Streetcars
Chicago Surface Lines 144
Description: | Double-end deck-roof PAYE |
Equipment Information
Chicago Surface Lines 144 is the archetype of the classic Chicago streetcar. It is an “Old Pullman,” one of 600 identical cars built for Chicago in 1908. For decades this type served as the stereotypical Chicago streetcar. It was designed for Pay As You Enter (PAYE) fare collection, with passengers boarding at the rear and paying the conductor stationed on the rear platform. This replaced roving fare collection and was a significant advancement in the first decade of the 20th century. Car 144 ran until retirement in 1954 and IRM purchased it in 1958.
FUN FACT: Cars like 144 saw use on the busy Halsted Street line in Chicago – the same one that inspired the Carl Sandburg poem “Halsted Street Car.” The first stanza is “COME you, cartoonists, / Hang on a strap with me here / At seven o’clock in the morning / On a Halsted street car.”
Chicago Surface Lines 144 Details
Builder: Pullman
Year Built: 1908
Seats: 44
Length: 49ft 2in
Width: 8ft 9in
Height: 11ft 8in
Weight: 53000 lbs
Brakes: Straight Air
Motors: 3 GE 216A / 1 WH 319B
Control: K35G
Compressor: A4C
Trucks: Pull/Bald 150
Description: Double End / Double Truck / Deck Roof / Wood PAYE
Arrived: 1959
Condition: Complete / cosmetically restored / operational
CSL 144 Ownership History
1908-1914 – Chicago Railways
1914-1947 – Chicago Surface Lines
1947-1959 – Chicago Transit Authority
1959-present – Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL
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