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metra interurban

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metra interurban
Posted by spikejones52002 on Thursday, April 19, 2007 1:40 PM

Now that Chicago's Metra runs trains between Kenosha Wi. and Chicago Il. Does that make it an interurban?

Would that make Nictd's C.S.S. & S.B. the last and only Electric interurban?

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Posted by Erie Lackawanna on Thursday, April 19, 2007 1:42 PM

Nope.  Just a long commuter run.

Charles Freericks
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Posted by Krazykat112079 on Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:01 PM
I would say that Kenosha is part of Chicagoland and not the Milwaukee metro.
Nathaniel
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Posted by zardoz on Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:08 PM
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Posted by zardoz on Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:12 PM

 Krazykat112079 wrote:
I would say that Kenosha is part of Chicagoland and not the Milwaukee metro.

Perhaps southern Kenosha county (the two miles north of the IL/WI border), but otherwise absolutely not

The only people in Kenosha county that actually consider Kenosha as part of Chicago (or even Illinois) are the transplants FROM Illinois that have moved up here and ruined our quality of life.

Everyone else that I know in Kenosha considers themselves as Cheeseheads, not Flatlanders.

Although some traitors emerged last fall when the Packers began to drool on their shoes as the Bears went on to the Superbowl.Big Smile [:D]

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Posted by wallyworld on Thursday, April 19, 2007 5:40 PM
According to the dean of interurban history, William Middleton, The South Shore Line is the last man standing. Although others have pointed out that, and especially now, the equipment is more akin to main line electrifications elsewhere. However, if you ever ride it onto the streets of Michigan City Ind as I have several times, or out to the far end of the line to South Bend, there is no doubt it has interurban DNA.

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.

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Posted by jeaton on Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:01 PM
 zardoz wrote:

 Krazykat112079 wrote:
I would say that Kenosha is part of Chicagoland and not the Milwaukee metro.

Perhaps southern Kenosha county (the two miles north of the IL/WI border), but otherwise absolutely not

The only people in Kenosha county that actually consider Kenosha as part of Chicago (or even Illinois) are the transplants FROM Illinois that have moved up here and ruined our quality of life.

Didn't I tell you vote YES on the initiative to build a wall at the Illinois State Line??

You people never listen!!!

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics

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Posted by Krazykat112079 on Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:57 PM
 zardoz wrote:

 Krazykat112079 wrote:
I would say that Kenosha is part of Chicagoland and not the Milwaukee metro.

Perhaps southern Kenosha county (the two miles north of the IL/WI border), but otherwise absolutely not

The only people in Kenosha county that actually consider Kenosha as part of Chicago (or even Illinois) are the transplants FROM Illinois that have moved up here and ruined our quality of life.

Everyone else that I know in Kenosha considers themselves as Cheeseheads, not Flatlanders.

Although some traitors emerged last fall when the Packers began to drool on their shoes as the Bears went on to the Superbowl.Big Smile [:D]

Well, as of 2000 the urban gap was less than a mile and it expected to be non-existent by 2010.  Quite possibly it is already gone.

Kenosha shares commuter rail with the rest of Chicagoland and the largest private employer of people from Kenosha is in North Chicago (Abbott Labs).

The Wisconsin gang can call themselves Cheeseheads as much as they want (I've never heard anyone call themselves a Flatlander in Illinois and I bet the Indiana contingent still identifies as Hoosiers...no clue about the Michigan crew), but you have to admit that there is a metropolitan connection between Kenosha and Chicago.  Heck, even parts of Walworth county are considered part of Chicagoland now.

It is only time now until Rockford, Kankakee, Racine, South Bend, and Benton Harbor are added into the Chicago Consolidated Statistical Area.

Nathaniel
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Posted by greyhounds on Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:51 PM
 zardoz wrote:

 Krazykat112079 wrote:
I would say that Kenosha is part of Chicagoland and not the Milwaukee metro.

Perhaps southern Kenosha county (the two miles north of the IL/WI border), but otherwise absolutely not

The only people in Kenosha county that actually consider Kenosha as part of Chicago (or even Illinois) are the transplants FROM Illinois that have moved up here and ruined our quality of life.

