on 3/26/01 6:23 AM, William Franckey at budapest@g... wrote:
> Ed, If memory serves me right , there was also a plan to elevate the Q
> tracks from Belmont? to Chicago with new depots. The set of plans were
> dated 1947 or 49 and now reside in the special collections department of
> Knox College here at GT. The estimated cost was seen to be too high. The
> depots were futuristic looking and the whole effect bore little resemblence
> to the east end we know...........Bill
Bill and others:
I recently learned of that plan, but did not believe it went that far into
design. From what I read, in 1944 anticipating the end of the war and future
growth, the Q approached the suburban communities with an idea to elevate
the right of way from Berwyn to just west of Belmont Ave. Of course, the
driver behind the plan was vehicle collision reduction and perhaps a train
speed increase. The correspondence I read seems to indicate that one
community was so violently opposed to anything the railroad wanted, that it
passed an ordinance requiring city council approval for the railroad to
revise its grade. Obviously, history has proven that it would have been a
good thing.
Can anyone guess the community?
Ed DeRouin
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