Unfortunately, most of the history of the old interurbans has been lost. Unless some dedicated railfan decided that a photographic record was important (and his family preserved the records after his death), images just don't exist. Furthermore, even among railfans, steam locomotives seem to have been a more popular subject than interurbans.
Neal McLain
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is not so in the case of ours! A 30 minute video entitled "The Last Run" is devoted to the "Union Traction Company" (1904-1937) and its followup company called "Union Electric Company" (1937-1947). Union Traction went into receivership in the late 1920's -- but didn't quite a few businesses in the United States during the 1920-30's? -- and when it came out of recievership in 1937 it became Union Electric. Produced and narrated by John Koschin, this video has a complete trip (actually done about a month prior to shut down) between Nowata, Oklahoma and Parsons, KS. Old film clips were used of that 'last run' which are spliced in with more recent (2004) footage of Koschin discussing the interurban and an interview with an old gentleman who formerly was a young conductor/ motorman on the line when it was operating. As an exhibit with the DVD he has available, he includes a 'time card' (old name for a timetable) and a route map. He also includes on the DVD cover a picture of a 'one way ticket' between Independence and Cherryvale.The fare charged was _one cent_ per mile, in other words a fare from Coffeyville to Independence would be fifteen cents, from Independence to Cherryvale about ten cents. And school children got half price fares! Some of the places shown on his timetable do not even exist any longer (i.e. Blake and Jefferson, both tiny villages (at the time) and now non-existent. Dennis,KS and Dearing, KS both still exist with maybe a couple hudnred residents each. I think the only thing left in Jefferson these days is the long since abandoned power plant which Union Traction/Union Electric used to power its trains from an overhead wire. On the movie of the train ride (which is spliced into the more modern DVD, you can see some excellent shots of the towns along the way (as of 1947) and some of the old automobiles of that period.
Some of the pictures from downtown Independence, 1947 are quite interesting. The pictures would probably be meaningless to someone who was not from around this area, however the interurban itself and pictures of it in operation would probably be quite interesting. Their main base of operation and offices was in the Terminal Building in Coffeyville (owned by the interurban company but shared with other railroads in town), and they had the power plant in Jefferson of course and the 'car barn' in Independence over on Myrtle and 2nd Street (actually, it was a horse barn converted to the 'more modern' method of travel.) But that's not so unusual; the Chicago Transit Authority Shubert Bus Barn had been a horse barn belonging to the Chicago Fire Department in the olden days. Anyway, to get a copy of the DVD "The Last Run" write to John Koschin, PO Box 192, Independence, KS 67301. I think the cost is about $20.00 each DVD. PAT]