Author Name: Dale Jenkins
Title: Illinois Terminal Railroad, The Road of Personalized Services
Seller ID: WR111
The Illinois Terminal Railroad that vanished into the Norfolk & Western in 1982 was a markedly different creature than it was as an infant some 75 years earlier. With its arch-windowed electric cars flashing through the fertile central Illinois countryside or trundling through city streets past humming substations, the Illinois Traction System was the epitome of classic interurban carriers in a short-lived epoch of American transportation. Electric interurban and streetcar railways helped civilize the nation ’s cities while bridging the gap between the horse-and-buggy era and the automobile age. A number of small upstart railway companies eventually grew into the far-flung Illinois Traction System. In the early days Midwesterners were served by ITS passenger and freight operations at a time when interurbans were simply a way of life that most people assumed would never end.
Interurbans came and went with alarming frequency in the early part of the 20th Century. Insufficient capital, competition from parallel steam railroads, the coming of the automobile age, and the Great Depression together or separately proved to be formidable foes for most interurban lines. But the strong survived. Radical change beginning at the end of the “Roaring Twenties ” propelled the largest of all interurbans, “The Traction, ” into the ranks of big-time railroading. World War II and the years immediately after were merciless on American railroads, especially with changes in U.S. transportation policies. Cast aside by America ’s new focus on highway and air transport, the railroads were forced to make radical transformations —or succumb to “progress. ” The IT entered this period still very much an interurban, relying largely on electric power to transport freight and passengers, but it left as an all-diesel, freight-only company.
Beginning in 1956, the railroad found itself in a completely new venue —a unique one, in some respects, compared to other rail carriers, since the IT was now a ward of a contigent of “steam ” railroads. The end of the story revolves around the tenacity of the railroad and its leaders, and it holds still more lessons in how a company adapted —and did so quickly —to survive in an increasingly ruthless, obstacle-ridden corporate world. Yet the Illinois Terminal remained an immensely fascinating operation, right up to the end.
A complete history of the Illinois Terminal, from the turn of the 20th Century to the railroad's demise in 1981. Electric, Steam, and Diesel eras are all covered, complete with rosters, maps, and drawings.
White River, hard cover, 328 pages, 140 in full color, 8.5 x 11 in., vertical format, heavy enamel paper with dust jacket. Retail price: $69.95.
Price = 56.00 USD
|
