The Chicago Surface Lines was one of the largest traction properties in the Midwest. Formed by the consolidation of the Chicago City Railway and the Chicago Railways Company, by the early 1920s the system encompassed almost 3500 streetcars operating over more than 1070 miles of track. More than 1-1/2 billion passengers were carried every year. With an order in 1936 for 83 of the new streamlined Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) cars, Chicago became one of the first cities to operated these modern trolleys.

CHICAGO SURFACE LINES, filmed by Walter Druck and others, presents scenes of both the PCCs and the older standard cars in action, with some views dating back as far as the late 1930s. Routes covered include 4, 21, 22, 38, 43, 45, 63, 67, and the Cottage Grove private right-of-way. The program also includes scenes of PCCs operating in Kansas City, Missouri.

THE CHICAGO "L"s, filmed by traction expert and modeler Walter Druck, surveys the vast Chicago elevated railway system, second only to New York City's in size. The development of Chicago's elevated railways was spurred by a need to transport large crowds of people from the downtown "loop" area to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. To that end, the South Side Elevated Railroad Company constructed a 3-1/2 mile line from Congress Street to 39th Street. On June 6th, 1892,a fleet of 46 small Forney steam locomotives began pulling trains of wooden coaches over the route. The line reached Jackson Park in May 1893. Chicago's "L" system continued to expand, with new lines being constructed by the Lake Street, Metropolitan West Side, Northwestern, and Union Loop Elevated Railroads. In 1924, all of the "L"s were consolidated as the Chicago Rapid Transit Company, which in 1947 became the publicly-owned Chicago Transit Authority.

Consisting of high-quality archive film, the program features an interesting variety of locations. Lines covered include Kenwood, Stock Yards, Lake Street, Ravenswood, Garfield Park, Westchester Shuttle, Evanston, and Mt. Carmel Funeral line. The bulk of the material was filmed in 1948 and features a variety of "L" rolling stock, plus North Shore Line and CA&E trains which also operated on portions of the system

60 MINUTES * COLOR AND B/W ARCHIVE FILM * MAPS AND GRAPHICS * FACT FILES * BIG BAND MUSIC