"Commutation" tickets were sold for regular travelers outside of what we
consider the Commuter Districts today.
I don't know how many people lived in Aurora or any of the towns on the Aurora
Branch, but the Wisconsin Central sold reduced rate multiple tickets as far
north as
Waukesha.
The "suburbs" didn't even start developing until the 1870s and places like
Brookfield (East Grossdale, Grossdale, and West Grossdale) were not even
started until the mid- 1880's. All the railroads had good service within what
we now know as the Chicago city limits... that were, at the time, the 'burbs.
Lawndale was a separate town and developed like the suburbs did with the same
realtors.
Most of the sububurban territory was prairie until after WWII.
Charlie Vlk
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerald & Virginia Edgar
To: cbq@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 12:50 PM
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Re: New North Star trains
It also depends on what you call 'commuter' service. In the earliest yrs (Q
to Turner Jct via C&NW then Q to Aurora) in effect any Q train from Chicago to
Aurora could be considered a 'commuter'. (even today you have local & express
commuter so you cannot always say it depends on how many stops). We would need
to find TT's after the line was extended to see if the trains operated just
to/from Chi/Aurora were effectively separated from 'thru' trains by table. It
might help to find out who/when came up with the term 'commuter' - I'd assume
someone around NY City.
Gerald
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
From: cvlk@comcast.net
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:12:30 -0600
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: New North Star trains
Robert, Bill and all....
The exact details of the early service of the CB&Q into Chicago have not been
fully researched and some of the published information is at odds with other
information.
For example, most published sources show the IC Chicago Branch not being
completed until September 27, 1856, but the St. Charles Air Line was completed
to connect with the IC and its station prior to that date. It may be that the
line was in use south of Chicago to some point and the Michigan Central was
already using the IC to get into Chicago.
More research has to be done to tie in these events.
The temporary terminus of the Chicago and Aurora operating over the St.
Charles Air Line to the west bank of the South Branch at 14th Street has not
been published.
Also, after (or during) the building of the Chicago and Aurora main line to
Aurora it appears there may have been a north from Hawthorne to a connection to
the Galena & Chicago Union main line at 42nd Street (at that time their shops
and main yard). This "Chicago & North Western Cut-Off predates the Chicago
Union Terminal / Belt Railway of Chicago by decades and appears on at least one
1872 map. When the C&A opened its own line the Galena & abandoned the western
part of the Air Line from Harlem to Western Avenue and built the "Robey Street
Connector" to gain direct access from its main line down to the Air Line and
its important dock facilities on the Chicago River (including the properties
that were the Potato Yard and now Global 1).
The first railroad in the State of Illinois was the Northern Cross and its
first locomotive was put into service on November 8, 1838.
The Galena & Chicago Union was the first line into Chicago in 1848.
The Aurora Branch is completed to Turner Junction October 21, 1850 with
trackage rights to Chicago over Galena & Chicago Union.
The IC was completed into Chicago on September 27, 1856.
The Galena & Chicago Union purchased the track of the bankrupted Chicago, St.
Charles and Mississippi Air Line from Chicago to the DesPlaines River on April
10, 1854 and prompltly built a connecting track from its main line at Harlem
(Oak Park) to connect with the St. Charles Air Line. Some Chicago and Aurora
trains were diverted from the C&GU main at that point and used the St.Charles
Air Line to a station on the Chicago River at about 14th Street. Later, in
1855, construction started on a Draw Span Bridge across the South Branch of the
Chicago River and on March 30, 1856 the eastward connection from the bridge to
the Illinois Central station grounds on the Lakefront was completed and Chicago
and Aurora trains started using that station.
The Chicago and Aurora opened its own main line May 20, 1864.
An interesting tidbit that hasn't been widely shared to my knowlege..... CB&Q
commuter service once was divided at Riverside. The trains that made local
stops between Chicago and Riverside terminated there. Trains that made stops
between Riverside and Aurora and beyond were operated express to Riverside. So,
say you wanted to go from Lawndale Avenue to Westmont...... you had to change
trains at Riverside to do so! The trains that provided service west of
Riverside often continued on to points beyond and were not part of the
"commuter fleet" but rather regular local accomodation trains. This practice
ceased when Riverside was discontinued as a engine terminal and coach yard in
favor of Downers Grove.
Also, the Illinois Central originally had no direct line into Chicago and its
trains from East Dubuque used trackage rights over the CB&Q. At first the
trains used the IC all the way down to Mendota, then later they had a line that
connected to the Q at Forreston. The IC took forever to build the direct line
from East Dubuque to Chicago, the Chicago, Madison & Northern, and they used
routings over the CGW to regain their own tracks (the Iowa Division). The last
segment to be finished was the Clyde-Chicago segment that connected with the
St. Charles Air Line and it was so delayed that the line had a direct (grade
level???) connection at the crossing of the CB&Q at La Verne.
Charlie Vlk
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