Here’s some more pictures from Chicago last weekend where the Chicago Transit Authority was celebrating its 75th anniversary. The first two images are in the Loop with Trump Tower in the background. The third photo shows a Brown Line train crossing over the former Chicago & North Western station, which is now a Metra station. Finally, a Red Line train is at Belmont. The new Belmont flyover is in the background.
Photographs by Todd Dillon
Last Saturday Chicago Transit Authority celebrated its 75th Anniversary. They ran some old L cars and also a few buses in the Loop.
I went to Chicago to catch the action. The older cars consisted of a pair of 4000 series cars built in 1922 (so 100 years old happy birthday).
A pair of 6000 series cars built in the 1950s and a four car set of 2400 series cars built in the late 1970’s. They also had some GMC fishbowl buses built in the 1950s through 1970s.
I was more focused on photography but did ride the 4000 series cars and one of the buses.
They ran between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and then returned to the car barns at Howard Street on the CTA Red line.
We rode out to Sheridan station which is on old and so far un-remodeled station. I caught all the trains here in great sunlight going around a curve.
It was a fun way to spend the weekend and different from the mainline trains I normally raifan.
The first three photographs above show the 4000 pair of cars at various locations, including at the Sheridan station.
Also shown is a 6000 series pair and a 2400 series train at the Sheridan station.
Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon
Amtrak is seeking funding to develop a new entrance to Chicago for its trains from the East Coast and Michigan.
Trains magazine reported on its website that the proposal is multiple pronged and involves using tracks of the South Shore Line in Northwest Indiana, acquiring Canadian National’s lightly used Lakefront Line and constructing a direct connection from the St. Charles Air Line to Amtrak-owned tracks leading into Chicago Union Station.
The project, if funded, would cost an estimated $418.5 million.
The Chicago-New York/Boston Lake Shore Limited and Chicago-Washington Capitol Limited would leave their current route on Norfolk Southern’s Chicago Line at a connection from NS to the South Shore near the current Amtrak station in South Bend, Indiana.
Amtrak trains from Michigan would get onto the South Shore in Michigan City, Indiana. From there Amtrak would take the South Shore to Kensington in Chicago before switching to the CN Lakefront Line, which was formerly the mainline of the Illinois Central.
Amtrak trains using the former IC between Chicago and New Orleans currently use the St. Charles Air Line over its entire length.
But this requires a backup move on BNSF’s busy Chicago-Aurora line to reach Union Station.
Building a direct connection from the Air Line to Union Station would cost an estimated $146.5 million.
The proposed project also would route the Chicago-New York Cardinal over the under construction West Lake Corridor line of the South Shore between Dyer and Hammond, Indiana.
At Hammond, Nos. 50 and 51 would then continue in or out of Chicago via the South Shore mainline.
The advantages of the project would be to get passenger trains off the busy NS Chicago Line, where Amtrak operations have been frequently subject to delay.
The Trains report indicated Amtrak is eyeing grants from the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program.
Also known as the Mega Program, Amtrak would seek $251.1 million in federal grants that it would match with $83.7 million from its own budget.
The passenger carrier would also seek equal amounts from a combination of state and local agencies, including transportation departments of Illinois, Michigan, and the City of Chicago; commuter rail agency Metra; and Cook County, Illinois.
Amtrak also has proposed double-tracking its Michigan Line for 16 miles between Niles and Glenwood, Michigan.
This would eliminate delays that occur when scheduled trains run late and miss their planned meets at the existing sidings.
No timeline has been given for these projects and it is unclear if CN would be willing to sell to Amtrak its Lake Front Line in Chicago. Nor has Amtrak yet held discussions about using the South Shore with that rail operator’s parent, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District.
The new Chicago entrance proposal is similar to one studied several years ago involving creating a dedicated passenger route in Chicago and Northwest Indiana on no-longer used right of way that once belonged to the New York Central that runs parallel to the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline that Amtrak and NS use today. That proposal died due to lack of funding.
The Trains report can be read at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/amtrak-unveils-infrastructure-plan-to-transform-chicago-operations/
The City of Chicago has added Indiana to its COVID-19 quarantine list, but rail commuter operator South Shore Line doesn’t expect that to affect its operations between Chicago and South Bend, Indiana.
