Passenger Trains > Last NYC steam in LaSalle Street Station?

With the forthcoming JOLIET ROCKET, it begs the question about what was the last steam locomotive in LaSalle Street Station.  Apparently it was SOUTHERN Railway 2-8-2 4501 on July 5, 1973.  She had just pulled the Circus Train from Baraboo, WI to Milwaukee just a couple of days earlier and was headed east on the INDEPENDENCE LIMITED, a one-way trip to Fort Wayne and points east on the N&W.

The station users were the NKP, CRI&P and NYC.

NKP 2-8-4 765 pulled the last steam passenger train on the NKP on June 11, 1958 from Chicago to East Wayne Yards and return with a public excursion. Does anybody have photos of that occasion?  After its last freight trip from Calumet to East Wayne on June 14, its fires were dropped on June 17. It served in stationary boiler service from Dec. 5 to 7 of 1958 and brought down the curtain as the last NKP Berkshire under steam by the railroad. The JOLIET ROCKET advertising shows NKP 764 on an excursion from LaSalle Street Station to East Wayne and return on June 30, 1957.

CRI&P 4-6-2 938 was the last Rock Island steam locomotive under steam, at LaSalle Street Station, on September 16, 1953.  It landed in Enid, Oklahoma for years and finally made its way to the Illinois Railway Museum in 1995.

New York Central steam seems to be a complete mystery............can anybody help with that?  Did it end with the NYC E-unit era on the Twentieth Century Limited in the late 1940's?  What about the Big Four trains from Cincinnati?  Michigan trains?

NKP779 wrote in part:
> What about the Big Four trains from Cincinnati? 
> Michigan trains?

The Big Four and the Michigan Central did not use LaSalle Street -- they departed from Central Station (12th Street), the IC station. 

from a history of Central Station:  The Michigan Central connected with the Illinois Central at Kensington. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (Big Four), also a New York Central line, joined the IC at Kankakee and also used Central Station. 

As everyone knows, a few (?) trains from Detroit
ran to La Salle St-- but did any Big Four trains
go there?

timz Wrote:
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> As everyone knows, a few (?) trains from Detroit ran to La Salle St-- but did any Big Four trains go there?

Big Four trains stayed at Central Station until it closed (this includes the Amtrak James Whitcomb Riley, today's Cardinal).  All Michigan Central trains were diverted to La Salle St. station by the NYC in the late 1950s.  I believe prior to that only the Twilight Limited used La Salle St.

Interesting, but does anybody know about the last of NYC steam at LaSalle Street Station?  

Ya know it makes me wonder...

I've seen several images of NYC steam switchers in and out of LaSalle.

Maybe it's likely that once steam was removed from the name trains, the lowly NYC switchers paid their dues until they were simply replaced. Not exactly as noteworthy as the last NKP steam out of LaSalle and maybe that's why it has escaped recollection.

Sure, the last steam may very well have been a switcher..........long after the J3a and Niagara class were gone.

NKP779 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With the forthcoming JOLIET ROCKET, it begs the
> question about what was the last steam locomotive
> in LaSalle Street Station.  Apparently it was
> SOUTHERN Railway 2-8-2 4501 on July 5, 1973.  She
> had just pulled the Circus Train from Baraboo, WI
> to Milwaukee just a couple of days earlier and was
> headed east on the INDEPENDENCE LIMITED, a one-way
> trip to Fort Wayne and points east on the N&W.
>
> The station users were the NKP, CRI&P and NYC.
>
> NKP 2-8-4 765 pulled the last steam passenger
> train on the NKP on June 11, 1958 from Chicago to
> East Wayne Yards and return with a public
> excursion. Does anybody have photos of that
> occasion?  

June 11, 1958 would have been on a Wednesday, an unlikely day for an excursion.

According to Kevin Holland, in his book, Nickel Plate Road Passenger Service - The Postwar Years, the last Nickel Plate-operated steam excursion took place on June 1, 1958 (a Sunday).  L1a Hudson #173 pulled a special from Calumet to Fort Wayne.

Joseph Welsh's book, Passenger Trains of Yesteryear: Chicago Eastbound has a photo taken in March 1955 of Nickel Plate L1a 172 with Train #8 after leaving LaSalle Street Station. 

Thanks for starting this interesting discussion.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/17 19:13 by RuleG.

I thought NKP's passenger steam engines only ran as far as Calumet yard and the passenger trains were ferried back and forth btw the passenger station and Calumet Yard by a non passenger engine like an H-5 (2-8-2) for example?

Victor A. Baird
​http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

NKP had a neat little trick for late westbound trains.  To allow time to fuel and service the ALco Bluebirds, they were taken off at Calumet and the standby or protection Hudson would take the train in to LaSalle Street Station and back out to Calumet  Yes, there have been photos published of a NKP Hudson coming out of the station with the eastbound passenger train - at least one view was published as a color postcard.

If you have better dates or details, please add or correct the narrative.  The June 11, 1958 date comes from THE NKP STORY by Rehor and it seldom is wrong.

Great thread.  There are probably people here who were on that excursion. Or know somebody who was.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great thread.  There are probably people here who
> were on that excursion. Or know somebody who was.

I was on the excursion, July 1973 that is. Train left from Union Station, not La Salle.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 07:41 by cnr6776.