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Englewood Station or Englewood Union Station in Chicago, Illinois' south side Englewood neighborhood was a crucial junction and passenger depot for three railroads – the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Railroad – although it was for the eastbound streamliners of the latter two that the station was truly famous. Englewood Station also served passenger trains of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate), which operated over the New York Central via trackage rights. The station closed in 1978 when the Rock Island closed intercity rail operations and intermediate stops between LaSalle Street and Gresham. There are presently no plans to reopen the station.
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History
editEnglewood Station stood at the intersection of several rail lines:
- The New York Central (NYC) and the Rock Island shared trackage from Englewood to the north into LaSalle Street Station. At Englewood, they split: the Rock Island headed southwest, the New York Central east into Indiana.
- The Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway crossed the Rock Island at this junction. To the north, its trackage headed into Union Station. The PRR then closely paralleled the NYC for several miles into Indiana.
Three-fourths of a mile west of this station, at 63rd Street and Wallace Street, stood another union station, nicknamed "Little Englewood."[1][2][3]
The station itself stood near the corner of 63rd and State Streets and opened in 1898.[2]
Englewood was the first stop eastbound, and penultimate such westbound, for both PRR's Broadway Limited and NYC's 20th Century Limited. Both trains would leave their respective terminals in Chicago, stop to embark passengers at Englewood, and leave the station simultaneously, each racing the other for several miles before they diverged.
At its peak the station serviced 52 of the 100 largest cities in the United States.[2]
The westbound Rockets of the Rock Island also stopped at Englewood. Connections could be made at Englewood between any of the railroads at that intersection. Rock Island ran their intercity services here as late at 1978.[4]
Upon the decline of intercity passenger traffic, and PRR and NYC's merger into Penn Central (and that railroad's bankruptcy and reorganization into Conrail), much of the trackage has been removed, and the commuter trains on the Metra Rock Island District no longer stop at the station, which was closed in the late 1970s. The former tracks of the Pennsylvania are now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway and still carry freight and intercity Amtrak passengers to Union Station. The station was demolished in the late 70s, but some scattered remnants are visible around the railroad overpass near 63rd Street and State Street.[2]
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Scene at the station for the arrival of the 1926 Navy Midshipmen football team in November 1926 ahead of the Army–Navy Game at Soldier Field -
A Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Aerotrain at Englewood on April 21, 1965. -
The Rocky Mountain Rocket at Englewood on April 21, 1965.
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Notes
edit- ^ "Little Englewood sign". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
- ^ a b c d "Author tells story of Chicago's transportation past". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
- ^ "Index of Railroad Stations, 1326". Official Guide of the Railways. 78 (12). National Railway Publication Company. May 1946.
- ^ "All-America Schedules". Amtrak. January 8, 1078. p. 40 – via Museum of Railway Timetables.
References
edit- Welsh, Joseph (2002). Passenger Trains of Yesteryear-Chicago Eastbound. Kalmbach Publishing Company. ISBN 0-89024-602-5.
External links
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