For the first time ever, the CERA Blog is featuring traction models and will be presenting additional pieces on this topic in upcoming editions.

This month we are featuring the model traction work of Larry Konsbruck (1962-2019). Larry was an incredibly gifted model builder and painter whose services were highly sought after. He was adept at building traction models (1:48 scale) in either brass or (his favored medium) in Strathmore laminations. Larry was also a custom painter for several decades, working for hobby shops, model importers, and individual customers. He was known for his historical accuracy and it was common for him to rebuild commercial models to proper specifications. Larry’s color selections were generally accepted as being as close as possible to those of the prototypes he modeled.  Below we offer a sampling of Larry’s work (all in 1:48 scale):

Chicago PCC cars wore a number of liveries over the years. In this lineup, prewar No. 4021 wears its original Buckingham Gray with “tiger stripes” added in later years to emphasize the width of these cars to motorists. No. 4018 is in an experimental scheme from 1944 when several prewar PCCs were painted in several schemes to determine the best one to adopt for the coming order of postwar cars. Pullman-built 4158 is in the adopted livery of Mercury Green, Croydon Cream, and Swamp Holly Orange. And, in a “what-might-have-been” paint scheme, 4371 shows how the cars might have appeared had they survived well into later decades on the CTA.

Larry liked to pose his completed work on specially-built modules and would then photograph them in natural sunlight. Chicago Surface Lines No. 2762, a 1903 St. Louis Car Company product, is posed on one of the modules. This is a Strathmore model scratchbuilt and painted by Larry. Often such a project involved hundreds of hours until completion.

This broadside view is of another 1903 St. Louis Car Company model built and painted by Larry.

In what could have been a shop scene on the Illinois Terminal in Decatur, No. 277 awaits attention from the shop crew while flanked by parlor-observation Cerro Gordo and a Class B. The passenger cars were originally imported by GHB International while the Class B was from Car Works.

IT “Alton” car No. 101 poses on Ralph Nelson’s traction layout. The model, now owned by Bruce Moffat, was originally a limited-edition Ken Kidder import. Larry rebuilt the end windows to proper dimensions, then detailed and painted the model.

Three examples of Illinois Terminal equipment pose for photographers on Ralph’s layout. They are (left-to-right) No. 277 with its original arch windows, No. 101, and Class B 1569, one of the few electric locomotives repainted in “apple green.” The latter is a Car Works import.

In 1939 the Des Moines & Central Iowa purchased three Jewett-built interurbans (Nos. 170, 179, and 180) from the defunct Lake Shore Electric, where they continued in service for another decade. Larry modified a Locomotive Workshop brass kit by adding baggage doors on each side, truss rods, DM&CI’s imposing snow plow, and the roof-mounted bell common to many Iowa interurbans. This beautifully detailed and painted model is now owned by Ralph Nelson.

The Indianapolis & Southeastern Railroad purchased ten Cincinnati curved-side cars in 1928, each with its own unique paint scheme. Larry painted a Car Works import as I&SE No. 200. All striping and scrollwork were accomplished solely by means of very skillful masking. When I&SE ended operation in 1932, the cars became “boomers,”  going to such diverse properties as Beech Grove (Indiana), Inter City at Canton, Ohio,  and Shaker Heights, which later sold their five cars to the Milwaukee Rapid Transit and Speedrail in 1949.

One can imagine oneself walking along Fox Street in South Elgin as one of the Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric 300-series cars rolls past on its southbound schedule to Aurora. This model was a Ken Kidder import offered in both AE&FRE and Shaker Heights versions. Larry painted this particular model as an AE&FRE car with sunburst ends and made several corrections to the Kidder model.

