<br>This afternoon around 12:30 I saw a nicely restored Toronto PCC heading west at Champaign-Urbana. The number looked like 4610. I don't know but guess that this is a car heading up to Kenosha. Does anyone have a lead on this?<p>Olin<br>



oanderso@uiuc.edu

That was most likely one of the Kenosha PCC's on its way to Iowa to be prepared for service. The trucks need to be changed out and other work done before it can enter service. <br>As of yesterday, all the trackage was completed in Kenosha. The carbarn is done, with two tracks entering. All the line poles have been set, waiting for the bracket arms installation and <br>wiring. Landscaping remains to be done in the median areas, but looks like it will be ready to open this summer.<br>



jftrolley@aol.com

Can someone provide more details on the new Kenosha operation? This is one I missed. How aboout an article for RyPN?<br>



ryarger1@nycap.rr.com

This actually ran as an RyPN Brief last year; unfortunatey, too long ago still to be in the site archive...<p><br>Kenosha Streetcar Revival<br> <p>In a July 13, 1999 Brief on the Toronto PCC diaspora, RyPN noted that Kenosha, WI, will soon be inaugurating a new urban heritage streetcar line. Since then, RyPN has learned further details about the forthcoming Kenosha operation.<br>The new Kenosha Electric Trolley owes its genesis to the dramatic restructuring of the automobile industry in the 1980s and 1990s. For most of this century, a significant part of the lakefront east of downtown Kenosha was occupied by a sprawling 42-acre American Motors Company manufacturing plant. When the then-Chrysler Corporation (now DaimlerChryser) purchased American Motors in 1989, it found the Kenosha facility surplus to its requirements, and swiftly closed it down. Chrysler demolished the buildings, paid for necessary environmental remediation, and transferred title to the site to the City of Kenosha.<p>From 1989 to 1996 the City refined plans for redevelopment of the site as a mixed-use area combining office, residential, and commercial uses with extensive public parkland. A centerpiece of this Harborpark plan is the creation of an urban heritage streetcar linking Kenosha's downtown Metra commuter rail station with the Harborpark development and the lakefront. The finished line will run south from the Metra station on 11th street to 56th, and then run eastbound down 56th into the new Harborpark neighborhood. 56th street was intended by Kenosha city planner Charles Bartholomew to be a grand boulevard linking downtown with the eastern lakefront; realization of Bartholomew's plan was deferred for over seventy years by the presence of the AMC plant at the boulevard's intended terminus. Now the revitalized 56th street will run its full planned length, with the streetcar line occupying a St. Charles St.-style grassy median in its center. At 200 East 56th in the Harborpark area, the line will swing north to 54th, then return west paralleling the lakefront on the northern side of 54th, until it reaches the Metra station downtown to complete a loop.<p>Service on the new line will be provided by rebuilt Toronto Transit PCCs 4607, 4609, 4610, 4615, and 4616. The Kenosha project has also acquired Toronto PCC 4529, an unrebuilt car which was not part of the TTC's 1990 reconstruction program. The streetcars are presently stored at Viontage Electric Streetcar Company in Windber, Pa., which is converting them to standard gauge from Toronto's 4'10.5" broad gauge. <p>Stone Consulting and Design of Warren, Pennsylvania provided engineering and design services for the streetcar project, and bids for construction were issued in March 1999. RyPN reader Olin Anderson contacted the Director of the Kenosha Transit Department earlier this month to get an update on progress to date. He reports that rail for the project has been delivered and joint welding is underway. Actual tracklaying is awaiting the delivery of ties, but should be underway by late August. Olin also reports that pending results from the initial line, service may later be extended to downtown Kenosha proper and the Frederick Law Olmstead-built City Library.<p>(Erik Ledbetter, with contributions from<br>Olin Anderson and Tom Twigge)<p>Links:<p>http://www.execpc.com/~coken2/<p>http://www.nycsubway.org/pcc/kenosha.html<p>http://www.stoneconsulting.com/kenosha.html<p> <br> <br><br>



eledbetter@rypn.org

To add a little to the text from the news release, the factory that was razed by Chrysler was originally the headquarters and plant for Simmons bedding company. They built complete beds and also steel furniture there (desks dressers tables & hide-a-beds). One of the most interesting portions of the plant was the "rolling mill" This consisted of a large furnace that heated old railroad rail red hot then cut the rail into 3 ribbons. These ribbons were then run through dies that shaped the steel into angle iron and other shapes that were used for their bed frames. There was a massive overhead crane that fed the used rail into the furnace. This was a very dangerous job, I have seen old movie film of the operation. When the hot strand of steel would be expelled from one roller, a worker would grab it with a tongs and spin around and feed it into another set of dies. This red hot ribbin of steel would snake around him like a long strand of spagetti. LOOK OUT if it missed the new set of dies, as it would pile up on the floor. The new trolly rails are almost on the exact site as where all that old rail bit the dust. The library that was mentioned is a Simmons library that was donated to the city. Simmons moved from Kenosha in the 50's and the factory was rented and occupied by American Motors Corp. They built car bodys there, but final assy. was done at the main plant aprox 3 miles west. A great many different cars were built there, including Ramblers, Javlins, Pacers, Gremlins, Renalts, and Omni/Horizons. After the Chrysler take over and the closing of the plants, a large enclosed area of Lake Michigan immediately east of the plant was also filled in. This whole area is now called "Harbor Park" and a new public museum is now under construction there. It will be a mixed development with both public and private development there. There will be light retail and town houses and park areas. There was some Fed grant funds to help purchase the PCC cars as well as some of the construction, but the operation and maintence costs will fall on the city. There was quite a few nay-sayers that felt that few people would be interested in riding these "electric trolleys" when they could just run a bus instead. Fortunately the plan has prevailed and I hope that as news gets out to the railfan community will prove them wrong. I was just at the site two days ago, and I neglected to see if the wire was in place. It looks like the city really has their act together on this one, and if they pull it off, the whole downtown area and next door marina will reap the benefit. I live in Kenosha, so if anyone has a question I will do my best to help.<br>Steve<br>

Thanks for the update, Steve-- that's fascinating stuff. Keep us posted on progress; and, when the line goes live, send in a picture or two if you happen to have the time.<br>



eledbetter@rypn.org