Michael Noland, president of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which operates the South Shore commuter trains, said its commuter schedule won’t change.
Although South Shore ridership has been down about 20 percent, Noland doesn’t expect ridership to be affected by the order.
“Our riders . . . probably already fit into the exceptions that are contained in the Chicago travel ban,” Noland said.
The order requires travelers to quarantine for 14 days when entering the city, if they are coming from states where the rate of new COVID-19 cases is higher than 15 per 100,000 residents.
Indiana’s rate places it among 25 states on the quarantine list, but the order makes exception for essential workers, those requiring medical care, and several other reasons.
Most of Amtrak’s long-distance trains will arrive and depart Chicago on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, thus enabling same-day connections on those days between Amtrak’s western and eastern long-distance trains once they move to tri-weekly operation in October.
Trains magazine reported on its website on Thursday afternoon the new schedules, which it said were contained in a message to employees that it obtained.
That schedule shows the reduction in frequency of service will be phased in on Oct. 5 on the California Zephyr, Capitol Limited, City of New Orleans, and Crescent.
On Oct. 12 the Coast Starlight, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, and Texas Eagle will move to tri-weekly operation.
The Empire Builder and Palmetto will assume tri-weekly schedules on Oct. 19.
If the schedule information presented by Trains is accurate, there will be no same-day connections from the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited to the westbound Texas Eagle.
Nos. 29 and 49/449 are slated to depart their eastern endpoint cities of Boston, New York and Washington on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, thus putting them into Chicago on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
The Texas Eagle, though, is scheduled to depart Chicago on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
Nos. 30 and 48/448 are scheduled to leave Chicago on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
The inbound Eagle will offer same-day connections with those trains on Thursday and Saturday.
The Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited will offer same-day connections on Monday and Saturday to the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Empire Builder and City of New Orleans.
There will be no westbound same-day connections from Nos. 29 and 49/449 to the California Zephyr on Thursday but there will be connections to Nos. 3, 7 and 59.
As for same-day eastbound connections to Nos. 30 and 48/448, the inbound California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Southwest Chief and City of New Orleans will make those connections on all three days.
The Cardinal already operates tri-weeky, reaching Chicago on the same days of the week that have been set for the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited.
However, No. 50 departs Chicago on Tuesday and there will be no inbound connections to the Cardinal from any western long distance train on that day. The Cardinal also departs Chicago on Thursday and Saturday.
The schedules, if they are implemented as reported by Trains, will mean that Amtrak will stop in Cleveland and other Northeast Ohio cities on every day except Wednesday.
Nos. 48/448 and 30 will arrive in Cleveland on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Nos. 29 and 49/449 will arrive on Thursday, Saturday and Monday.
The schedule changes will not affect the Auto Train, which will remain daily.
The Sunset Limited already operates tri-weekly and frequency reductions were implemented in early July for the Silver Star and Silver Meteor.
Led by a Burlington Northern E9A unit, a Metra train leaves Chicago Union Station. The E units continued in service through 1992.
After my visit out east with my sister, brother-in-law, T-1s 2102 and 2101, I boarded at Harrisburg a alumbercoach on Amtrak’s westbound Broadway Limited for a trip to Chicago to meet the late Bill Surdyk at Union Station.
We had a unique opportunity to see three baseball games in one day.
The Chicago Cubs were scheduled to play an afternoon doubleheader on May 24, 1988, with the Atlanta Braves due to a rainout the previous day. Usually the Cubs and White Sox are not in town at the same time.
However, today they were. As an added bonus the White Sox were playing our hometown Cleveland Indians that night.
To me it was an added bonus being a Tribe Trifecta.
The photos are all of things I miss from the 1980s that are no longer with us, thus the disappearing act.
The crowd enjoys a sunny day at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.
Harry Caray calls the action.
The old Comiskey Park before the White Sox-Indians game on May 24, 1988.
Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 is planning to come to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad this year although no dates have yet been announced.
That news was buried in the last sentence of a news release announcing an excursion for the 765 in Chicago on Sept. 15 and 16.
The release said that the CVSR excursions were being planned for “later this year.”
