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Read Sample Articles
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"The Winter We Would Rather
Forget"
Published in the Winter 2011 issue of First & Fastest
The Blizzard of 2011 on February 1-2 was followed by more
snow during the following week. By the end of winter
Chicagoans had experienced the fourth consecutive winter
with snows in excess of 50 inches. The prediction for the
winter of 2011-2012 is that Chicago will have the worst winter
weather in the country, something that many people are not
looking forward to experiencing.
Bruce Moffat was out in the teeth of the blizzard on February
1-2. We are presenting some more of his photos. One person
who loves winter is Mark Llanuza, and the worse the weather
gets, the more Mark likes it. When the weather is really bad and
others are not out and about, Mark loves to jump in his car and
take photos to capture scenes that others miss.
Continue
reading ... (4.6 MB PDF)
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A special color insert about
the Blizzard of 2011 appeared in the Winter 2011 issue of First & Fastest.
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"Chicago Surface Lines
Car 4051:
The Laboratory PCC Car and Its Predecessors"
By George E. Kanary
Published in the Autumn 2011 issue of First & Fastest
Most students of electric street railway
transportation are familiar
with the story of the PCC car. A
genuine American design success story, it
revolutionized urban surface rail transit
not only in the United States and Canada,
but overseas in Europe as well. In a short
time the truck design and method of control
and propulsion was adapted to rapid
transit cars also.
Because of their glamorous appearance
and visibility on the streets of North
American cities, PCC cars not only influenced
increased ridership but also established
a new perception of streetcars in the
public’s mind. PCC cars were a marvelous
departure from the typical streetcar with
its noisy clatter, moderate speed and marginal
comfort.
Continue
reading ... (1.3 MB PDF)
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George E. Kanary wrote "Chicago
Surface Lines Car 4051," which
appeared in the Autumn 2011 issue of First & Fastest.
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"Glen Ellyn and the Chicago
Aurora & Elgin:
Part II, Life in Glen Ellyn"
From The Story of An Old Town, Glen Ellyn, and a conversation
with David Hoffman and Donald MacBean
Published in the Summer 2011 issue of First & Fastest
When the Aurora Elgin &
Chicago began operations in
1902, the Chicago & North
Western and its predecessor, the Galena &
Chicago Union, had been operating for 53
years. Talk of an interurban line between
Chicago and Aurora began in 1891 and in
1899 two competing companies were
organized by rival interurban syndicators to
build an electric railway between Wheaton
and Chicago. Surveying and land acquisitions
started that year for a line that would
be south of the C&NW. By 1901, with
construction underway, the Everett-Moore
interests became the controlling shareholder
with the Pomeroy-Mandelbaum syndicate
maintaining a minority interest.
To gain some understanding of life in
Glen Ellyn during the interurban’s early
years, we will extract some of the conversation
that appeared in the book, The Story of
An Old Town – Glen Ellyn by Ada Douglas
Harmon. This book, which was published
in 1928, is from the collection of David
Hoffman. But, first, we will reach back to
some recollections of Amos Churchill,
speaking about his parents arriving from
Syracuse, New York in June 1834.
Continue
reading ... (1.3 MB PDF)
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"Glen Ellyn and the Chicago
Aurora & Elgin: Part II, Life in Glen Ellyn" appeared in the
Summer 2011 issue.
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"Things Were Not the Same after May 1, 1971"
By George E. Kanary
Published in the Spring 2011 issue of First & Fastest
D-Day for Amtrak
In mid April, 1971, I was returning from
Seattle, Washington on my favorite train
to the Pacific Northwest, the NORTH
COAST LIMITED. For nearly 70 years,
the flagship train of the Northern Pacific
RR, one of the oldest named trains in the
country, had closely followed the route of
the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804,
and was definitely the super scenic way to
Seattle and Portland. My first association
with the North Coast Limited dated to
1948, when I took my first long distance
train ride alone at age 10, to and from the
State of Washington. The train still had
some heavyweight sleepers, but the streamlined
observation car, where I spent a lot of
time, was making only its second round
trip. You could still smell the fresh paint.
Sitting in my room and watching the
Mississippi rolling along outside my window,
sorrow came over me like a dark cloud
as I realized that this train, running over
this magnificent piece of high speed railroad,
would no longer exist in two weeks.
Continue
reading ... (4.4 MB PDF)
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George E. Kanary wrote "Things Were Not the Same after May 1, 1971" for the Spring 2011 issue of First & Fastest.
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Note: These articles are available in PDF format. Download Acrobat Reader
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