Railroads, Chicago-style

From The Trolley Dodger blog: “This is, for me, a very interesting photo. It shows construction of the new Halsted Street bridge that will eventually go over the Congress (now Eisenhower) Expressway under construction on May 20, 1951. As you can see, the bridges were built first, before the area around them was excavated. That way, traffic could be diverted around the construction site as it is here. There was a shoo-fly for streetcars and a temporary roadway for other traffic. The view looks north. The nearby L station remained in service until 1958, although two of the four tracks were removed.” (William C. Hoffman Photo, Wien-Criss Archive)

Here is the same view today via Google Maps Street View:

https://goo.gl/maps/R8Z2HhWd71XRdNDW9

It appears that the building in the extreme upper left of the 1951 photo is still there today as a red brick building. All of the other buildings appear to have been removed and replaced by more modern buildings (which is Greektown).

Early views of what is today’s CTA Blue Line: Forest Park (Congress) branch, from Chicago-L.org:

Top: “A week before the new line would open, the first test train -- a single two-car 6000-series unit -- is running on the Congress Line on June 14, 1958. The finishing touches are still being put on the stations and on the right-of-way as the test train passes Halsted station. The portals to the Dearborn Subway (and two unused portals, on the left) are visible in the distance.”

Bottom: “This view looking east from the Peoria Street overpass shows the Congress rapid transit line in the highway's median under construction on June 14, 1958. The L line is nearly ready for service and the ramp and station house at Halsted Street are visible on the right. On the left, the old Garfield Park line, which will close about a week later when the Congress Line opens, serves its final days for commuters as a 2-car 6000-series train enters the station en route to downtown.”  

June 14, 1958     

Photos by George Krambles (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

From The Trolley Dodger blog: “CA&E 52 pilots a three-car train of woods on the old Met main line near Racine. You can see the new (in 1953) ramp at left, heading down to the Van Buren Street temporary trackage, which would shortly be put into use. It connected with the L structure at Aberdeen. (EIsenhower) Expressway construction is underway at right.”

Note the old Chicago Post Office building in the background at right.

From The Trolley Dodger blog:  “Here, we see the Garfield Park L temporary tracks on Van Buren at Loomis, looking east on July 1, 1956. Construction on the adjacent Congress Expressway (now Eisenhower) is pretty far along. This operation would continue until the opening of the Congress median line on June 22, 1958.”

Chicago

Canadian Pacific SD40-2's with a potash train on the B&OCT with the CTA's Austin station (Congress Branch) on the right (today this is known as the Blue Line). The Eisenhower Expressway is in the background.

Oak Park, Illinois

March 1979

Photo by Lou Gerard

Wisconsin Central SD-45’s at Harlem Ave Chicago 2001 by Mark LLanuza on Flickr.

Wisconsin Central freight train with the Eisenhower Expressway in the background Chicago 2001 Photo by Mark Llanuza