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Metra Early History


andrethebusman

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Does anybody have any Metra employee or public timetables from the early 1980's? I have a few questions regarding how Metra got started:

1) When did RTA take over direct operation of the Rock Island District? Remember, after the RI shut down, C&NW was brought in as a contract operator for a while. Direct operation (with Metra employees) would have been around 1982-83.

2) When did RTA take over direct operation of the Milwaukee District? When MILW was taken over by SOO in 1982? MILW had been a contract operator since about 1978.

3) When did Metra replace old cars with bi-levels and take over crewing on the N&W and GM&O? I rode last old trains on both. Again circa 1983.

4) When did Metra take ownership of IC Electric? This is much more fuzzy, as no new cars were involved, just changing employer of crews.

Anybody have any answers?

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1 hour ago, andrethebusman said:

1) When did RTA take over direct operation of the Rock Island District? Remember, after the RI shut down, C&NW was brought in as a contract operator for a while. Direct operation (with Metra employees) would have been around 1982-83.

According to Metra, 1982. Wikipedia says spring 1981, but I don't know what their source is.

1 hour ago, andrethebusman said:

2) When did RTA take over direct operation of the Milwaukee District? When MILW was taken over by SOO in 1982? MILW had been a contract operator since about 1978.

RTA began operating the Milwaukee district in 1982, and Metra took ownership in 1987.

1 hour ago, andrethebusman said:

3) When did Metra replace old cars with bi-levels and take over crewing on the N&W and GM&O? I rode last old trains on both. Again circa 1983.

For the HC, the direct answer is "In 1978, after the RTA was formed and began subsidizing commuter rail operations, the “Plug” [GM&O train] was replaced by a more modern locomotive and bi-level coaches". Metra crewing began in 1987, as part of the same deal that gave Metra ownership of the Electric District.

Metra took over direct operation of the SWS in 1993. However, it seems that bilevel trains should have been running there earlier than that, as RTA/Metra was already well established by then.

1 hour ago, andrethebusman said:

4) When did Metra take ownership of IC Electric? This is much more fuzzy, as no new cars were involved, just changing employer of crews.

1987.

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3 hours ago, andrethebusman said:

SWS was converted to Metra equipment mid-80's, and the following week the N&W equipment was leased to Amtrak for the Valparaiso train.

According to this website

http://marmarinou.tumblr.com/post/89820629479/norfolk-western-commuter-train-at-orland-park

The last N&W equipped train ran on 7/27/1979 with Metra equipment at F40PH starting on 7/30/1979.

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i seem to recall after yhe fall of the rock it was the northeastern rail corporation  or somethi g lime yhay which is the actual railroad.   This would have been in 79 or 80 before the rta legislative creation of metra.   

 

i believe the railroad is still in operatiom and metra is the administration.   The real question is for the rock and milwaukee crews whos name is on the check?

 

i dont believe  the RTA operated the service but only finaced it. 

this seems this should have been a topic in Trains magazine

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1 hour ago, busfan2847 said:

According to this website

http://marmarinou.tumblr.com/post/89820629479/norfolk-western-commuter-train-at-orland-park

The last N&W equipped train ran on 7/27/1979 with Metra equipment at F40PH starting on 7/30/1979.

I count nine cars in the first photo, but how many passengers would there really have been at that time?

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Just now, west towns said:

it was the northeastern rail corporation  or somethi g lime yhay which is the actual railroad. i believe the railroad is still in operatiom and metra is the administration.

Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation (NIRC) is Metra's business name for the lines that it owns and operates. You are correct that the name is still used.

"Metra" is a marketing name for the Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority.

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1 hour ago, west towns said:

another way of thinking if someone maybe a senior with a bum leg files a lawsuit for oh lets say falling on those stairwells to the gallery cars cause they cant make the climb  do the file it under metra or neirc?

As I already said, Metra is a "marketing name". NIRC is the legal name of the entity that handles railroad operations.

In your hypothetical lawsuit, the defendant might be named as "NIRC dba Metra".

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27 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

As I already said, Metra is a "marketing name". NIRC is the legal name of the entity that handles railroad operations.

In your hypothetical lawsuit, the defendant might be named as "NIRC dba Metra".

The official way would be to look at actual filings, like this, but it turns out you are correct, except for the abbreviation, which is NIRCRC.

The other thing it points out is that the Illinois Central Railroad is still legally that, just like Ameritech Illinois or AT&T Illinois is still Illinois Bell Telephone Co.

Another thing it illustrates is that NIRCRC seems to always get enmeshed with some other railroad in lawsuits, as is the case here. The most famous one is Rachel Barton vs. Chicago and North Western Transportation Co, and NIRCRC, where Metra was mostly on the hook, but UP had to pay the punitive damages. You'll see in that opinion:

NIRCRC is a corporation maintained, supervised and directed by the Commuter Rail Board (CRB), the governing body of the Commuter Rail Division (CRD) of the Regional Transportation Agency (RTA) under the RTA Act.   See 70 ILCS 3615/2.20(a)(xii), 3B.01, 3B.02 (West 2000).   Defendants' brief states that “[t]he CRD/NIRCRC are known to the public through the service mark ‘Metra.’ ”

On the other hand, Pace is not a corporate entity, but is sued as the Suburban Bus Division of the RTA, which itself engendered a legal opinion on whether the SBD of the RTA could sue the RTA (it could, despite the rule that you are not allowed to sue yourself).

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