Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad

Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad

CNS&M 700 near Illinois Route 131 in Lake Bluff, Illinois, circa 1957.
Reporting mark	CNSM
Locale	Northeast Illinois and Southeast Wisconsin
Dates of operation	1916–1963
Predecessor	Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead wires, 650 V DC Third rail, 600 V DC (Chicago 'L')
Headquarters	Highwood, Illinois

The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, also known as the North Shore Line, was an interurban railroad that served the northern Chicago metropolitan area, and southeastern Wisconsin. The North Shore Line provided electric freight and passenger service between the Chicago Loop and downtown Milwaukee. The high standard to which the railroad was built, in conjunction with its fast operating speeds and streamlined Electroliner service, led author and rail historian William D. Middleton to deem the North Shore Line a "super interurban".^[1]

The North Shore Line was formed in 1916,^[2] when industrialist Samuel Insull acquired the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railway Company. During the Roaring Twenties the railroad underwent a period of expansion and modernization until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought an end to Insull's electric utility empire. Despite subsequent financial woes, the North Shore Line survived the Great Depression and experienced record levels of passenger ridership during World War II. This change in fortunes would prove to be temporary however, and during the post-war era the railroad found itself faced with stiff competition from both the proliferation of the automobile and the modernization of commuter service on competitor railroads.^[3] After more than a decade of declines in both passenger ridership and profit, the company petitioned to end rail service in 1958, but faced several years of legal opposition from an organization of regular commuters.^[4] Despite efforts to save the railroad, the company was ultimately granted permission to end all rail service. The final trains reached their destinations in the early morning hours of January 22, 1963, and the North Shore Line became the final interurban railroad to undergo complete abandonment.^[4]

The Chicago Transit Authority Yellow Line currently operates over a short portion of the former right-of-way, while Amtrak and Metra serve various other former markets of the railroad. Several pieces of North Shore Line rolling stock have been preserved in railroad museums across the United States, and the former Dempster Street Station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Route

North Shore Line
Service abandoned 1963 Service abandoned prior to 1956 Milwaukee National St. Greenfield Ave. Mitchell St. Harrison St. Austin Ave. College Ave. South Milwaukee Rd. Oak Creek Seven Mile Rd. Six Mile Rd. Five Mile Rd. Four Mile Rd. Racine Berryville Birch Road Kenosha South Kenosha State Line Wisconsin Illinois Winthrop Harbor Zion Beach Station Holdridge's Crossing Glen Flora Ave. Edison Court Waukegan Mundelein St. Mary's of the Lake North Chicago Libertyville Thornbury Village North Chicago Junction Skokie Valley Route Shore Line Route Rondout Great Lakes Downey's Downey's Knollwood Lake Bluff Lake Bluff Deerpath Lake Forest Sacred Heart Academy Sheridan Elms Fort Sheridan Highwood Highmoor Vine Ave. Highland Park Briargate Beech St. Ravinia Woodridge Ravinia Park Braeside Northbrook Glencoe Hubbard Woods Winnetka Northfield Indian Hill Kenilworth Wilmette Linden Glenview Central Noyes Harmswoods Foster Church Dempster Skokie Valley Route Shore Line Route Howard Wilson Belmont Chicago Grand Merchandise Mart Randolph/ Wells Clark/Lake Madison/ Wells Quincy Randolph/Wabash LaSalle/ Van Buren Madison/Wabash State/ Van Buren Adams/Wabash Congress Roosevelt 43rd 61st South Park Cottage Grove University Dorchester

The North Shore Line of 1916 consisted of a main line whose southern terminus was at Church Street in Evanston, Illinois, somewhat north of the Chicago city limits. The line continued north through Chicago's wealthy north shore communities along Lake Michigan – Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, and Highland Park. The line continued through Highwood, location of the railroad's headquarters and main shops, and continued through Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, North Chicago, and Waukegan. From Waukegan, the line traversed Zion before entering Wisconsin and tapping Kenosha and Racine, finally reaching its northern terminus in Milwaukee. The entire main line in Illinois was double track, but pockets of single track remained in Wisconsin. While some of the line ran through city streets, most was on private right-of-way which, along with the paralleling line of the Chicago and North Western Railway bisected the business districts of the north shore communities as far north as Lake Bluff. There were some stretches of track where the train would reach a speed of 90 mph.^[4]

