A&E Chicago, Aurora, Elgin Train Tour

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  • Опубликовано: 24 янв 2025

Комментарии •

  • @saraschieve
    @saraschieve 3 месяца назад +4

    It warms my heart to see people around the world to care about the CA&E

  • @MA-wq2ih
    @MA-wq2ih 2 года назад +7

    Thank you for posting this. I still have my VHS copy, but have nothing to play it on.
    The CA&E was a complicated case...it lost its connection to downtown Chicago because of the construction of the Eisenhower Expressway...which, to be fair, was very needed (in some form) by Chicago. And it operated in a commuter transit-heavy region...of the towns pictured, only Warrenville was not served by steam road commuter service.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 2 года назад +2

      M1903A1: Also the North Shore Line was paralleled by the Chicago Northwestern just like the CA&E was on it's SHORE LINE ROUTE throughout it's entire length. The Skokie Valley Route proved to be much faster. It too was paralleled by the Chicago Northwestern Freight Line. Only the SOUTH SHORE LINE had no passenger train competition being surrounded only by freight lines. The South Shore 's healthy freight service made it possible for that line to survive up to the time passenger operating subsidies arrived by the NICTD( NORTHERN INDIANA COMMUTER TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT).

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 Год назад +2

      M1903A1: Indeed it was a very long and drawn out process. From the discontinuance of passenger service on July 3 1957 - through final official abandonment July 6 1961 and trackage removal starting March 1962.

  • @sauljapuntich
    @sauljapuntich 3 дня назад

    My great grandpa was a conductor for that line. I still have his 1951 Adlake 300 lantern marked CA&E, in perfect condition.

  • @Quincy556
    @Quincy556 2 года назад +8

    Absolutely amazing video, I park in glen Ellyn and ride out to the fox river trail, or the opposite direction towards Lombard, villa park and maywood, on the Prarie path, it’s so cool to actually see what it was like when it was up and running, what a different world it was. I still can’t get over seeing where the Wheaton towers is now was a rail yard.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 2 года назад +2

      Philip Quinn: Where the North Shore Line Rail yards were in Mundelein also a very similar situation. There's now the Tower Garden Apartments.

    • @Quincy556
      @Quincy556 Год назад +1

      @@albertcarello619 cool, thanks for sharing

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 Год назад

      @@Quincy556 You're Welcome!

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 Год назад

      The L trains that would meet connecting CA&E trains were usually the CTA 4000 SERIES L CARS since they look the most Interurban -like.

  • @johngrantham5508
    @johngrantham5508 Год назад +1

    A fantastic video. Thank you. It took me back. What did this rail line in was the Congress expressway and cta train service as well as CNW getting the then new open gallery air-condition rail cars. The CTA line is now called the blue line. It goes from Forest Park Illinois to O'Hare airport. Today only the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad is the only Interurban around in North America.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 Год назад +1

      @johngrantham5508: Sadly no transit agencies were available back then which could have saved the railroad. None of the CA&E cars were air conditioned which also were against it. If the CA&E was saved by an agency like NICTD it no doubt would still be operating today taking on an appearance like today's SOUTH SHORE LINE with cars looking very similar and sounding exactly the same. Also I think due to the forever dangers of the 3rd rail the electrical system would be forced to be overhead catenary also similar to the South Shore Line. If we had a transit agency back then like NICTD or RTA and METRA this line and the NORTH SHORE LINE wouldn't be allowed to abandon or discontinue service.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 8 месяцев назад

      @johngrantham5508: The South Shore Line had and has the major advantage of being the only commuter line in Northwest Indiana. No other competition. The Indiana Tollway and expressways the Dan Ryan and I-57 did take a toll somewhat on South Shore Line Ridership to some extent. Commuters however found out that Expressway congestion soon made the Railroad a viable alternative and NICTD came to the rescue and saved the South Shore Line.

  • @tobyradabaugh5033
    @tobyradabaugh5033 Год назад +3

    I road a ca&e interuban at Illinois railway museum fascinating railroad

  • @asf07
    @asf07 Год назад +5

    This was a treat to watch. Spent 5 years living in the suburbs and using the IPP, I gained an interest in the CA&E and its history. I had no idea how fast those cars could travel, and it’s wild seeing those areas the line passed through so open.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 Год назад +1

      @asf07: They were faster than today's SOUTH SHORE LINE Trains for sure.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 8 месяцев назад +1

      @asf07: The CA&E TRAINS were speed champions. They were even faster than today's SOUTH SHORE LINE TRAINS higher speeds between stations and really quick to come to a stop!! The North Shore Line was another speed champion succeeding both the South Shore Line and CA&E in high speed operations as the North Shore Line entered Wisconsin at speeds around 90 miles an hour and attaining speeds around 80 miles an hour between Lake Bluff and the suburbs down through Skokie.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 7 месяцев назад

      @asfo7: Those trains were even faster than today's SOUTH SHORE LINE trains. Speeds of about 75 miles an hour and still make precise station stops!

  • @enroute6105
    @enroute6105 Год назад +1

    O wow at 2:32 your control operator blew a switch not lined for him. Also this is the original racetrack. The BN line adopted that term from this line.

