Our Latest Books
Pig & Whistle: The Story of the Philadelphia & Western Railway
The men who founded the Philadelphia & Western dreamed of completing a coast-to-coast railroad network, with the P&W serving as the eastern link into Philadelphia and New York City. This idea failed, but the little railroad which served a collection of Philadelphia -area communities managed to thrive and become an electric railway success story. Three decades after its conception, the company placed into service some of the most revolutionary railway cars ever built, the famous high speed "Bullets." Thank s to the management skills of Dr. Thomas Conway Jr., the P&W survived the Great Depression and was able to successfully adjust to the explosive growth in automobile use after World War II. 
There's no record of how the P & W got the whimsical name that stuck with it for the rest of its life: "Pig & Whistle." It's been called that since the 1930s, and longtime riders still recall the name- half a century after the corporate name of Philadelphia & Western ceased to exist.
Join the venerable Pig & Whistle and marvel at its story. 224 pages
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Bulletin #140
$60.00 Non-members
$50.00 members
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The Shore Line Electric Railway Company
by One of the nation’s more unprofitable traction companies during the otherwise prosperous 1910-1924 period was Connecticut’s Shore Line Electric Railway. At its height from mid-1916 until mid-1919, the Shore Line Electric Railway operated a nearly 230-mile system that included almost 17 miles of main track in the adjacent state of Rhode Island.
Competition from paralleling steam railroads and the private automobile resulted in the abandonment of various lines beginning in 1920 with all operations ending in 1924.
Perhaps best remembered for its distinctive center entrance interurban cars, the Shore Line system was conceived in 1905 as a 30-mile line running east paralleling Long Island Sound from Stony Creek in Branford (a New Haven suburb) to Old Saybrook and then north through the Connecticut River Valley to Essex.
The system was quickly expanded to include the lines of the New London & East Lyme Street Railway, the Norwich & Westerly Traction Company, and the entire New London Division of the Connecticut Company. Read the complete story of one of New England’s most remarkable electric railways as related by noted traction historian O. R. Cummings.
168 pages, 141 photos, full color system map (circa 1915)
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Bulletin #139
$40.00 Non-members price
$35.00 Members price
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The Chicago "L"
By Greg Borzo
Discover the world famous Chicago “L” in all its grit and glory. The thundering “L” is one of Chicago's most enduring icons. Operating 24/7 since 1892, it is not only an antique but a working antique. More than 10 billion people have ridden the “L,” which now carries half a million people a day over 222 miles of track. The heavy, rumbling “L” has a light side too. It is sought out by tourists, featured in major motion pictures, enjoyed by wide eyed kids, photographed by admirers, and studied by historians. Meanwhile, both the Smithsonian Institution and the Chicago History Museum have recently enshrined Chicago “L” cars as the showpiece of major permanent exhibits. The Chicago “L” shows how the early “L” lines helped to build Chicago as well as how today's “L” helps to revitalize neighborhoods and tie the city together. Over the past 100 years, the “L” has survived numerous attempts to tear it down. Today its future is secure. New services are being added and new lines planned. This educating and entertaining book brings the tenacious “L” to life.
To tell the story of this celebrated transit system (including a look at its precursors), Borzo draws on some 240 captivating photographs, drawings, and maps. Most of the images were culled from the Chicago Transit Authority's vast photograph archives; others were gathered from libraries, museums, schools, vendors, and individuals across the country.
Ride with him through time over one of America's greatest urban treasures, this massive 19th century structure of riveted steel that serves as one of Chicago's major circulatory systems, pulsing from the heart of the Loop out into the surrounding neighborhoods and suburbs.
167 pages, 240 photographs, drawings and maps. Published by Arcadia Publishing, this book is not available to dealers at a wholesale price.
Arcadia #001
$24.00 Special CERA Price (retail price $26.99)
Previous Books
The Chicago & West Towns Railways
By James J. Buckley
Edited by Richard W. Aaron
Eight miles west of Chicago's Loop is a cluster of 17 long-established communities that were served by a street railway and bus system whose roots can be traced back to the late 19th century. The Chicago & West Towns Railways operated five major streetcar lines that provided convenient and inexpensive transportation to the residents of communities of Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, Maywood, Cicero, Berwyn, Brookfield, and LaGrange.
The West Town's blue and white streetcars provided area residents with transportation to school, work and shopping. The cars were also kept busy transporting visitors to major west suburban attractions such as Brookfield Zoo, forest preserves picnic groves, Hawthorne and Sportsman's Park racetracks, and Hines Memorial Hospital. Whether it was carrying residents from their homes in Oak Park or Forest Park to their jobs at American Can in Maywood or the giant Western Electric Company factory in Cicero, or taking Chicago families on a weekend outing to the zoo, the Chicago & West Towns Railway served as the “family car” in the era before auto ownership and traffic congestion became the norm.
