The "Copper Country Limited" at Rest

The photo on the front of this post card is of a painting by Russ Porter. It depicts the “Copper Country Limited” pausing at Republic, Michigan in the early 1920s. Republic is about 300 miles from Chicago, Illinois as the train travels toward Calumet, Michigan. This website provides information about the “Copper Country Limited”. https://www.american-rails.com/copper-country.html The Copper Country Limited was one of many secondary trains operating on the Milwaukee Road. It certainly carried an appropriate name with service provided from Chicago to the northern fringes of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (copper country) in conjunction with the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic (later a Soo Line subsidiary). Its first appearance was during March of 1907 listed as trains #2 (southbound) and #3 (northbound). The route it plied required a little more than 12 hours departing Chicago late in the evening, running through Green Bay, and arriving at Calumet, Michigan the following morning. Interchange with the DSS&A was carried out at Champion, Michigan, (a Milwaukee-Marquette sleeper was interchanged 10 miles south at Republic, Michigan) which operated the train to its northward destination near the shores of Lake Superior. During its early years the Copper Country provided a consist including coaches, sleepers running through between Milwaukee and Marquette (Michigan) as well as Chicago and Calumet. Considering the rurality of this part of the country it is quite amazing a railroad provided such high class services; but the Milwaukee was not alone, such trains could be found running to similar out-of-the-way areas all across the country well into the 1960's.

I could find a few articles on line that told us that his artwork was used in Trains Magazine, but I could not find any biographical information on this person. It does seem, though, that he owned his own wooden railroad car. There were some people on a chat room site asking about the car, since the artist has died.

Plummer Junction, You Say??

The picture here is a Real Photo Post Card. It was made by Charles A. Lane care of Los Angeles Railway at 7th and Central Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The pencil writing on the back tells us that this passenger train is on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad (CM&SP). It is climbing a steep grade from Ste. Marie to Plummer Junction in Idaho in April of 1922. I have blogged in the past about the CM&SP so I went on line to see what I could learn about Plummer Junction. This website gives a great, photograph-filled tour of Plummer Junction and the surrounding railroad related area. The photographs are from the 70s. I highly recommend that you visit the site. https://www.milwelectric.org/palouse-to-cascades-trail-virtual-tour-plummer/ Plummer Junction was a relay office as well as a train order office. In addition to delivering orders to trains, the office also bridged telegraph circuits to pass along messages.

Allen Miller drew this map of Plummer Junction that shows the configuration of the wye, location of water tank, depot and the old U.P. line that went under the legs of the wye. The Plummer Junction depot was located inside the wye off the main line between Malden (west) and St. Maries (east). Trains from Spokane would come in from the east (right) and have the option of going either direction on the main line. The Union Pacific line from Tekoa to Wallace also came through Plummer. Today the St. Maries River Railroad comes in from the east on the Milwaukee Road main line and interchanges with the Union Pacific at Plummer. The Union Pacific comes in from Spokane on the former Milwaukee Road line to interchange with the St. Maries River Railroad and to service the Plummer mill.

I know nothing about the photographer who would also be the publisher. But I am reproducing the back of the post card here for your viewing pleasure.

What the Heck is MOBRIDGE?

The bridge in this post card picture no longer exists. But before I tell you why, let me give you a bit of history. The bridge was built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. The following history was taken from this website: https://southdakota.com/cities/mobridge-sd/ In the late 1800’s white settlers began to move onto the land that is presently Mobridge, standing on land that was once owned by General S.E. Olson. A thought came to him when he was goose hunting in 1885 that this was the place the Milwaukee Railroad would cross the Missouri River. He remarked to his friends this would be a grand crossing for the Milwaukee. The phrase grand crossing stuck and a corporation was formed named Grand Crossing and Improvement Company. A telegrapher’s dots and dashes gave Mobridge its name when the town formed, as railroad crews were building the railroad bridge across the Missouri River. He ended his telegraph transmissions with M.O.Bridge. The Milwaukee Railroad reached Mobridge on September 9, 1906, and the first lot was sold on October 3, 1906. The bridge was demolished by the Corps of Engineers in the early 1960s and replaced by a higher bridge due to the construction of the Oahe Dam. From this website I picked up the following tidbit of information "MO.Bridge" Historical Marker (hmdb.org) There is a historical marker at the site of the old bridge. It reads, “In 1906, one hundred years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through this area, Milwaukee Railroad crews labored to build a bridge across the Missouri River. They carefully worked, balancing themselves on high metal beams as the sound of hammers resonated across the water. Once completed in 1905, trains filled with homesteaders could now venture to the last of the open range. This bridge, though no longer standing, was an icon for western movement and the town's namesake. An unknown telegraph operator sent word of the bridge's location as succinctly as possible, and with his abbreviated dots and dashes, he intended to convey "Missouri Bridge," and consequently gave MO.Bridge (Mobridge, South Dakota) its name.

The post card was printed and published by the same company as last week's post card: The Detroit Publishing Company. This one, too, is a PHOSTINT CARD.

Speed, Luxury and Comfort

The locomotive in this picture (which is a painting, not a photograph) certainly looks sleek. It is the train belonging to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad called the "Hiawatha". This website tells us the following about the history of the "Hiawatha". https://www.american-rails.com/hiawatha.html In 1935 the Milwaukee Road introduced the Hiawatha, sometimes referred to as the Twin Cities Hiawatha, a passenger train that would spawn a whole fleet of famous trains by the same name. The original operated between Chicago and the Twin Cities and officially began service on May 29, 1935; one of the first streamlined trains ever to be introduced in the U.S. Originally powered by 4-4-2 Atlantic-type steam locomotives (later 4-6-4 Hudson-types) the train was entirely streamlined, including the locomotive, and home-built in the Milwaukee Road's own shops. They became so successful the railroad found itself short on demand and to meet such eventually operated two versions of the train, the Morning Hiawatha and the Afternoon Hiawatha. These trains regularly cruised over 100 mph with hardly a bump or shudder during the ride; both trains could make the jaunt between the two cities in roughly seven hours.

