Train Stations in Louisville, Ky. and Chicago, Il.

[Anonymous]

Working on a project and I need help please - in 1929 if you traveled from Louisville to Chicago on the Monon what would the name of the train stations be?

BTW I grew up in Aurora IL and was lulled to sleep by the Burlington and have loved trains ever since - I'm in Kentucky now and the old L&N tracks have been removed, but the old depot is being used for storage.

Thanks, Jerusha 

[artpeterson]

Hi - In Chicago it was Dearborn Street Station, which Monon used until the end of its passenger service.  Hope this helps! Art

[drafterdude]

I can't tell you about Chicago but the Monon came into Louisville over the K&IT bridge into Portland on the western side of the city into K&IT's Youngstown Yard. By the 20's Union Station at 10th & Broadway saw trains from L&N, Monon, and the Pennsy. Most arriving trains were turned on the A street wye and backed into the train shed......Dale

[Anonymous]

Thank you Art!!!!

Between you and Dale I am back on "track" with my project again!

Jerusha 

[Anonymous]

Jerusha, here is some additional info that you might find useful or interesting.

The Monon (CI&L) shared Union Station, in 1922 and 1930, with L&N (Louisville & Nashville) and the Pennsylvania which also had its own station. The Pennsylvania lists its Chicago train leaving Louisville from 20th & Broadway and 10 minutes later making an additional stop at 14th & Main before reaching Jeffersonville across the river.  But it doesn't specify which address is Union.

The B&O, C&O, Big Four (CCC&StL), Illinois Central, and Southern used a different station, name not specified in the Official Guides.

It is difficult to nail down station addresses in the Guides, but the Monon timetable specifically listed Union whereas the other timetables didn't with the exception of the aforementioned Pennsy. 

Art

[drafterdude]

Art:

The Pennsy station was at 14th and Main and was known as the "bridge station" and trains stopped there just before crossing the Ohio on their vertical lift bridge built in 1917. The Pennsy did use Union Station at 10th & Broadway as their terminus I have to guess that the 20th street is a misprint since PRR's high line ran along 14th street and only the Arbegust Street branch went further west. Union Station was reached by a cut off just north of PRR's Maple St. yard. The IC, B&O, C&O and the Big Four and Southern used Central Station located between the end of 7th street and the river. Built in 1891 and originally named Union Depot it was renamed because it was too easily confused with Union Station. In the 20's it handled 40 arrivals and depatures a day, and the C&O was the last to leave the station in 1963. I believe that the site is now the Belvedere, the first part of Louisvilles extensive riverfront park system. 

Dale

[Anonymous]

Drafterdude, after posting I remembered I had an SPV atlas of Ohio, also of Kentucky, that has a city map of Louisville.  Central Station by name is shown on the map but not the bridge station location.

And you're right about the 10th Street.  The Guide is a reprint that was done by scanning an old Guide; the character in front of the zero is smudged and I read it as a 2 as it looked 'fatter' than the 1 below it. The 1945 Guide is much more legible; the type face is rather strange as the numeral 1 looks like a capital letter I with serifs top and bottom.  The stops at the Bridge Station have been discontinued.

Art

 

[drafterdude]

Art:

Bridge station was located at 14th & Main streets. The IC crossed the PRR at Clagg tower just after it left the lift bridge. North of Main street between 10th street and 14th street IC had a wye that connected with PRR just south of Main this is where the station was. If you go to google earth and find the bridge and dam on the west side of Louisville I believe the PRR and Monon frieght houses can still be seen, the PRR is the dark roof building running east to west on the right side of the tracks and the light grey roof going north to south on the left side is the Monon frieght house, at least they are in the right areas, and the marks of the road bed for the wye can be seen if you know where to look. If you would like more information I would suggest the book Trackside Around Louisville (East) 1948-1958 with Jack Fravert by Rick Tipton, Charles Buccola, John Campbell & Charles B. Castner. There is also a west volume but I haven't seen this one yet, the Kentucky Railroad Musuem gift shop was sold out so Santa couldn't bring me one but I am hoping that the Easter Bunny might.

Dale

[snagletooth]

 Hey, a fellow former Auroran.

 An added question to anyone, didn't that line on Monon have some street running somewhere? If yes, that be an interesting part to add in.  

[Anonymous]

Chicago had six major terminals (from east to west - Illinois Central, Dearborn, LaSalle, Grand Central, Union and North Western).

