Two anomalies that spring to mind in the use of stations by the various carriers into Chicago.
B&O, using Grand Central Station, had is owned subsidiary the Alton using Union Station.
NYC, using LaSalle St. Station, had is LS&MS owned subsidiary using Central Station on the IC.
Another interesting anomaly was the move by Michigan Central from Central Station to LaSalle Street Station following its acquisition by the New York Central. The Illinois Central actually sued Michigan Central for breach of contract.
Rich
While the Alton was under B&O control, Alton trains were serviced at B&OCT’s Robey Street yard via a backup connection near Alton’s Brighton Park yard. There was no direct path from the Alton to Grand Central. Alton also had freight houses within the Union Station footprint along the river. The marginal savings of using Grand Central probably didn’t outweigh the other costs that would have been involved in moving.
LS&MS was half owner (with Rock Island) of LaSalle St. Station. Michigan Central’s use of IC’s Central Station dated back to 1856, when MC connected with IC near Kensington.
Good stuff, as usual. Thanks, rcdrye.
Rich
I think MC and Big Four may have had different relationships with IC at Central station, even though both were New York Central System properties… MC sometimes did its own switching (GE/IR diesel-battery units in the 1930s, SW1s and Lima road-switchers later). Big Four trains were handled more like IC trains. Sometimes Big Four trains even drew IC power north of Kankakee.
Very interesting. Thanks.
Rich
I wonder if you have any of the excellent Green Frog videos mostly taken by Emery Goulash on 16mm color film called Chicago Odyssey? I keep them running in the background (along with about fifty others). They are a treasure trove of activity in and around Chicago.
If you don’t have them — treat yourself!
2 volumes, 4 DVDs, about 4 hours! I see something new every time I watch them. Expect a few errors in the narration. That’s bound to happen when someone else is narrating another individual’s films.
Regards, Ed
They are on sale at Green Frog for $13.19 apiece. Am I looking at the right one?
Rich
I think so. That is a super bargain. I paid $40 for each set but that was probably fifteen years ago. Kids today don’t remember DVDs.
https://www.greenfrog.com/ChicagoOdsy1_DVD.shtml
The Blu-Ray looks like it is the same price. Be sure you order the right format if you don’t have a Blu-Ray DVD player!
Good Luck, Ed
Thanks, Ed.
Gonna do it.
Rich
I’ll be interested in a ‘local’s’ take on the videos. We as railroad ‘historians’ are blessed to have all the films of Emery Goulash available. He must have spent a bundle on film and processing back then. I shot 8mm and Super 8 and with processing it was about $7-8 per fifty foot roll back in 1970 or so. He shot 16mm so must have been at least double. Fifty feet is only about 3½ minutes.
Passenger Trains of Detroit is another good one.
https://www.greenfrog.com/DetroitPass_DVD.shtml
Regards, Ed
I don’t have the first hand experience with trains as you do but, as a lifelong Chicagoan, it is impossible not to love trains. They were everywhere and still are. Everywhere you go, there is a rail yard. I have ridden commuter trains daily to and from work in downtown Chicago. So, I look forward to the DVDs, and I will post my take on them.
Rich
I’ll never forget my first visit to Chicago with a couple of my railroad pals, Al Clum and Dave McKay. They were both very familiar with ‘everything’ Chicago, even the best pizza joints (I’d give anything to remember where it was!). We visited all the railroad ‘hot spots’ and this was about a year before Amtrak came along. Roosevelt Road, Joliet, Lemont.
We took a few rides, on the C&NW out to Park Ridge to Hills Hobby Shop and on the Burlington out to Aurora. What a blast! Great memories. Love Chicago!
4070 Leaving Chicago by Edmund, on Flickr
I arrived there by private car once (OK, more than once) and that’s a classy way to come into town!
Royal Street at 14th Street by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
When was that visit, Ed, and do you recall the name of the pizza joint? Did you visit All Nations hobby shop downtown? How about any of the six downtown passenger train stations? Did you see the bascule bridges at 16th Street? The PRR lift bridge?
I love that scene in your photo. The train is riding the C&WI mainline coming out of the trench. I see the 16th Street interlocking tower in the background. To the right and just out of view is the AT&SF coach yard. That is a small C&WI yard on the left.
Rich
I get to apologize for giving out some wrong info.
I finally found the photos I thought showed GTW 0-8-0s switching in Dearborn Station. Turns out they were actually AT&SF 851-class 0-8-0s, which had tenders very much like GTW’s. In one of the photos (in “The Trains we Rode” by Beebe/Clegg) there was an Erie C-3 0-8-0 switching at Dearborn, but it was probably switching the freight house - a chore that was not handled by C&WI.
Apparently GTW did plan to take over its own switching at Dearborn, even ordering a pair of boiler-equipped RS1s (the last ones built) in 1957. The change was never made as labor and other contract issues got in the way, as GTW would still have had to pay C&WI crews. As freight traffic grew and passenger traffic at Dearborn dropped in the 1960s, GTW occasionally leased C&WI RS1s to work at Elsdon and on transfer runs.
That is an easily made error since most older steam engines were black and could easily be mis-identified. You coulda fooled me. 
Rich
A couple of comments.
The fact that C&WI did not handle switching chores at the freight houses has always had me wondering, who did? On my layout, I use a BRC GP7 for that purpose, but I have no idea if that is correct, and I have some doubt that it is correct.
Regarding GTW doing its own switching, your comments are enlightening about its use of leased C&WI RS1s. We absolutely could use a photo or two of GTW switching cars at Dearborn Station.
Rich
I own a book titled Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad by Cynthia L. Ogorek and Bill Molony. In it a reference is made to switching GTW passenger cars that states “C&WI provided GTW with switching service between its Elsdon Yard at Fifty-Fifth and Central Park and Dearborn Station”.
How about that!
Rich
Most of the outlying former coach yards are either used by Metra or have been converted to intermodal facilities.
An exception is the former C&NW Erie Street Coach yard on the near north side, once filled with commuter equipment, now gone altogether. The yard was at ground level between Grand and Chicago Avenues along the UP’s industrial track east of the UP North/Northwest line. A multi-span truss bridge took Erie Street across the yard.
Industrial History: C&NW’s Passenger Yard (Erie Street Yard)
California Avenue serviced the Intercity trains. A smaller yard handled Galena Division (West Line) cars for mid-day layovers.
Yeah, when you drive along Chicago area expressways and interstates, you can see those old coach yards filled with trucks and large shipping containers.
Hard to believe that the C&NW Erie Street coach yard is gone. As you indicate, however, most of the former coach yards are still there and still used by the transportation industry. I should check to see what went into the former C&NW Erie Street coach yard.
Rich