America's Resourceful Railroad

Doing a lot of research for a possible article on electrification has taught me so much about how green the westward extension was.  It is amazing how inventive Laurence Wylie was in creating electrification.  To me, I see electrics as a type of hybrid car, both are friendly to the environment.  The Milwaukee Road was ahead of its time with electrics and going green.  I am sure the first thing on their minds was the amount of time and money going to be saved.  However, fast forward 95 years and the Road would be praised for what their doing to help the environment.  It is nice to see hoe creative people were.  Bill Brautigam was another legend on the electrification line.  I think he stole the thunder from Wylie when he invented regenerative braking.  It wows me how inventive they were in the early 1900's, but maybe that is just me being naive.  The braking system was able to put 40-60% of energy back into the trolley wires when descending a grade.  I read that on a trip the Road only had to pay $1.66 because so much energy was returned.  I yet again think and have to compare this to a hybrid car and could be compared to solar panels (since both are all natural).  After being part of the Milwaukee Road for almost 60 years it was sad to know it came to an end.  I can see where people were going when members decided to move into the diesel era.  Milwaukee Road members felt that having to repair the electrification lines and upgrade them would be too costly.  Many felt that the elimination of electrification led to the final downfall of the Road.  Members felt they would save more money, but in the end it did not make a big difference since new diesel engines had to be purchased.  If we could only see into the future and what electrics did to help out environment it would be amazing.  I like to believe that the Milwaukee Road paved the way for all the electric trains today.  If you have ever been to Europe then you probably know a lot of their train system is ran on electrification, lets sure hope they said thank you to the Road!  Some might like to think the electrics system was the best years on the Road.  For me the electrics simply make me think of the Road as America's resourceful railroad.

Articles and more

For the last week I have been working on my articles a lot. I wrote my second article, which focuses on the archives again, but more detail on the great volunteers we have. There has been several drafts already, but it's on the way to being a great article. The second article will be published in the staff news here, at the Milwaukee Public Library. Hopefully staff at the library will learn a little more about the amazing Milwaukee Road collection. It was realized that a lot of library staff and volunteers are unaware of the archives collection or what it even is; as Chris referred to the archives as "a hidden gem." I'm also working on a similar article to go on the library website so all may see. I have also gotten some really great feedback from my first article and it is in the final stages of being complete. The plan is to have the article published in next months Hiawathagram. This is really exciting news for me since it will be my first ever published article. I have also been working hard on ideas for a poster for TrainFest and other conventions. I came up with some great ideas that Chris was happy with, I may even be able to do both. I hope my posters are able to wow and attract people so more attention may be paid to the Milwaukee Road and Archives. So the next step is finding all the supplies to put my ideas into action. This will be my favorite part because I really like the creating process. By far the most exciting part though will be looking for photos to use on the poster. I always love seeing how amazing the trains and depots were, it is so fascinating. For the last two days I have been working on more railroad drawings, trying to help Nicole with the large amount of stuff to file and make her job a bit easier. I really enjoy working with the drawings due to how interesting and the history associated with each drawing. I also want to thank everyone to reads and comments on my blog. The comments I have received on here or through e-mail have been great, whether good or bad. This is a learning process for me and all kinds of feedback is helpful.

How to comment

So I appologize again on the confusion with commenting. When I created this blog I did not realize only google and blogger members could comment. So I have created an account for everyone to use and it will make it simpler. When commenting on my blog there is a drop down box and you should select google account. It will then ask for you to sign in. The username/email is mrha1850@gmail.com and the password is milwaukee road. All comments will show up as the user mrha so it would be great if you left a name at the end of the comment, unless you would like to remain nameless. You can also go to blogger.com and sign in with the username and password. I have already added this blog to the page so right when you sign in my blog should be a member you are following. For some that might be easier. Which ever way you to choose will work. I hope the commenting problem is solved and if anyone has any questions feel free to email me at jennbahr@siu.edu

Busy Week

This past week was short, but seemed very busy. The library was closed Thursday and Friday due to the holiday, hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Last week I wrote my first article. It focuses on the Archives; giving some history, how the reorganization is going, and the need for help. So far Chris Sentz has given great comments and I'm looking forward to some great feedback for changes. I know this is only the first draft and will take some time until the final copy is complete. It is an exciting process and am looking forward to the end product. I've begun researching for my second article which will probably focus on electrification. The idea came from Virginia Schwartz about how electrics was linked to going green. I was really interested with the idea. Last semester I took an environmental class and really enjoyed it. The hopes are the article will be published in some sort of environmental magazine and get people interested in the Road. I was also able to meet the MRHA president last week. Bob Storozuk and his wife came to the Archives and it was great to meet him. Which I was told people are unable to comment. I apologize for that and will try and fix that asap. During my time off I went to see the movie Public Enemies with Johnny Depp, it is about the bank robber John Dillinger. I was originally interested in the movie due to it being filmed in Milwaukee and being a true story in the Midwest. But I thought it was really cool when Dillinger took a train and it just so happened to be The Milwaukee Road. They really incorporated true events into the movie and it shows how big the Road really was during that time. The train was only in the movie for 30 seconds, if if you don't like violence I don't suggest seeing it. This week I'll be working on a poster for the conventions and writing an article was the Staff News at the library.