In answer to the question about having a diner on a commuter train: Before "everybody" had automobiles, commuters and interurbans were used for daily business travel. My dad was a Van Dorn electrical tool salesman in the twenties, and his territory was from Ohio to Iowa. He did not use a car; he traveled interurbans.
Very good footage ... I especially liked seeing the Northern Indiana Railway crossing in New Carlisle and South Bend and East Chicago street running. It is amazing to note how many places along the line are still easy to recognize, even over 90 years later.
Ah...the Golden Age of the South Shore. No more diners or parlor cars for a long time and forever. No street running in Hammond (boo hoo!), and Hammond, Gary, Michigan City, and South Bend were in their prime. Still, we're lucky we still have "The Last Interurban" in its Renaissance. Great and rare historical footage with great voice over and sound effects. But I did have trouble trying to read many of those faded captions.
Fantastic from start to finish. A great look inside that era; not only the South Shore but all the rest too. Steam trains, trolleys, the automobiles and the people themselves. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for uploading this wonderful film. I was born & raised in Michigan City, Indiana, (Elston H.S. class of '82) and few things help me fascinated and captivated like the mystique of those big orange steel cars. Those were the days!!!!!
I was just watching a cab ride video of today's South Shore Line, and quite a lot has changed (like East Chicago was still street-running) I'm glad the South Shore line is still carrying passengers 100 years later! I think they should offer a cafe car on some modern South Shore trains since the ride takes nearly 2 hours for Chicago to Michiagan City
My late father was an office boy at Midwest Utilities (Insull's holding company) during the 1920's. Among his duties was fetching the payroll checks. Insull's check was $1500 a week, which would have been a decent year's pay for most americans in the 1920's. After the crash of 1929, my father's immediate boss jumped from his office onto Michigan Boulevard, even though he was still better off than the vast majority of Americans. The three Isull lines made history - he deserves credit for that!
These vehicles are cool for making vehicles of old-fashioned style such as Shin Keihan Railway P - 6 and Shinku Den 2200 which was active in private railway in Osaka before the war
i have one question do you or know some one that might have footage of crown point indiana's interurban rail about this era it was discontinued in about 1933
I lived on the IC in South Shore on the south side of Chicago in the mid to late 1960s. It was our like to Hyde Park and down town from 71st Street. Great public transportation.
Incredible footage from 1927. I first saw this from the original 16mm film shown at the Central Electric Railfan Group's 40th Anniversary dinner and celebration in 1978. At that time Samuel Insull Jr spoke and I got to meet him! His Dad is my historical hero. There's a really neat book out on Sam Insull titled "Merchant of Power" I have been a member of CERA for over 40 years!
As noted there was no real commuting public along the line; how could developers/promoters expect the meager populations of South Bend and Michigan City to be sustainable generators?
At 4:20 I'm going to guess that would be the Chicago Junction overpass? I'd be curious as to what else in the Bronzeville area would be an overpass in this era.
@DaftStrings Today it takes about 2 hours 20 minutes. The fastest time ever on the railroad was around 1931 when they managed 1 hour 50 minutes... Not bad when they had THREE towns involving street running, instead of one today.
the longer time comes from loading dwell time today, its scheduled in, they will wait that time to load, disembark. No early runs, passenger friendly with latecomers. There was an untimetable stop for one passenger for a while who was regular some time ago, forget details about that.
The Lakeshore had single ended cars and South Bend had wyes to turn them, the end of the line was Kensington for a while, transfer to IC, why the wye at Kensington. This shows on the CERA maps.
It must be difficult for younger people born after 1960 to imagine that earlier generations often had to ride trains, trolleys, and horses, or walk to get places. One young man, in his twenties, told me it was unAmerican to ride trains or light rail. Before the Great Depression there were not that many improved roads! Also, towns and cities were often laid out along the railroads, while suburbs developed along trolley lines.
I'm a Chicago native, unfortunately I don't live there anymore because life happened. During the summer of 1941 a young man met a young woman aboard a Chicago street car going to jobs at the same place and they began dating until he, like thousands, enlisted on December 8 1941. They continued to date via the US Mail and after he was discharged in 1945, they began face to face dating again, married in 1946 with a plan for the the future which mostly worked out.
After a few accidents and with declining ridership, the CSS cut back to Bendix. In 1992, after NICTD took over, they used the old Bendix Freight Spur, and extended it, to get to the airport. Bendix was not a popular stop location and the airport allowed for a new source of riders. Ridership increased significantly once those upgrades were completed.
When I wrote it in the 1980s, the South Shore trains ran to the Amtrak station. I wouldn't bet my life on this, but I think one of the other issues was the bridge over the river might have been in disrepair.
