Dispatch series
Publications in the Dispatch Series are topics that are too large for an article, but not necessarily large enough to be a book. Dispatch Series publications will appear at irregular intervals; however, our intention is to issue one annually if resources are available to Shore Line.
Please continue reading to learn more about each Dispatch publication.
To purchase a Dispatch publication, please go to our online store and pay by credit card. If you prefer to pay by check, please see the instructions at the bottom of this page.
All shipping prices listed are only for U.S. addresses. Please contact us if you are interested in any Dispatch orders for delivery outside of the United States to get pricing on the international shipping cost.
Please continue reading to learn more about each Dispatch publication.
To purchase a Dispatch publication, please go to our online store and pay by credit card. If you prefer to pay by check, please see the instructions at the bottom of this page.
All shipping prices listed are only for U.S. addresses. Please contact us if you are interested in any Dispatch orders for delivery outside of the United States to get pricing on the international shipping cost.
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Dispatch 15, Then and Now on the Chicago Surface System
Published Summer 2024 All of us who have an interest in and appreciation of transportation, transit and railroads have a fondness for Chicago. Chicago's variety of modes and carriers, as well as the sheer size of the operations, offers something of interest to everyone. Through 170 photographs and accompanying narrative, Dispatch 15 covers over a century of Chicago's surface transit systems (including streetcar, motor bus, trolley bus, work equipment and facilities coverage). Dispatch 15 continues the tour and descriptions of Chicago's neighborhoods that have been included in Shore Line's four prior CSL Dispatches which are now out-of-print. Chicago's 77 neighborhoods with their individual cultural and ethnic backgrounds have always made and continue to make Chicago a very vibrant city. Art Peterson grew up with an inside view of transit in Chicago. His uncle, George Krambles, a career Chicago transit system employee, retired in 1980 as CTA's Executive Director. With his own career focused on transit and transportation, Art shares his knowledge and experience with us. In 1924 Chicago Surface Lines, the world's largest streetcar system, carried 1.5 billion passengers. Fast forward to 2024 (most-recent complete year data available), CTA provided 309 million bus and rail passenger trips, only 21% of a century ago. This clearly defines the challenges of providing urban transportation in the current automobile-centric, city-suburban environment. Dispatch 15 is a must-read to understand what has happened to urban mass transit over the past century. It includes not only actions that the transit system took over that period, but also economic and social considerations that impacted key transit lines/corridors in Chicago. Dispatch 15 is available for the regular price of $40.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $24.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 14, The Most Competitive Passenger Corridor: CHICAGO-TWIN CITIES
Published Fall 2023 "Dispatch 14 is a substantial, well researched and impressive publication." –Jim Lewnard, History Teacher and Archivist, C&NWHS "A thorough history, and enjoyable read, of the Twin Cities and the competing railroads that went to Chicago." –Bob Storozuk, Museum Curator, MRHA "Aaron Isaacs' concise review of the Chicago-Twin Cities passenger market analyzes the fierce competitive environment with ample documentation and memorable photographic evidence." –Jim Singer, Archivist, BRHS Passenger rail competition in the Chicago-Twin Cities Corridor was absolutely FIERCE. Seven railroads over nine routes battled in this war for passengers. Speed, frequency of service, state-of-the-art trains with posh accommodations, impeccable service, quality of food and ticket prices formed the basis of competition. 132 pages with more than 180 modern color and historic black and white photos, images and maps. Dispatch 14 is available for the regular price of $40.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $24.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 13, A Celebration of Chicagoland Railroads: 1935-1971
Published Fall 2022 A Publication Unlike Any Others from Shore Line! Steam, Diesel and Electric Interurban Railroads Featuring the Photography of Bill Raia, Paul Stringham and Others 1935 was the beginning of a railroad industry revolution. Gleaming stainless steel and colorful lightweight passenger trains replaced heavyweight dark painted cars. Diesel-electric locomotives totally revolutionized the industry. Documented by almost 300 photos of historic significance, many unpublished, this revolution is vividly portrayed in images and words. All major railroads serving Chicago and Peoria are included. A must addition to your library. Dispatch 13 is available for the regular price of $40.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $24.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 12, Chicago Surface Lines: Linking Chicago's Neighborhoods III
Published Fall 2021 This third volume in our series of how the Surface Lines linked Chicago’s neighborhoods, edited by Richard F. Begley with George E. Kanary and Walter R. Keevil covers 20 streetcar lines in multiple neighborhoods in many parts of the city in post-WW II period. Lines covered include: Roosevelt, Cermak, Fullerton, Fulton-21st Street, Stony Island and 87th Street. 100 pages. 145 photos (25 in color). 3 color maps. Popular Then/Now photos. Dispatch 12 is out-of-print and no longer available. |
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Dispatch 11, From Garfield 'L' to Blue Line Rapid Transit
