I need a round trip ticket to Milwaukee from the Belmont Station, please!
Any train commuter who lives in Indiana and works in Chicago is aware of the South Shore Line but does any remember a train service from Milwuakee to Chicago?
Well, it was called the North Shore Line and had seven stations or stops within Chicago before train service headed to the northern burbs and Wisconsin. One of the stops was the Belmont Station in Lake View. The North Shore line was routed north along old North Western Company elevated tracks in Chicago with stations in the Loop, Belmont, and Wilson stations between 1916-1963. There is FB presence.
Brief History
images - Cera Chicago
1941 images - Cera Chicago
A 1946 Schedule Brochure
image below - TrolleyDodger
by Wikipedia
Modern Transport in 1916
(click to enlarge article below)
A Booklet about the Line
on Facebook
an advertisement
from the Chicago Daily Newspaper in 1925
1936 map below highlights the Belmont Station
as one of few stations in Chicago - the other was Wilson
1941 images - Cera Chicago
a zoomed view below
no service from Belmont on the weekends
Tickets for the North Shore Line
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images - Ebay
A 1948 Calendar
Chuck Westerman via
Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad
that can link with the Shore Shore Line in Chicago
that can link with the Shore Shore Line in Chicago
The Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad will probably be remembered as having the greatest of all electric interurbans (hybrid between tram or streetcar and regular train) for its high speed (of its' day), high capacity and magnificent roadbeds. It was a pioneer in radio-equipped parlor-lounge cars, had one of the first mechanical refrigerator cars, and in 1926 pioneered the piggyback movement of truck trailers on flat cars.
two versions of trains used
photo - Chuckman Collection
image from Mitch Markovitz
ad - John Smatlak via
Chicago North Shore Milwaukee Railroad-Facebook
photo - via Don Ross Group
photo - Benjamin Marshall Society
via Forgotten Chicago Discussion Group-Facebook
The Stations along the Route
images above from Wikipedia
photo - Man on Five
The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad introduced the luxurious Electroliner in 1941, complete with a tap room car and speeds of up to 85 miles an hour.
The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad introduced the luxurious Electroliner in 1941, complete with a tap room car and speeds of up to 85 miles an hour.
images - Ebay
postcard - Chuckman Collection
photo - Chuckman Collection
stopping at the Belmont Station - photo prior to 1963
photo - J.J. Sedelmaier via
stopped at Belmont Station prior to 1963
Jim Huffman via Chicago L on Facebook
"This was part of the CTA's efforts to separate the North
Shore' passengers from the CTA's. Prior to that a SB CNSM passenger (for
example) could get off at Howard, Wilson or Belmont and change to a CTA train
without paying a fare and ride the CTA to a station that the North Shore did
not stop.
The SB Wilson station platform was new along with the
connection from the freight line ramp back to the main line, allowing a bypass
around the main station. The Evanston trains then also utilized this bypass. A
new ramp was built from the ticket booth area to the new
platform. This was only for exiting SB North Shore passengers. If they
continued on the CTA they would then pay the CTA fare. At Belmont, a new (very
narrow) platform was built alongside the west track on the west side with a
stairway down to the street, exit only for SB passengers. This was removed after 1962."
A North Shore train departing
Sheridan Station heading north
1955 photo - trolleydodger
a sign that reads 'North Shore Line'
photo - Wilson Station
Alexander Spiewak via Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
photo - Wilson Station
An Electroliner/midpoint of a trip to Waukegan
photo - Rail Road Glory Days
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J.J. Sedelmaier via
Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad -Facebook
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J.J. Sedelmaier via
Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad -Facebook
The Milwaukee Terminal
Chuckman Collection 1948 photo
photos of station collected by J.J. Sedelmaier
The earliest North Shore precursor was organized by local businessmen at Waukegan, Illinois, in October, 1891, as the Waukegan & North Shore Rapid Transit Company with a seven mile system in Waukegan. In 1912 plans to merge the Northwestern Elevated Railroad with the Chicago & Milwaukee was needed to gain access to the downtown area of Chicago. By 1916 and after several disputes the two lines merged and renamed the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Railroad. On August 6, 1919, the North Shore had true service between Chicago and Milwaukee operating directly on the elevated tracks with a main Chicago station at Adams Street and Wabash Avenue in the downtown Loop. On September 15, 1920, the company opened a new terminal in Milwaukee at Sixth and Michigan streets. Built at a cost of $600,000, the new structure was said to be, with considerable exaggeration, the largest electric railway terminal in the United States.
photo - North Shore Line Menu
by Ray Peisciuk, contributor for Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
on the North Shore Line.
By 1932 the North Shore was making a painful financial recovery with lesser losses. It continued to display a high level of performance throughout the depression years.
A WPA project in the late 1930’s, together with the North Shore and Chicago North Western, carried out an extensive grade separation project at Glencoe, Winnetka and Kenilworth on its route south. It was nearly four-miles long, and eliminated over a dozen grade crossings as well as two stretches of operation through city streets.
The Return Trip to
Chicago's Northwestern Station
Electroliner in the Loop 1940's
The Final Years
1959 article
page 2
1959 article
History in Review 1963
(click to enlarge)
The last day was of this rail line occurred during the early morning hours of January 21, 1963, the interurban cars sped through the snowy Illinois and Wisconsin countryside for the last time as the midnight trains from Chicago and Milwaukee made their final runs. At 2:50 a.m. the last southbound train stopped at Chicago’s Roosevelt Road station, and five minutes later the last North Shore train rolled into the Milwaukee terminal. The trolley poles were pulled down and hooked, and the lights in the terminal were turned off ending an American interurban era.
According to a web source called Trolley Dodger
these postcards would be used to mail it back
to the sender for a keepsake.
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via Chuckman Collection & Ebay
another source for promotional posters
Post Notes:
View more images of the North Shore Line
via 'Man On Five'! View more posters by Oscar Rabe Hanson via Google!
View more images of the North Shore Line
via 'Man On Five'! View more posters by Oscar Rabe Hanson via Google!
Important Note:
These posts are exclusively used for educational purposes. I do not wish to gain monetary profit from this blog nor should anyone else without permission for the original source - thanks!
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