So,
I've heard from several sources that the CTA once ran freights on a few L lines. Does anyone have details on that?
Thanks,
classicalman114
classicalman114 So, I've heard from several sources that the CTA once ran freights on a few L lines. Does anyone have details on that? Thanks, classicalman114
CTA ran freights on the Evanston line (today's Purple Line) and the portion of the North-South Line (today's Red Line) between Howard Street and Wilson Avenue. All of this trackage is on a conventional railroad embankment, not an 'L' structure. At Wilson, the freight line went to ground level on a ramp (only recently removed), and interchanged with a Milwaukee Road line (now gone) at Irving Park. They used two narrow steeple cab locos for this work, one of which was recently acquired by IRM in Union. You may ask how they dealt with the third rail. The answer is that the Evanston line, in freight days, was all trolley wire, and there was also trolley wire (and some gautlet track) on the far west track between Howard and Wilson (you can still see the stubs of the catenary poles), so the freights never had to operate on 3rd rail trackage. There are many pictures of North Shore trains operating on this track under trolley wire.
The historical basis of this operation is that the CTA route between Wilson, Howard and Evanston was once part of a Milwaukee Road freight/commuter passenger line that went all the way to downtown Chicago (some remnants of this line still exist, but not much). It's sometimes referred to as the "C&E Line" (Chicago & Evanston) If you see old pictures of Wrigley Field, you can see the MILW tracks crossing Clark Street at grade right in front of the stadium. Evidently, the line was not a success as, early in the 20th century, MILW leased the line north of Wilson to Northwestern Elevated, a CTA predecessor (MILW had previously sold or leased the far north end of the line in Evanston to Chicago & Milwaukee Electric RR, the predecessor of the North Shore Line). Once the lease was made, MILW discontinued its own passenger service both on the leased line and on the portion south of Wilson. As part of this deal, the elevated railroad had to provide the freight service to customers on the leased line.
The operation continued after CTA bought the line from MILW in the early 1950's, but gradually diminished as freight customers went away or converted to trucks. The last major shipper was a retail coal yard near Foster Avenue. The operation ended in 1972 or 1973 (I forget which). I actually was there (at 2 AM) to watch the last train. Most people who know me well think I have a slight streak of insanity, and this proves it.
More than you probably ever wanted to know.
While not operated by the CTA and predecessors, Chicago, Aurora & Elgin also operated freight on the at-grade portion of the Westchester L from Laramie to 25th St, Bellwood. The tracks may have been owned by the CA&E until the end; but CTA service was cut back to Forest Park in the 1950's for expressway and median rapid transit construction.
The freights were hauled by one or two steeple-cab electrics operating off the 3rd rail. Overhead trolley wire was used for some customers like the Hillside quarry and at least the ends of the branches to Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, and Elgin.
To add to the earlier comments, the CTA freight last ran (Buena Yard - Milw Connection to Lill Coal [north of the Berwyn L station]) at the end of April 1973. Earlier customers had been on the perimeter of the Howard Street yard complex, and there was a team track to the north of the South Boulevard station in Evanston. The team track was later used by CTA for work train storage/staging, after its freight days had ended.
As for CA&E freight operation over CTA tracks, they ran down to an interchange with the B&OCT/CGW at Central Avenue. This continued until September 20 ,1953 when all CA&E operation east of Desplaines Avenue ended. After that date, CA&E was still coming into Bellwood to interchange, and serving customers on the Cook County Southern (as the earlier commenter noted). CA&E freight operation ended in 1959. Hope this helps! Art
Until the service was discontinued in 1947 or so, North Shore used to run its piggyback service on the L to the Buena Avenue ramp. Also, CRT/CTA operated the freight service as a contract operation for MILW, CRT/CTA did not appear on the waybills or routing instructions.
Fascinating stuff. I mean really, Evanston has had such an awesome rail history, and now all that's left are Metra and Purple Line trainsets running through the city. *** it! I could be watching freights right now. but such is nearly an unknown concept in Evanston today...
The trackage used by the 'L' west of Laramie Avenue, including the Westchester Branch , was owned by CA&E and the freight service was provided by CA&E, which is why I didn't mention this operation in my earlier post. The Mt. Carmel Branch to Hillside was also CA&E owned and served track. You are correct that CA&E freights mostly operated from 3rd rail (which limited some of the freight they could handle), except for the locations you mention. However, I'm not aware that CA&E ever operated carload freight to Geneva. Also, the "Westchester Branch" did not consist of the entire line between Laramie and Westchester. Most of the Laramie-Westchester segment was part of CA&E's main line to Wheaton. The Westchester Branch itself diverged from the main line near Mannheim Road. While CA&E operated freight on their main line, I don't think they ever operated freight service on the Westchester Branch itself.
In addition, the North Shore Line operated carload freight over tracks used by the Chicago Rapid Transit between the Weber Industrial District and Dempster Street, but this trackage was owned by the North Shore.
Hi - Tinker Toys was one of the users of the old South Boulevard team track. However, what you've said about Evanston is true of many locations in suburban Chicago (and in a lot of other cities, I'm sure) in the days of LCL, etc.
