Chicago question

Yes. Olgivie was built around 1987. The old depot was much more interesting.

Northwestern Station was the terminus for B&O passenger trains after they  closed Grand Central Station.

Northwestern Station (Chicago passenger terminal) opened on June 4, 1911. It was designed by the architectural firm of Frost & Granger. It replaced the the "New" Wells Street Station (where the Merchandise Mart now stands) that opened in 1881. (The original Wells Street Station was lost in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.)

The Chicago passenger terminal was sold in 1982 for $17 million. The head-house was razed starting on January 31, 1984. The new Northwestern Atrium Center opened on April 14, 1987. In 1997 the station was renamed as the Ogilvie Transportation Center to honor Richard B. Ogilvie, a former Illinois govenor who lead the creation of the RTA (Metra parent agency). The train shed was rehabbed / updated in the early 1990's. A lot of people still refer to the station simply as the Northwestern Station.

Thanks to H. Roger Grants book, The North Western, for notes on this post.

CC

BaltACD

Northwestern Station was the terminus for B&O passenger trains after they  closed Grand Central Station.

Not only B&O, but C&O passenger trains (from Grand Rapids).  I believe that the change occurred in about 1969, after which Grand Central Station was torn down.  I made many, many trips from between Grand Haven and Chicago on the C&O between early 1970 and very-early 1971, and all of them used the North Western Station (in fact, it was a glance at the C&NW employment office, then on the lower level of that station, that led to my seeking and obtaining my job).  The use of the station by C&O and B&O ended, of course, after the formation of Amtrak.

I remember being surprised by the slow and convoluted (IMO) route that the C&O trains used to get to the North Western Station, only to realize a little later that it wasn't that much different from the way they got to Grand Central!  Instead of hanging a right at Robey Street, they continued north on the C&NW Rockwell Sub to Rockwell Junction.  Depending on lateness, the arriving trains would from there either head directly in to the station at Western Avenue, or go west on the main line to Kedzie, and back in (a little over three miles).

While C&O and B&O were using the C&NW Station, they had use (perhaps exclusive use) of Tracks 1 and 2.  After the end of C&O/B&O service, Track 1 was torn out, and replaced by a covered walkway between the station and the Clinton Street station on the CTA Lake Street line (this was publicized as--not surprisingly--the "Northwest Passage").  This use of the track site lasted until sometime before the old station was torn down; by the time the new train sheds were built, Track 1 had been restored.

In all of the days of the old passenger terminal that I was around for, the public could not use the original grand entrance off Madison Street.  The old staircase's entrance into the waiting room was blocked off by the ticket counter, and the outside entrance was literally boarded up by black-painted walls.  One would be hard-pressed to find doors in them.  I learned about this area once when asked to meet with some head-hunters and we used that exit when I was taken to lunch somewhere (you can tell what impressed me most!).

CShaveRR

I remember being surprised by the slow and convoluted (IMO) route that the C&O trains used to get to the North Western Station, only to realize a little later that it wasn't that much different from the way they got to Grand Central!  Instead of hanging a right at Robey Street, they continued north on the C&NW Rockwell Sub to Rockwell Junction.  Depending on lateness, the arriving trains would from there either head directly in to the station at Western Avenue, or go west on the main line to Kedzie, and back in (a little over three miles).  While C&O and B&O were using the C&NW Station, they had use (perhaps exclusive use) of Tracks 1 and 2. 

Very interesting.  This answers a question posed on the MRR forum about the routing of B&O and C&O passenger trains into Chicago Northwestern Station.  Can you trace the track route a bit more for me from the entry point across the state line into Illinois and then onto the C&NW Rockwell Sub?    I am trying to reconstruct the B&O and C&O tracks routes inside the city of Chicago.

On that other forum, we are looking for an answer to the question of how NYC passenger cars were transferred to C&NW trains at Northwestern Station.  Can you help us out there as well?  Here is the link.

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/196911.aspx

Rich

I think the answer provided on that Forum already (NYC to the St. Charles Air Line to CNW via Wood Street, the Rockwell Sub, and the main line from Western Avenue to the C&NW Station) is plausible, and probably the most efficient way of doing it.  Of course, I wasn't around then...

