Freight Motors in Chicagoland

Part 4 of the Freight Motors series. Sorry for the long delay in posting, but family issues come first. This segment includes all of the Insull traction triad, plus CTA and the Milwaukee Electric/East Troy railroad. Thanks to Tressteleg for the East Troy footage, which filled in a gap in my coverage of the last of the trolley freight operations in the US.

[@anthonyhunt701]

Awesome video, especially for us older Chicagoans❤👍🏻🚊

[@mooseriddle]

This brings back some fond memories as a kid growing up in the Chicago suburbs

[@steveaw5895]

Thanks for the footage of the South Shores Little Joe’s. When l was in grade school the back of the school faced 11th street in Michigan City. When I was in 2nd grade I fell in love with the Little Joe’s. They had a distinctive humming sound. When I heard that I lost all concentration and watched them go by.

[@trashrabbit69]

We could certainly use a North Shore type service from Milwaukee to Chicago again.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

a m t r a k h i a w a t h a s e r v i c e

[@trashrabbit69]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory ehhhh, the hiawatha isn't as frequent as I would like it to be, and lacks the stations and connections to the cities between milwaukee and chicago. it's good at what its for though, i just wish there was something to supplant it.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@trashrabbit69 there is no point, the North Shore Line went away for a reason

[@trashrabbit69]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory certainly, the owners let it rot and fail in pursuit of further profit elsewhere, such is the life of many a railroad and the robber barons that control them. would've happened to the south shore as well if the people didn't speak up also

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@trashrabbit69 yes, it was attacked by corporate raiders at one point too, but remember, there was a highway built next to it, and entering milwaukee took too long.

[@northpennvalleysteamrailroad]

Good footage! 👍

[@allegheny48]

Thanks for the interesting video. I love those unique North Shore cabooses sans cupolas. The Little Joe electrics had an interesting story behind them. Originally built by GE for the Soviet Union, gauged for 5 feet and nicknamed for Joe Stalin we wound up embroiled in the Cold War before they could be delivered. GE’s Erie, PA plant re-gauged to 4’ 8.5 inches for the Milwaukee Road along with the 3 for South Shore. Thanks so much for putting this all together.

[@westernpacificrr]

Love the street running little joe! From what I have heard those things are huge! I’m surprised it didn’t bump into anything on the street!

[@oystercreek9]

Excellent! Thank you.

[@Tom-xe9iq]

A wonderful gem of a video!! Thanks for sharing!

[@zwsplac]

Very interesting footage!

[@peterhanahoe4913]

Excellent stuff, really enjoyed that.

[@Pensyfan19]

Fantastic footage! Odd to see that the South Shore Line had diesels back then, such as 601. I also did some research and saw that they had a few ALCOs and EMD diesels during the 50s, but photos of these engines are rare.

[@K-Effect]

Excellent video, thank you for posting this treasure

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

The CA&E footage made my day

[@fmnut]

Yes, of the 3 Insull lines the CA&E was the hardest to find footage of freight motors. The other two are much better documented.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@fmnut I don't know why the CA&E didn't stand out as much

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

Do you known of any other videos with CA&E footage in them?

[@fmnut]

@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory there is some old footage on KZbin. If you google Prelinger Archives, they have a number of Chicago area films in their home movies section including the CA&E. That's where I found the steeple cab footage.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

@@fmnut thank you

[@_mynewcareer]

Amazing ! Thank you!

[@tprdfh51]

Awesome footage...well done!

[@albertcarello619]

The North Shore Line ran their longest freight trains at night.

[@brucebartman4782]

Extremely interesting vdo!

[@Steven_Williams]

Nice!!

[@willberestartingthischanne9984]

Nice Video

[@dutch2120]

But still a Fantastic video of electrics!! What a great time it would be to be there!!

[@dutch2120]

Nice Booger on the cameras lens at 18:03

[@russellloomis4376]

The locomotives in the first 10 minutes look very european in design. I believe theyre called crocodiles or alligators in Europe. Could someone please tell me what theyre called? Growing up in Anaheim Ca. I always loved watching the trains run down the middle of the street. Now just a thing of the past. Oh the memories. Very cool footage.

[@fmnut]

In the US, trolley motors with the sloped end hoods were known as "steeplecabs". The term "crocodile" (or "Krokodil" in German) referred to much larger units with longer hoods found in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. These units had two sets of driving wheels each powered by a single large motor, situated similarly to a Beyer-Garratt steam locomotive. Very different from a US steeplecab which had conventionally powered trucks.

[@Martin98Baumann]

@@fmnut German crocodile style locomotives E93 and E94 had conventional C-C trucks and 6 traction motors

[@fmnut]

@@Martin98Baumann sorry, I wasn't aware of that. Were the Austrian versions called crocodiles also?

[@Martin98Baumann]

@@fmnut Yes. They had both Swiss style ones built new classes 1089 and 1189 and got 44 E94 from Germany after the war then built 3 new they became class 1020

[@albertcarello619]

@russellloomi: The Los Angeles Metro A Line ( Blue Line) is like a revival of the Pacific Electric Interurbans from Los Angeles to Long Beach. It has street -like running much like an Interurban.

[@TheEtiTransportesEJogos]

First