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

[Scott Greig]

Some years ago I obtained copies of the retirement information for TM's rail assets (how far back, I don't remember) and sorted the streetcar retirements by date.  (Note that this was before I had access to Excel, so I had to do it all by hand!)

Looking back, I do seem to recall that the 800s and low 900s were dropping out like flies in the last year or two.  I should look up that information again and add details to the list, like I did with certain Chicago "L" cars...gave a better idea of why certain cars went when they did.

--- On Mon, 9/28/09, Don L. Leistikow <DLeistikow at webtv.net> wrote:

> From: Don L. Leistikow <DLeistikow at webtv.net>
> Subject: [milwaukee-electric] Re: Fwd: From the "What If?" department...
> To: "Rick Murphy" <rpmurphy at charter.net>
> Cc: milwaukee-electric at lists.dementia.org, emory1522 at wi.rr.com
> Date: Monday, September 28, 2009, 1:42 PM
> 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           
>                
>      
> 
>       
> 
>   
> 
> 
>