Park Ridge on the CNW (UP) Northwest Line had a material supply firm located on a siding to the north and east of the depot, this crossed Touhy Avenue at grade to the east of the viaduct carrying the three-track mainline over Touhy (there are condos on the site today). There was also Hines Lumber to the north of the Greenwood Avenue grade crossing. I can recall cars being spotted there, and the siding even being used to set out a couple of coaches the graduating Maine South class would decorate and use to go to/from Lake Geneva after prom. As info, Art
The Westchester Branch was built as the initial leg of a high-speed bypass route to Aurora similar to the East Chicago bypass on South Shore and the Skokie Valley Route on North Shore. The Depression intervened and the rest of the line never got built. The branch wound up as an operating extension of the Rapid Transit's Garfield Park line and was strictly a passenger-only operation until it was abandoned in 1951.
I think a lot of commuter/interurban/metro-transit systems carried freight. They did so at night, which was not conducive to photography. The New York Central served a creamery in the environs of Grand Central Depot (pre-Terminal), the NYW&B even had a freight motor, and Boston is remembered in the book "The Trains that Came Out at Night" (sic?). Do you know anything about the underground electric railway in Chicago (freight, narrow gauge, that is)? What a cool way to get your ashes hauled! There is a book out, on that, too, as well as the Boston story, but I never purchased either.
BNSFwatcher I think a lot of commuter/interurban/metro-transit systems carried freight. They did so at night, which was not conducive to photography. The New York Central served a creamery in the environs of Grand Central Depot (pre-Terminal), the NYW&B even had a freight motor, and Boston is remembered in the book "The Trains that Came Out at Night" (sic?). Do you know anything about the underground electric railway in Chicago (freight, narrow gauge, that is)? What a cool way to get your ashes hauled! There is a book out, on that, too, as well as the Boston story, but I never purchased either.
The system was actually built to haul package freight between the railroad freight houses that used to be at the perimeter of the downtown area and stores and other business in the loop area, avoiding the need to move this stuff over very congested city streets in horse drawn wagons. Interestingly, the Tunnel Company was often a party to joint through rates with the railroads and, in these cases, was compensated for its services by a "division" rather than by a direct charge to the customer. At one time, nearly all businesses in the loop area had tunnel access, either by direct access or by elevators allowing rail cars to be moved between building basements and the freight tunnels below. The Marshal Field store on State Street was a particularly heavy user. The "ash" business was very much a secondary business until later years, when other lines of business were lost.
The system went into decline due to a number of factors. First, the increased use of trucking for cartage took business away. Second, during the 1920's, several railroads moved their LCL freight houses away from the downtown area and to the suburbs (for example, C&NW's huge new LCL facility at Proviso), which couldn't even be accessed by the Tunnel Company. Third, the construction of transit subways starting in the late 1930's forced closure of some of the Tunnel Company's more lucrative routes. Fourth, the decline of railroad LCL business in favor of direct trucking removed much of the Tunnel Company's remaining traffic base. Fifth, the increasing use of fuels for downtown buildings other than coal took away most of the company's coal and ash traffic. The last parts of the system were shut down in 1959.
Of course, after being forgotten for decades, the tunnels jumped back into public awareness in 1992, when one of the tunnels crossing the Chicago River was pierced, and the tunnels flooded. This, in turn, flooded all of the downtown buildings that still had tunnel access (Remember that, even though the freight tunnels were usually below the building basements, water seeks its own level. The Chicago River was higher than the basements. So, once the tunnels flooded, they flooded the basements up the level of the river). A little known fact is that the investment company (Blackstone Group) which owned Great Lakes Dock & Dredge (or something like that), the company responsible for piercing the tunnel, also owned Warrior & Gulf Navigation Company, the barge company responsible for the big Amtrak bridge wreck in Alabama. I'm sure they never wanted to see another boat again.
This is just a brief outline. The truly authoritative work on the Chicago Tunnel Company is "Forty Feet Under" by Bruce Moffat.
FYI there was an article on the El's freight service in Classic Trains. some time ago. Forget which issue. Rgds IGN
Falcon48At one time, nearly all businesses in the loop area had tunnel access, either by direct access or by elevators allowing rail cars to be moved between building basements and the freight tunnels below. The Marshal Field store on State Street was a particularly heavy user. The "ash" business was very much a secondary business until later years, when other lines of business were lost.
Great story. I was working for a few years in the late 1970's at Fields. I recall seeing the tunnel door down in the 2nd sub-basement, but it was never used by then.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
During the late 1960s/early '70s when the Chicago 'L was a bigger part of my life I recall seeing several stations north of the Loop that were heated by coal stoves. None of these, of course, were part of the subway network.
Sedgwick Ave., in particular, had what appeared to be a sheet metal trough than extended upwards from a ground level coal bin to a dump door that was positioned in the middle of the southbound track. Seeing this installation led me to believe that the C.T.A. was running some kind of hopper car coal delivery service to that station and presumably other stations so equipped.
With all that I've read about the Chicago 'L, I've never seen anything about this service. Does anyone know anything more?
Cool! The CTA delivered the coal. They burned it in the stations and dumped the ashes into the basement. The Chicago Tunnel Company hauled the ashes away. Neat system!
Hays
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