In Cook and Lake Counties of northeastern Illinois, within the last few years Union Pacific ceased operating what it called the “Skokie Industrial Lead.” This piece of trackage was constructed by the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad in 1925 and operated by that line as its Skokie Valley Route. Sometime in the mid-1960s the Chicago and North Western purchased the track and was still operating it at the time of the CNW-UP merger in 1995.
QUESTION: Is the Skokie Industrial Lead track still there? And more specifically, is any of it left north of Dempster St., the northern terminus of the Skokie Swift?
The part you’re interested in no longer exists. The south end, known as the Cragin Industrial lead, goes about a mile north of Mayfair. The Skokie Industrial lead used to come south from Valley, but it’s no longer shown in the timetable.
The CNW used to run the trains over its own track all the way from 40th Street to Valley. After the CNS&M was abandoned north of Dempster, CNW took over that track (I think the cutover wasn’t too far north of Dempster) most of the way up to the junction at Valley, I suspect because it was less expensive than rehabbing its own line. When I hired out, there were still at least three mainline trains (173 north, 182 and 406 south) that used this line to get to 40th Street from Butler. Good line for motion sickness!
I’d love to see some of the line resurrected as an extension to the CTA’s Yellow Line, at least as far as Old Orchard.
Motion sickness? That was the least of my worries travelling on that line, especially when getting south of Mayfair. The Special Agents used to drive along side the train (as best as possible) so when the locals put stuff on the tracks to pop the air hoses and we had to walk the train to fix them (while the same locals helped themselves to whatever was in our boxcars and trailers), we had some sort of protection. Most crewmen would not walk the train in that neighborhood unescorted.
Plus, we sat real low and far back in our seats as we trundled down the track.
Hi - “40th Street” was the old name (pre-annexation) of Crawford Avenue, today’s Pulaski Road - 4000 West in Chicago. The yard was to the north of the M19A shop, essentially just west of where Ohio Street ends at Pulaski Road. Industrial developments and a CTA bus garage (replacing the North-Cicero carbarn) have been built on parts of what used to be the yard.
Jim, I’m glad they wised up and had the special agents on alert by the time you were doing it. The natives used to wait until we’d stop at Cragin and just close an anglecock, then we’d have to call for the special agents.
Since I’ve “grown” a bit since the olden days, I know I’d never fit between some of those tracks at 40th Street! Man, that was a mean old yard!
Makes sense now. “40th Street” refers to 40th street west rather than the usually numbered streets on the southside. I have looked several times on maps for a CNW yard on the south side and never was able to figure it out. Plus, there was a photo in TRAINS a few years ago taken from 40th Street Yard and it appeared to be due west of the loop…which couldnt have been if it were on the south side.
Yeah, Carl, same for me. Even back in my lean ‘n’ mean gropo days some of those tracks were way too narrow for me. I seem to recall that there was even a length limit that cars in the yard had to be sorted by. Certain tracks were so close together that nothing longer than a 40’ boxcar was allowed on it (yes, I remember 40’ box cars…jeez I feel old…).
I was the only location where I’d come to work armed, especially If called for #417, which went on duty around 2am (IIRC).
Hi - Shifting gears back to an earlier comment about the Skokie end of the industrial lead, I think the CNW relocated onto the old CNS&M ROW to the north of Dempster not long after the CTA began to do the upgrade/operate on the CNS&M to the south of Dempster (early 1964). This was a defensive move to to prevent the Swift from being extended further north at that time. Art
Wasn’t this line rail-banked?? I remember hearing / reading that UP had pulled up the tracks and roads have been paved over crossings. I remember that there was some discussion about the Chicago CTA using the ROW to extend the Skokie Swift.
That goes back to my original question. Are the rails still in place north of Dempster St., or have the rails, ties, turnouts, and other associated track materials been pulled up and shipped out for salvage and/or scrap?