At Lake Bluff, a branch diverged to the west to serve Libertyville and Area, now Mundelein. At North Chicago Junction, a branch led to downtown Waukegan via city streets.^[4]

History

Early history

From street railway to interurban

In the early 1890s the city of Waukegan granted a franchise to the Waukegan & North Shore Rapid Transit Company for the construction and operation of a local street railway,^[5][6] but this initial effort was thwarted by the Panic of 1893.^[7]:14 At this time, the Chicago & North Western Railway was the sole provider of passenger rail service to the North Shore region, but residents reportedly desired the construction of "a new surface or elevated road"^[8] to provide an alternative to the steam-powered North Western service.

On July 3, 1894, local businessmen Dewitt L. Jones, S. D. Talcott and Charles Whitney founded the Bluff City Electric Street Railway Company,^[9]:14 and on April 15 the following year the Bluff City Electric received a franchise to begin construction.^[9]:15 Revenue service began on May 30, 1895, initially provided by two single-truck streetcars.^[9]:21 Shortly thereafter, the company began a program of expansion that would continue over the following two decades. On May 12, 1898, Bluff City Electric was acquired by the newly incorporated Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Company, putting it under the control of businessmen George A. Ball and A. C. Frost.^[9]:30 The new corporate identity of the railroad reflected its ultimate goals for expansion. The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric upgraded its facilities and purchased new rolling stock.^[7]:21 By fall of that year, the railroad’s electrification system had been modernized by electrical engineer Bion J. Arnold.^[9]:37 In August 1899 the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric had reached the city of Evanston, constructing a southern terminus at Church Street.^[7]:23 From Church Street, passengers could transfer to the Chicago & Evanston Line^[10] of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway.^[9]:45 With a rudimentary connection from Waukegan to Chicago then complete, the railroad turned its attention to the north.

The Insull years

The drumhead from the Gold Coast Limited, on display at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Hat pin from motorman on the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee railroad.

The original arrangement at the railroad's southern terminus in Evanston was for Chicago-bound passengers to transfer to the Northwestern Elevated (one "L" company) there. Following the railroad's acquisition by Samuel Insull, limited-stop North Shore Line trains began connecting with special "L" trains (also controlled by Insull) that ran express to the Chicago Loop. In 1919, the North Shore Line obtained trackage rights over the Northwestern Elevated and modified their cars with third rail equipment, giving them direct access to the Loop. The following year, a new terminal in Milwaukee was dedicated, and in succeeding years, the remaining single-track in Wisconsin was eliminated, with the exception of a one-half-mile stretch of single-track in southern Milwaukee that remained a minor bottleneck until the railroad's end.

During the early 1920s, the railroad instituted a number of named, limited-stop trains, some carrying deluxe dining and parlor/observation cars. One of the railroad's most distinctive named trains, inaugurated in 1917, was the Gold Coast Limited. The North Shore also created a network of motor coach (bus) lines to feed on potential traffic from territory not directly served by the company's trains.

Construction of the Skokie Valley route

The growth of the north shore communities provided good traffic levels for the railroad, but the increasing congestion of these communities' business districts impeded the railroad's desire to remain competitive with the competing steam railroads for longer-haul passenger business, in particular the Chicago-Milwaukee traffic. The North Shore therefore sought to build a new bypass line through the Skokie Valley – what was then undeveloped rural land approximately four to five miles west of the lake shore route.

The needed real estate purchases and financing were arranged in 1923 and 1924, and construction of the new line began in April 1924. The new line diverged from the Howard Street "L" station located at the boundary between Chicago and Evanston, ran west into the village of Niles Center (now Skokie), continuing to the north-northwest from that point through marshy countryside, paralleling the Skokie branch of the Chicago and North Western Railway. At South Upton, the new route ran eastward along the North Shore's Mundelein branch until just west of Lake Bluff, at which point a new connection diverged to the north onto what had been a freight-only branch which connected to the original main line at North Chicago Junction.