Published Spring 2021 This Dispatch details the development of the first multimodal transportation corridor — rail freight, rapid transit and a limited-access highway connecting downtown Chicago with suburbia. Decades of urban planning resulted in efficient land use and became a prototype for other transportation corridors in Chicago and other cities in the U.S. and Canada. Dispatch 11 is in limited supply for the regular price of $25.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $15.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 10, Chicago's Railroads in Transition: The Photography of Lou Gerard
Published October 2020 Six decades of Lou Gerard's noted photography documenting the transformation of Metra and its predecessors and the South Shore Line, CTA, Amtrak, Freight Movements, Steam Specials and Great Lakes Boats with over 200 photographs, mostly in vivid color, in 100 pages. Dispatch 10 is available at the regular price of $25.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $15.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 9, Chicago Surface Lines: Linking Chicago's Neighborhoods II
Published Spring 2019 This 100-page publication, edited by Richard F. Begley, with George E. Kanary and Walter R. Keevil, includes 20 color pages, 149 photos (28 in color), and two maps (both in color), as well as detailed narratives of 26 streetcar routes and a wonderful article by George Kanary on his recollections of life on Division Street in Wicker Park. Dispatch 9 covers 26 streetcar lines in the 1945-1958 period. The Dispatch includes a section on Eight Distinctive Lines of Southeast Chicago (including "the Hegewisch line" and South Deering); coverage of Diagonal Lines in a Grid City (including Elston, Archer and Lincoln); as well as information on such routes as Kedzie, Cicero, 18th Street and Chicago Avenue. Dispatch 9 is out-of-print and no longer available. |
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Dispatch 8, Chicago Surface Lines: Linking Chicago's Neighborhoods
Published August 2017 Edited by Richard F. Begley, with George E. Kanary and Walter R. Keevil, this 100-page publication includes 132 photos (24 of them in color) and 3 color maps. Dispatch 8 covers 12 of CSL’s streetcar lines from January 1, 1945, until the end of streetcar service. These 12 routes (including Broadway-State, Western, 63rd Street and Lawrence) carried about 20% of CSL’s total originating revenue passengers with an average of 521 streetcars daily. Eight of the 12 routes covered served only outlying neighborhoods and did not even enter the Central Business District. The Dispatch includes detailed narratives on the routes and George Kanary takes us for a long ride on the Cottage Grove line, reliving his experiences on the route. Dispatch 8 is out-of-print and no longer available. |
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Dispatch 7, A Transportation Miracle
Published July 2016 This 100-page publication tells the incredible story of the transportation side of the 28th International Eucharistic Congress that was held in Chicago on June 20-24, 1926. There has never been anything like the 28th International Eucharistic Congress. Steam railroads from across the U.S. and Canada carried 600,000 people to Chicago, and more than 1 million people participated in the events. Topics include: background information, day-by-day details, the role that the rail lines played, and information on Cardinal Mundelein, who envisioned this Eucharistic Congress. Streetcars provided 15 million passenger trips. Interurbans, rapid transit and suburban trains carried people throughout Chicago. Five railroads combined to provide more than 300,000 passenger trips for the closing ceremonies — a triumph of logistics and coordination! During Chicago’s first 100 years, this Eucharistic Congress and the World’s Fairs of 1893 and 1933-34 established Chicago as an international city. Enhancing the value of this publication, acclaimed railroad artist Mitch Markovitz has created six original colorful pieces of artwork portraying the North Shore Line’s “Cardinals’ Special.” Dispatch 7 is in limited supply at the regular price of $15.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $10.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 6, Chicago Surface Lines: The Big 5 Routes and 5 Others
By Richard F. Begley, George E. Kanary, and Walter R. Keevil Published December 2015 CSL was the world's largest street railway. In 1931 the five largest Chicago Surface Lines routes, in terms of originating revenue passengers, were Ashland, Clark-Wentworth, Halsted, Madison and Milwaukee. The combined riding on these routes was greater than the total riding in many medium-sized American cities. CSL also had some very small routes in terms of ridership and they demonstrate the diversity of CSL’s operations. In this 100-page publication, George Kanary vividly relives the sights, sounds and aroma of the countless neighborhoods that the Halsted cars traversed from the north to the far southwest side including passing by Chicago’s famous Stock Yards. George rode this line from end-to-end many times as a kid and as an adult for the thrill of a ride on a CSL streetcar soaking in the neighborhood scene Dispatch 6 is out-of-print and no longer available. |
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Dispatch 5, The Chicago "L’s” Great Steel Fleet – The Baldies