@@ArtStoneUS the South Bend Amtrak station is actually owned by NICTD. It was built in the late 70s for South Shore and Amtrak too advantage of it. There may have been some concern with the bridge over the St Joseph river in downtown South Bend, but it was a runaway single car train that careened through town and ended up wrecking at the end of track that sealed the fate of service to downtown.
SparkDalmatian - Interesting film, I had no idea the South Shore had dining cars back in the day. I still use the line when I'm going into The LOOP from South Bend and I'm NOT IN A HURRY but 2 hours and 20 minutes to do a trip I can do by car in an hour is ridiculous. They're talking 'improvements' again but understandably the people that will lose the houses to shave a mere 10 minutes off the trip are furious, who can blame them?
You can drive from South Bend to the Loop in 2 hours? I think not! Google estimates 1h40m to drive from South Bend Airport to Randolph in good traffic, via the Toll Road. Express Train 6 is carded for 1h55m. All-stopping Train 14 does it in 2h40m. Once Double Track is completed it is likely that South Bend trains will be more express-oriented and Train 6 should be able to do it in less time than driving, with 5 or so minutes saved in Michigan City due to the upgrades, and an additional 10 minutes shaved off by the potential airport realignment in South Bend. Goal is regular 90 minute South Bend to Randolph service.
In answer to the question about having a diner on a commuter train: Before "everybody" had automobiles, commuters and interurbans were used for daily business travel. My dad was a Van Dorn electrical tool salesman in the twenties, and his territory was from Ohio to Iowa. He did not use a car; he traveled interurbans.
I had a great friend from Chicago, who was a salesman in the 20's. He said you could ALMOST go cross country on the interurbans.
Very good footage ... I especially liked seeing the Northern Indiana Railway crossing in New Carlisle and South Bend and East Chicago street running. It is amazing to note how many places along the line are still easy to recognize, even over 90 years later.
Ah...the Golden Age of the South Shore. No more diners or parlor cars for a long time and forever. No street running in Hammond (boo hoo!), and Hammond, Gary, Michigan City, and South Bend were in their prime. Still, we're lucky we still have "The Last Interurban" in its Renaissance. Great and rare historical footage with great voice over and sound effects. But I did have trouble trying to read many of those faded captions.
Fantastic from start to finish. A great look inside that era; not only the South Shore but all the rest too. Steam trains, trolleys, the automobiles and the people themselves. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for uploading this wonderful film. I was born & raised in Michigan City, Indiana, (Elston H.S. class of '82) and few things help me fascinated and captivated like the mystique of those big orange steel cars. Those were the days!!!!!
I was just watching a cab ride video of today's South Shore Line, and quite a lot has changed (like East Chicago was still street-running) I'm glad the South Shore line is still carrying passengers 100 years later!
I think they should offer a cafe car on some modern South Shore trains since the ride takes nearly 2 hours for Chicago to Michiagan City
I'm Happy that the South Shore is alive, RIP its twin the North Shore
What a wonderful trip back in time!!!!!
It's amazing that the catenary poles put up 90 years ago are still in use with minimal change.
+Kendra Marybeth Davenport Most have been replaced now with the new constant-tension catenary being installed.
+SparkDalmatian I was talking about the catenary poles on what is now the Metra Electric main line.
***** Ah, my bad. lol
My late father was an office boy at Midwest Utilities (Insull's holding company) during the 1920's. Among his duties was fetching the payroll checks. Insull's check was $1500 a week, which would have been a decent year's pay for most americans in the 1920's. After the crash of 1929, my father's immediate boss jumped from his office onto Michigan Boulevard, even though he was still better off than the vast majority of Americans. The three Isull lines made history - he deserves credit for that!
Thank you for posting this I lived in Hudson Lake from 1952-1958. (Best)
These vehicles are cool for making vehicles of old-fashioned style such as Shin Keihan Railway P - 6 and Shinku Den 2200 which was active in private railway in Osaka before the war
i have one question do you or know some one that might have footage of crown point indiana's interurban rail about this era it was discontinued in about 1933
@tdunville No it was a sound dub filled in sometime later... If you watch the North Shore Line video you will see that uses the same sound dub.
Pretty amazing. RR Donelley at 22nd Street didn't exist and the swing bridge near Hegewisch was still there.
@trinityct The worker was standing on a wooden platform, so he wasn't grounded when he touched the wire, making it safe.
What a beautiful world no computers and everything mechanical
4:08 It's interesting seeing that area without McCormick Place on top.
I lived on the IC in South Shore on the south side of Chicago in the mid to late 1960s. It was our like to Hyde Park and down town from 71st Street. Great public transportation.
Amazing Seriously amazing Footage. This Sorda Reminds me of the Footage i saw of the New York Westchester and Boston Railway .
Incredible footage from 1927. I first saw this from the original 16mm film shown at the Central Electric Railfan Group's 40th Anniversary dinner and celebration in 1978. At that time Samuel Insull Jr spoke and I got to meet him! His Dad is my historical hero. There's a really neat book out on Sam Insull titled "Merchant of Power" I have been a member of CERA for over 40 years!