    • @harri2626
      @harri2626 Год назад

      Surely this was a trailing junction with a spring point which opened as the car passed. It was set as seen for cars in the opposite direction.

    • @chooch1995
      @chooch1995 4 месяца назад

      O wow! Have you not ever heard of a spring switch?? That’s what you saw here…

  • @tomv4408
    @tomv4408 Год назад +3

    After service to downtown Chicago ended, wouldn't Aurora commuters have switched to the CB&Q commuter line, not CNW?

  • @harri2626
    @harri2626 Год назад +2

    A wonderful film of a wonderful system. It's ironic that the CTA transfer gave a quicker ride into town for CA&E passengers, and still patronage halved because of the inconvenience of the transfer - surely a lesson for today's operators. I suspect the actual speed of the cars seen in the film was about 20% lower because of the nature of film reproduction in those days.

  • @erbewayne6868
    @erbewayne6868 Год назад +2

    Does anyone know if the very large building in Elgin was the Elgin watch building. Many years ago my wife worked at a job that had many of the desks from the watch company.

    • @dannacamacho7590
      @dannacamacho7590 Год назад +2

      The took it out and renovated turned into a shopping place

    • @hunterkiller86
      @hunterkiller86 8 месяцев назад +2

      Yes, that was the elgin watch factory

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 8 месяцев назад

      @erbewayne6868: Yes it was " The ELGIN WATCH FACTORY". Now I believe that whole are is a shopping center

  • @albertcarello619
    @albertcarello619 Год назад

    The CTA trains that took tranferring passengers from the CA&E at Forest Park were almost always CTA'S 4000 SERIES L CARS THE CTA probably figuring that they're the most interurban-like and looking. This was during the years of late summer 1954-the end of 1956. In February 1957 all wooden L cars were removed from Garfield Park L Service and were then replaced by the newer6000 Series Lcars as well as the 4000Series L CARS which were still the bread and butter L cars at that time.

  • @ronaldanderson6481
    @ronaldanderson6481 7 месяцев назад +2

    The narrator is from Aurora , Neil Ormand , his wife Mary was, until recently
    in charge of the Aurora Historical Society. Note ; there is an update that is about two years old @be historic that follows the bike path

  • @davidstroud7428
    @davidstroud7428 Год назад +1

    When it comes to vehicles that run on rails I am a steam fan 100% but I find the us interurban railroads fascinating some reason but trams as they are called in the uk or street cars/ trolleys hold very little interest. Thanks from across the pond for posting some fabulous film

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 8 месяцев назад +2

      @davidstroud7428: You'll find Interurban LINES out in Philadelphia many decades old. SEPTA RUN . One example is the #100 NORRISTOWN -DARBY L Line many consider an Interurban. It cars look extremely high tech. And their Light Rail Trolley Lines the #101 Media Pennsylvania and the #102 Sharon Hills Lines many decades old. Their Electric Regional Rail Lines also can be considered as Interurbans.

  • @ShawnCalay
    @ShawnCalay 8 месяцев назад +1

    If it was still around today? Would be a money maker.

    • @MikeMancuso
      @MikeMancuso 7 месяцев назад

      Henry Ford won the war.

  • @albertcarello619
    @albertcarello619 2 года назад +4

    Sadly there was no transit agency back then like we have today which would have saved that line.l

    • @Quincy556
      @Quincy556 2 года назад +5

      As much as I wish I could agree with you I’m afraid the 290 expressway was pretty much the nail in the coffin, once that ran out to the western suburbs it was game over.

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 2 года назад +3

      @@Quincy556 Unfortunately especially with no transit agency in sight or existing.

    • @Quincy556
      @Quincy556 2 года назад +7

      @@albertcarello619 agreed. At least we got some good footage to showed us it was here and existed once. It really was so important to the western suburbs especially when you take into account that it was the 1st electrical utilities in the western suburbs you can still see two sub stations that generated power for the line, one is at prince crossing and the other one is a little further up the line towards Elgin.

    • @snagletoothscott3729
      @snagletoothscott3729 8 месяцев назад

      RTA would have dropped it like a heart attack. They struggled for over a decade as it was and certainty wouldn't have wanted a run down interurban that was competing with their higher capacity standard lines on the MLWK, CNW and CBQ.
      if you have x number of regular commuters between Aurora and Chicago your gonna want to make the most of the infrastructure. Why split those passengers between two lines, and double or even triple your operating costs, while not increasing revenue?

  • @drewhuff3457
    @drewhuff3457 Год назад +1

    Are any of the small depots or towers left from that line? Nice video of the history of the line.

    • @TomHolz-e9x
      @TomHolz-e9x 8 месяцев назад +3

      Clintonville in south Elgin still stands . It is now a model railroading club.

    • @ShawnCalay
      @ShawnCalay 8 месяцев назад +2

      Prince crossing road in westchicago

    • @albertcarello619
      @albertcarello619 8 месяцев назад +1

      @drewhuff3457: There are. The Villa Park Historical Society is one of them. Also there's still a station remnant in Lombard ILL.

    • @drewhuff3457
      @drewhuff3457 8 месяцев назад +1

      @@albertcarello619 that is good some were saved.

    • @m26a1pershing7
      @m26a1pershing7 7 месяцев назад +2

      the Elmhurst depot building is still there, occasionally used as an activity space