Anyone aroound Northwest Indiana or south suburbs of Chicago know where I can bicycle on either a bike path or a “quiet” street next to railroad tracks? I would like a stretch of at least a few miles if possible.
Mike
I only know of the western suburbs on the Prairie Path, from Elmhurst to Wheaton, about 10 miles running next to the UP West line.
Just how are your biking skills? I have biked through northwestern Indiana (from Illinois to Michigan) over several routes, some of which would make most sane people shake their heads. (I know I wouldn’t likely repeat my trips through Gary again!)
But if you have a decent bike, and a helmet, you shouldn’t find it too difficult to bike along U.S. 12 most of the way from Millers (east of Gary) east as far as Burns Harbor–four-lane divided highway (gives the cars room to clear you) and wide shoulders.
Do you have any trails in Dyer that will head you north, to where you can catch the former EJ&E right-of-way through Portage and up to Porter? I’d suggest taking that to Porter, then heading out of Porter to Mineral Springs Road, which you can take across U.S. 20 to U.S. 12. Head west from there. You’re along the South Shore for the entire ride, and later the NS (former NYC Water-Level Route–plenty busy with freights and Amtrak) goes under you and the South Shore, then settles down to parallel you beyond the CSS tracks. Ride west along all of this past the Ogden Dunes Station. The highway curves away from these tracks shortly thereafter, but crosses over (on a bridge) CSX’s former B&O main line. You can continue on via the highway into Gary; about as far as the McDonald’s would be reasonably safe, and probably a good place to take a break.
A U.S. highway probably isn’t your definition of a “quiet” street, but it should be a reasonably safe one, as long as you follow bicycling rules and stay off the traffic lanes as much as possible. I think the “next to railroad tracks” is the important thing here, and you’ll have that–and plenty of it!
Another possibility might be the old Michigan Central Route through the southern suburbs, which I believe has been converted to a bike trail over much of the distance in Illinois. It’s parallel to (but not terribly close to) the CN’s ex-EJ&E main line.
A nice paved country road that parallels both the CSX and CN in NW Indiana is 800 South in Laporte County, In from US 421 east thru Wellsboro/Union Mills. Take a look on one of the map sites. The CSX line is to the north and the CN line to the south and gradually angles to cross 800 South just outside Union Mills.
While in Union Mills/Wellsboro, go check out the crossing and the grain elevator. Often there is Chesepeake and Indiana (CHKN) locomotives there. The road continues east and parallels CSX out of town.
There is a nice mill pond in town also. All easy to view from the mapsites.
Ed
I know NY, PA, and several NE states put out bike and trail maps through the tourism bureaus, highway departments, parks or recreation depts, and the like…Google or Bing search for bike and walking paths or routes for IL and IN or the towns and counties you’ll be in…see if that gives you anything.
Farther afield, may I suggest NOT trying Uniform System #2 (U.S. 2) in Montana on a bicycle. 700 miles, mostly parallel to the BNSF Hi-Line/Northern Transcon is tempting, but U.S. 2 is a 2-lane road with virtually NO shoulders, paved or otherwise, most of its length. Lots of local double-bottom grain and oil truck traffic, and a 70 mph speed limit. Towns are few, and far-between. Not my idea of fun! Visiting, with a 4x4 SUV or truck is rewarding. Please bring money.
Hays
Thanks for the input, guys. I’m 56 years old and haven’t biked since I was a teenager, so I consider myself a novice. I will checkmout some of these places–don’t think my wife will want to go to LaPorte county, but I may go there with my brother in that case. i know not to go through Gary, but east of there could be okay. Thanks agaian.
Mike
Mike, I hope you do some bike riding soon, because you definitely are not going to enjoy the trains if it’s your first trip out! I know (I’m 60); even the first ride of the spring is a bit of an awakening. You’ll know which muscles you haven’t been using, for sure!
Is your wife biking with you. or is she just carrying you and your bike to where you can get out and ride? If the latter, I’d suggest the western end of the U.S. 12 trip I described. Around the South Shore’s Ogden Dunes station are a couple of places one can pull off the road for set-down (wooden walkways to overlook the marshy areas). From there, head west along 12, and finish at the McDonald’s there. I don’t think that’s even five miles. I have experience with that place–years ago I was attempting a Lombard-to-Portage trip in very hot weather. I got a flat in the middle of Gary, and had to patch the inner tube (couldn’t find a place to buy a replacement). The patch didn’t hold very well, and I was pumping the thing up every mile or so. I got to that McDonald’s and just gave up. I must have looked pretty beat, because they offered me refills on my drink back in the days when that wasn’t done!
So, for a novice, I’d suggest doing this as soon as possible, before it gets hot, sticky, and buggy out there.
