Freighting Through the Suburbs

         On March 18, 1858, the Chicago Alton & St. Louis Railroad departed Joliet for its first trip. A celebration was hosted for a number of guests. It derailed twice en route but made it to Chicago. On May 2, 1865 a train traveled the same line carrying Abraham Lincoln's body from Chicago to Springfield. The Alton Railroad was later bought by Gulf Mobile & Ohio, and later by the Illinois Central Gulf. The line served mostly freight trains and a commuter train twice daily. It was sold to Metra and then bought by Canadian National Railroad in 1998. The extensive history behind the Illinois Central railroad is all but overshadowed now by the extensive freight schedule it manages. 

The low-grade train stop in Winnetka, IL.

         Chicago's North Shore Union Pacific North also has its own history. Four years before the Chicago Alton & St. Louis railroad, the Chicago and Milwaukee debuted the arrival of its first trains. After 31 fatalities in Winnetka, IL from the gates not operating, the Winnetkans "insisted on immediate action." As a result, the village decided to dig "The Big Ditch", which ran from Indian Hill to Hubbard Woods. With the initiation of FDR's New Deal in 1930, Harold Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior as well as the Administrator of the Public Works Association, a program started by FDR, the project was able to receive the bulk of its funding. Ickes just so happened to be a former Winnetkan. A little under half of the funding for the Big Ditch ended up coming from the PWA. Clearly, the connections between residents of Winnetka and Ickes, were very influential. 

         Likewise, have you every seen a freight train going through the Union Pacific North Railroad, the train that runs along Chicago's North Shore? No. The freight companies, such as Canadian National, have never claimed the Union Pacific North, I believe, for the same reasons the Big Ditch came to be: the Lake Michigan communties' money, power, voice, and connections. The closest freight train I run into is a little further west of the lake in Northbrook at Shermer Road. The railroad runs straight through the center of town. It is a Canadian National line. CN has taken control of numerous train lines in the suburbs: the Illinois Central Railroad and the Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern line. CN has managed to route around the city of Chicago to avoid train traffic and, ultimately, get places faster. In order to do this, they are en route in the western suburbs of Chicago. Notice how they are interested in buying the railroads a little farther away from Chicago's north shore. Do these communities have less of a voice than those older, perhaps wealthier suburbs close to the lake - or fewer connections like that needed to dig the Big Ditch? If there ever were a Canadian National running on the Union Pacific North, I could only imagine the outrage from the villages. Metra is our one and only, it is accessible, convenient, and fast. It is here solely for us.