Hi, I would like to know just where the ST Charles airline begins and ends, and how do Amtrak trains accesses in the airline form Chicago Union Station? .Please let me know thank you.
Just off the top of my head, I believe what’s now called the St. Charles Airline “begins” where it joins the IC line near the former Central Station, runs west paralleling 18th Street and “ends” just after it crosses the South Branch of the Chicago River (where it connects to the Union Station trackage). That’s the way the Amtrak trains run. This, of course, raises the question of why it’s called the “St Charles Airline”, because the South Branch of the Chicago River is nowhere near St. Charles. The answer is that, as originally conceived in the 1850’s, the Airline was to be a nearly straight line running to St. Charles and beyond. There’s some question of how much the Airline actually built, particularly since the original Ariline company was acquired by the Galena and Chicago Union (a C&NW predecessor) before it did very much. Also. some trackage may have been built under the “St. Charles Airline” name in the 19th century which is not part of the trackage now considered as the Airline. I believe, for example, that trackage which is now the UP Rockwell line and the B&OCT to Forest Park may have been built under the original “St. Charles Airline” banner The Airline definitely did not build anything west of Forest Park, but its right of way west of Forest Park ultimately became the Chicago Great Western’s main line west of Chicago. On the other hand, the trackage east of the Chicago River which is now called the Airline appears to NOT have been part of the orignal Airline, but a later joint facility constructed on behalf of several railroads. Clear as mud?
I have further information somewhere (I researched the history in connenction with the CN-EJ&E merger) but I can’t immediately lay my hands on it.
Also just to add a small bit, the bridge over the Fox River in St. Charles was built by the St. Charles Airline before they went bankrupt, the tracks themselves didn’t get close to the bridge and CGW eventually built their line on most of the route the Airline was going to use.
A quick Google ‘Advanced Search’ of ‘‘st charles air line’’ as ‘‘this exact wording or phrase’’ returned 420 results, among the top few of which were these two -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Charles_Air_Line
A 1902 book - History of the St. Charles Air Line Railroad in Chicago, By St. Charles Air Line Railroad (Chicago, Ill.) - on Google Books at - http://books.google.com/books?id=330pAAAAYAAJ&dq=chicago+rail+"st+charles+air+line"&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=cieK1OwzOF&sig=vA4jGg2KuUoYiVcgXUorWIWH0X0&hl=en&ei=cjB8Spq_IcPHtgfK5LX7AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=chicago%20rail%20"st%20charles%20air%20line"&f=false
Good luck, and enjoy.
- Paul North.
As well as I can determine, from the various timetables I have of the roads in the Chicago area, The City of New Orleans backs out of Union Station as far as Bridgeport (m.p. 3.5) on the CB&Q, moves to the St. Charles Airline (m.p 4.5) and heads for South Wye Jct. (m.p. 1.2 on the Air Line & m.p. 2.2 on the IC main) where it enters the southbound main and proceeds towards New Orleans. Northbound, the process is reversed, with the train heading in to Bridgeport and then backing into the station.
Johnny
I would suspect that when returning from New Orleans, it would take the Airline to BNSF trackage and then back into Union Station using the BNSF wye. Bridgeport is on the old GM&O and old ATSF lines.
Art
This triggered some memory cells. Roger Grant’s book on the CGW (“The Corn Belt Route”) indicates that the St. Charles Airline only built the abutments for the bridge at St. Charles sometime in the 1850-53 timeframe. The structure wasn’t installed until the Minnesota & Northwestern of Illinois (a CGW predecessor) actually built a rail line through the area around 1886 or so. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I seem to recall that the existing bridge at St. Charles is a replacement for the 1886 bridge, built sometime in the 20th century, but I no longer have access to records that would show this (like a UP track profile). Also, even if the structure is a replacement, I’m not sure the original piers were ever replaced