The South Shore was not considered a "commuter" railroad in those days, but an interurban passenger line.
As noted there was no real commuting public along the line; how could developers/promoters expect the meager populations of South Bend and Michigan City to be sustainable generators?
First person to call this a commuter line gets hit by a big orange car.
Maybe the folks who named it the "Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District"?
@@ThornappleRiverRailSeries *South Shore pullman car proceeds to crash into their office*
No better railroad than the South Shore Line. That is a fact .
At 4:20 I'm going to guess that would be the Chicago Junction overpass? I'd be curious as to what else in the Bronzeville area would be an overpass in this era.
Wonderful footage.
Excellent job with the added sound. Maybe too many song birds but good effort.
@DaftStrings Today it takes about 2 hours 20 minutes. The fastest time ever on the railroad was around 1931 when they managed 1 hour 50 minutes... Not bad when they had THREE towns involving street running, instead of one today.
the longer time comes from loading dwell time today, its scheduled in, they will wait that time to load, disembark. No early runs, passenger friendly with latecomers. There was an untimetable stop for one passenger for a while who was regular some time ago, forget details about that.
The soundtrack sounds very period-realistic - was it recorded in real-time?
Also, this solves the "was there a turntable?" mystery pretty well...
The Lakeshore had single ended cars and South Bend had wyes to turn them, the end of the line was Kensington for a while, transfer to IC, why the wye at Kensington. This shows on the CERA maps.
It must be difficult for younger people born after 1960 to imagine that earlier generations often had to ride trains, trolleys, and horses, or walk to get places. One young man, in his twenties, told me it was unAmerican to ride trains or light rail. Before the Great Depression there were not that many improved roads! Also, towns and cities were often laid out along the railroads, while suburbs developed along trolley lines.
I'm a Chicago native, unfortunately I don't live there anymore because life happened. During the summer of 1941 a young man met a young woman aboard a Chicago street car going to jobs at the same place and they began dating until he, like thousands, enlisted on December 8 1941. They continued to date via the US Mail and after he was discharged in 1945, they began face to face dating again, married in 1946 with a plan for the the future which mostly worked out.
Were they that loud inside the cars?
Why was the South Shore kicked out of South Bend? How did it end up at the airport?
After a few accidents and with declining ridership, the CSS cut back to Bendix. In 1992, after NICTD took over, they used the old Bendix Freight Spur, and extended it, to get to the airport. Bendix was not a popular stop location and the airport allowed for a new source of riders. Ridership increased significantly once those upgrades were completed.
When I wrote it in the 1980s, the South Shore trains ran to the Amtrak station. I wouldn't bet my life on this, but I think one of the other issues was the bridge over the river might have been in disrepair.
@@ArtStoneUS the South Bend Amtrak station is actually owned by NICTD. It was built in the late 70s for South Shore and Amtrak too advantage of it.
There may have been some concern with the bridge over the St Joseph river in downtown South Bend, but it was a runaway single car train that careened through town and ended up wrecking at the end of track that sealed the fate of service to downtown.
@ 0:46 Why would a double-ended electric motorized unit need a turn-table?
6:28 Now Arriving ... Gary... (no shit; there's a car on the track).
At 7:58 the second car had a crease in it! It's a shame, must have been brand-new and had a "contact" with something.
SparkDalmatian - Interesting film, I had no idea the South Shore had dining cars back in the day. I still use the line when I'm going into The LOOP from South Bend and I'm NOT IN A HURRY but 2 hours and 20 minutes to do a trip I can do by car in an hour is ridiculous. They're talking 'improvements' again but understandably the people that will lose the houses to shave a mere 10 minutes off the trip are furious, who can blame them?
You can drive from South Bend to the Loop in 2 hours? I think not!
Google estimates 1h40m to drive from South Bend Airport to Randolph in good traffic, via the Toll Road. Express Train 6 is carded for 1h55m. All-stopping Train 14 does it in 2h40m.
Once Double Track is completed it is likely that South Bend trains will be more express-oriented and Train 6 should be able to do it in less time than driving, with 5 or so minutes saved in Michigan City due to the upgrades, and an additional 10 minutes shaved off by the potential airport realignment in South Bend. Goal is regular 90 minute South Bend to Randolph service.
google maps tell me that the trip from south bend to chicago is about the same now.
This must be the oldest railroad footage i know of in the whole world!!!!
Not even close
Thomas Edison was filming the Lehigh Valley RR in 1896.
Is this a documentary from the 1960s
VERY GOOD
Awesome!
Awesome
lol
15:46 Beauties on the Beach. Cuties on the Coast.
rail faning 1927
:(
i thought progress meant better life not this... post modern poop
Great Video !😊