[milwaukee-electric] Re: This and that

[Scott Greig]

--- On Thu, 11/19/09, Matthew Austin <msa_vianney at hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Matthew Austin <msa_vianney at hotmail.com>
Subject: [milwaukee-electric] Re: This and that
To: "Milwaukee list Milwaukee list" <milwaukee-electric at lists.dementia.org>
Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 6:53 PM

Some years ago, I had an email conversation with Jay Maeder Jr who told me that 1138 (I think) lasted into the 60s back home in Ohio, gradually getting rusty. I can't help but think of Jay Maeder as a man ahead of his time who may have had a different life had things gone another way.

I have a few pictures of 1138 arriving in Ohio and being transported to Maeder's property.  It was there into the very early 60s, I think as a playroom for his kids.  Circa 1958-59 it was stripped by Illinois Railway Museum to provide parts for their two 1100s.  They would have loved to bring back the entire car, but the head of Chicago Hardware Foundry refused to allow any carbodies (i.e. without trucks) on Foundry property.


Much to think about. I'd be interested in the opinions of the possibility of a future for Speedrail had Labor Day gone differently. Would they have been squeezed out by demands for land for expressways? I have Larry Sakar's book, but I'd be interested in the thoughts of those of you who have also studied or experienced it for yourselves.

I think it would have lasted a few more years--probably enough to ensure that more cars were preserved--but it would ultimately have failed regardless.  Milwaukee at that time was embracing daily auto travel over public transit, they wanted a freeway to compete with Chicago to the south, and the west side highway authorities wanted the Rapid Transit Line's RoW in the worst way.  
Moreover, as people moved from urban Milwaukee to the suburbs, had they wanted to reverse-commute and drive to a Rapid Transit station to ride into the city, Speedrail had no provisions for commuter parking or the means to acquire land.  Maeder had been forced to take the bills for the Soldiers' Home crash along with the railroad, and that debt was a major financial Sword of Damacles hanging over the property.

What I consider saddest about Maeder, and the events of Labor Day, was that so much disaster and pain could have been prevented had he either left the planning to a professional (Tennyson), or recognized how late he was that morning, and taken a few minutes to pull off the railroad and call in for new orders.