CTA No. 4 was one of four high-performance experimental cars (Nos. 1-4) built by St. Louis Car Company in 1960. Owing to their experimental nature, there were variations of control, motors, and trucks. No. 4 and its three sister cars were modified for Skokie Swift service upon the line’s opening in 1964.  The model is shown at Ralph Nelson’s layout. Current could actually be collected through the bow trolleys, but this particular run “came a cropper” as the overhead was not built for pan operation. The model holds down service via “third rail” on Bruce Moffat’s Moffat Electric Lines. Larry used automotive lacquer for most of his work and many of these colors, such a Mercury Green, Colorado Spruce Green, and Swamp Holly Orange were carried by DuPont and Ditzler (PPG) under those names.

Painting a PCC car means lots of curves and lots of stripes. Cleveland (represented here by No. 4266) adopted a paint scheme designed by Raymond Loewy. Simple it is not, but Larry brought if off beautifully on this Car Works product. There are subtle differences in line width and curvature designed to give nightmares to any custom painter. Larry appeared not to have been fazed.

Cincinnati had the only PCC cars equipped with twin trolley poles. The prototype, No, 1169, was delivered in August 1947 by St. Louis Car Company and featured an attractive paint scheme featuring three stripes running below the belt rail. Larry modified a Car Works all-electric PCC, adding the two poles and oversized housing as well as an superbly executed paint job.

Larry painted the same prewar PCC in five different ways. The first shows No. 4021 in the Buckingham Gray with “tiger stripes.” The others show four of the six experimental paint schemes adopted by Chicago Surface Lines in 1944, each a possible candidate as the standard livery for the anticipated postwar cars. The primary color for each car is as follows: 4035—orange with maroon V-front; 4022—Clipper Blue; 4018—Mercury Green, Croydon Cream, Swamp Holly Orange (colors eventually adopted); 4050—Coronado Tan. Photos of all six variations (executed by St. Petersburg Tram Collection) can be found on page 12 of CERA Bulletin 146.

 

After a long hiatus, CERA’s Blog has returned.

Every three-to-four weeks we will present photos and articles from our archives as well as current news in the field of electric railways. Please feel free to contribute—we can be reached through our email: ceraoffice@gmail.com.

The photos of Robert Konsbruck

CERA was fortunate to be allowed to scan the slides, prints and negatives from the collection of the late Robert Konsbruck. It is a slow process to scan, clean, and correct the color on each slide.

Today, we’re offering a few photos that Bob either took or were kept in his collection.

By 1953 the handwriting was on the wall for streetcars in Cleveland. With the conversion of the St. Clair line to bus in 1951 and the Euclid and Lorain lines in 1952, the Cleveland Transit System deemed its 75 PCC cars to be surplus and sold them to Toronto in October 1952. The remaining lines were served by an aging fleet of Peter Witt cars until the last line—Madison—was converted to bus on January 23, 1954. Madison was the only line remaining when Bob went out to Cleveland in late 1953 to photograph the cars one last time.

Before: This photo shows the appearance of the slides when we began restoring them.

After: This and subsequent slides were run through Photo Shop where exposure and color were corrected and the images were cleaned of any dirt and dust. The top view shows Witt 4142 near the Spring Garden wye on the Madison line. The following photo shows a typical scene along the line in the last weeks of streetcar operation.

Knowing the end was near, local fans rode and photographed the cars while they could. One group chartered 4117 for a fantrip. The car is shown at Public Square and out along the line on Madison.

Peter Witt 4138 is heading east on Madison on its way to Public Square.

One wonders how many buses were required to handle the same number of riders as the Witts. Their large capacity is demonstrated in this scene as 4145 loads regular riders and shoppers in front of Cleveland’s famed department store, Higbee’s, on Public Square.

Bob found an ideal photo site from the Cleveland Union Terminal tower where he recorded this view. By then only the Madison streetcars called at Public Square.

South Bend streetcars had less than three weeks to run when CERA operated Inspection Trip No. 20 on Memorial Day 1940. Members arrived in South Bend via the South Shore Line where they then traveled over the streets of South Bend on Chicago South Bend and Northern Indiana Railway No. 216, a St. Louis Car Company product built originally for the St. Joseph Valley Railway. The last streetcar in South Bend ran on June 15, 1940.