If you’d expand your area to Chicago’s western suburbs, I could really give you a nice trip to take–the Illinois Prairie Path between Lombard and Wheaton, five miles or so in each direction. One can just about guarantee four trains or more per hour (you’re parallel to UP’s main line), plenty of parks to rest at, and restaurants or convenience stores for refreshment. (And you’re never more than ten miles from a good hospital!)
Why limit yourself to the trails?
Now that looks interesting, but I can’t weld and my wife, who will be riding with me, would not approve…maybe I’ll ask anyway. Carl, it would take me only about 40 minutes to drive out there to that MacDonald’s, but I worry about the traffic on US12.
Mike
Mike, I’ll give you a firsthand report about traffic, as I plan on scoping out that section of U.S. 12 on our way up to Michigan (by car, unfortunately) tomorrow. This is the Dunes Highway, but is far from being the main east-west thoroughfare it once was–the Toll Road, I-80, and even U.S. 20 should be busier in this area. If the shoulders are wide enough (and firm enough) for easy movement off from and onto the pavement, you should be good to go. You’ll hear from me about this after my return.
Here’s the scoop, Mike. It’s a little rough just east of McDonald’s, with not very good shoulders, for maybe the first mile and a half, until you leave Lake County for Porter County (it’s a four-lane road, not too busy at first, but narrows down to two lanes at the bridge over CSX). The parking lot for the nature overlook is 3.3 miles east of the McDonald’s. East of there a short distance is the South Shore’s Ogden Dunes station. If you can make a 15-mile round-trip, you’ll be able to go along U.S. 12 for pretty much the whole distance that NS and the South Shore parallel each other (as far east as Indiana Route 149, 7.5 miles from McDonald’s). I wouldn’t be afraid to make this trip myself, but I’m not sure my wife would be wild about it.
This is a bit more intense, but I’m a semi-car free railfan. One of my favorite chases is the former CB&Q Industrial trackage just southwest of downtown. The neighborhood(pilsen) is a bit rough, but safe. The CIRY runs a switch job along the tracks up to the BNSF every weekday morning(7am). The track is rough in many spots and is only rated for 10mph, although I’ve clocked them doing “the high side of ten” on the nicer sections. Neat 50 year old switchers switching industrial trackage semi street running, whats not to like.
On the other hand I’m a college student who delivers sandwiches by bike so I’m conditioned to do it. As for paths and things following tracks, i dunno.
Check out a Chicagoland Bicycle Federation map. You can order it from them on line or lots of bike shops have them. They’re very detailed showing trails, streets, bike lanes, as well as RR’s. You could plot a good route with one of those maps.
As an avid (my friends say insane) bicyclist in the Chicago area, in spite of my “senior citizen” status, I’m very familiar with the various bike trails around the Chicago area (and, during my rail career, was involved in the establishment of some of them). The Illinois Prairie Path (on the ROW of the old Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban), doesn’t parallel the UP West Line between Elmhurst and Wheaton. It only parallels UP for a few miles, between Wheaton and the east side of Glen Ellyn (or the west side of Lombard, depending where the boundary is) probably no more than 3 or 4 miles. Traveling east, it then diverges from the UP and runs several blocks south of the UP (the distance increases the further east you go) until it ends at First Avenue in Maywood (be sure to wear a flak jacket if you go on the segment in Maywood). Once it goes through Villa Park, it parallels the old CGW right of way, but that line has been gone for decades.
If your objective is to ride parallel to an active railroad (and not have to wear a flak jacket), a better choice might be the Green Bay Trail running roughly 18 miles from Wilmette to North Chicago (the name of the trail may change as you go north, but it’s a continuous trail). The trail is on the ROW of the Shore Line Route of the old North Shore Line interurban, which is right next to the UP North Line for almost the entire distance. On the other hand, there isn’t a whole lot of freight traffic on this line (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a freight train south of Lake Bluff), while the UP West Line is a major freight corridor.
Franklin:
Is the CIRY the industrial line that runs along Cermak? I caught it yesterday…was at a customer on Cermak and it came by with a couple of cars and headed down to the scrap metal yard. I really like that line.
How do they access BNSF? There is a line that meanders north from Cermak…is that it? Not much of a line.
How many cars are normally interchanged?
Ed
Falcon, next time you’re going insane in our neck of the woods, here’s an idea: if you’re westbound on the Prairie Path, switch to the Great Western Trail (ex-CGW) at Villa Park (plenty of signs to
Alongside the BNSF race track there a lots of side streets that are very bike-able. For one of my favorite rides I’d park near downtown Downers Grove & ride east thru Westmont, Clarendon Hills, Hinsdale, Western Springs, Brookfield & Riverside. I’d stop for eats at a place by the Berwyn Metra station & then head back.
Mark (or Lisa), I used to ride along the BNSF from Belmont east to LaGrange. Never went east of the IHB, though, except for getting to their Congress Park Yard (IHB’s yard, I mean). How did you get to Brookfield from LaGrange?
I’d have to hop on Ogden Ave, but it’s only for about 3 blocks.