250 pages and 311 photos
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Bulletin #138
$60.00 non-members price
$50.00 members price
Faster Than the Limiteds: The Story of the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line Railroad and Its Transformation into Gary Railways
By Dr. Thomas R. Bullard and Mr. William M. Shaptotkin
In 1905, a group of railroad promoters unveiled a daring proposal to build an arrow-straight or “air line” railroad between America's two largest cities. The promoters of the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line railroad confidently proclaimed that their trains would be able to cross the 743 miles in only 10 hours, making them Faster Than The Limiteds.
Little more than a decade later the promotion had collapsed, leaving investors with a network of largely unprofitable interurban trolley lines clustered between Gary and LaPorte, Indiana. Was the whole promotion a hoax? Or were the promoters simply too inexperienced or naive? That is left to the reader to decide.
But there was one particularly notable success story: Out of the Air Line's ashes rose one Indiana's largest and most successful street railway systems--Gary Railways. The full story of Gary Railways and the role it played in the growth of its namesake steel-making center are well documented in this extensively illustrated release from CERA.
280 pages, 332 photos
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Bulletin #137 Faster than the Limiteds
$55.00 non-members price
$45.00 members price
The Last Interurbans
In a bright new age of electricity, the electric interurban railways were one of the technological marvels of the early 20th century. The interurbans were swift, clean and comfortable, and offered frequent service at low fares. They liberated much of small town and rural America from the travel constraints imposed by unpaved roads, horse-drawn transport, and the sooty, infrequent local services offered by steam railroads. For close to two decades, the interurbans represented a dynamic and growing industry. By 1917, interurban companies had built over 18,000 miles of line in the U.S. alone. But by then, the growth years were over.
Developed almost in parallel with the electric interurbans, the automobile had become a potent competitor to public transportation by the time of World War I. During the 1920s, the family car became an even more convenient way for rural and small town people to get around as roads were paved and the costs of owning and maintaining an automobile came with the reach of most families. As a result, the weaker lines began to fail, and by 1920d the industry had begun a long decline, halted only briefly by the heavy traffic of the World War II years. Abandonments accelerated after war's end, and within another decade only a few of the strongest lines remained. This book takes a look back at those 74 hardy properties that managed to last beyond the Great Depression, even if only briefly.
234 pages, 480 photos, including 79 color photos
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Bulletin #136
$55.00 non-members price
$45.00 members price
The Chicago Tunnel Story: Exploring the Railroad “Forty Feet Below"
Transportation historian Bruce G. Moffat takes a look back at one of the world's largest and most unusual narrow gauge electric railways--the two-foot gauge Chicago Tunnel Company. Operating almost entirely underground, the Tunnel Company's railway operations encompassed more than 60 miles of tract that were traversed by 149 electric locomotive that moved freight, mail, coal and other commodities between railroad terminals, department stores, warehouses and major buildings until 1959.
Originally promoted as a telephone enterprise at the end of the 19th century, the company's builders installed their cables in “conduits” that happened to be large enough to house a narrow gauge electric railway. Initially work on the railway was kept secret from local politicians and the general public in an effort to avoid the city's notoriously corrupt political process. One the aldermen found out, seemingly endless controversies and scandals followed.
Read about the company's trials and tribulations beginning with the decision to be one of the world's first large scale providers of dial telephone service, the clandestine development of the railway system as well as subsequent forays into trucking and steam heating. Not overlooked are the company's post-abandonment years including the infamous “loop Flood” of 1992 that disrupted Chicago's downtown for weeks. It's all part of The Chicago Tunnel Story.
244 pages
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Bulletin #135
$55.00 non-members price
$45.00 members price
Non-members special: Purchase this book with Bulletin #131 The “L” The Development of Chicago's Rapid Transit System, 1888-1932 for $90.00. That's a $20.00 savings.
The Green Line
By Terry W. Lehmann and Earl W. Clark, Jr.
Locally referred to as the Green Line, the Cincinnati, Newport & Covington Railway's fleet of single and double truck cars provided fast and convenient transportation between Cincinnati and the smaller communities located across the Ohio River in northern Kentucky. As times changed, the company responded by initiating interstate trolley coach operations and even obtained exclusive rights to serve the Greater Cincinnati airport on its opening. The transition to all rubber-tired service and the change to public ownership are also examined to give the reader a comprehensive overview of how management worked to maintain profitability as automobile competition intensified.
240 pages
Bulletin #134
$30.00 non-members
$18.00 members
Houston North Shore
By Charles C. Robinson and Paul DeVerter II
By the mid-1920's, the interurban building boom was largely over. The last interurban system to be constructed in that period is the subject of this new release from CERA. Developed to link the city of Houston with the oil refineries and smaller communities to the east, this adjunct to the sprawling Missouri Pacific Railroad operated a diversified fleet that included wood and steel interurban cars, Evans Auto-Railers and Twin Coach railbuses. Freight operations were conducted using electric, steam, and eventually diesel power. Guided by a resourceful management, this remarkable railway continued to operate passenger service long after many other interurban railways.
144 pages.