Both Hershey Transit and the Fairmount Park trolley in Philadelphia remained in operation until 1946. These three photos are probably from the early ‘40s.

Hershey Transit 18 and 7 meet at Hershey Square where crews were changed. The former car was built for the company by Brill in 1915 while No. 7 was one of three cars purchased in 1930 from the Lebanon Street Railway. Built by Cincinnati Car Company in 1914, the car has survived and is undergoing restoration in Hershey.

Brill-built No. 11 lays over at the picturesque Hershey Hotel terminal.

The Fairmount Park trolley operated a meandering line through its namesake park in Philadelphia until 1946. Riding in one of its open cars was a pleasant way to seek relief from Philadelphia’s hot and humid summers. Open car No. 81 basks in the sun outside of the line’s Belmont Avenue car house.

 Bob went out to photograph the North Shore Line as often as time permitted in the early 1960s. This view shows a southbound freight headed by battery-electric No. 455 as it approaches Berkeley Avenue just north of the Briergate station.

Mundelein-bound train passes under I-94 at Greenhouse.

A southbound Silverliner pauses at Highmoor on a crisp sunny day.

A Chicago-bound train with equipment substituting for an Electroliner approaches a rural grade crossing north of Racine. Tavern-lounge car No. 415 provided meal and beverage service on this run.

 The other double-sash Silverliner—No. 409—was behind 757 on a northbound train at South Upton Junction.

Roy G. Benedict

We rail preservationists and historians have lost an important member of our community.  Roy G. Benedict, prolific writer and historian active with several rail organizations over the course of 60+ years, passed away unexpectedly.  He was 78.

Among other activities, Roy was long involved with CERA publications and also served a term as editor of First & Fastest, published by the Shore Line Interurban Historical Society.  His historic research and writings were meticulous, thorough and accurate.   A native of Chicago's South Side, he was considered a 'walking encyclopedia' of Chicago Surface Lines routes and operations.

Roy was a bachelor who lived alone on Chicago's Northwest Side.  He was employed as a schoolteacher. After retiring, he started Roy G. Benedict Publisher's Services as a sole proprietorship.   He did not own a car and used public transportation to get wherever he needed to go, traveling frequently to Indiana to observe NICTD board meetings or to distant libraries to research electric railways.  When invited to ride with others to railroad museums, model meets, and other events not accessible by bus or train, Roy was always grateful for the opportunity to tag along.

The accompanying photo below shows Roy enjoying Bob Olson's South Bend Electric Railway in October of 2016.  

There will be no funeral service.  Roy bequeathed his collection to the Illinois Railway Museum's Strahorn Library.  

--Eric Bronsky

THE 6000s ARE BACK!

CTA has reached agreement with the Fox River Trolley Museum to repurchase
cars 6101-02 for its Heritage Fleet.

The Fox River board approved the sale at its July 8 meeting. CTA signed off
on the terms Monday.

"We've done our part for historic preservation, which is our mission," said
museum President Edward Konecki. "Now it's time for them to go home."

CTA will move the cars Aug. 14-15. The married pair features a set of
outside conductor's controls and twin headlights, which makes them unique
among surviving 6000s.

Fox River has long-term historic preservation in mind. The contract
includes a clause that gives the museum a 90-day right of first refusal to
regain possession of the cars, should CTA decide to terminate its Heritage
Fleet program. they must be returned in fully operable condition.

The cars were never used in public operations at Fox River because of
restrictions written into the contact between the museum and CTA in the
1990s. Essentially, Fox River could not carry paying passengers on the cars.

CTA hopes to unveil the cars to the public in October, but it is hoped to
have them operable for CTAs rail Jamboree Aug. 26.

Returns to central city plant here, will service and repairs trains for U.S. customers.

By Graham Kilmer - Jul 17th, 2017 04:30 pm 

Subway cars inside Talgo facility. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Many will remember when the last train from Talgo, the international train manufacturer based in Spain, left town as the company closed its shop in central city Milwaukee. Well, the company has now returned to its old facility at 3533 N. 27th St, in the Century City Business Park, formerly the site of A.O Smith, and last week held a grand reopening of sorts, with city officials there to celebrate.

