[milwaukee-electric] Re: Fwd: From the "What If?" department...

[Don L. Leistikow]

Rick:   As this question brings up historical purpose .... I'm including
the m-e list for the record.                               

Route 10 Wells~Downer was one of the longer lines in the City of
Milwaukee and its suburbs.  Between Capitol Drive at Downer Avenue and
its western split end's of line, they divided at 52nd and Wells Streets,
operating into Wauwatosa to the end of line at the County Hospital on
Watertown Plank Road, about the 8600 block.  The West Allis line was on
private right of way just west of what is 52nd St., running south to the
base line which was Fairview Avenue west of Hawley Road.                                           

Street running resumed on Fairview to 68th Street where private right of
way resumed to a line of 70th Street, turning south on the prow where it
then continued on prow next to the east line of S. 70th street which was
encountered at W. Adler Street.  The prow continued to Greenfield
Avenue, turning west where the line re-entered the street.  This was
also the west line of the massive Allis-Chalmers complex.                                                   

Operating west on Greenfield to the State Fair Park, the line then
turned south on S. 81st Street to Lapham where it turned westward,
again.  The West Allis Car Station was built at 84th and Lapham.  The
line continued westward and resumed operation on the prow at 89th
Street.  Continuing westerly, the line briefly sauntered southwesterly,
returning west again to what would have been 100th street.  Here, the
line turned north a few hundred feet and made connection with the 'new'
Rapid Transit Line at what was then designated as West Junction.      

The above street references are based upon the last names designated for
easy recognition by the reader.  References to historic names of places,
such as Town of Wauwatosa or that 68th street was originally 59th
street, were not included in this disertation.                                         

Getting to the point, the reason for Route 10's longevity, is not simply
the prow operation but, also the 'anchor' of the Wells Street Viaduct,
some 2100 feet in length and rising some 90 feet in height, also
contributed to its longevity.  I should also mention that a great deal
of track reconstruction was done to the Wells Street portions of Route
10 and to the street itself.  Much of the route was reconstructed in
concrete, which was not the case in the track maintenance north and east
of Jackson & Wells streets.          

That the final configuration of Route 10 Wells, truncated to end of line
at Jackson, thence looping via Jackson, Mason, Water and returning west
on Wells, was the eastern end whereas, the Wauwatosa branch ended at
Harwood Avenue and the West Allis branch ended at Greenfield Avenue and
prow adjacent to S.70th Street.  The conundrum here is that Route 18
traditionally ended at S. 70th street and back in the 1930's did turn on
the double tracked wye, up the prow to a pair of crossovers.  Back then,
Route 18 was operated with the deck-roofed articulated trains of #100
through #400 lineage.          

Something unusual happened on October 3 1943.  At that time, Route 18
cars had terminated in the street, at a single track bracketed by twin
Safety Islands.  That was removed and the double track restored.  The
event of this day was that the ends of line were reversed.  Route 10
cars changed ends here and the Route 18 cars took over the service to
the then eno of line at 92nd and Lapham.  Why, who knows?  Ridership to
downtown may have been bolstered and surely Route 10 ridership
ultimately diminished but, not until the end of WW 2.                               

Why the two lines did not continue to serve downtown West Allis, is a
mystery.  That would have been the logical thing to do.  The other such
operation of two lines sharing common trackage were Routes 11 and 16
which came together on Milwaukee's near southside and both operated to
the western terminus at 60th and Vliet streets.  It doesn't make sense!   

Never-the-less .... the last reprise for Route 10, was the construction
of Milwaukee County Stadium which brought Major League Baseball to the
Metro area. For a look at County Stadium, the motion picture, "Major
League" was filmed there as the Home of the Cleveland Indians.  Bob
Uecker as the play by play announcer, was priceless. 

A single track was constructed on the old Rapid Transit right of way for
car storage while the game was in progress.  The original track ended at
the top of grade, short of the Hawley Road bridge.  Shortly thereafter,
the spur was extended to the Hawley bridge.  That track was filled out
to capacity, on game days.  The track switch was located just west of
the Soldier's Home curve.                               

Watch for photos of Route 10 cars as the regulars carried black on white
run numbers whereas, the Baseball Extras carried white on black run
numbers.  While the regular cars were stationed at the Kinnickinnic Car
Statiion, the extra Baseball cars were operated from the National Car
Station.                                 

Storyline ... One operator (motorman) told me of his experience;  he was
the first car to enter the layover track and was thus way back at Hawley
Road.  With nothing to do for several hours, he fell asleep.  Waking up
after sundown, he discovered that there were no cars in front of him.
They were long gone!  He ran his empty car back to the Car Station.  The
assigned Supervisor was remiss in not counting out the 'hold' cars at
the end of the game.        

The topography of the right of way was such that the Hawley Road stop
and trackage were not visable from the Soldiers Home/Stadium curve and
the trackside phone box.                                 

fwiw.... I do have a list of the final operational cars.  Only six were
800's, the balance were 900's. The only remaining car was the W 1,
wrecker, based at the Cold Spring Shops.  That car was scrapped about
four years later.                

Don L. Leistikow