Equipment Information

North Shore Line 218 is an electric freight motor that was built to carry small freight shipments (known as LCL, or Less-than-Car-Load, freight) between Chicago and Milwaukee. During the 1950s and early 1960s, car 218 was used by the North Shore Line as a “sleet cutter” to chip ice from the trolley wire during winter storms. In 1963 and 1964, it was one of very few pieces of equipment to operate at IRM’s original location in North Chicago, IL, where it was used as a switching locomotive and drew electric power from a makeshift generator mounted in an old snow sweeper towed behind car 218.

Builder: Cincinnati Car Company
Year Built: 1922
Length: 50ft
Width: 9ft
Height: 12ft 4in
Weight: 74000 lbs
Brakes: AMU
Motors: 2 WH 557R5
Control: HLF-28A3
Compressor: DH-25
Trucks: Baldwin 78-35AA
Description: Double End / Double Truck / Wood Box
Arrived: 1963
Condition: Complete / cosmetically restored / not operational

Photo gallery

Ownership History
1922-1963 – Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee #218
1963-present – Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL

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