NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/rec/railroad/10867

Text File | 1993-01-23 | 7.8 KB | 149 lines

Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!roma
From: [e-mail] (Jon Roma)
Subject: Re: CSS&SB trip
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
References: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 01:43:09 GMT
Lines: 138

[e-mail] (JEFF W SCHRAMM) writes:

> The south shore part of the station is sort of back in the dingy corners.
> There are signs posted but you'll have to look for them.  The south shore
> splits off from the IC mainline at Kensington (115th? st.) and most trains
> stop there.  For a real quick trip you could ride the south shore from
> randolph st. downtown to kensington and then catch an IC (Metra electric)
> train back
> downtown.

> For a longer trip I would recommend going to Michigan City IN.  If my memory
> is correct, There are some resturants within walking distance as well as the
> conrail mainline.  The best "interrurban" scenery is between south bend and
> Michigan City but the train frequency is less than over the portion closer to
> Chicago.  All this info is from memory and may not be entirely accurate.  Its
> been a while since I've rode the south shore.

Things HAVE changed a bit since you last rode the South Shore.  The whole
Metra Electric/South Shore Randolph St. complex has been improved and
modernized considerably.  The place no longer has the appearance and odor
of a subway station.  I was rather surprised (and pleased!) when I saw the
remodeled terminal a couple of years ago.

The South Shore ticket windows have moved but are still located near the
east end of the terminal near their previous location and near the gate
to the South Shore part of the station.  The old neon South Shore sign
above the gate is gone and new platforms have replaced the ``temporary''
platforms from 1926.

Aside from Randolph St., most South Shore trains stop at several other
stations along the Metra Electric (ex-Illinois Central) in Chicago.  While
some of the rush hour trains skip certain stops, most trains stop at
Van Buren St., Roosevelt Road (adjacent to the former location of Central
Station), 59th St. (Hyde Park) and 115th St. (Kensington).  At Kensington,
South Shore trains leave the IC main line and head toward the Indiana border.

One can ride South Shore trains locally between stations on the Metra
Electric line but one can do so for cheaper and more conveniently using
Metra service.

South from Randolph St., South Shore and Metra trains follow the shore
of Lake Michigan for nearly fifty city blocks (about 6 miles) and then
turn inland just before passing through the Hyde Park neighborhood and
passing by the University of Chicago campus.  The neighborhoods traversed
are mostly residential and middle- and lower-class in nature with a bit
of light industry.  Just north of Kensington on the east side of the
right-of-way is the old community of Pullman, famous for the railway car
building factory once on that site.

The ex-IC main between the Loop and Kensington has separate suburban and
through tracks.  Four electrified tracks are provided for Metra and South
Shore trains and one or two tracks are in use by Amtrak passenger trains
and IC through freights and transfers.  This is an impressive main line
although not so impressive as in the days when parts of the IC had 10 main
tracks!

The territory between Kensington and Gary (roughly 15-20 miles) is mostly
industrial with a smattering of residential neighborhoods alongside the
right of way.  There is some heavy-duty main line on this stretch,
particularly the 1956 relocation of the South Shore right-of-way along
the Indiana Toll Road that eliminated some nasty street running in East
Chicago.  However, there are several sharp, interurban-style curves through
a residential neighborhood just over the state line in Hammond, Indiana.
The South Shore is double track from Kensington to a point a few miles east
of the Gary station, with the exception of the now-infamous gauntlet bridge.

East of Gary, the factories and steel mils are left behind as South Shore
trains enter increasingly rural territory and pass the dunes on the Lake
Michigan shore.  The huge Bailly power generating station, destination
for many carloads of coal, is passed about 15 minutes after leaving Gary.
The Conrail (ex-New York Central) Buffalo-Chicago main line parallels the
South Shore part of the way east of Gary.

Alongside the tracks between Gary and Michigan City are several former
South Shore stations built in the so-called ``Insull Spanish'' style common
to the major Chicago-area interurbans.  This part of the South Shore is
single-track with frequent passing sidings equipped with spring switches --
no need to stop to throw switches here!  At the west edge of Michigan City,
the South Shore main line enters Tenth Street.  A number of South Shore
trains make streetcar-style flag stops in front of the grocery store on
Willard Ave.  Continuing east, trains leave Tenth Street, cross the Amtrak
(ex-Michigan Central) Porter-Detroit main line, and enter Eleventh St.
Along Eleventh St., South Shore trains may wait at several traffic lights
before reaching the old store front station in downtown Michigan City.  It
was a bizarre sight indeed in days past to see a Little Joe electric with
about thirty cars of freight stopped at a traffic light while strung along
several blocks' of Eleventh St!

At the east end of Michigan City is found the South Shore shops and
headquarters.  This point is the turnback point for most South Shore trains
and through trains to/from South Bend may drop or pick up cars at the Shops
station.  East of Shops, trains enter what is probably the nicest part of
the line from a scenic point-of-view.  The line cuts through the gently
rolling hills and passes a number of small lakes and tiny towns.  The
Conrail (ex-New York Central) main is paralleled for the last several miles
before entering South Bend.

One of the reasons the South Shore is so fascinating is that it retains
many characteristics of its interurban heritage at the same time as it
bears the characteristics of a conventional freight-hauling road.  In
spite of the fact that the classic 1926-era orange Pullman cars were retired
a decade ago, the South Shore remains most interesting.

I commented before that I recommended the entire 90-mile trip for anyone
that has roughly five hours to spend.  Paradoxically, it is difficult to
take a day trip to South Bend on weekdays since train 7 from Chicago is
the only daytime run to South Bend, departing Randolph St. at 8:45 a.m. and
arriving at South Bend airport at 11:00.  Going back west, train 16 leaves
South Bend at 12:01 p.m. and returns to Randolph St. at 2:22.  Service from
Chicago to Michigan City is on roughly 1-1/2 to 2 hour intervals on weekdays.

One note about South Shore train numbers.  Yes, eastbound trains DO have
odd numbers.  While this is counterintuitive, this situation is a result
of the South Shore's use of the IC between Chicago and Kensington.  South
Shore's ``backwards'' train numbering allows them to correspond with the
numbers used on the Illinois Central, which is a north-south railroad.

Traveling to South Bend is far on Saturdays and Sundays, as trains run on a
two-hour headway the entire distance.  There's about a 20-minute layover at
South Bend airport unless one cares to stay until the next returning train.

The above times are from the attractive November 21, 1992 issue of the
South Shore timetable.  For further information, write

    Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District
    601 N. Roeske Ave.
    Michigan City, IN  46360

or call

    [phone]

One way fare from downtown Chicago to South Bend is $8.65.
--
Jon Roma
Computing and Communications Services Office,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Internet:  [e-mail]          UUCP:      uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!roma