By Bruce G. Moffat Published November 2014 In the early 20th Century, overwhelmed with riders, managers of Chicago’s elevated railways were faced with two huge challenges, an insufficient car fleet and tremendous congestion on the Loop. Through routing of trains and terminals short of the Loop eased the congestion. Providing sufficient rolling stock resulted in ordering the famous fleet of 4000s, 250 of which were called “Baldies” due to their bare steel arched roofs. These Baldies were delivered during 1914 and 1915. Now, 100 years after the delivery of the first cars, Bruce Moffat discusses in Dispatch 5 what was then a revolutionary car design with rolled steel components. Their 50-year service life testifies to the durability of these cars. "This is a fantastic book" Praise for The Chicago "L's" Great Steel Fleet – The Baldies Dispatch No. 5, a 64-page publication, recently received enthusiastic praise from a Chicago blogger who posted an unsolicited review. He said, "I have to honestly say that this is a fantastic book. It is a must have for any Chicago elevated fan. ... For the amount of information contained within, this is the bargain of the year. Bruce (Moffat) again shows why he is the preeminent expert on all things Chicago transit related." Read the complete review. Dispatch 5 is in limited supply at the regular price of $10.00 plus $5.00 for postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $6.00 plus $5.00 for postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 4, The Road of Service – Perspectives on the North Shore Line
Published November 2012 This 100-page publication, edited by Norman Carlson, brings together a collection of diverse recollections by Shore Line members and people of different backgrounds who rode and/or lived along the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad. Collectively, it explains the influence the North Shore Line had on our lives and why, 50 years after its January 1963 abandonment, the railroad still fascinates many people. The Road of Service includes an impressive collection of color photographs — most of which have not been previously published — an extensive then-and-now section of the railroad between Waukegan and Milwaukee comparing May 30, 1962 with May 30, 2012, the evening rush hour at Briergate, Ed Tobin’s recollections of the streetcar service in Waukegan, and the "Kenosha Kid," Mike Seiberlich, takes us back to hanging around the Kenosha station. Dispatch No. 4 also includes a dining car article by Dick George, as well as maps and the photos of the last day of operation, complete with the names of the crew members and the numbers of the cars on the trains. The Road of Service is an excellent gift for those people who remember the railroad that Bill Middleton named the Standard Interurban Railroad of North America. Electroliners, Silverliners, standard cars, streetcars, on the "L," on the streets, flying down the Skokie Valley Route and a leisurely ride out to Mundelein, it is all in The Road of Service. Dispatch 4 is in limited supply at the regular price of $15.00 plus $12.00 for postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $10.00 plus $12.00 for postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 3, One Hundred Years of Enduring Tradition — South Shore Line
By Norman Carlson, Stefan Loeb, and Dr. George M. Smerk Published 2008 Very different from all other railroad publications, Dispatch 3 covers the history of the South Shore Line as told by the people who were involved since 1926. We reflect on the first 100 years of the South Shore Line.
Dispatch 3 is in limited supply at the regular price of $15.00 plus $12.00 for postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $10.00 plus $12.00 for postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 2, Competing Rails: The Milwaukee Road's Legacy in Evanston and Wilmette
Published February 2011 Learn all the details about early rail competition on Chicago's North Shore, steam vs. electricity, and connecting Evanston and Chicago by rail. What is Competing Rails all about? John Evans, one of the founders of Northwestern University, desired rail competition. He did not want the Chicago & North Western to be the exclusive railroad in Evanston, Illinois. He obtained a horse-car franchise that ended up as a steam railroad commuter service, the Chicago Evanston & Lake Superior, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, operating between Chicago Union Depot and Evanston. (In those days The Milwaukee Road was referred to as the “St. Paul.”) The St. Paul’s plans to expand beyond Evanston never materialized. Instead from the north came the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric, predecessor of the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee. This is a complex story full of business, political and financial intrigue covering the early days of the railroads serving Evanston. Dispatch 2 is in limited supply at the regular price of $15.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $10.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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Dispatch 1, Cooperation Moves the Public
Published 2006 and Reprinted 2021 In this publication, Shore Line presents the history of the combined operations on the Garfield Park Line of the “L” and the Chicago Aurora & Elgin, whose operations were dispatched on headways of mere seconds without the protection of signals or communications, within or between trains. String charts illustrate graphically how the “L” trains and interurban trains operated on a two-track line in the rush hours with only three points where express trains could pass locals. Dispatch 1 is in limited supply at the regular price of $25.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. Shore Line members pay only $15.00 plus $12.00 postage to U.S. mailing addresses. |
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How to Order by Check
If you prefer to order Dispatch series publications by check or money order, send a check or money order in U.S. funds along with the Dispatch publication number, your name and mailing address to: Shore Line P.O. Box 425 Lake Forest IL 60045-0425 Questions? Please contact us if you have any questions about Dispatch publications. |
