Back Issues

Many back issues of First & Fastest are available. A few of the older issues are out of print and unavailable from us. However, copies may occasionally be found in the classifieds of First & Fastest. The following list contains only part of the contents of each issue. Every issue also has many other items about the Chicagoland electric railways, plus each of the departments listed on the First & Fastest main page.

Want to order back issues? Click here!

2004-2007 | 2008-Present | Dispatch Series

ORDERING BACK ISSUES

2004-2007 Issues

Spring 2004:
Humboldt Park: The Little Branch Line Cherished by Many; Fun at the Fall Colors Spectacular; Growing Up on the North Shore and along the North Shore Line, Part 2; Henry Cordell and the One-Man Safety Car; Downtown Waukegan: Then and Now; Special Insert: Dempster Street Station; Marengo Revisited; Remembering the CA&E, Part 1; and more!

   

Summer 2004:
Ravinia Park: The North Shore Line's Most Enduring Asset; Men, Minds & Machines: Notes From the Milwaukee Yardmaster; The TM at West Junction; Special Insert: The Bloomington, Pontiac & Joliet Electric Railway Company; Happy 100th Birthday, Crandic!; Bob Mehlenbeck's Streetcars; 5th Avenue Maywood; Crossing Disputes Between the AE&C Railway and the Suburban Railroad; Ed Allen & the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad; The Chatty Train Went Quiet; and more!

   

Autumn 2004:
COVER FEATURE: Streetcars in the Chicago Transit Authority Era: Part 5, The Demise of the Red Rockets; Getting All Steamed-Up on the "L"; The TM at West Junction; Special Insert: Indiana Railroad, A Model of Quality Service to Customers; Bulletins on the Chicago, Lake Shore, and South Bend; Red Devils & Highspeeds; One of John Humiston's Early Targets - the Chicago & West Towns Railways; Milwaukee's Route 15; and more!

   

Winter 2004:
COVER FEATURE: The Public Service Building, Growing up along the North Shore Line, part 3, The Kenosha Kid, Remembering the CA&E, Part 2, Childhood Memories of the CA&E, Special Insert: Early Color on Chicagoland's Electric Railways, Train from Tremont, People of Illinois Central, Streetcars on Lake Shore Drive

   

Spring 2005:
COVER FEATURE: The 1979 CTA Strike, A brief history of Lake Street Elevated RR Steam Locomotive 9, Hangin around the tower: an essay of John. F. Humiston photos, South Shore Line in the late 1930s, Men, Minds, and Machines - a barrel full of band music, Streetcars at Navy Pier, Getting "skunked" on Speedrail, End of the Line - Yellow Line Catenary

   

Summer 2005:
COVER FEATURE: The Shore Line - 50 Years Later, Chicago Surface Lines Goes to War, When Viaducts become Aqueducts, New Job and New Home, Why Traction Will Never Die, Iowa Traction CA&E Style, Wilson Avenue: Uptown Union Station, Kramble's First Job

   

Autumn 2005:
COVER FEATURE: Bob Mehlenbeck: 1913-2005, Shore Line Contributors, Bob Collins Visits Milwaukee, Done With Dispatch, Chicago & West Towns Car 141, John Humiston's Favorite Targets, Rrrroarin' Elgin" on the Rrrrapid, The Rapid Transit and Freight Trains, BONUS INSERT: Indiana Railroad: The Interurban Experience, The Fox & Illinois Union Railway Company

   

Winter 2005:
COVER FEATURE: Please Don't Snag the Hangers, The Rockford & Interurban Railway, The Best Job I Ever Had: Reminiscences of John Hines, Motorman on the Rockford & Interurban Railway, My Streetcar Memories, The Alley "L" on the Prairie, BONUS INSERT: More Early Color on Chicagoland's Electric Railways, You Are a Train Operator on the Indiana Railroad.

   

Spring 2006:
COVER FEATURE: The G&CU Contemplates Inaugurating Commutation Service to Geneva, Streetcars in the Chicago Transit Authority Era: Part 6, 1955-58: The End of the Line, An Interurban That Thrived in Two Thousand Five, SouthShore Freight: Strong Revenues from Diversified Commodities, Isabella: The Beloved Bucolic Rapid Transit Station, The CTA was my babysitter! Or, wide-eyed memories of Isabella Street, A Weekend Project: The Roll-In of Main Street Viaduct

   

Summer 2006:
COVER FEATURE: Train from Randolph Street - 150 years of service on the Illinois Central and Metra Electric, Chicago and West Towns Car 141, A Wisconsin Interurban Returns to the Rails, Over the Channel and Through the Woods to Wilmette, A Tale of Three Stations in Wisconsin, Summer Fun on the CA&E, The Hoosierland, Isabella follow-up

   

Autumn 2006:
COVER FEATURE: North Shore Line's Last Summer, On the Streets of Milwaukee, Streetcar Shoo-Fly, The Streetcars May Be Gone, but the Jargon Endures, Pullman Green Suburban Trains to Blue Island, Getting Trojan Fans to South Bend, From the Elevated to the Streets, Donors and Recipients - Car Equipment Component Swaps on the Indiana Railroad, Highwood 1949

