Milwaukee Rapid Transit & Speedrail

Company History: Speedrail was launched in 1949 by Jay Maeder to take control of The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company’s Milwaukee to Waukesha interurban line. The deal included ten 2-car suburban train sets. They acquired half a dozen one-man operator cars from Shaker Heights Rapid Transit in Ohio to replace several former TMER&L cars. They also brought freight service back to the line. Speedrail also became the contract operator of the Hales Corners branch. In September of 1950, the NMRA had a convention in Milwaukee and chartered 5 interurban trains on Speedrail to Hales Corners and back. Two of the trains collided head-on, killing 10 and injuring 47. Jay Maeder was at the throttle of one of the trains. Speedrail would never recover. Two months later, the company slipped into receivership. Service ended the following June.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.