Everyone else that I know in Kenosha considers themselves as Cheeseheads, not Flatlanders.

Although some traitors emerged last fall when the Packers began to drool on their shoes as the Bears went on to the Superbowl.Big Smile [:D]

Oh Yeah!

Well let me tell you - you cheesehead.  I live three miles south of the line and those vehicles with Wisconsin plates are a menace.  In February one of 'em spun out of control on our side of the state line, came over into my lane and hit my truck.  Jesse, she was headed right at me.  I thought I was gonna' die.  It was snowing - but don't you people know how to drive in the snow? 

So I'm in the ditch, with my truck all bashed in and this woman gets out of her car with Wisconsin plates and starts screaming that she has insurance and I shouldn't call the police.  I looked back at my smashed truck and said I was going to call the police.

So she takes off on foot.  A little fat woman running down the road into a snowstorm.  She abandoned the car with Wisconsin plates.

So the Lake County Deputy comes by, takes my info, and calls the tow trucks.  I had $6,100 damage and this woman with Wisconsin plates just ran off.  She wasn't the car's owner.

My insurance covered the repair, but I'm out my deductable.  So today I called my insurance company and asked what was going on.  I want my deductable back.

They (USAA) tell me that the Wisconsin car owner's insurance company won't return phone calls and hasn't responded to mail.  I'll see my deductable when Hell Freezes Over - thanks to a woman driving a car with Wisconsin plates.

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by jeaton on Friday, April 20, 2007 12:33 AM

Way it looks, we should be able to get that wall built as a bi-state joint venture.  Of course each state will have to provide human hostages to guarantee their respective payments.

Order up the special box cars.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics

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Posted by jeaton on Friday, April 20, 2007 12:38 AM

In a Lake Geneva tavern:  Who do you like this week?  The Packers and whoever is playing the Bears.

 

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics

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Posted by Poppa_Zit on Friday, April 20, 2007 1:26 AM
 jeaton wrote:

In a Lake Geneva tavern:  Who do you like this week?  The Packers and whoever is playing the Bears.

 

Most of the real estate in the Lake Geneva area is owned by flatlanders. Most of the money spent in Lake Geneva comes from flatlanders. Lake Geneva wasn't much until an Illinois RR built to it from Chicago. (CNW)

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. They are not entitled, however, to their own facts." No we can't. Charter Member J-CASS (Jaded Cynical Ascerbic Sarcastic Skeptics) Notary Sojac & Retired Foo Fighter "Where there's foo, there's fire."
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Posted by greyhounds on Friday, April 20, 2007 1:33 AM
 jeaton wrote:

Way it looks, we should be able to get that wall built as a bi-state joint venture.  Of course each state will have to provide human hostages to guarantee their respective payments.

Order up the special box cars.

I'll give you our govenor and two US Senators. 

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by dknelson on Friday, April 20, 2007 7:44 AM
 jeaton wrote:

In a Lake Geneva tavern:  Who do you like this week?  The Packers and whoever is playing the Bears.

 

Q.  What do you call it when the Packers lose every game except the two against the Bears?

A.  A winning season.

Dave Nelson

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, April 20, 2007 8:23 AM

 wallyworld wrote:
According to the dean of interurban history, William Middleton, The South Shore Line is the last man standing. Although others have pointed out that, and especially now, the equipment is more akin to main line electrifications elsewhere. However, if you ever ride it onto the streets of Michigan City Ind as I have several times, or out to the far end of the line to South Bend, there is no doubt it has interurban DNA.

South Shore was also the last interurban in a legal sense, too.  A few years before being replaced by the STB, the ICC asked South Shore to request re-classification as it was the only remaining railroad in the interurban classification for statistical purposes.

One could reasonably argue that South Shore began losing its interurban characteristics when Samuel Insull bought the line and re-equipped it.  The Insull cars, although short, were built to the same cross-section and construction standards as steam road equipment.  By 1960, with Little Joes and ex-NYC R2's handling freight and the last steeplecabs limited to work trains, South Shore was more of an electric railroad than interurban.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 20, 2007 2:05 PM

I would have to say that the South Shore and the old Phila. and Western are the only interurbans left from the true interurban era.  The P&W under Dr Conway made many great advances in traction transportation.   The line P&W will be celebrating it's 100th Year in May. 