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Bulletin #133 Houston North Shore
$25.00 non-members price
$15.00 members price
Northern Indiana Railway
When the Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend Railway opened its line between Chicago, Michigan City and South Bend in 1908, it was not the first electric railroad to serve Lake Michigan's South Shore. Already operating between Michigan City and South Bend was but one branch of an electric railway system that radiated from South Bend. Bulletin 132 recounts the life and times of the Northern Indiana Railway and the role it played in linking communities extending from Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan to South Bend and Michigan City, Indiana. Extensive coverage is given to local city car line operations as well as the successor bus operations. Not overlooked are the political and economic forces that dictated the ultimate substitution of rubber tired transport. This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in Indiana transportation history.
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Bulletin #132 Northern Indiana Railway
$30.00 non-members price
$18.00 members price
The “L” The Development of Chicago's Rapid Transit System, 1888-1932
If you have lived or worked in the Windy City, you probably had occasion to use that city's famous rapid transit system commonly referred to as the “L". Now in its second century of operation, the formative years of this major transportation system are covered in this well-researched book. Starting with the incorporation of the city's first elevated railway companies in 1888, the book goes on to cover early steam operations, conversion to electric traction, expansion into suburban areas, special movements and the boom times of the 1920's. Generously illustrated with more than 400 photos, maps and advertisements, this 306-page book is a must for any person interested in Chicago transportation history.
As a special bonus, each copy includes folded, unbound reproductions of a rare Metropolitan West Side “L” map and a 1933 Chicago Rapid Transit Company system map (both available separately).
Book Reviews (4)
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Bulletin #131
$55.00 non-members price
$45.00 members price
Non-members special: Purchase this book with Bulletin #135 The Chicago Tunnel Story: Exploring the Railroad “Forty Feet Below" for $90.00. That's a $20.00 savings.
Not Only Passengers: How the Electric Railways Carried Freight, Express and Baggage
By Roy G. Benedict and James R. McFarlane
Electric street and interurban railways carried mainly short-hall passengers. But freight, express, and baggage traffic gave them another way to participate in local commerce and bring in badly needed revenue. Unable to withstand competition from road-based transportation providers and the private automobile, many of these lines were abandoned before the end of the Great Depression.
Profusely illustrated with nearly 200 photos, this informative book explains how traction lines handled non-passenger traffic such as coal, dairy products and package freight handling activities of the various electric railways in New York state. Reproductions of tickets, timetables and other related materials complete the coverage of this important, but often overlooked, aspect of the industry. A comprehensive index to companies, localities and commodities makes all the contents of the book readily accessible.
Bulletin #129 Not Only Passengers
$35.00 non-members price
$23.00 members price
Indiana Railroad: The Magic Interurban
Take a look back at one of America's most famous and innovative interurban railways. Spanning nearly the length and breadth of the Hoosier State, the Indiana Railroad's management aggressively competed with highway-based competitors during the difficult 1930s. 224 pages
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Bulletin #128 (reprinted 2001) Indiana Railroad: The Magic Interurban
$35.00 non-members price
$30.00 members price
From Bullets to BART
1938 to 1988 - It was a half-century of remarkable change in the electric railway industry. From the debut of the high-speed Brill “Bullet” cars in suburban Philadelphia in the 1930's to the opening of the automated Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) in California in the 1970's, this 176 page book of the record of electric traction old and new--streetcars, interurbans, rapid transit and mainline electrification--in the days when the Bullets and BART were both innovators for their time.
Bulletin #127
$15.00 non-members price
$15.00 members price
A Rainbow of Traction
Edited by George Krambles
This book completes the trilogy of full-color volumes that illustrate the development of electric railways. It covers the interurban railways, rapid transit lines, switching and main line railroad electrifications in North America based on available color photographs taken between 1939 and 1964.
The presentation follows a meandering path, starting in the northeast corner of Maine, criss-crossing the United States and Canada to the far southwest and then returning through Mexico to end in Cuba.
To help you, there is provided a very concise summary of the history and a few technical features of each property illustrated, along with some key specifications of the vehicles shown. Brief essays covering various aspects of electric railway technology round out this 144-page book which also commemorates CERA's first 50 years!
Bulletin #126
Hardcover
$15.00 non-members price
$15.00 members price
Soft cover
$10.00 non-members price
$10.00 members price
How the Medal Was Won
During the heyday of the interurban the Charles A. Coffin medal was awarded to innovative electric railways. This coveted award was won by the “new” Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad in the late 1920's. Text, photos and company documents recall the earlier “wood car” days, the conversion from AC to DC electric propulsion, arrival of the orange steel cars and other improvements continuing into the 1930's. This 160-page book celebrates the landmark Insull-led modernization of this famous, and still operating, electric railroad.
Bulletin #124
$10.00 non-members price
$10.00 members price
Modernization of Car 15 and Other Early CERA Bulletins
Bulletins 35 through 45
These CERA Bulletins from 1942-1943 feature various subjects of the day. The coverage of the upstate New York interurbans included in this group has never been surpassed. 84 pages, soft cover.
Bulletin #35
$5.00 non-members price
$5.00 members price
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