Equipment Information

This gateman’s shanty is typical of the ones used on the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee electric interurban railway at its ground-level road crossings. Before the ubiquity of automatic crossing gates, railroad crossings needed to be staffed by a gate operator, and these men were given small buildings – known as gateman’s shanties – to protect them from inclement weather. This gateman’s shanty was acquired by IRM around 1963, when the North Shore was abandoned, and has been repurposed as the museum’s ticket booth.