While Talgo specializes in manufacturing high-speed and transit trains around the world, the plant will handle the repair and maintenance of trains, at least for now. The facility will also has the capacity to manufacture trains, and will be the first production facility for Talgo in the US. They also have a maintenance facility in Seattle, Washington.

The reopened Talgo facility and its production capacity gives the company a stronger foothold in the U.S. market. It recently secured a contract with The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to repair subway cars. For Milwaukee officials, it was an opportunity to bring jobs to a long blighted part of the city.

Antonio Perez

For the next 56 months  Tango employees here will work to fulfill the Los Angeles contract, which is worth $72.9 million. Perez said the company estimates that the yearly market for the kind of work they are doing at the Milwaukee plant is more than $180 million.

“There are like 25 different transit agencies in the United States,” Perez said. “We have won the contract of only one.”

Theoretically, if Talgo is awarded more contracts, the facility in Milwaukee will grow and bring on more employees.

“This is a good start,” said the local Ald. Khalif Rainey, hoping the plant will continue to grow and hire more employees from his district. Rainey added that he hopes having an international firm like Talgo in his district will send the message to other corporations that there is a “ready and willing” workforce, as Mayor Tom Barrett put it, in central Milwaukee.

“We can actually have a work, live, play model right here in a, hopefully, soon-to-be-formerly distressed neighborhood,” Rainey said.

Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux was among those that maintained a relationship with the Spanish firm after state lawmakers shuttered a deal with the firm in a series of decisions that cost the state $50 million. He said there’s a “myth” about Talgo’s new neighborhood, that the workforce has been sitting idly by, waiting for jobs to return; rather, he said, they’re skilled and working, but “want an opportunity at that same family-supporting job that they used to have.”

Perez concurred. Along with the location being logistically promising, he said the available “skilled workforce” was an important part of the deal.

“We’re doing everything we can to breathe life back into this location,” Barrett said. As an old industrial-area of the city, the Talgo plant sits on “dozens and dozens of acres of land,” Barrett said. “So when people talk about skills gap, in some ways it’s a geography gap. We’ve got that land here and we’ve got the people that want to do the work.”

Barrett said the city was “very pleased to welcome Talgo back to the community,” — especially after Gov. Scott Walker rejected the high-speed rail project, for which Talgo would have supplied the trains. And after Republican legislators decided not to honor a contract with the manufacturer for new trains on the Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago.

Taxpayers ultimately footed the bill on a settlement with Talgo that cost millions more than the original contract was worth.

“The City of Milwaukee never ever ended our relationship or let it get acrimonious,” Barrett said, later adding, “Even though the state burned their bridge, and tried to burn it again, and burn it again, and burn it again.”

Perez said transit maintenance and even production has a far more stable funding stream in the US, whereas the “high speed train business” has “a political bias,” as he put it. “The Democrats they think one way, the Republicans think a different way.”

Inside Talgo

The Milwaukee Streetcar construction along St. Paul Avenue is in the "most advanced stage" according to construction officials, as crews poured the first concrete along the line setting the rails Wednesday.

"We're on schedule, spring work can present challenges because you get all types of weather in spring,” said Construction Manager Carolynn Gellings. “All of this work is very weather dependent."

In Detroit last weekend the city opened the "Q-Line," a system largely designed by the same company and uses the same vehicles from Brookfield Equipment Corporation as the Milwaukee line does. TODAY'S TMJ4 sister station WXYZ-Detroit reports a few hiccups with the launch.

Long wait times, mechanical problems, and a car having to be towed from the tracks were reported.

MILWAUKEE -- Sparks were flying in downtown Milwaukee on Tuesday, April 4th
as the controversial streetcar project moves forward. Some special
equipment arrived, marking a big milestone.

On Tuesday, workers moved the steel rails, and welded them into a long
piece of track.

