junction and Hales Corners turns, the video is a bit scratchy, might be 1103 that was originally built for The Chicago-New York Electric Airline. Three wood cars 1102-1103-1104 came with the acquisition of Milwaukee Northern and those three got streetcar-style folding doors for Local Rapid Transit work.

[@PatrickDurkin-l7l]

Looks like 84 th street

[@trainrover]

oof! thanks for showing these...seemingly prescriptively, too few scenes of the continent's sprawling interurbans get featured hereabouts 🍸

[@trainrover]

wasn't there some prairie interurban that had neared the 100MPH threshhold?

[@northshoreline6704]

The Electroliner topped out around 110mph during a test run in the 1940s.

[@trainrover]

right! thank you 🍸

[@trainrover]

very fortunate to have lived in the midst of COUNTLESS interurbans stretching inland off the Malaga coast, stock as old as these too 🍷 more thrilling than either the metro or the Expo-Express, both of which were then brand new...

[@jamesmehlenbeck8068]

Any one know or give credit to the photographers?

[@ReelLifeCanada]

I would very much like to give credit to the original photographer, however that person's name is lost to history I'm afraid. I purchased this reel a number of years ago from an estate sale.

[@kurtschlieter7506]

Not certain, but it could have been my Godfather, the late Don Reck. He lived on the Southside of Milwaukee in the area of 30th and Rogers and his hobby was filming Steam and Electric railroads. He used a 16mm camera and shot both B&W and color film.

[@barbaraedgley2634]

Lived in Milwaukee 1949-1953

[@yaroslavyatsyk6475]

Were interurbans just regular streetcars?

[@northshoreline6704]

Generally speaking, interurbans were like larger, faster streetcars that operated between cities and towns. For a time, they were able to compete with the standard railroads because they were cleaner than steam trains, and also faster than them, not necessarily in terms of maximum speeds, but in the sense that they had superior acceleration between more frequent stops. Think of interurbans as something between streetcars and standard railroads, with elements of rapid transit as well.

[@yaroslavyatsyk6475]

​@northshoreline6704 Also, can we relate interurbans, aka prototypes of commuter/regional railroads?

[@northshoreline6704]

​@@yaroslavyatsyk6475 Interurban service generally competed against the commuter/regional railroads of this time period.

[@Jeff-uj8xi]

What a tragic shame it was all scrapped and junked. You can blame corporate greed for that. City after city, including Milwaukee is spending billions of dollars to correct that mistake and replace modern streetcar and light rail lines.

[@rickyl7231]

It had nothing to do with corporate greed, it was government spending on roads, destructive tax policy, and local politicians who created the environment where TM&REL could not make a profit and was destroyed.

[@pamelafoukas3678]

Now Milwaukee has a trolley to nowhere!

[@northshoreline6704]

You've got to start somewhere.