So todays Photo of the Day shows the C&EI Dixie Flyer underway and passing through the South Side of Chicago.
Englewood, where the famous race took place between the great NYC Hudson’s on the 20th Century Ltd. vs. whatever the Pennsy could throw at it, everything from double headed K4’s, streamlined K4’s , T1’s, even Centipedes on the Broadway, always mentioned the fact that Englewood is the South Side of Chicago.
Seen pictures of other great trains on trackage noted as being on the South Side of Chicago!
Every time I see these pictures and references two things happen.
I start singing Bad Leroy Brown instantly
I wonder why it’s the baddest part of town. When did it go downhill or was it always a tough place? Did the railroads have something to do with this? You would think if it was the home of such classy and important trains it would not be the baddest part of town.
I’m thinking this is maybe a touchy subject given what’s going on in Chicago these days. I don’t mean anything by it. The area must have some history.
Is Englewood still in use by Amtrak or commuting agencies?
Are the NYC and PRR tracks still in place side by side like they were, …only now CSX and NS?
Had the honour of being a judge in a science fair today for Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6, held in a large gym. Two judges for each grade, I was one for grade 6.
Had to do 32 displays…started at #32 to #1, the other judge #1 to 32. We then compared our scores and notes. Fascinating.
Take away learning from the displays- the screen on your phone has more nasty stuff accumulated on it at any time than a toilet seat and inside the bowl, a kitchen sink, or your thumb. Yeesh. Who knew?
Also my brains are fried from all the urchins running around. They were so nice in the morning, after lunch they turned into Tasmanian Devils.
Just for the record I was persuasive with the other judge and awarded the trophy to the kid who braved swabbing the toilet seat and the bowl.
I used to commute to downtown Chicago daily on the Metra Rock Island, formerly the Rock Island tracks when the Rock Island railroad still operated. So, every day, I would pass by the former site of Englewood Station at 63rd Street just west of State Street.
The station itself and the platforms were demolished years ago, but the vacant site remains and the old PRR tracks are still there. The PRR tracks crossed the Rock Island tracks at grade until recently when CREATE constructed a flyover for the Metra Rock Island tracks which now pass over the former crossing.
As a lifelong Chicagoan, I can tell you that housing segregation has always led to black areas of the city versus white areas. Within many black areas, there is poverty, unemployment, and the apparently inevitable development of gangs. With gangs comes intensified crime and violence. The area around the former site of Englewood Station suffers from all of these factors.
The NYC tracks are gone, but more knowledgable folks than me can give you more detail on the NYC. The NYC tracks running from Englewood to LaSalle Street Station are gone as well.
The reason that CREATE built the flyover was to relieve congestion where the Metra Rock Island tracks and NS tracks interlock. It had been a major logjam with lots of NS freight trains per day.
The former NYC tracks are gone except in the area to the east and north of the former Englewood station, where a small intermodal yard dating back to NYC days still exists. There used to be a connection to Metra there in the direction of LaSalle Street. It was severed during flyover construction and I’m not sure if it was restored after construction was completed.
Late 50’s a small group of us ‘railroad kids’ rode the Capitol Limited to Chicago for a day of sightseeing - on our own. We wanted to go to the Museum of Science and Industry and had instructions to take the “?” CTA line. What we didn’t know was that the “?” CTA line had two desinations - Englewood and the area around the museum. Being ‘country bumpkins’ we took the Englewood car - upon arrival at it’s destination it was immediatey obvious that we were 200% in the wrong place - and beat a hasty retreat on the next train out of the area so we could find the correct train.
During that era the B&O also had a station at 63rd Street that was a standard stop if the inbound trains had passengers for it or if there were passengers for the outbound trains to pick up. As I recall it was not within sight of the NYC-PRR station at Englewood - of course later down the line the NYC crossed the B&O at Pine Jct near Gary, IN.
Just to orient non-Chicagoans, Englewood Station was located at 59 West 63rd Street with State Street, just to the east, being the east-west dividing line. The B&O (and C&O and PM) station was located at 2200 West 63rd Street, so 21 blocks from Englewood Station, or 2.625 miles as rcdrye indicated.
Riichhotrain- Nice description. Puts things in perspective.
Sad to hear the NYC tracks are gone into La Salle and at Englewood.
How on earth do these things happen. Yes, yes, I know, but it seems like a tragic loss and banished as a footnote in history. Something wrong about that, that’s all I’m saying.
One last question. The B&O station at 2200 West 63rd St? Gone or used for commuters? I’m guessing gone.
Grand Central Station, in downtown Chicago at Harrison and Wells, was closed in 1969 and then demolished in 1971. With no more station and no more passenger trains, the station at 63rd Street was shuttered and later demolished.
BTW the Jim Croce song’s name was “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”. One odd trivia fact is the introduction to the song. When they were working on this song, Jim was in the studio at the piano and started playing “Queen of the Hop”, a 1959 hit for Bobby Darin. Someone suggested they use that song’s intro as the intro to “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”, so they did. If you listen to the two songs, they’re basically identical for the first 12 bars.
there was also a B+O station in South Chicago. it was on the RI tracks east of Pullman Jct. along what appears to be 94th/95 th streets. B+O had trackage rights on this line to move their passenger trains into Indiana via RI Junction and the Calumet River bridge.
The B&O passenger line west of Pullman Junction still exists as far west as the former Beverly crossing. Chicago Rail Link operates it as far as Gresham (89th and Vincennes), where the Metra RI District main line and suburban lines diverge. In B&O/RI days there was no wye as exists now, but a crossing with connecting tracks in the SE and NW quadrants. B&O trains went west on the RI Suburban line to 89th and Ashland, turning north there, crossing and paralleling the PRR Panhandle line on what’s now the Major Taylor Trail, joining the B&OCT line from Barr Yard at 81st between Damen and Western. Both the Panhandle and B&O passenger lines were abandoned.
