(2023 update: It appears LakeStatesArchive broke all of these links!
A construction photo; 1909; 1909; 1909; overpass construction: 1909, 1909)
The first railroad from Chicago was the Galena and Chicago Union. But soon after G&CU was started, the Illinois Central's branch from Centralia to Chicago and the Rock Island were also started. The original plan for the IC route was to build west of Lake Calumet and proceed due north to the Chicago River. But before the IC could implement this plan, the Rock Island interests had bought "considerable acreage along the very right-of-way that the Illinois Central had hoped would provide a route to the heart of Chicago. Not only had they bought up much of the needed land, but they had also immediately begun to build." (ChiRail, p32)
The first two railroads to build to Chicago from the East were the Michigan Central (MC) from Detroit and the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana (MS&NI) from Toledo (later part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern then NYC). Both of these railroads intended to shorten the trip for people and cargo coming from the Erie Canal to the I&M Canal by eliminating the circuitous water route up Lake Huron and then down Lake Michigan. But their entry into Chicago was stymied because there was no provision for granting charters to out-of-state railroads. To get around this issue, the IC agreed to award trackage rights to MC while the RI granted the MS&NI access to Chicago. Since the RI was the first line constructed, MS&NI was the first eastern railroad to enter Chicago on Feb 20, 1852. (ChiRail, p32)
Since the Rock Island beat the IC to the preferred route, the IC obtained permission from Chicago to build north through Lake Michigan. At that time, Michigan Avenue was at the shoreline, and it needed a breakwater that the IC would provide when it built its railroad in the lake. But to get to the lakeshore, the IC had to cross the branch line that the RI had built southeast from 63rd street to the Indiana border for the MS&NI. Since the IC was allied with the MC, an enemy of the MS&NI, it was denied permission to cross the MS&NI trackage. And to emphasize the point, they posted a guard to prevent unauthorized construction activity. They expected the IC to build an overpass. But the IC was not going to spend money on an overpass, one night they simply kidnapped the guard and by dawn a frog was installed. Each railroad ran its trains with the assumption that they had the right-of-way until 1853 when a wreck killed 18 people. The rule was established that a train had to stop at a crossing and proceed only after verifying that there were no other trains approaching. (ChiRail, p 42-43)
The MS&NI became part of the New York Central System (and now the Norfolk Southern) and those tracks were later elevated because of Chicago city ordinances requiring grade separations between railroads and streets. But it appears that somehow the IC dodged the requirement to elevate its tracks. Looking at a sattellite map, the NS/NYC tracks now go over the CN/IC tracks. (Update: looking again, the CN/IC tracks are elevated towards the north.)
The crossing is known as the Grand Crossing. I can't get this view because this looks like the photographer is on CN/IC property. Checking a satellite image, I was surprised that most of these IC tracks are still present.
Bob Lalich found a Barriger photo from the perspective of the Pennsy tracks.
Signalling Timeline indicates the "gate signal" was developed in 1860.
Railway Age Gazette article abouth the elevation project. (eBook) (source)
 |
| David Daruszka updated Postcard image of Grand Crossing known as "The Most Dangerous Crossing in the World", and the location of Chicago's first fatal railroad collision. Dennis DeBruler This is the first view I've seen of this crossing that includes the gasometer (gas holder). It was gone by 1938 even though there were still a lot of other gasometers in the city in 1938. The elevation of the tracks and the addition of the NKP connection must have needed that land. |
A different colorization of the same photo.