I was a operator on the P&W for 34 years and drove the 160s and the Bullet cars and also the Liberty Liners   (Electro Liners).   I drove the new N-5 cars which are modern computer operated cars..It just does not seem the same when you can't here the hum of the motors or the patter of the air compressor.  I also was the last operator to run the snowplow on the P&W back in 1988.

How time flies when we were having fun.   

 

 

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Posted by zardoz on Friday, April 20, 2007 3:05 PM
 greyhounds wrote:
 zardoz wrote:

 Krazykat112079 wrote:
I would say that Kenosha is part of Chicagoland and not the Milwaukee metro.

Perhaps southern Kenosha county (the two miles north of the IL/WI border), but otherwise absolutely not

The only people in Kenosha county that actually consider Kenosha as part of Chicago (or even Illinois) are the transplants FROM Illinois that have moved up here and ruined our quality of life.

Everyone else that I know in Kenosha considers themselves as Cheeseheads, not Flatlanders.

Although some traitors emerged last fall when the Packers began to drool on their shoes as the Bears went on to the Superbowl.Big Smile [:D]

Oh Yeah!

Well let me tell you - you cheesehead.  I live three miles south of the line and those vehicles with Wisconsin plates are a menace.  In February one of 'em spun out of control on our side of the state line, came over into my lane and hit my truck.  Jesse, she was headed right at me.  I thought I was gonna' die.  It was snowing - but don't you people know how to drive in the snow? 

So I'm in the ditch, with my truck all bashed in and this woman gets out of her car with Wisconsin plates and starts screaming that she has insurance and I shouldn't call the police.  I looked back at my smashed truck and said I was going to call the police.

So she takes off on foot.  A little fat woman running down the road into a snowstorm.  She abandoned the car with Wisconsin plates.

So the Lake County Deputy comes by, takes my info, and calls the tow trucks.  I had $6,100 damage and this woman with Wisconsin plates just ran off.  She wasn't the car's owner.

My insurance covered the repair, but I'm out my deductable.  So today I called my insurance company and asked what was going on.  I want my deductable back.

They (USAA) tell me that the Wisconsin car owner's insurance company won't return phone calls and hasn't responded to mail.  I'll see my deductable when Hell Freezes Over - thanks to a woman driving a car with Wisconsin plates.

And your point is....?

Anyway, she was probably from Kenosha...hardly anyone in that town knows how to drive in GOOD weather!!  Add a little snow, toss in a cell phone conversation, and their little brains are overtaxed. 

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Posted by Erie Lackawanna on Friday, April 20, 2007 3:26 PM

 wallyworld wrote:
According to the dean of interurban history, William Middleton, The South Shore Line is the last man standing. Although others have pointed out that, and especially now, the equipment is more akin to main line electrifications elsewhere. However, if you ever ride it onto the streets of Michigan City Ind as I have several times, or out to the far end of the line to South Bend, there is no doubt it has interurban DNA.

If the standard is "looks like and feels like," then the Gladstone Branch and Princeton Shuttle lines in New Jersey might qualify, but that standard doesn't really work.

 

Charles Freericks
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Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, April 20, 2007 4:38 PM
I'm still trying to digest the "Now that Metra runs to Kenosha" line.  CNW ran commuter trains to Kenosha for years, even before Amtrak came along (and nobody, not even Metra, ever discontinued them).

Carl

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Posted by n012944 on Friday, April 20, 2007 10:42 PM
 zardoz wrote:
 greyhounds wrote:
 zardoz wrote:

 Krazykat112079 wrote:
I would say that Kenosha is part of Chicagoland and not the Milwaukee metro.

Perhaps southern Kenosha county (the two miles north of the IL/WI border), but otherwise absolutely not

The only people in Kenosha county that actually consider Kenosha as part of Chicago (or even Illinois) are the transplants FROM Illinois that have moved up here and ruined our quality of life.

Everyone else that I know in Kenosha considers themselves as Cheeseheads, not Flatlanders.

Although some traitors emerged last fall when the Packers began to drool on their shoes as the Bears went on to the Superbowl.Big Smile [:D]

Oh Yeah!

