A Slice of Chicago in Texas: A History of the Metra Highliner Cars
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- This video shares the fascinating history of the Metra Highliner commuter cars that set the rhythm of Chicago for over 40 years. The Museum of the American Railroad has ten Highliner cars in its collection which it uses as immersion classrooms. We hope you enjoy this little slice of Chicago in Frisco, Texas!
A most interesting video and I'd love to see more. I did miss that you didn't mention that one of the more interesting effects of the 1926 electrification, the ability of the Chicago, South Bend, and South Shore to run all the way into Randolph St. station instead of have to transfer passengers where the two railroads meet on the south side of Chicago. The successor to the South Shore, the NICTD, continues this operation today.
I rode the Highliners when they were brand new in 1971. They were sleek. They were fast. They were definitely a "novelty" because they were the first and only electric (self-propelled) bilevel or gallery cars in that region of the country. And they were air conditioned; a welcomed amenity for IC commuters. The Highliners were also fitted with trucks that were very similar to those used on the "then-new" Budd Metroliners that were placed into service for the Northeast Corridor. The Highliner wheel sets also used secondary air suspension. But as nice as these cars were, they definitely had two major flaws: Their pneumatic-hydraulic brakes and their comparatively lightweight construction and material. The Highliners weighed in at @140,000 lbs. as compared to one of the 1926 Pullman-Green motorized electric units which weighed in at @141,200 lbs.. And this despite the fact that the Highliner car was much longer, wider and taller than the 1926 heavyweights. It was this light weight and comparatively paper-thin construction that contributed to the human carnage of the IC train collision on October 30, 1972.
i enjoy the trains just as well.
Well done! I grew up in Matteson and fondly remember these cars. I'm happy that some have been preserved and are being put to good use educating the next generation. There's pretty good chance I've ridden one or more of the cars in your collection!
i used to ride the train from university park to chicago :) in the 1990s as a kid
I grew up in Country Club Hills and rode them in the 90s to the Taste Of Chicago and the late 00's when I worked on the north side of Chicago
You should talk about Metra's budd cars
What's up Ty?
@@dangelohartley5977 yoo
YES
Very well done! I live just west of Chicago and have ridden the Highliners. I really appreciate you taking the time to put together such a detailed documentary. For those who would like an opportunity to ride the Highliners, the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, acquired a set of them and occasionally operates them on weekends. Hopefully those last few will continue to operate for years to come…
I've seen a pair of these cars in Boone, Iowa in 2008 as well as some still in service on Metra electric in 2014. The Illinois Railway museum also now owns a pair
You guys should repaint two of them into the RTA orange, and two of the classroom cars in a unique livery.
How about its original IC colors?
as a 32 year old, i used to ride the train from my home at the southern point to downtown chicago and take the bus to navy pier. great memories
It should be noted that the HIghliners are not the first time St. Louis Car has been involved in Chicago transit, they built the North Shore Electroliners, the only electric-powered streamliners produced.
St Louis Car was also responsible for building @ 700 light weight transit cars for the Chicago Transit Authority, namely the 6000 series. These "L" cars became an iconic part of the Chicago "landscape" and rapid transit history that lasted from 1950, when they were first introduced, to 1992-93 when the remaining few were retired.
St louis car also built the original order of CNW bilevels, IRM in union has a few of these original cars.
@@chicago-l9125 PCC heavy rail cars built 1950-1959 in 6000 series and the "1-50" series single units for Evanston and Skokie local service.
I lived a stone's throw from the IC practically all my life. One thing she failed to mention was that the new Highliner 2 cars had a feature the original Highliner 1s lacked, and that was lavatories.
This was a very well done video, and loved all the history. I was only on one once, as I lived off of the UP West line, but you could never miss them when walking around south Michigan Ave. Interestingly METRA just placed an order for 500 Alstom cars that look similar to the Highliner.
I grew up on Chicago's Southeast Side seeing these cars in service on a regular basis throughout my childhood. So happy to see your organization save a handfull these cars! Greetings from the Windy City!
likewise i lived on the southern last station point and always rode them
love the history of these amazing cars i never got to ride them ive seen em a few times riding the south shore line coming into millenium station then one day they were gone off that side track glad 10 found a good home :)
I used to ride that style if train cars until I moved out of Illinois and into Northwest Indiana and I still remember seeing them on the line that shared the tracks with the South shore.
Same, I've always wanted to ride one, never had the chance, then they were gone. Pleased to see so many preserved, IRM has at least a 2 car set too, and possibly the infrastructure to run them. Thats, what, almost 10% preservation rate right there?
I'm always glad to hear where former Metra Cars end up at! specially the Texas weather will prove beneficial in the longer life of the car body!
I really wish metra kept the highliners and converted them into to regular coaches that would have been cool .
