Chicago
Chicago & Interurban
Traction Co.
49 at the main shops on
Chicago's south side.
This was a freight train
that was built at the C&IT Shops in an attempt to obtain additional
revenue by hauling lcl freight at night a few years before the end while
the company was under Insull's control. The line was an early victim
of bus, truck and railroad competition, and passenger traffic in the early
1920s had dropped because of concrete highways and automobiles (the line
and its preceding companies had undergone four bankruptcies).
At that time, the line's
principal creditor was the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois
that was under Samuel Insull's control. Insull tried to recoup his
investment from the losses which was being encountering. However,
when the Illinois Central Railroad announced in the mid 1920s that it was
going to electrify its commuter service (then steam operated) which operated
in almost a straight line from the south side into downtown Chicago (and
which the C&IT paralleled but in a roundabout way only to a connection
with Chicago's south side elevated), it was finally realized that the C&IT
could not compete. Additionally, the property was extremely deteriorated
- wooden passenger interurbans which needed replacement, worn out trackage
between Chicago and Blue Island, etc. Thus, the line was abandoned
on April 23, 1927.
Background data from Stephen
M. Scalzo
Bill Volkmer collection
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