Nostalgia & History > Older flyovers in Chicago

With the Englewood flyover recently being placed in limited service, I was about to say this is the first flyover in Chicagoland whose primary benefit is to passenger trains until I remembered that there is a flyover at Kensington where the CSSB ducks under the IC. When was that built?
Are there any other flyovers in Chicago?

Andy
Jacksonville, FL

twropr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With the Englewood flyover recently being placed
> in limited service, I was about to say this is the
> first flyover in Chicagoland whose primary benefit
> is to passenger trains until I remembered that
> there is a flyover at Kensington where the CSSB
> ducks under the IC. When was that built?
> Are there any other flyovers in Chicago?

First one that comes to mind is CWI passenger mains over the BRC and CWI Freight mains, between 80th Street and 95th Street http://tinyurl.com/lt5766g. Look at the 1938 map, with less development around, the flyover is more easily seen than in the later pictures.

TAW

twropr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With the Englewood flyover recently being placed
> in limited service, I was about to say this is the
> first flyover in Chicagoland whose primary benefit
> is to passenger trains until I remembered that
> there is a flyover at Kensington where the CSSB
> ducks under the IC. When was that built?
> Are there any other flyovers in Chicago?
>
> Andy
> Jacksonville, FL

The primary beneficiary of the Englewood "flyover" is
NS freight traffic. The corporate welfare project was
justified in the press by babbling about delays
to non-existant high speed passenger trains (one
article even mentioned the Cardinal) but that was
just for the taxpaying suckers. NS has been buying
up houses and vacant lots in the area between 55th
St. and 51st St. Yards so they can have a mega intermodal
facility. They don't want their slow speed moves into
and out of the yard delayed by Metra trains.

I have no problem with the grade separation, just think
it should have been done on NS's dime.

The CSS&SB underpass at Kensington is a surprise to me.
I just checked google satellite and did not see one.

As far as the first grade separation to primarily benefit passenger
trains, I would nominate the one at the north end of Union Station
where the PRR / Milw joint tracks go under the leads to the CNW Station.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/14 12:08 by Englewood.

Andy, Chicago has plenty of flyovers. The one just mentioned over the north leads of Union Station is one. A major portion of the St. Charles Air Line is one big flyover. And the elimination of the diamonds at Grand Crossing [corrected] is also an important one. And there are plenty more.

Marty



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/14 20:42 by MartyBernard.

How about the "over and under" crossing of the CB&Q and IHB/B&OCT at Congress Park. I'm sure that is very old, and may date back to the very early 1900s

And their was the Rock Island traversing over the IHB/B&OCT/MILW/GTW at Broadway just south of Blue Island.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Marty, by "Grand Junction" do you mean Grand Crossing?

Carl Shaver
Lombard, IL

twropr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With the Englewood flyover recently being placed in limited service,
> I was about to say this is the first flyover in Chicagoland whose
> primary benefit is to passenger trains until I remembered that
> there is a flyover at Kensington where the CSSB ducks under the IC.
> When was that built? Are there any other flyovers in Chicago?


The "CSSB" does not duck under IC at Kensington and never has. The original arrangement was the CSS&SB coming up on the east side of the IC with footbridges for the passengers to transfer to IC trains. Then the Michigan Central line was tied in to the IC and the CSS&SB tied into the MC right before the ladder tracks crossing the IC freight and passenger lines to get to the IC suburban service. Eventually the MC was disconnected and the connection was changed to feed only the CSS&SB line. That then became a single track diamond across the four IC tracks with a connection to track four of the IC for freight. A couple of years ago the path through the IC interlocking was connected in two places to the north plant of the now Metra Electric line to provide a connection for NICTD that bypasses the Kensington station. No flyover.

What you may be thinking of is where the MED "South Chicago" branch ducks under the northbound MED tracks and parallel IC tracks. That is at 67th St, not Kensington. I believe that dates back to 1929.