"It looks like it really is a huge project," Brianne Harris said.

"Walk down the street to class and all of a sudden there is huge equipment
there and sparks flying everywhere. It's kind of cool," Josh Maas said.

On MSOE's campus Tuesday, students got a firsthand lesson.

"I'm a construction management major, so it's fun for me. I don't know how
other students feel about it," Harris said.

For the first time, welding was underway on the controversial streetcar
project, with 80-foot sticks of steel eventually becoming a 320-foot piece
of track.

The line that will eventually run from the Intermodal Station through the
Third Ward, Cathedral Square and the Lower East Side was being put together.

A city spokeswoman said there are few pieces of equipment in the country
that can do this kind of work, and it was in Milwaukee Tuesday, along with
some inconveniences.

"It's hard for studying with construction going on," an MSOE student said.

"I'm kind of excited to see it in action. That's for sure," Maas said.

CLICK HERE <http://www.themilwaukeestreetcar.com/> to learn more about the
streetcar project.

*Mar 16th, 2017 05:05 pm*

The first shipments of steel that will form the actual track for the
Milwaukee Streetcar have arrived.

The segments, 52 rails delivered via flat-bed truck from Indiana, are being
stored in the curb lane near the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
<http://urbanmilwaukee.com/government/wisconsin-department-of-transportation>
office at 1001 W. St. Paul Ave.

Ultimately the city will accept delivery of 474 80-foot long, 3,067 pound
segments that will be stored at five spots in the curb lane on city
streets.

Those steel rails will then be welded together into 320-foot long spans by
a nationally-traveling team that specializes in electric flash butt welding
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_welding>.

The steel is expected to be fully delivered by the end of the month.

The first construction of the guideway system is planned for April on a
stretch of W. St. Paul Ave. from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station
<http://urbanmilwaukee.com/buildings/milwaukee-intermodal-station> to N.
Plankinton Ave.

Construction work will involve cutting an 8-foot wide and 2-foot deep
segment of the street out and installing the steel rails and new concrete.

On streets like W. St. Paul Ave. where the streetcar will operate in both
directions two cuts will be made, while N. Milwaukee St. and N. Broadway
will only see one cut because the streetcar will only operate in one
direction.

Construction on the streetcar system is being led by Kiewet Infrastructure.

Utility work in advance of the actual streetcar guideway construction is
already well underway, with crews hired by We Energies
<http://urbanmilwaukee.com/businesses/we-energies> and other utilities
working at a number of spots along the route.

Public operation on the initial route connecting the Milwaukee Intermodal
Station and Westown <http://urbanmilwaukee.com/neighborhoods/westown> with
the Historic Third Ward
<http://urbanmilwaukee.com/neighborhoods/historic-third-ward>, East Town
<http://urbanmilwaukee.com/neighborhoods/east-town> and the Lower East Side
<http://urbanmilwaukee.com/neighborhoods/lower-east-side> is scheduled to
begin in the fourth quarter of 2018 following route testing.

The lakefront line extension is expected to begin operating in the fourth
quarter of 2019.

For more information on the project’s construction timeline and details see
our February article “Streetcar Construction Starts in April
<http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2017/02/17/eyes-on-milwaukee-streetcar-track-construction-starts-in-april/

Construction is expected to begin this week on a Chinese state-owned rail company's assembly plant that will produce up to 846 new rail cars for the Chicago Transit Authority.

The project will return CTA rail car manufacturing to Chicago after a 50-year absence, according to the city. CRRC Sifang's American subsidiary, CRRC Sifang North America, won the $1.3 billion contract last year to build the new 7000 Series over 10 years. The cars will have a combination of forward- and rear-facing seats as well as single seats and some facing the aisle.

CRRC Sifang will invest $100 million in building a 380,944-square-foot manufacturing facility on 45 acres in Chicago's Hegewisch neighborhood on the Southeast Side.

Production will begin in early 2019. The facility will begin testing the new car prototype later that year and the cars will hit the rails by 2020.

