I'm supposing that some of us have traction images in our collections. If you have any, raise your pans and poles, and post 'em up. These three were taken at the East Troy Railroad Museum in WI in Sept. 1978. The 715 is from the North Shore, the middle picture is of Chicago Transit Authority cars and the last is of a TMERL (The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company) freight motor.
Feel free to post more pictures of East Troy. This is my home town, I was a member when your photo's were taken and I fondly remember the place. If you take a close look at my little avatar this was also taken in about 1977. I'm the little guy in the foreground. I became a professional railroader in the following years, I currently have 30 plus years in the railroad industry and this is where it began. My entire family is still in East Troy, I'm the only one who left the nest.
That is VERY cool Randy -- I had no idea. If I come across any others, I'll post them. I may have some black and white negatives somewhere. I wasn't going to post this one of North Shore 763 because it's not of good quality, but here it is. I love the horns. Is that the bell adjacent to them? A few weeks ago I posted this photo of their small diesel. It too was taken in Sept. 1978.
The device next to the horns is called the retriever. It is a dual spring loaded device to pull down the trolley pole is case of dewirement. I'm the little guy in the white hat in both pictures. I have no clue who took the picture but a friend found them on the internet and sent them to me.
Interesting bit of hardware there. I hadn't thought of it, but you'd need something like that to deter a loose trolley pole from flailing about. Looks like a good crowd there that day. How nice that someone was able to find these photos on line and get them to you.
These three are from the Illinois Railway Museum at Union, IL, all taken 10/1990. We see a Chicago Transit Authority car, then North Shore and South Shore cars.
A couple vintage ones from the collection. Denver Tramway Co. car 51, 1940s Phoenix car 106, 1930s/1940s Pacific Electric Blimp 300 at Compton, 1950s
The North Shore's 50th Street station was moved to the Illinois Railway Museum and renovated. Such a fine exhibit.
Looking at your photo, I was just thinking that electrified railroads have an added dimension of hazard in the form of electrocution on rooftops that the steam and diesel roads didn't face. (I see no wire above in the photo). I'll bet museum roads offer careful instruction on the topic. I think the Pennsy's G had rooftop hatches interlocked with the pan, making it impossible to access the roof while a pan was raised.
There is wire above the car, the roofs were canvas covered wood so they were pretty safe if you were careful. It was rare to find a trolley car with a metal roof.