I don't recall seeing anything about this here in the past, and though it might be of interest.

Of course, it would be of interest to find out what became of the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kK_EM7 ... e=youtu.be

Is it this one.....?
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38157&hilit=chicago+trolley+wisconsin&start=0

Indeed it is, thank you for finding the old thread, and my apologies for bringing this up as something new, when it was already here.

Now to see if the car was preserved, though I can't say I'm hopeful.

J3a-614:

The car is now at the Lost Railway Museum and has been cosmetically restored. It is painted as Michigan United Railways #47. The car is inside the museums building in Grass Lake, Michigan, and now sits up on a pair of caboose trucks.

All in all, for a long neglected piece of CSL history, a rather nice restoration.


Les

No one has mentioned, and it is worth pointing out, that this car, with its wide windows, is a good example of the so called Robertson styling that was common on cars built by St. Louis Car Co. about 1901-1906. The styling was used on both streetcars and interurbans. The one element lacking is the skinny arch head windows intermixed with the wide windows as used on some of the interurbans.



If the Michigan Electric had a series of Robertson sytyled streetcars, then this group lucked out in finding one of the few extant bodies.

CSL also had a number of bigger cars inherited from Chicago City Railway that hewed more closely to the Robertson design, complete with the interspersed skinny windows, but unfortunately they were retired fairly early (I think late 1940s or very early 1950s) and none was saved. The "Matchboxes," like the car in question, were an off-the-shelf SLCC design for a 28' body car that the builder sold to a number of different cities including Chicago, Jackson MI, Rock Island IL, and Springfield IL among others.

Noted a December 2017 news item on the Lost Railway Museum website that they have acquired a horse car on loan. The car was supposedly built in 1886 by St. Louis Car Company and ended up on the San Diego Coronado Beach Railroad until that line was electrified in 1896. It was used in the movie "Hello Dolly". Not sure how authentic it is, but the group seems to be making a rather nice little museum with some interesting historic railroad artifacts.

Les

Wonder if the horse car is from the Lindley Bothwell estate?

By Les's description, it would have to be from Bothwell.

Steve

I managed to make a visit yesterday, to the Lost Railway Museum there in Grass Lake, Michigan and got some photos of CSL 1137, now painted up as Michigan United Traction number 47. The first photo shows one end of the car while the second shot the opposite end, with a red light installed in the headlight casing! The interior shot shows that one row of seats has been installed. Not sure if the plans are to restore seats on the other side of the aisle. All in all, a nice restoration, especially considering the cars condition when it was first rescued from its resting place there in Wisconsin.

Les

That appears to be a beautiful restoration. Great work. Wonder if they can find some appropriate trucks for it?