Now, as to B&O (and C&O Northern Region) trains entering Chicago from Indiana:

They were still on B&O trackage when they crossed the Calumet River on a bascule bridge which was later taken out by an ocean liner that somehow clipped it.  Just west/north of there, the trains would get on the Rock Island at South Chicago Junction (there was a passenger station at South Chicago at one time), headed west through Pullman Junction.  The trains would pass the RI commuter stop at Gresham, cross over the RI main line there (this crossing is now gone), and join the RI's Beverly branch.  At Beverly, the trains would leave the RI and curve northwest parallel to the PRR "Panhandle" line (which is now gone, as is this B&O line).  It would connect with the B&O line heading to Barr Yard (to the south), and you'd be going north.  The Panhandle paralleled you the rest of the way in to Chicago as you crossed other railroads at 75th Street, Brighton Park, Ash, and 26th Street.   At some point in there the Panhandle crossed over.  When the trains got to the B&O's old Robey Street Yard, they used to curve east and go in to Grand Central (using the drawbridge next to the St. Charles Air Line Bridge).  But the Chicago & North Western had a nearby connection, known as, of all things, "B&O Connection", which was used to get to the C&NW Rockwell Subdivision in the post-Grand Central days.  The trains would continue north instead of heading east immediately, following the Rockwell Sub to the C&NW main line at either Western Avenue or Kedzie.

Carl,

That is extremely helpful.  Thanks for sharing that information.

Rich

Quite all right.

I was just thinking--that last northbound stretch along the B&O (from Beverly to Ogden Junction) always seemed to be taken very slowly by the passenger trains I was on.  Then one day (probably 20 years or more ago now) I had the opportunity to be the head brakeman on a crew taking a C&NW transfer run south to Barr Yard over much of this route.  I was ready for a "might as well take it easy; this might take a while" kind of trip.  And it was--until we passed the mandatory stop at Brighton Park.  After that, we had the train rocking and rolling down that line (I actually hung on when we dived beneath the Panhandle line as it crossed from one side of our line to the other...or at least the bridge where the right-of-way was).  I'd swear, we never took that line so fast in the passenger trains (I'm trying to think of whether it was pre-CSX or not)!

Or maybe it only seemed that way...after all, riding the point was a perspective I rarely got on a passenger train.

Carl,

This is great stuff.  Tell us more.

Rich

P.S.  Can you pin point the location of Robey Street Yard and Barr Yard?

Barr Yard is south of the Cal Sag Channel (and the little Calumet River), extending from roughly Ashland Avenue east for over a mile.  Its east end is in the suburbs of Dolton and Riverdale.

Robey Street Yard is no more.  The property was bought by the Chicago & North Western when it expanded its Wood Street yard into Global I.  It was in the area of Western Avenue, Roosevelt Road, and Ogden Avenue.

CShaveRR

Barr Yard is south of the Cal Sag Channel (and the little Calumet River), extending from roughly Ashland Avenue east for over a mile.  Its east end is in the suburbs of Dolton and Riverdale.

Robey Street Yard is no more.  The property was bought by the Chicago & North Western when it expanded its Wood Street yard into Global I.  It was in the area of Western Avenue, Roosevelt Road, and Ogden Avenue.

Carl, thanks for pinpointing those two yards.

Rich

In the Barriger online film library under B+O (or maybe B+OCT) there are pics (looks like the 30s)( taken from the rear end of a B+O train coming down the hill from the Calumet river bridge heading into Rock Island Junction before making the sharp turn to the left (W) onto the CRI+P towards Pullman. ALso another pic taken of a B+O passenger train in Beverly curving around to the N from the E. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/sets/

In 1970 I rode the Capitol Limited from Washington, DC to Chicago. It was a wonderful trip. We were "supposed" to terminate at Northwestern station. As we ducked down to go under the PRR and go through Rock Island Junction, the middle cars derailed. There was no ballast. Just mud after a heavy rain. We were taxied from the wreck site to Northwestern Station. I transferred from there to CUS to continue to Minneapolis, Grand Forks, Winnepeg, Montreal, New York Grand Central and then Penn Station to catch the Silver Meteor back to Jacksonville, FL. Ten days, nine nights, a wonderful excursion!!!!!