The facility will employ about 170 workers, according to a statement from CCRC. The company will spend $7.2 million to train the workforce, according to a statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office.

The Chicago assembly plant is part of the company's larger plan to "become internationalized," said Li Yongle, vice president of CRRC Qingdao Sifang, under the CRRC corporate umbrella.

"We recognize the United States as an important and strategic market for the Sifang," he said through an interpreter. "It will support other project plans in the U.S., including projects for metro cars and high-speed trains."

The company already has a contract to build rail cars for Boston's transit system and aims to use the new Chicago plant if it wins bids to manufacture rail cars for San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system, known as BART, and a double-decker coach car project for Metra, Li said.

The company plans to assemble "major components" of the cars at the plant, including the trucks, doors, the heating and cooling system, brakes, stainless steel car body shell and a new propulsion system designed for a smoother, quieter ride. Assembly parts will be sourced from the U.S., China and other areas, according to Li.

The CTA's first order of 400 new cars will replace its oldest rail cars, which date back more than 30 years. Once the new cars are in service, the CTA will have one of the youngest fleets of any U.S. transit agency, according to the CTA.

The Chinese company's $1.309 billion bid came in $226 million lower than one submitted by Canadian-based Bombardier, which appealed the CTA's decision to pick the Chinese firm. The decision was upheld last year after being reviewed by the CTA. 

"This new facility represents a major investment in Chicago that will bring economic development to the Southeast Side, while creating good-paying jobs for hundreds of workers," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a news release.

The new rail cars will have LED lighting and 37 or 38 seats each and be a hybrid of the previous 5000 Series and the 3200 Series currently seen on the Brown and Orange lines. Both federal and local funds will pay for the project, with the local money coming from a previous bond issue.

Li said his company still is negotiating possible tax incentives for building the facility in Chicago. A spokesman from the mayor's office said there are no city incentives but the company could be eligible for a county property tax credit. crshropshire@chicagotribune.com

The $280 million 95th Street terminal project is expected to be completed in late 2018. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

Mary Wisniewski Contact ReporterChicago Tribune

The CTA plans to reroute some weekday rush-hour Red Line "L" trains onto the Green Line starting next month to allow for more construction at the 95th Street station.

The next construction phase will include work on the tracks, the existing station platform and the foundations of the new north and south terminal buildings, CTA spokesman Jeff Tolman said. To do the work, the CTA will have to close the east and west sides of the tracks at 95th, at separate times.

What does this mean for South Side commuters? The work will affect off-peak trains during the morning and afternoon weekday rush hours, so riders will have to make sure they get on the right train.

From 7:56 a.m. to 9:14 a.m., every other southbound Red Line train starting at Howard Street will be rerouted after the Roosevelt station to the Ashland/63rd Green Line stop, the CTA said.

From 4:40 p.m. to 5:58 p.m., every other Howard-bound train entering the Loop from south of Roosevelt will start at the Ashland/63rd Green Line station.

Depending on riders' location, some customers going in the off-peak direction may have to wait a few extra minutes, Tolman said.

The rerouting, which will affect about 10 percent of all Red Line trains, begins April 2 and will continue until fall.

All trains will be marked with destination signs, showing Ashland/63rd, 95th/Dan Ryan or Howard, and announcements will be made at stations, CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said.

CTA to get $1.1 billion federal grant to upgrade Red Line

"This was necessary so we can do two things — maintain Red Line service and keep 95th Street open," Chase said.

Motorists on the Dan Ryan Expressway also will see the extended closure of the northbound left lane near 95th Street beginning as soon as March 18, depending on the weather, and continuing into the fall. The lane also was closed last fall.

The $280 million 95th Street terminal project, expected to be completed in late 2018, involves completely rebuilding the Red Line South's busiest station, which sees 20,000 passengers and 1,000 bus trips a day. The station is the southernmost stop on the Red Line — the agency plans to extend the line south to 130th Street, but has not yet acquired the funding.