Pig & Whistle:
The Story of the Philadelphia & Western Railway
by Ronald DeGraw
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, color and b/w photographs
Bulletin #140
$50.00 members
$60.00 non-members
The Shore Line Electric Railway Company
by O.R. Cummings
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)
Bulletin #139
$40.00 Non-members price
$35.00 Members price
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. Published by Arcadia Publishing this title is available at a special CERA price that is not available to dealers.
167 pages, 240 photographs, drawings and maps.
Arcadia #001
$24.00 CERA special price ($26.99 retail)
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
Bulletin #138
$60.00 non-members price
$50.00 members price
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