Well let me tell you - you cheesehead.  I live three miles south of the line and those vehicles with Wisconsin plates are a menace.  In February one of 'em spun out of control on our side of the state line, came over into my lane and hit my truck.  Jesse, she was headed right at me.  I thought I was gonna' die.  It was snowing - but don't you people know how to drive in the snow? 

So I'm in the ditch, with my truck all bashed in and this woman gets out of her car with Wisconsin plates and starts screaming that she has insurance and I shouldn't call the police.  I looked back at my smashed truck and said I was going to call the police.

So she takes off on foot.  A little fat woman running down the road into a snowstorm.  She abandoned the car with Wisconsin plates.

So the Lake County Deputy comes by, takes my info, and calls the tow trucks.  I had $6,100 damage and this woman with Wisconsin plates just ran off.  She wasn't the car's owner.

My insurance covered the repair, but I'm out my deductable.  So today I called my insurance company and asked what was going on.  I want my deductable back.

They (USAA) tell me that the Wisconsin car owner's insurance company won't return phone calls and hasn't responded to mail.  I'll see my deductable when Hell Freezes Over - thanks to a woman driving a car with Wisconsin plates.

And your point is....?

Anyway, she was probably from Kenosha...hardly anyone in that town knows how to drive in GOOD weather!!  Add a little snow, toss in a cell phone conversation, and their little brains are overtaxed. 

I used to have to go up to Appleton many times for work, and I can tell you from what I have seen, people in WI have issues driving in the snow, more so than Illinois.  Now mind you this is just personal observations and not a true study or anything.

Bert

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Posted by jockellis on Friday, April 20, 2007 11:49 PM
G'day, Y'all,
Prairie Home Companion had a skit about Minnesota drivers (male) in the snow and how if it snowed, every man had to drive to the hardware store. It was snowing in Atlanta when I was listening to the show as I drove home from my part-time job at The Great Train Store. I could barely stay on the interstate I was laughing so hard. I thought only Atlanta drivers got wierded out in the snow.

Jock Ellis Cumming, GA US of A Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers

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Posted by UP 829 on Sunday, April 22, 2007 7:16 AM
 Poppa_Zit wrote:
 jeaton wrote:

In a Lake Geneva tavern:  Who do you like this week?  The Packers and whoever is playing the Bears.

 

Most of the real estate in the Lake Geneva area is owned by flatlanders. Most of the money spent in Lake Geneva comes from flatlanders. Lake Geneva wasn't much until an Illinois RR built to it from Chicago. (CNW)

Driving through downtown Lake Geneva on a Saturday morning is about as much fun as driving through downtown Naperville. Lakefront property taxes on Geneva Lake are unbelieveable, so the taxing bodies get plenty back. My understanding is the well-off from Chicago took the train up on weekends and had their servants pick them up with their steam powered motor yachts.

Kenosha county has always felt more like Wisconsin to me and all the development there is unfortunate. Both Wisconsin and Indiana complain about job loss to Illinois, but I suspect there once was a lot of Illinois to Kenosha commuters when the old AMC plant was still there.

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Posted by jeaton on Sunday, April 22, 2007 8:26 AM
Continuing the off-topic yada-Cheese heads get their revenge on Flatlanders In Bound, (people who work in Illinois and decide to move to Wisconsin.)  Wisconsin state income tax is almost double Illinois state income tax.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics

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Posted by UP 829 on Monday, April 23, 2007 7:47 AM

 jeaton wrote:
Continuing the off-topic yada-Cheese heads get their revenge on Flatlanders In Bound, (people who work in Illinois and decide to move to Wisconsin.)  Wisconsin state income tax is almost double Illinois state income tax.

Wisconsin also taxes retirement income while Illinois does not. A retired person I know who lives in N.W. Wisconsin, rents an apartment in Illinois to avoid that. In some ways, Wisconsin is better off as state income tax is deductable from federal tax, while all the user fees, license taxes, toll roads, etc. we get hit with in Illinois are not. On the other hand I don't mind paying the Wisconsin non-resident fishing license fee, at least there's something to catch and the DNR up there does a much better job than the chronically underfunded IDNR.Smile [:)] 

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