   

Winter 2006:
Timetables of the TMER&L - Part One, SouthShore Freight Inspection Train, Done with Despatch - North Shore Merchandise Despatch Service - Part Two, Pekin, Aurora Terminal, September 2, 1940, How we rode to work in Chicago in the 1950s - Street, elevated, interurban and suburban railways, Who is on the Cover

   

Spring 2007:
Land of the Burlingtons, My Visit to Michigan City Shops, North Shore Line's Last Summer, Streetcars in the 1930s, Arthur Gerber: Insull's Transit Architect, North Shore Line Mysteries, Insulls Smaller Empire

   

Summer 2007:
Elgin–Five Railroads and a River Named Fox, Interchange–The Milwaukee Road and the North Shore Line, Streetcars in the City of Lakes, A Life’s Interest in Cathedrals and Traction–William C. Janssen 1914-2007, Shore Line’s 25th Anniversary–Remembering the Early Years, Before the Prairie Path, Second & Slower–Riding the Rails, Biking Through History

   

Autumn 2007:
Kensington–Summer 1971, Rapid Transit to Midway–Part 1–The Long Road to “L” Service, PCC Streetcar Routes of Chicago, Ray Buhrmaster’s Traction Collection–Part 1, Men, Minds & Machines–Dandelion Wine and the Electric Stove, Chicago Mass Transit’s Periodic Financial Woes, The Chicago, Wheaton & Western–The Geneva Branch of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin

   

Winter 2007:
Timetables of TMER&L–Part Two, Done With Despatch–North Shore Line Merchandise Despatch Service–Part Three, The “Met” in the Suburbs, Just Another Day on the Railroad–“Boss, she just blew up!”, Men, Minds & Machines–Working the Night Limiteds with the North Shore’s Lady Collectors, The Big Three, Sheboygan’s Other Interurban

2008-Present

Spring 2008:
Chicagoland’s Country Trolley Line–Part 1–Chicago
& West Town’s LaGrange Line, Rapid Transit to Midway–Part II–Orange You Glad We Built It?, Destination Cicero, The Demise of Car 100, The North Shore–Taylor Avenue Local, Insull Interurbans of Central Illinois, Kankakee Electric Railway

   

Summer 2008:
South Shore Line at 100, Gary, Tremont and Michigan City on The Illinois Central, Happy 70th CERA, Milwaukee Road’s Suburban Service, Riding the Streets of Old Milwaukee, A Few Treasures from Dad’s Collection, Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway Company–Third Rail Division, Big Brills & Little Brills

   

Autumn 2008:
July 3, 2008, ICRR Cars East of Shops, The Last Train to Greendale, Where in theWorld Was Car 611?, A Hot Time in Huntington, A Portfolio of Chicago Streetcars in the 1940s and 1950s

   

Winter 2008:
North Shore Line’s Last Winters, A Ticket to Everywhere–The Extraordinary Legacy of Chicago’s Downtown Railroad Passenger Terminals–Part 1, 100 Candles for the CSL #144, 1947 Blizzard, TM-MRK Racine and Kenosha Stations Weather the 1947 Blizzard, A.W. Johnson’s Back Yard, Commuting in Winter–Chicago Style Past and Present, Chicago’s Streetcar Tunnels

   

Spring 2009:
Commuting in Your Personal (Rail) Car, Chicago’s Tunnel Streetcars, Can You Top This?, and more!

   

Summer 2009:
Pioneer RDCs, Waukesha Beach, West Town’s LaGrange Line, Off Broadway in Aurora, and more!

   

Autumn 2009:
Amtrak – The Interurban of the 21st Century?, Justifying the Investment in the Skokie Valley Route, On Broadway – The Great Third Rail in Aurora, and more!

   

Winter 2009:
High Speed Rail, Towering Adventures, Joliet, Plainfield and Aurora, and more!

 

Dispatch Series

Cooperation Moves the Public:
The story of the integrated operations of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin and the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and later the Chicago Transit Authority over the Garfield Park Branch of Chicago’s rapid transit system until September 19, 1953. Trains were operated seconds apart “on sight” as there were no signals and no radios.

   

One Hundred Years of Enduring Tradition–South Shore Line:
Very different from all other railroad publications, covers the reasons why “The Last Interurban” survived and the history of the South Shore Line as told by the people who were involved since 1926.

 

Ordering Back Issues

Did you see a back issue or two that caught your attention? Then order one for your own collection! Just follow these simple steps!

  1. Print out the back issue brochure located here in PDF format. (Download Acrobat Reader)
  2. Complete the order form on the back page of the brochure.
  3. Fill in your shipping address. Make your check or money order payable to the Shore Line Interurban Historical Society.
  4. Send your order to:
Shore Line
PO Box 425
Lake Forest IL 60045-0425
   
  From left: The Winter 2007, Spring 2007, and Summer 2008 issues of First & Fastest.
 

 

 

 

         
    © 2007 Shore Line Interurban Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.