Grew up in Rockford. If you know Rockford’s history, you know it finds its own unique way out of its problems. Doesn’t care much about what the outside world thinks of it. Fine furniture manufacturing became high-level machine tool manufacturing. Now a growing hub of aerospace manufacturing. Is competing with Houston as new location for aerospace and aeronautical engineering college. Is UPS Air hub. Fiat has announced large investment in Belvidere Chrysler plant to build Fiat architecture compact cars there. Nippon is building it’s passenger rail manufacturing facility in Rochelle, 30 miles south.
I’ve given my thoughts about train service to Chicago in previous threads when this route has been brought up. I’m thinking now that Illinois-sponsored train service ideas could easily be moot since de-leveraging Illinois’ massive, untenable debt situation will probably wipe most of it out.
Visited Rockford on a business trip some 15 years ago. Intersting trip, from NYC, visiting both Glencoe, IL, and Rockford. Used Amtrak’s Lake Shore to Chicago, roomette, then walked to the C&NW in the snow with heavy luggage. Met by client at the Glencoe station, back there in the afternoon, planning to connect to the Harvard train at Clyde, riding the front end and looking through the train-dor window. With the blizzard conditions, the conductor told me to stay on the train to the Chicago station, and he would tell the dispatcher I wished to the make the two-minute connection there. Worked fine, the train was on-time, and I boarded with out any delay to the Harvard train (right across the platform), and was met by my client at Harvard for the nightime snowy drive to Rockford. I had two facing seats on the lower level of the galary car and with suitcases between slept most of the way. The next day my client insisted on driving me all the way back to Union Station, Chicago, with plenty of time to catch the eastbound Lake Shore, because there were other matters to discuss and we could talk on the way.
You are there an know it. I’m remembering something 15 years ago, so you must be right . I think the issue was that Clayborne has a simple unprotected platform(s?) and I might have been blown off onto the tracks by the force of the wind! It is the first station north of the Chiago terminal, before the Harvard line and the Kenosha (Milwaukee - Twin Cities in the old bygon days) separate.
Yes, it is (always has been) called the Clybourn stop for both the UP-North and UP-Northwest lines. I don’t think changing there instead of Ogilvie makes sense now, as the schedules have changed, but I recall doing the same thing years ago when the lines were the CNW Kenosha and Harvard Divisions.
Changing at Clybourn still is done and necessary for midday transfers from UPN>UPNW and leaves only 5 min for UPNW>UPN if the arriving train is on time. A similar situation may exist at Western Av for MD and NCS trains; but I’m not going to refresh my memory now.