As for the Chicago trips, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society said the Berkshire-type steam locomotive will pull trips named the Joliet Rocket over former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific trackage between Joliet, Illinois, and Chicago’s LaSalle Street Station twice daily on both days.
The society said that each trip will have food, cocktails and live music. Passengers are encouraged to dress in vintage-style clothes
FtWRHS members may begin buying tickets on April 2 with sales opening to everyone else on April 4. No ticket prices have been disclosed.
The Chicago excursions drew more than 2,500 passengers in 2017 from 30 states.
FtWRHS Vice President Kelly Lynch said this year’s excursions will have a longer layover time, an improved catering service and more dome cars.
The society said the Joliet Rocket will be among the 765’s last mainline excursions until it installs positive train control technology on the locomotive.
The Chicago excursions will use tracks owned by Chicago commuter rail agency Metra.
A California company has proposed building a hyperloop between Cleveland and Chicago that would cover the distance in 28 minutes.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, the Northeast Ohio Regional Coordinating Agency, and the Illinois Department of Transportation plan to study potential hyperloop routes between Chicago and Cleveland.
“We came here because places like Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh have the manufacturing, the raw materials and the talented, hard working people in order to make it happen,” said Andrea La Mendola, chief global operations officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.
Funding for the Chicago-Cleveland study has not yet been funded but was touted in an agreement between between the developer and the government agencies.
If undertaken, the study could take up to a year and will include a look at right-of-ways along northern Ohio interstates and rail lines. The study will also examine costs and potential ridership.
Another company, Virgin Hyperloop One, has proposed routes linking Columbus with Chicago and Pittsburgh.
That plan is being organized in part by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and is one of 10 finalists in the Hyperloop One Global Challenge.
The Columbus-Chicago route would cover the distance in 29 minutes while the Columbus-Pittsburgh route would do it in 18 minutes.
A hyperloop uses a vacuum-sealed tunnel and magnets to propel passenger cars. In theory, people could travel inside a hyperloop at 700 miles an hour.
The Ohio Senate passed a non-binding resolution last September supporting the Columbus hyperloop efforts, but did not agree to fund it.
In an effort to woo a $5 billion Amazon headquarters, the Indiana General Assembly is moving to repeal a law banning light rail from the Indianapolis metropolitan area.
A House committee voted 11-1 this week in favor of legislation to repeal a 2014 law that bars state or local governments from spending money on light rail projects in the seven-county region surrounding Indianapolis.
The effort to repeal the law gained impetus when Amazon recently named Indianapolis one of 20 finalists for its second headquarters.
Also on the list are Chicago, Pittsburgh and Columbus. Cleveland applied for the headquarters but did not make the latest cut.
One of the criteria being used by Amazon to choose what is being termed HQ2 is good public transportation, including rail transportation.
Indianapolis has a bus system but not a rail transit system and there are no current plans to create one.
Amazon is headquartered in Seattle. Dozens of cities in the United States and Canada are eagerly seeking the Amazon headquarters because it promises to provide more than 50,000 jobs with average salaries of more than $100,000 annually.
“Transit is a very major factor for a lot of these major companies that are looking to move here,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Justin Moed (D-Indianapolis).
The 2014 law banning light rail was rooted in a belief by fiscal conservatives that a light rail system would require a taxpayer bailout due to its high costs.
The conservative lawmakers demanded the light rail ban as the price for their support of a measure to allow Indiana counties to increase incomes taxes through referendum for public transit projects.
The proposed Chicago freight bypass has been stopped dead in its tracks.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board unanimously rejected the proposal of Great Lakes Basin Transportation Company to build the bypass railroad between northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin.
The STB said it acted due to the lack of information about GLBT’s finances and operations.
“[Great Lakes’] current assets of $151 are so clearly deficient for purposes of constructing a 261-mile rail line that the Board will not proceed with this application given the impacts on stakeholders and the demands upon Board resources,” the STB said in its decision.
The Board’s action halts the environmental review process of the project as well as disallows GLBT from purchasing property and starting construction.
News reports indicated that the dismissal was without prejudice, meaning GLBT could seek STB approval later for the same or a similar project.
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