Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Preserved Charles City & Western electric steeple cab locomotive under restoration. The Illinois Railway Museum.

Charles City & Western electric steeple cab locomotive under restoration. The Illinois Railway Museum. Union Illinois. Friday, July 3rd 2009.

I took this photo inside one of the many display barns at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union Illinois. Electric powered interurban railroads wich hauled both freight and passenger traffic, were once common in America and Canada during the 20th Century. Many had vanished by the 1950's, some even earlier due to private automobiles and competing trucking companys on the Interstate Highway system.

The state of Iowa, for some odd reason or another had interurban electric railroads operating in to the 1960's well after the fact for most interurban railroad lines around the nation. Shown here from the state of Iowa, is an electric steeple cab locomotive from the Charles City & Western Railroad on display after recieving a cosmetic paint job. This locomotive is undergoing a slow mechanical restoration.

No comments: