Note how many people are getting on the trolley. Given Murphy is back at the intersection, I believe this was the "transfer block." All of the trolley lines either came down this road or down the cross street. I remember the trolley wires still being up, but they had been replaced by buses before I rode public transit. I do remember seeing the operator getting out when one of the wire shoes jumped off and putting it back on. The trolley bars are spring loaded, so when a shoe slipped off, it would pop up above the overhead wire. The operator would pull on the feed wire that goes down behind the trolley to lower the shoe and then move the feed wire back and forth to align the shoe with the overhead wire before letting go and allowing the shoe to contact the wire again. At intersections that had trolley wires in both streets, there was a diamond where the wires crossed each other. Sometimes a trolley shoe would throw sparks as it went through a diamond.
I remember the end-of-the line turnaround on East State. A 1951 aerial confirms it was in
this parking lot.
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Don Brown posted
I can see the International Harvester Tower in the background.
Last trolley coach ran in 1960. |
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| Howard Pletcher commented on Don's posting |
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Howard Pletcher commented on Don's posting
[Passengers would leave through the back door while people entered through the front door and paid their fare under the watchful eye of the driver.] |
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William Shapotkin posted
Trackless #9469, working an E/B trip on CTA Rt #12 -- ROOSEVELT, is E/B in Roosevelt Rd, having just crossed the South Branch of the Chicago River. While transit service continues to operate over this piece of Roosevelt Rd twenty-four hours a day, service has been via means of diesel-powered buses since January 21, 1973. View looks west. Wm Shapotkin Collection. |
This captures part of the complexity of the wires over an intersection where a trolly can turn from one road to another.
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William Shapotkin posted
We are at 51st St/Kedzie Ave on Chicago's South Side, as trackless #9509, working a S/B trip on CTA Rt #52 -- KEDZIE/CALIFORNIA is S/B in Kedzie waiting for the traffic light to change. Trolleybuses provided the service on this busy route from December 4, 1955 until March 15, 1969. This was Chicago's longest trolley bus route and was the sole connection betw the extensive system of trackless lines on Chicago's North Side and the two South Side lines (47th and 51st-55th). View looks north in this undated photo. Wm Shapotkin Collection.
Paul Jervert shared
Stuart B. Slaymaker: I remember the loop at 63rd Place (?) and Kedzie.
Dennis DeBruler: I noticed the RCA logo on the left side of the photo. I wonder if that was a RCA plant. |
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Stuart's comment
Stuart B. Slaymaker It looks like the CTA still uses the loop. |
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