An arrangement was made with the Chicago Rapid Transit Company, wherein local "L" service was begun over the new line to the Dempster Street station in Niles Center in 1925. It had been anticipated that the opening of the new "L" line would help launch a real estate boom in the area as it had decades earlier in other parts of the Chicago area. The Great Depression put a damper on the area's growth, and Niles Center (by that time renamed Skokie) didn't really begin to experience a surge of growth until the 1950s.

Though the Niles Center elevated service failed to prosper, the transit operator benefited from the construction of new shop facilities on vacant land along the southern part of the Skokie Valley line. This spacious facility relieved older, more crowded facilities on the "L" system and remains to this day as the Chicago Transit Authority's primary maintenance facility for its rail system.

The remaining portion of the North Shore Line's new Skokie Valley line entered service in 1926. The new route consisted of 18 miles (29 km) of new double-track railroad, and the route was a mere 2.5 miles (4 km) longer than the old main line. Because it traversed mostly rural area, higher speeds could be sustained for a longer distance. In conjunction with the completion of the Skokie Valley route, the railroad had improved the Mundelein branch, building a new terminal and double-tracking the branch. Mundelein had previously been served by shuttle service connecting with main line trains at Lake Bluff; with the opening of the new Skokie Valley line on June 5, 1926, North Shore inaugurated an hourly Chicago-Mundelein local suburban service, interspersed with the hourly Chicago-Milwaukee limited-stop trains. Diversion of the Chicago-Milwaukee service onto the Skokie Valley line brought a reduction in travel time of 20 minutes.

The original main line – now designated by the railroad as the Shore Line – continued to host Chicago-Waukegan service, which consisted of limited-stop Chicago-Waukegan service as well as all-stop local service, each operating at roughly 30-minute headways.

The Great Depression

Initially after the stock market crash in 1929, business went on as usual, but as the depression deepened and as the Insull public utility empire began to crumble, the railroad entered receivership in 1932. The dire economic conditions and high unemployment caused ridership (and hence revenue) to plummet. A labor strike in 1938 precipitated by a 15% reduction in wages kept the railroad from operating for seven weeks.

In spite of the difficult conditions during the 1930s, the North Shore was able to undertake a major grade separation project along the Shore Line. The North Shore had for nearly a quarter century sought to eliminate the hazards and operating costs associated with running a busy railroad through the business districts of one built-up suburb after another. Prior to the Depression, grade separation projects had been funded by the railroads' private capital, and neither the North Shore Line nor the paralleling steam-operated Chicago and North Western Railway were in a financial position to undertake such a venture even before the stock market crash in 1929.

However, in 1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes (a Winnetka resident), announced a Public Works Administration program to "prime the pump" of the American economy. This timely program allowed the railroads and the communities of Winnetka and Glencoe to obtain federal funding for the grade separation of the two railroads through their business districts. The project was complicated by the need for construction work to take place under traffic – the two railroads combined operated more than 200 daily trains. The grade separation was completed in late 1941 – just nine weeks before the United States went to war – and cost $4.3 million.

To meet the competition of modern streamlined trains operating on the steam railroads connecting Chicago and Milwaukee, the North Shore in 1939 embarked on a program to modernize a portion of its steel coach fleet for both commuter and intercity service. Some 15 coaches dating from 1928 were modernized, practically from the ground up. All-electric heating was installed with a new ventilation system, new flooring, new interior decorations and fittings. The cars' exteriors were painted green with gray and red trim, and were dubbed "Greenliners". These cars were regularly assigned to Skokie Valley limited-stop service.

North Shore public timetable dated February 9, 1941, introducing the Electroliners

The most significant component of the passenger equipment modernization program was the purchase of two articulated streamlined trainsets. The trainsets consisted of four cars semi-permanently attached. The two end units included operating cabs and smoking and non-smoking coach seating. An additional car provided more coach seating, and the tavern/lounge car rounded out the four-car consist. These trains were dubbed Electroliners and were the railroad's premiere service run as fast as 90 mph between Dempster Street and North Chicago Junction on the North Shore's excellent track and roadbed. Entering service on February 9, 1941, each trainset was scheduled to run five one-way trips in Chicago-Milwaukee service every day. The Electroliners continued in service until the end of the railroad in 1963. The Electoliners were sold to the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, and were renamed Liberty Liners. The Liberty Liners were retired around 1979.

