While tripping merrily through the mail, Gregory Procter was overheard
 DD> They were the FASTEST interurbans in the world, and were in fact the
 DD> prototypes for the Japanese "Bullet" trains.
 GP> Hi Don,
 GP> I'm not intending to be rude, butting in here, but how do you
 GP> justify those two claims?
 GP> I'm not sure how you classify an "interurban" separately from an
 GP> electric train, but I bet I can find a faster one somewhere :-)
 GP> (It won't be from here in New Zealand though)
An "Interurban" line is generally a line built to carry people rather than 
freight (although many, like the North Shore, did run freight trains, in
fact the North Shore back in the 1920's was one of the originators of
"Piggyback" {highway trailer on flatcar} service).  
"Interurbans" usually are built to lighter standards than "Steam" roads,
and are characterized by running "self propelled" cars rather than trains
pulled by a locomotive.  Also, they usually operated on lower voltages
than "Heavy electrics" (usually 600-1200 VDC as opposed to 10-25000 VAC 
common on "Heavy" electrics).
Using a term you may be more familiar with, an interurban is closer to a
"Tramway" than a "Railway".
Using those definitions, the "Electroliners", at the time they were built
in the 1940's, were the fastest regularly scheduled "interurban" trains
in the world, running 90+ MPH over most of their run, going the 80+ miles
from Chicago to Milwaukee in 90 minutes INCLUDING 10-15 station stops and
several miles of running at very slow speeds on the Milwaukee city streets
and the Chicago "EL" tracks.
In the early 1950's, when Japanese engineers were designing the "Tokaido"
line from Tokyo to Osaka (the famous "bullet trains") they came here to
study the North Shore to see how they did it.  They also went to France
to see how the SNCF did it with heavy electric (conventional "locomotive
pulling a train") technology.  When the "bullets" were actually built, they
were essentially "MU" ("Multiple unit") cars with a driver's cab at each
end, a'la the electroliners.
Don
... Get a Jolly, Ride a Trolly
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