The post card was published by Dover Publications in 1996. This is everything I know abou the publisher.

Little Joes

The last three weeks have focused on electrical locomotives on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad (Milwaukee Line); in this time we have seen two generations of the locomotives by used by the Milwaukee Line. Today we see the third, and final, generation of electrical locomotives they used. It is known officially as the General Electric EF-4 or EP-4 (depends on if it is being used for Freight or Passenger service). Each locomotive had 12 axles (8 of which were with power) with a 2-D+D-2 configuration. They were powered by 3,300 volts DC from overhead wires using the pantograph system for electrical connection. Each locomotive could develop 4,300 kilowatts of power (over 5,000 horsepower). That is enough energy to light up 43,000 one hundred watt light bulbs. The Milwaukee Line had 12 of these in service from the 1950s to June 15, 1974. General Electric actually built twenty units; the other eight sibling engines went to Brazil's Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro and to the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad. They are called Little Joes because the units were originally built for use in the Soviet Union (whose leader was Josef Stalin). The Cold War set in before the units were completed and the United States government would not allow them to be delivered to the Soviet Union. General Electric looked around for other buyers and the Milwaukee Line purchased its twelve for about $1 million. These units proved their value in the Rocky Mountains as they pulled train after train dependably over the passes and through the snow. The last two week's posts included pictures of the Olympian Hiawatha being pulled by older generation electric locomotives. The passenger train was soon handed over the the Little Joes once they arrived. Only one of these locomotives still survives. It is on static display at Deer Lodge, Montana; the same location at which this cover picture was taken on June 23, 1970. The locomotive in the picture is number E74; the one on display is number E70.

The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs, based out of Earlton, New York. This could be the youngest post card about which I have blogged to date. The address on the back includes a zip code, so the card cannot be any older than January 1, 1963. But, looking up the history of the publisher we find that the company was founded in 1964 by the late Carl H. Sturner. Audio-Visual Designs has been a leader in providing high quality railroad images products for over 4 decades. The business was originally located in Earlton, NY. The name was derived by the products sold at the time – audio soundtracks of trains well as visual items (post cards, books, & calendars). The first All Pennsy Calendar was published in 1966 and for many years used exclusively the photos of Don Wood, a long time friend of Carl's. In the late 80's, Carl started showcasing other photographer's work as well. Railroad Christmas cards were added to the line of products early on and with a few exceptions have featured real photos of trains in action. Three railroad books have been published by Audio-Visual Designs: I Remember Pennsy, Locomotives in My Life, and The Unique New York and Long Branch: all of which were projects worked on by Carl and Mr. Wood. Audio-Visual Designs has also published books for other non-railroad related organizations.

I also have this post card, which is on of the "Little Joes" that was purchased by the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, as mentioned above. This picture of #801 was taken in 1965.

Too Cold for Steam

Last week we discovered that the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul Railroad electrified part of its route in the Cascade mountains of Washington. Today we see that the idea was borrowed from farther east on the same line. Operating conditions in the mountain regions of Montana proved difficult. Winter temperatures of −40°C made it challenging for steam locomotives to generate sufficient steam. The line snaked through mountainous areas, resulting in "long steep grades and sharp curves." Electrification provided an answer, especially with abundant hydroelectric power in the mountains. Between 1914 and 1916, the Milwaukee implemented a 3,000 volt direct current overhead system between Harlowton, Montana, and Avery, Idaho, a distance of 705 kilometers.

The post card for today shows one of the second generation locomotives that traversed these mountains. The locomotive is of a different class than the two engines of the previous two weeks' posts. This one looks to be the second generation of electrical locomotives used by the railroad. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) classes EP-1 and EF-1 comprised 42 box-cab electric locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) in 1915. Electrical components were from General Electric. The locomotives were composed of two half-units semi-permanently coupled back-to-back, and numbered as one unit with 'A' and 'B' suffixes. As built, 30 locomotives were assigned to freight service, classified as EF-1 and numbered 10200–10229. The remaining twelve locomotives were assigned to passenger service as class EP-1, numbered 10100–10111, with higher-speed passenger gearing. The design was highly successful, replacing a much larger number of steam locomotives, cutting costs and improving schedules. General Electric self-proclaimed this electric locomotive to be the “King of the Rails” in a silent promotional film from 1915. From Wikipedia

In 1919, with the arrival of a newer generation of passenger power, the EP-1 locomotives were converted to EF-1 freight locomotives, and renumbered 10230–10241. The picture of the train in the post two weeks ago had the engine number 10294 - so close!! These numbers In this role, they served until the 1950s, when the arrival of the Little Joe locomotives began to replace them in freight service. More about these replacements next week.

The post card was published by a company owned by Curt Otto Teich. He and his company were both innovators and prolific in post card publishing. In business from 1893 to 1978. It's hard to date early Curt Teich postcards as they were not well documented. After 1913, dates began to appear occasionally in the order books kept by the company and from 1922 on, production dates were well documented. Their U.S. factories turned out more cards in quantity than any other printer. They published a wide range of national view-cards of America and Canada. Many consider them one of the finest producers of White Border Cards. The Linen Type postcard came about through their innovations as they pioneered the use of offset lithography. In 1974 the Teich Company was sold to Regensteiner Publishers also in Chicago. The Teich Company continued to operate in the same building and continued printing Teich postcards until 1978 when the plant closed.