Wartime rush and post-war decline

The outbreak of World War II caused the railroads of the United States to see a sharp rise in traffic. Even before the imposition of rationing of fuel and rubber made auto travel difficult, the North Shore saw its freight and passenger traffic rise to record levels, in part due to the railroad serving important military facilities: the Army's Fort Sheridan just north of Highwood, and the Navy's Great Lakes Naval Training Station, just south of North Chicago. North Shore saw its traffic increase to the extent that the railroad was forced to borrow equipment from the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and fellow interurban Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, both former Insull properties.

Wartime earnings were high enough that the railroad's bankruptcy trustees were able to pay some of the company's outstanding debt and submit a reorganization plan. After the plan was approved, a new corporation (with a different corporate name from before) assumed the property in 1946.

The failure to resolve a wage dispute taken to the National Mediation Board in 1948 led to a 91-day work stoppage that spring. The dispute was resolved by increasing both fares and wages, though the company's employees continued to earn less than their counterparts at other area railroads. Simultaneously, a decline in rail travel began as initial postwar shortages of automobiles ended. These national trends—coupled with the lost revenue from the three-month strike and the effects of the strike-settling wage increase—created serious passenger revenue losses for the line. In 1949, the railroad sought to curtail some of its more unprofitable services. Dining car service (other than that on the Electroliners) was dropped, service (particularly on the Shore Line) was reduced, and the railroad applied unsuccessfully to drop Shore Line service altogether.

When the franchise held by the North Shore subsidiary operating streetcar service in Waukegan expired in 1947, the company felt that a renewal was not justified, the company replaced its city operations there with bus service. Shore Line trains that used the streetcar tracks to reach downtown Waukegan were simultaneously cut back to allow the tracks to be abandoned. The subsidiary city streetcar service in Milwaukee was discontinued in 1951; trackage remained, however, as it was used by main line services to access the North Shore's Milwaukee terminal.

The railroad repeated its petition to abandon Shore Line in 1954. Though rush hour traffic levels remained strong, off-peak ridership had declined sharply, leading to further losses. The remaining street running and numerous stops eliminated many of the advantages of rail transportation on this route. Travel time on the Shore Line was roughly twice that of the slightly longer Skokie Valley route. The completion of the Edens Expressway through the Skokie Valley in late 1951 caused mounting ridership losses reflected on the railroad's earnings statements. Though the abandonment proceedings garnered strong opposition in the communities affected, the railroad was successful in proving its case and was authorized to end service on the Shore Line. July 24, 1955 was the final day of service on that route. A short portion of the line was retained to provide access from North Chicago Junction to the railroad's shops in Highwood; the remainder of the line was removed, much of the right-of-way becoming automobile parking spaces for commuters who switched to the suburban trains of the parallel Chicago and North Western Railway.

End of rail service

With its transportation holdings proving increasingly unprofitable, the Susquehanna Corporation, a Delaware-based holding corporation formed after a 1953 reorganization,^[11] moved to cut its losses; in 1958, the railroad filed with state and federal regulatory authorities for the authority to discontinue all service and abandon the entire property. The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) examiner handling the case recommended abandonment, but the Illinois regulators recommended the continued operation of the railroad. For the time being, ridership remained fairly stable, but the completion of the Northwest Expressway (now the Kennedy Expressway) in late 1960 provided a link between the Edens Expressway and the Chicago Loop. The North Shore Line's passenger traffic began to hemorrhage at the rate of 46,000 passengers per month.

The Chicago Transit Authority researched the possibility of continuing truncated rail service between Waukegan and Howard Street in Chicago, with buses assuming operations between Lake Bluff and Mundelein.^[12] The report, released that October, revealed that passenger service had dropped to an average of 14,000 daily riders, and that the line was in dire need of modernization. The report recommended that the CTA only assume operations under the conditions that the acquisition of the railroad's property and modernization of the fleet could be achieved without cost to the agency, and an operational subsidy would be provided. In February 1961, an updated study was released, revealing that patronage had become even lighter than it had been when the initial study was conducted. Ultimately, no action was taken as a result of the study, as none of the recommended conditions could be met.

