Electric Car Department

CSSSB 1100

Chicago, South Shore & South Bend steel line car 1100 has been donated to the Illinois Railway Museum by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD). Though most remember it as a South Shore line car, 1100 was built in 1926 by the St. Louis Car Company as 376, a parlor car used with Indiana Service Corporation's Wabash Valley Flyer, the car was sold to the Indiana Railroad in 1932, and IRR 376 was rebuilt as a combination passenger/railway post office car in 1935. In 1941, 376 was sold to the South Shore where it was used as an express car before being converted to line car service in 1947. South Shore 1100 retired in 2003; in service for 77 years, the car served in four distinct types of electric railway service.

In 2003, NICTD offered 1100 to a preservation group that proposed to restore the line car and feature it as a display in a new museum. Hard economic times caused their efforts to fall short, and 1100 remained in storage at the selected site in Michigan City, Indiana. Now the line car is ours and has been shipped to IRM. Your donation to the CSSSB 1100 Fund will help pay for the shipping costs, track space, and restoration costs for this historic car.  As of January 2010, we have raised about 30% of our goal of $30,000.