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Starting in 1901 as a three-mile-long trolley line in East Chicago, Indiana, the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad expanded in 1908 to connect South Bend, Indiana, with Chicago, Illinois. Once a treasure in the Sam Insull utilities empire, today it is the only functioning electric interurban in the United States. From a world-class city through rolling agricultural acres, from steel mills through a national lakeshore, some 200 vintage photographs illustrate the unique view of the Calumet region that South Shore passengers have traditionally enjoyed. Images of rolling stock, passenger depots, excursion destinations, and historic sites along the way combine to reveal the century-long story of the railroad and its 90-mile corridor.

Cincinnati on the Go explores the various modes of transportation that helped people get around in the first half of the 20th century, providing a unique view of the Queen City through the eyes of her everyday commuters. This volume features historic images of river transportation, street railways, city buses, steam railroads, the first automobiles, and wonderful, rare street scenes. Author Allen J. Singer expands on the transportation photographs in the previously released The Cincinnati Subway, inviting the reader up and out of the abandoned subway tunnels and on a visual tour through the historic streets of the Queen City on her riverboats, streetcars, cable cars, railroads, interurbans, and buses.

Cleveland and Its Streetcars takes the reader back to when railway cars dominated the local street scene. The book focuses on the era of 1910-1954, from the time that Cleveland Railway Company took over operation of the consolidated streetcar lines to the day that the last streetcar rumbled over the city's streets. Cleveland's trailer trains, articulated cars, and its Peter Witt car model were widely admired by the nation, and the streetcar reigned supreme through the end of World War II. In 1942, the Cleveland Transit System (CTS) took over the streetcar lines, and eager to "modernize" its fleet, it decided to replace the streetcars with buses, trackless trolleys, and a crosstown rapid transit line. After the end of the war, in May 1945, the first post-war conversion took place. Then the pace of replacing the streetcars with rubber-tired vehicles quickened. By 1954, the task was complete. This book, with over 200 photographs, documents this changing Cleveland scene--when a wonderful era in transportation flourished and then, sadly, disappeared.

In 1913, the Michigan Central Station opened its majestic entrances to the people of Detroit.

Designed by Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stern, the firms also noted as the architects of the Grand Central Station in New York City, the depot was a marvel of grandeur and comfort for the traveler lucky enough to utilize its facilities. Soldiers went to war, families both separated and rejoined, and folks looking for an honest living in the Motor City all walked the Michigan Central's elegant corridors. Since the last train pulled away from the station in 1988, the structure has fallen prey to rapidly paced deterioration. Detroit's Michigan Central Station captures the glory of the Michigan Central and its environs. Using photographs from the Burton Historical Collection, as well as private collections, the book illustrates the use of the Michigan Central Station by a city whose story dramatically parallels that of this magnificent structure. The book also includes imagined futures of the station from some of the many people who have been inspired by the magic this grand building continues to exude.

While Cincinnati intended their new subway, started in 1920, to be a shining jewel for public transportation, the story of its origin and ultimate failure show the history of the Queen City.

Cincinnati emerged from a tumultuous 19th century as a growing metropolis committed to city planning. The most ambitious plan of the early twentieth century, the Cincinnati Subway, was doomed to failure. Construction began in 1920 and ended in 1927 when the money had run out. Today, two miles of empty subway tunnels still lie beneath Cincinnati, waiting to be used. The Cincinnati Subway tells the whole story, from the turbulent times in the 1880s to the ultimate failure of ""Cincinnati's White Elephant."" Along the way, the reader will learn about what was happening in Cincinnati during the growth of the subway-from the Courthouse Riots in 1884 to life in the Queen City during World War II.

Wentzville, Missouri, was founded in 1855 by William M. Allen, a tobacco farmer and state senator. Allen knew that the new railroad would run through Missouri, so he used his senatorial influence to convince railroad engineers, particularly chief engineer Erasmus Livingston Wentz, to lay the tracks through his farmland and build a station with a promise to name the town after Wentz. The tobacco industry became a driving force for Wentzville's early growth. Since 1983, when General Motors built its plant on the outskirts of town, the population has exploded. Yet the Wentzville historic area maintains a small-town feeling that charms anyone who takes the time to explore.

It was the 1850s when the first settlers arrived in the area that would become Willmar, Minnesota. Encouraged by the land itself, they came for the fertile soil and the beauty and serenity provided by the landscape. Calamity would strike in 1862 due to the Dakota War, causing residents to flee for safer pastures. In 1869, the Great Northern Railroad would again call settlers to Kandiyohi County. Most of Scandinavian descent, this hardy lot would not be driven from the land again. In 1870, acting as agent for the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, Leon Chadwick Willmar purchased the title to Section 1 of Willmar Township. The following year, Willmar was officially named a city and became the county seat of Kandiyohi County. As the years passed from then to now, Willmar residents would face success and challenge, feast and famine, and partnership and controversy. No matter the circumstance, they would band together to face whatever arrived and join together in both celebration and sorrow.

Winfield's history traces back to the mid-19th century, well before its official incorporation in 1921. It began as the Gary's Mill settlement and nearly became Fredericksburg and Frederick Park due to the German heritage that its early people brought with them. It became Winfield when it was believed that Gen. Winfield Scott passed through the area during the Black Hawk War of the early 1830s. Winfield's history is attributed to people, businesses, and social activities. Its people included unique individuals such as Jacob Mueller and John Hamm, as well as the Higgins, Enders, and Besch families. Its businesses included longtime staples Higgins Store and Schmidt's Meat Market, as well as popular gathering locales like Hamm's tavern. Early social activities usually centered at Forester's Hall. Many residents attended mass at St. John the Baptist Church, which started in 1867, burned in 1906, and was rebuilt and rededicated one year later. While Central DuPage Hospital is a staple of today's Winfield, early Winfield had the Forsythe Rest Farm and the Chicago-Winfield Tuberculosis Sanitarium.