The only problem is that these cars can’t interface with a HEP system of a diesel locomotive.. also the main doors are platform level so it would be a pain getting in and out. The closet thing is a old CNW car on diesel lines that looks just like the high liners.
Plus, even if you could convert them to regular coaches, they were in really bad condition due to rust.
I wish they would've kept them for special events or a surplus
@@richboimagic Valid points, Plus the highliner cars cannot couple on to standard couplers... Highliner cars also have the air system run directly through the knuckle / drawbar (no Main res or BP hoses)...in order to move these cars around the country the coupler had to be changed to a standard (type h tightlock or type e/f) coupler to be hauled by freight trains and a "run around hose" to complete the train line brake system ...They also required a special movement waiver from the FRA...
NJ Transit did that with the Arrow I MUs.
Since a baby I rode these trains. As excited as I was for the new cars, it was sad seeing less and less highliners come by the south Chicago branch. It brings joy to know that a number of them live on!
A childhood favorite
I remember growing up and taking the train down to university park to see family all the time. so many memories on these rail cars. i was given a conductors cap by a conductor that was retiring which i still have to this day, and got to go up in the cab and honk the horn going into university park. sad to see they’re gone but it’s awesome that some of them are still being preserved.
i use to live in university park and always took the train to chicago. great memories
My favorite Metra trains
Me too.
The new Highliner cars are really cool, but I miss the old Pullman with the windows that open in the summer, the thunk thunk sound of the air compressor and traction motor sound. Loved riding them.
@@alfredfeagins1886 the old highliners will always be in our hearts
Same I use to get on them when I was like 5&6
Very well produced. As a former Chicagoian, I enjoyed watching this. I never rode the Electric, but did used to ride the C&NW west line.
Thank you for an excellent presentation, enjoyed every minute to the bell ringing end. Being a native Chicagoan now living in Texas I was very pleased at your explanation on all of the details. I have always enjoyed my numerous rides on the IC's Pullmans thru the Highliner's ending.
The highliner replacements should have been a derivative of the Sydney A/B sets ahead of an EMU derivative of the bi-level push pulls.
Great video, and I also love Gino’s East pizza, highly recommend it.
This is awesome! I grew up with the IC and Metra and thank you for posting this!
Corten steel is not noted to be a durable material for preservation.
i love the highliners
To me they lack the charm of the 1926 Pullmans but I like them.
43:00 not just your cars are preserved. I am aware of 14 more that have been acquired by three other organisations
Auto-generated subtitles be like "icees mainline"
P.S. This video was recommended right under a video talking about Metra ordering brand new cars that are not of the Gallery design, based on Alstom Coradia. That's why I'm here lol
Same!
I wonder if there will be a Highliner 3 based on the Alston cars.
@@robertlee6781 Highliners are high-floor, so they will have to be fundamentally different from these. For example, obviously the doors will be on the mid decks at the ends of the car, but now also all the ADA spots, bathrooms, bike racks, etc. must also be there. And there's less space to work with.
I live in South Bend, Indiana and we have one of the High Liners at our Fire Department's training facility.
A great video for all metra fans. Greetings from Zurich Switzerland
25:17 October 30 1972
i live in the Chicago area and took ( and still do ) take the IC Metra line as many of us still call it . I have posted this on a few metra and IC related FB groups. All positive feed back from all groups
First, the line that they were on went from downtown Chicago south to just outside Norte Dame university and north to just south of Milwaukee. It’s the longest line.
METRAAA!!! to be specific, the Metra Electric Line.
Great work on the history of the IC and later Metra Highliner, electric, commuter cars. Thanks for sharing! One question, didn't the Chicago & North Western actually pioneer the bilevel, commuter car push/pull, concept in the Chicago area?
Yes, it was the North Western, in 1959.
@@amfm889 It's interesting to note that some of the North Western bilevels were actually pulled by pacific type steam locomotives in the mid 1950s.
ME-D past name is ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD
At 31:40 or so, the narrator says "The number of stations increased to 49". I don't remember any new stations opening at that time. Does anyone know what stations opened then? The time frame appears to be circa 1987.
I can only think that she's referring to extending the line to U.P. and also extending the South Shore branch to 93rd St.
@@intrepidfox37 Thanks.
Rta is the top in the chain. Pace does buses. Metra does commuter train
What sad is the decline of the south side
catenary is pronounced kuh-teen-er-eey
The ic electric were like clock work
They were well kept
Contact cera
There is two cars in Boone IA and I always wondered about their history.
Just like SEPTAs SilverLiner II & III there's nothing like it only difference is SEPTA on most SilverLiner II & III didn't replace the seats so we had orange & yellow seats with butt indents. Also we can design trains we just can't run them (Dearborn/Detroit still waiting on regional service)
🥵
I used to ride them from chicago loop to mccormick place and museum of science and industry
:D
St. Louis Car also built 10 Interurban coaches for the Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railway ordered in 1941 but not built until after WW II in 1946.