140 began life on the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric as a standard interurban coach. Unlike the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago, the C&ME did not originally build their cars with “L” clearances in mind, and around 1919 it had to be modified in order to permit such operation. Here it is in Wheaton yard after the CA&E made further modifications to make it conform to their specifications.
Photo from the collection of Jay Williams
Car 134 and its follower have raised their troley poles to cross the unusually large gap in the tird rail at State Road while on a fan trip on June 27, 1948.
Photo from the collection of Don Ross
The train (end) doors on the North Shore Woods were not original to the design; they were added circa 1919 when the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric began operating over the “L”. Likewise, the jumper connections above those doors, seen here on 129, were later additions. They were added by the CA&E in 1936 in an attempt to make these cars compatible with the native fleet. The connections for on the North Shore Line were located beneath the anticlimbers.
Photo from the collection of Joe Diaz
Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee 403 is on the “L” at Roosevelt. The white sign in the motorcab window says "Shore Line Route," indicating that this photo dates from after 1926, when the Skokie Valley Route opened. 403 started out as a diner, but by this point the car has already been converted to a coach. When acquired by the CA&E in 1936, this car would be renumbered 144, so as not to numerically overlap with the 400 series.
