75th Anniversary Banquet and Program
CERA’s 75th Anniversary Banquet and Program was a great success. The sold-out crowd enjoyed the food, the camaraderie, and the North Shore Line films shown by Walter Keevil. We thank all those who attended, especially everyone who came from out of town just for our big CERA weekend of events.
Our next book (B-146) will be called Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: the PCC Car Era, to be published in Spring 2014. (Photo by James J. Buckley, CERA Archives)
We gave out two awards. First, Myles Jarrow, Member #23, received the 2013 CERA Founder’s Award, and spoke for several minutes about the early days of the organization. Then, we surprised Ray DeGroote, our Master of Ceremonies, by giving him the 2013 CERA Service Award for 65 years of faithful service.
Saturday night’s CERA 75th Anniversary Banquet and Program was very well received. (Photo by David Sadowski)
Ye olde editor gave a slideshow with many photos from past fantrips, including some going back to CERA’s earliest days. I have posted a few here (courtesy of John Nicholson) that I was not able to include, and I hope that you will enjoy them.
Great Lakes Naval station, 6-16-40. (Photo by Eugene Van Dusen, John Nicholson Collection)
Birney car 328 in Waukegan. (Photo by Eugene Van Dusen, John Nicholson Collection)
CNS&M 738 at Buena Yard (near Irving Park Road) on 6-16-40. That’s a CSL streetcar in the background, and Graceland cemetery behind the wall. (Photo by George Krambles, John Nicholson Collection)
Deerpath, 6-4-39. (Photo by George Krambles, John Nicholson Collection)
CNS&M Dining Car 409 – Uptown, Wilson Ave. station, March 17, 1939. (Unknown Photographer, John Nicholson Collection)
CNS&M 255 and 409 at Greenwood and North Ave. in Waukegan on 6-4-39. (Photo by Eugene Van Dusen, John Nicholson Collection)
Our Next Publications
At the Banquet, we announced that our next book (B-146) published will be called Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: The PCC Car Era. Each Chicago streetcar line that had PCCs will be covered in detail, from one end of the line to the other- a story told in pictures. At present, we expect to publish this book in Spring 2014, and it will be the membership entitlement for 2012 CERA members.
Work on this book has been proceeding for some time, and we already have permission from several outstanding photographers to use their work in the book. If you have good quality original color slides or other excellent Chicago PCC photos that you believe would be good additions to this book, we would love to hear from you.
We believe that CERA is the right organization to publish books about Chicago streetcars. It is our “turf,” so to speak, yet the organization has not published such a book in its first 75 years. We feel it is important to get it right, and make the best possible Chicago PCCs book. And, lastly, we feel it is important to put out such a book within the lifetime of those who actually rode Chicago streetcars.
Meanwhile, work continues on our Chicago, Ottawa & Peoria book. We need more good quality images of this important Illinois interurban before we can publish it. Finding such images will naturally take some time. As soon as we have the images we need, we will issue the book.
If any of you have high-resolution images (or originals that can be scanned) of either Chicago PCCs or the Chicago, Ottawa & Peoria, please drop us a line at: ceraoffice@gmail.com
Your help in creating these publications will ensure that both volumes will live up to the high and exacting standards set by previous CERA bulletins.
Don’t Forget Our September Membership Meeting:
Midwest Traction In Vintage Films From the 1930s and 40s
Left coaster and longtime CERA Member Harvey Laner has been collecting vintage traction films for a long time. He’s traveling here to showcase Midwestern properties, and many of these films will be seen in Chicago for the first time. Our program includes Cincinnati Streetcars, Cincinnati, Newport and Covington, Cincinnati and Lake Erie, Columbus Delaware and Marion, Lake Shore Electric Ry., Gary Railways, Indiana Railroad, Marion Railways, Indianapolis Railways, Fort Wayne (Indiana), Cedar Rapids & Iowa City, Waterloo Cedar Falls and Northern, Chicago Great Western, Charles City Western, Mason City and Clear Lake, and Iowa Traction. Mr. Laner will round out the program with a selection of his own Chicago-area films from 1956-57, featuring streetcars, interurbans, and rapid transit. Come join us for what promises to be a fun evening.
Friday, September 27, 2013
1900 hrs / 7:00pm
University Center
525 S State St
Chicago, IL 60605
Admission is free for current CERA members. There will be a $5.00 Admission charge for non-members. Simply show your CERA 2013 Membership card at the door for entry. (Don’t worry- even if you don’t bring your card, we can still look up your membership status.)
Non-members will be issued tickets for pass-in/outs. We can accept membership renewals at the door. If you have not done so already, why not become a card-carrying member of CERA?
We will also be selling copies of our latest limited-edition book, Trolley Sparks Special #1, a 75-year retrospective of CERA. Buy your copy now, before the book is completely sold out. It is sure to become a collector’s item.
-David Sadowski
