Unfortunately, most of the history of the old interurbans has been > lost.
There are a great many books on the history of interurbans. Some deal with interurbans in general, others are detailed stories on a specific line. Some are out of print, but new ones are being published.
Do an author search on William Middleton who has been a prolific writer on the subject. Also,
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has new books out.
A brand new interurban is running between Trenton NJ and Camden NJ, operated by NJ Transit.
[dupe of prior lost post] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Another excellent interurban line for many years was the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad (the electric orange train which ran between Randolph Street in downtown Chicago and South Bend, Indiana. In its hey-day, it ran every thirty minutes round the clock between those two points, with six or eight car trains. It ran on its own tracks all the way from South Bend to 115th Street/Kensington Station in Chicago, at which point it leased the Illinois Central tracks for the remainder of its trip. (ICRR was also an electric train with overhead catenary-style wires. Quite a few years back, they cut down service to South Bend to once per hour, then eventually just a few trains daily. Now I understand they only run the train as far east as Gary, Indiana and possibly one or two trains daily to Michigan City, or possibly further east to South Bend. All of their 'own' stations -- that is, east of the split-away from Illinois Central at 115th Street are in terrible decay, just like CTA's stations. PAT]