Based on articles gleaned from the Chicago Tribune, a 1890 lawsuit before
the Illinois State Railroad and Warehouse Commission, the original grade of
the CB&Q main between West Grossdale (Congress Park) and LaGrange was the
ruling grade east of the Mississippi. I don't know what the grade
percentage was but it had to have been significant as the grade apparently
started at the shoreline of the ancient Lake Chicago and climbed to the top
of the dunes at State Road (LaGrange Road).
The existing IHB tracks are lowered from the original grade of the CB&Q at
the point of crossing but the street in front of the site of the former West
Grossdale / Congress Park Station is at approximately the original elevation
at the start of the grade under the current bridge over the IHB.
I haven't been able to find anything at hand that would help answer what the
elevations would be (I found out that the Chicago & Aurora Track Alignment
Chart CDs that have been sold at BRHS meets for several years do not have
Chicago-Aurora Alignment Charts on them (at least my copy doesn't).
For this grade to have existed from the opening of the line in 1864 through
the final elevation for the Chicago, Hammond & Western when it was pushed
north in 1895 lends credence to the sub-par condition of the CB&Q in its
early years. It is, at very least, interesting to research.
As has been pointed out, the absolute value of the worst grades are not in
consideration.... the cumulative value of the grades are what Hill was
apparently referencing... the roller-coaster profile of a railroad that
followed the land rather than leveling out the route with cut and fill.
Charlie Vlk
Were the grades on these lines any worse than the GN? Certainly not in the
mountains. GN's grade was 2.2% both directions across the Cascades, 1.8% EB
and 1.2% WB across the Rockies, and GN made numerous line changes in the
50's (and even the 60's) to get them the way are today. In fact the profile
of these Q lines were not much worse than some of the GN mainline in the
prairies (Havre to Shelby is an example).
Glen Haug
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