That February, the railroad requested expedited action by the ICC on its abandonment petition, citing its mounting losses. On May 17, 1962, the request was approved under the condition that no buyer stepped forward within 35 days. Both the Illinois regulators and an association of commuters opposed the action, the association offering to buy the railroad at salvage value but ultimately failing to raise sufficient funds to buy the property. That November, the state of Illinois ruled in favor of the ICC, and prevented the commuters association from having the abandonment postponed any further. The last full day of service came on January 20, 1963, with the final trains reaching their destination in the early hours of the following morning. Sporadic freight movements continued into the next week, as the remaining cars on the line were collected from various points on the system.

Post-abandonment

Most of the rails were removed in the succeeding two years. The Chicago Transit Authority purchased the southernmost portion of the Skokie Valley line between Howard Street and Dempster Street, Skokie, and in early 1964 obtained federal funding for what turned out to be a successful mass transportation pilot project, dubbing the new non-stop service as the "Skokie Swift." That same year, the Skokie Valley Transportation Council was formed by the towns of Glenview, Northbrook, Northfield and Skokie, with the goal of reviving rail service by funding an extension of the "Skokie Swift" further north.^[13] This was prevented, however, by the sale of the trackage between Dempster Street and Lake-Cook Road to the Chicago & North Western Railway for use as a freight line.^[14] The Union Pacific (into which the North Western was merged in 1995) continued to operate the line until 2001, and it was dismantled in 2004–05. CTA is studying possible extension of the Yellow Line along the North Shore right-of-way as far as Old Orchard Road, opposite the Old Orchard shopping center.

Amtrak's Hiawatha Service currently serves the passenger rail market between Chicago and Milwaukee. Metra Union Pacific / North Line commuter trains serve the market between Chicago and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Also, Metra's Milwaukee District / North Line and North Central Service now serve Libertyville and Mundelein, respectively.

The former North Shore right-of-way from the Illinois border to Milwaukee was sold off piecemeal to numerous private interests. In Illinois, extension to the Skokie Swift into the now-fully-developed territory in the Skokie Valley is discussed periodically. In other places, parts of the North Shore right of way have been turned into paved and limestone recreational trails, such as the Green Bay Trail, as part of the rails to trails program.

Preservation

Preserved North Shore Line Electroliner trainset 801/802 at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois

Electroliner trainset 801–802 is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois; the museum's holdings also include 15 other passenger and freight cars from the railroad. Both Electroliners saw use on SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line in Pennsylvania from 1964 to 1980 before being retired. The other Electroliner set, former 803–804, still painted in SEPTA "Liberty Liner" colors, is stored at the Rockhill Trolley Museum in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania. Other museums that have North Shore Line cars preserved include the Fox River Trolley Museum, in South Elgin, Illinois; the East Troy Electric Railroad Museum in East Troy, Wisconsin; the Shore Line Trolley Museum, in East Haven, Connecticut, and the Seashore Trolley Museum, in Kennebunkport, Maine. The Iowa Terminal Railroad, in Mason City, Iowa, also owns former North Shore Line equipment. Unrestored North Shore Line equipment is also in storage at several other museums.

The Dempster station has been preserved, although moved 150 feet to the east. Both the Briargate and Kenosha stations also survive, currently housing commercial operations.

References

Further reading

• Central Electric Railfans' Association (1962). Interurban to Milwaukee. Chicago, Illinois: CERA. 
• Central Electric Railfans' Association (1963). Route of the Electroliners: Bulletin No. 107 (1st edition). Chicago, Illinois: CERA. 
• Central Electric Railfans' Association (1975). Route of the Electroliners: Bulletin No. 107 (2nd edition). Chicago, Illinois: CERA. 

External links

• North Shore Line timeline, 1910–1919
• Station architect Arthur U. Gerber
• Maps of (excerpted from) the Routes of the Electroliners, Bulletin (No.) 107 - 1963 (1st edition), Central Electric Railfans' Association