Trolley Tuesday 8/18/20 - The Columbus Railway Power & Light Company

Being a capital city seems to have its perks, as not only is it the seat of state government, but it also is usually a city that best encapsulates what sets the state apart from others. For Ohio, the city of Columbus is exemplary for many reasons, like its beautiful and varied architecture, its aeronautical history thanks to figures like pilot Eddie Rickenbacker, and its Italian-American city heritage. What also sets Columbus apart is its once-thriving streetcar system that lasted from 1863 to 1948, almost 100 years. Today's Trolley Tuesday post is all about that, as we look at the former Columbus Light & Railway Company and what happened to this city designed by and around the streetcar.

Trolley Thursday 8/13/20 - The Big and the Small of the Indiana Electrics

Streetcar systems, interurban railways, and indeed any electric railroad is going to have some kind of elaborate idea that anyone can see is absolutely impossible. As it was the early days of mass rapid transit, damn near anything was possible and people thought the wire could stretch from sea to shining sea. However, reality has a way of putting things into perspective, and more often than not these elaborate plans ended up consigned to the drawing board, or worse, never being built beyond a small town. On the flipside, plenty of tiny electric industrial installations ensured both a business' reliable connection to another railroad, and of course plenty of adorable rolling stock. On today's Trolley Thursday, we look at what made these two types of railroads so special, and so infamous in Indiana, as we look at the Chicago-New York Air Line and the Singer Manufacturing Electric Railway!

Trolley Tuesday 8/11/20 - The Fort Wayne Transit Company

As the second largest city in Indiana, right after Indianapolis, Fort Wayne became a major transit hub in the 20th century thanks to the likes of the Pennsylvania, Wabash, and Monon Railroads. Within the city, a robust transit network was set up under many company names, eventually culminating in the Indiana Railroad we covered last week. However, we're back in Fort Wayne again to look at the local streetcar operations and see what happened to the Summit City's Streetcars, here on Trolley Tuesday!

Trolley Thursday 8/6/20 - The Indiana Railroad and its Constituents

Now we can officially start the month of August right! When you think of Indiana interurbans, you mostly think of the South Shore and... that's pretty much it. However, the "Last and Longest" wasn't the only Midwestern interurban running through the Buckeye State. At one point, there were six other neighbors vying for business all over the state, and even into Louisville, Kentucky! But how could a statewide system, spanning over eight hundred miles, suddenly up and disappear just after the start of World War II? We'll uncover the forgotten lines of the Indiana Railroad and its constituents today, on Trolley Thursday!

Trolley Tuesday 8/4/20 - The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (or New South Shore Line)

Welcome to another new month of Twice-Weekly Trolley History here on Blogger! I know your eyes are probably hurting from last month's deluge of information, but I can assure you we're back to our normal length once again. You may remember from last month, as well, that we covered the old South Shore Line as part of our review of Chicago interurbans and street railways. Today, we're going to continue that story and look at what happened to one of Samuel Insull's "First and Fastest" railways that is now the "Last and Longest". It's America's only true remaining interurban, and it's only on Trolley Tuesday!

Trolley Thursday 7/30/20 - Guest Piece - Milwaukee Streetcars by Jonathan Lee

Welcome to the last Trolley post of July! As is tradition now with our transit experts of the month, we delegate onto them a guest post to write and have them impart their knowledge directly onto you, the unwilling captive and interested audience. For this month, our expert, Jonathan Lee, has written for you a concise history on the city of Milwaukee's interurban and streetcar operations. There's a lot to be said, but from us here at Twice Weekly Trolley History, thank you for reading our material, for giving us the biggest readership we've ever seen, and we hope you all stick around for more in the future. Mr. Lee, you have the floor!

(Also all photos today are credited to Joseph Canfield, author of "TM, The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company," unless otherwise noted. Find the book link in the epilogue.)

Trolley Tuesday 7/28/20 - The Pullman Company's Streetcars

Even if you're not into railroads, the name "Pullman" is synonymous to luxury. Indeed, one of the many things George M. Pullman's company was well known for was building luxurious sleeping cars that made going across the country, or across a state, a luxurious first-class affair. However, through all of the fancy trains and the various worker strikes and the admittedly-creepy paternal industrial culture Pullman championed, one of the more subtle and long-lasting products his company made were streetcars and elevated railway coaches. Electric railway companies around the country, especially around the Chicago area, were loyal buyers of Pullman products, and today's Trolley Tuesday will cover just a taste to close out this month!

Trolley Thursday 7/23/20 - Illinois Traction System

If you're like my editor or I, you're probably exhausted at the huge amounts of information we had to unload on you on the weeks past concerning Chicago. Indeed, it's definitely more than I wanted to usually write for this history column, that's for sure. So for today's (late) post, we'll look at a much smaller (but still important) operation that is just as "Illinois" as the CTA. Now known as the Illinois Terminal Railroad, the Illinois Traction Railroad helped connect the Land of Lincoln's southwest corner with St. Louis across the border until it de-electrified into the shortline railroad we know today under Norfolk Southern. Today, let's wish we were in Peoria again as we take a ride aboard The Road of Service on this Trolley Thursday!

Trolley Tuesday 7/21/20 - The Chicago Transit Authority

We think of Rapid Transit service as a fact of life, infallible and ever-existent since the dawn of time. Hell, people must have thought that when the original constituent companies of the CTA first formed back in the late 1890s. Unfortunately, history has a funny way of being oh-so-reductive. Instead, we'll close out our compendium of Chicago transit with a small history on the beginnings and current operations of the Chicago Transit Authority. We'll keep the intro short this time around, because we have a lot to get through.

Trolley Thursday 7/16/20 - The Chicago Loop

Chicago is home to many prominent civil engineering masterpieces: The Hancock Center, the Sears Tower (yes those are their names, fight me), and the many bridges that line the Chicago River. One architectural wonder that tends to go over people's heads, though, is the famous Chicago Loop circling Lake Street, Wabash Avenue, Van Buren Street, and Wells Street. Originally opened in 1897, the Loop not only serves as an essential part of any Chicagoland commuter but it is also an architectural marvel above and below with its reams of cross beams and ribbons of steel rail creating beautiful, functional art. Despite its shape, the story of the Loop is more of a tangled knot of four different strings coming together into one solid mass, like your headphones in your pocket. Join us as we uncover the hidden history above our heads on today's Trolley Thursday!