http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2009/11/16/building-cities-it-turns-out-is-a-partisan-issue/
An interesting analysis of partisan divisions on mass transit (and HSR).
A different and telling perspective. Thanks.
Harvey
Good Article there—comments are interesting as well
Thanks!
That article, plus the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, got me thinking, with nostalgia, about the demise of the CA&E and CNS&M electric lines in the Chicago area. What a loss! Of course I can still ride The Great Third Rail (on my bike) but today it would serve some markets well that barely existed in 1956.
How extensive were they?
The CA&E ran west from the Loop to Wheaton and then split: one line to Elgin, another to Aurora.
The North Shore Line went north from the Loop to Milwaukee and everything in between on two parallel routes.
I grew up with the CA&E, even commuting home from high school; and I liked it. Before we get too misty-eyed, the Roar’n Elgin was doomed but not long lamented by commuters.
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The early market developed around the C&NW; and the CA&E missed important suburban downtowns at Elmhurst and Oak Park. Lesser ones in Maywood and Melrose Park shrank further with demographic and local employment changes and with the tension of competing transit services tearing at any consolidation of community cores.
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The C&NW had the money to spend to reduce its substantial losses that the CA&E didn’t to re-equip trains with improved lighting, air-conditioning, and wider seats with more leg room for improved passenger comfort.
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Operationally, flash tickets, push-pull, and remote-controlled doors sped operation and reduced crew size and operating costs.
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Then there is the 800#-gorilla matter of growth of demand that the CA&E just wouldn’t have been able to meet, even if money was available at the time for a new downtown terminal.
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A typical C&NW train with a crew of five was much cheaper than the equivalent three CA&E trains with, I assume, twelve crew to collect tickets and to open doors and traps.
Where did you live? Unfortunately for me, the last day of service on the Roarin Elgin was when I was only 10, but I got to ride it into the city sometimes from Wheaton with my mother for shopping at Fields.
What killed it was the construction of the Congress (Eisenhower) Expy. and the loss of a direct route to the Loop in 1953. After that it lost 1/2 its ridership. Up to that point it was the preferred route for midday riders. If it had survived…?
I grew up in Berkeley 1945-1959; but took the CA&E Downtown only once and once changed at Forest Park. I did ride out to Aurora and Elgin on separate occasions.
Riders may have left with the service cut-back in 1953; but I doubt the CA&E would have survived into the 1960’s after the C&NW overhaul and hourly service.
Interesting that downtown Elmhurst has developed into quite a center. I can only speculate that one commuter line focused growth.
Sadly I imagine you are right. In the 60’s, the western burbs grew a lot. If the CA&E and North Shore (and had survived the Edens and Kennedy Expwys) had survived into the mid-60’s, it is possible the Heineman’s CNW would not have upgraded as much. With the population growth, there might have been enough to go around. But expwys killed both lines.