Grand Central was perhaps the most deserving of Chicago's rail stations to receive historical landmark status and preservation. Unfortunately it also was the first of Chicago's six major stations to be dismantled. Opened in December 1890, Grand Central began hosting Baltimore & Ohio trains in late 1891 and Chesapeake & Ohio trains in 1903. Both roads stayed at Grand Central until the station was closed after the departures of November 8, 1969. The Chicago Great Western was a long time occupant until the end of its Chicago passenger service in 1956. Grand Central also was home for the Wisconsin Central (Soo Line) for many years until the Soo moved its last remaining pair of trains, the Chicago-Superior/Duluth Lakers, to the Illinois Central Station in 1963. After Grand Central closed in 1969, B&O/C&O trains moved to North Western Station until they discontinued with the coming of Amtrak in 1971.

Dearborn, Chicago's oldest station dating from 1885, hosted the greatest variety of passenger trains of all the Windy City's great temples of transportation. In the late 1950's six roads called Dearborn home, the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Erie, Grand Trunk Western, Monon, Santa Fe and Wabash.

Hope this info was of some help. I have much more (with pictures) at:

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/3/991960/ShowPost.aspx#991960

 

[KCSfan]

 Hey, a fellow former Auroran.

 An added question to anyone, didn't that line on Monon have some street running somewhere? If yes, that be an interesting part to add in.  

I don't know of any street running in Louisville but the Monon's line from Chicago to Louisville did run down the middle of 5th Street in Lafayette which IIRC was one way southbound. The Monon depot was in the lobby of a hotel on 5th St. and when the Thoroughbred made its station stop the baggage wagons would be pulled up in the street alongside the train blocking the right lane of traffic. The traffic signals at the many intersecting streets were all synchronized so the Monon trains always had green lights.

I believe that when the L&N bought this line to gain access to Chicago from Louisville they ran more trains over this route than the Monon previously had and they built a bypass around Lafayette to eliminate the street running.

By the way I am a former Napervilleian.

Mark  

[snagletooth]

 Hey, a fellow former Auroran.

 An added question to anyone, didn't that line on Monon have some street running somewhere? If yes, that be an interesting part to add in.  

I don't know of any street running in Louisville but the Monon's line from Chicago to Louisville did run down the middle of 5th Street in Lafayette which IIRC was one way southbound. The Monon depot was in the lobby of a hotel on 5th St. and when the Thoroughbred made its station stop the baggage wagons would be pulled up in the street alongside the train blocking the right lane of traffic. The traffic signals at the many intersecting streets were all synchronized so the Monon trains always had green lights.

I believe that when the L&N bought this line to gain access to Chicago from Louisville they ran more trains over this route than the Monon previously had and they built a bypass around Lafayette to eliminate the street running.

By the way I am a former Napervilleian.

Mark  

Oh no! a Napervillian Howdy former neighbor. I knewthe street running wasn't in louisville, but I used to belong to the "Q" in Aurora and a memeber had photos of Monon doing some street running in Indiana and couldn't remember where, wasn't even sure if it was Monon proper. The photos were neat, if he's modeling louie to chitown it' be an interesting part to add in. 

[drafterdude]

Snagletooth and KCSfan:

If you like street running you should visit La Grange Ky, east of Louisville on I-71 about 20 or so miles. CSX frieghts running on the short line (Louisville to Cincinnati) run down the middle of the street, you can almost sit on the trunk of your car and touch them as they go through. On a weekday you can sit on the sidewalk and watch anywhere from 10 to 20 trains go through town, and lots of nice shops to look through between trains.

Dale   

[snagletooth]

Snagletooth and KCSfan:

If you like street running you should visit La Grange Ky, east of Louisville on I-71 about 20 or so miles. CSX frieghts running on the short line (Louisville to Cincinnati) run down the middle of the street, you can almost sit on the trunk of your car and touch them as they go through. On a weekday you can sit on the sidewalk and watch anywhere from 10 to 20 trains go through town, and lots of nice shops to look through between trains.

Dale   

I've seen pictures of that, real cool. Oh,  KCS, thanks on the response.  I've  always had a soft spot for street trackage and industrial spurs. I grew up two blocks from BN's Nephi branch by the B-G plant. it was always cool to catch the local downtown swichin' the Beacon News printer. More of an alley then street, but it was cool.  

SRRY IF I RAN AWAY WITH YOUR THREAD, JERUSHA! I NOW DEGRESS  

[Anonymous]

It's been fantastic hearing from you all and the wealth of information that you and are anxious to share - I may need more info for my project later down the line and I know I can count on a great place to go - thanks so, so much. - Digress as you like - all the info is great to me!

Jerusha

PS - In Aurora the Burlington was on Broadway and I lived one block off and six blocks up - so the sounds of clickety-clack through the night near the trussle were like being rocked to sleep. I often road it into Chicago and Brookfield and took my youngsters - just so they knew what it was like to ride the train.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Monon and Erie/EL shared a small limestone station in Hammond IN.  Each road came off the CWI at State Line onto its own line and the two lines ran parallel up to this point, with EL heading to the southeast and Monon going almost due south.