 |
| John David posted Chicago has scores of railroad junctions where various lines cross one another but this one was infamous: Grand Crossing. In the old days when a railroad under construction needed to cross the tracks of a rival railroad sometimes a crossing would be installed whether the opposing railroad liked it or not, let the chips fall where they may. Kind of like your neighbor digging a trench in your yard to install a sidewalk without your permission. A collision between two trains in 1853 killed scores of people but the crossing was not eliminated until 1912 when one line was elevated, creating a bridge over the other. A fascinating history of this crossing can be read here: https://chicagology.com/grandjunction/ John David posted again David Daruszka shared Follow the link to the article. Darryl Van Nort: Some of the rivalries got so heated that one line would cross another without installing a diamond… just lay the tracks right over the other line’s. Not sure this happened in Chicago but it did “out west.” David Daruszka: Darryl Van Nort This actually did happen at Grand Crossing. The Michigan Southern refused to let the IC cross their tracks and posted a guard there. The IC got the guard drunk and built the crossing at night. Paul Webb shared |
 |
| John David commented on his post from Jeff Lewis of Chicagoland Railfan: Grand Crossing is at E 75th and South Chicago Ave. It is the name of the neighborhood. The 6 tracks in the foreground (lower L, upper R) are Illinois Central. Those tracks were grade separated above street level. The 3 sets of double track crossing R to L are, from the foreground, Pennsy (PFW&S), NYC (LS&MS) and Michigan Central (NYC). They were grade separated above the IC tracks. Eventually, Nickle Plate snuck into the mix from the south, making for a very interesting junction. |
.png) |
| Dennis DeBruler commented on John's comment The Michigan Central shared the IC tracks instead of the LS&MS tracks. The MC joined the IC down around Kensinton. Before the elevation, the NKP came north along the east side of the IC tracks, then looped out to cross the Pennsy tracks and join the LS&MS tracks. After elevation, the NKP crossed the IC tracks and went under the Pennsy+NYC tracks to join the NYC. This NKP route was for passenger trains so it has been abandoned. But the bridge that took it over the IC still exists. It is one of the many bridges to nowhere left by the railroads in Chicago. And the NKP underpass still exists. |
 |
| David Daruszka commented on John's second post The grade separation in progress. Tom Logan Novak: Wow, what a find! I am guessing it's from 1912. |
 |
Cindy Gray posted
Update: Robert Daly posted
"The Most Dangerous Crossing In The World"-- a postcard mailed July 17 1910 of Grand Crossing on Chicago's South Side. The Illinois Central crossed the Lake Shore (NYC) and Fort Wayne (PRR) at grade. Crossing was grade-separated in 1910.
Paul Jevert also posted
I.C. Grand Crossing junction at 75th and So. Chicago Avenue in 1910 before the Chicago Terminal Grade separation and Electrification Project of 1922 ! The "Worlds Most Dangerous Railroad Crossing" ! View looks Northwest indicating I.C. trackage left to right at 30 degrees. Pennsylvania trackage in foreground and LS&MS in background.
David Daruszka I would imagine that prior to the grade separation this had all been interlocked with signals.Paul Jevert "NO" Interlocked signals ! STOP boards displayed in all four directions and instructions in "Special Instructions" section of each Road's TT pertaining to protocol at Grand Crossing Junction. "High Ball" from Gate tender, yellow flag by day and yellow lamp by night, northward, green flag by day, green lantern by night, southward was required in direction of move in track gauge required to proceed. His shanty is in center of view. Each Road had their own telegrapher on duty at their respective towers and telephone communication after 1900.The Chicago Terminal tracks weren't "Automatic Block Signaled" until 1892 in time for the "Columbian Exposition" of 1893. Suburban trains were run with train orders or TT schedule until electrification. David Daruszka I find it hard to fathom that this remained an non-interlocked junction until electrification. Jon Roma I thought the grade separation at Grand Crossing was completed in 1912, 14 years before electrification. David Daruszka Jon Roma is correct. The grade separation took place in 1912. Dennis DeBruler Originally, both the Rock Island and a corporate predecessor to the NYC simply assumed they had the right of way. But after a wreck killed 18 people in 1853, they invented the stop-and-proceed rule. https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../railroad...
Bob Lalich Also, before grade separation, the NKP crossed the PFW&C tracks to connect to the LS&MS. I believe the crossings and connection were east of the IC but I have not seen documentation supporting that. Paul Jevert posted again Illinois Central R.R. , Lake Shore & Michigan Southern R.R. , Pennsylvania R.R. , Nickel Plate R.R. "GRAND CROSSING Junction located at 7500 south and So. Chicago Avenue. The railroad crossings were grade separated and re-leveled to eliminate this confusing mess by 1912. Sophia Plummer: Wow, wonder how it looks today! Sophia Plummer The toll bridge and NS (former Pennsy and NYC) go over CN/IC, which goes over the city streets.The name "Grand Crossing" comes from the fact that at one time, the six-track IC was crossed diagonally (at grade) by the two-track Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (later New York Central) and the three-track Pittsburgh Ft Wayne & Chicago (later Pennsylvania Railroad). Thus, each [street]car had to x/o all ELEVEN TRACKS to continue its journey thru the area! The city forced a grade-separation (completed in 1916), which made Grand Crossing not-so-grand.
Bob Lalich Also, before grade separation, the NKP crossed the PFW&C tracks to connect to the LS&MS. I believe the crossings and connection were east of the IC but I have not seen documentation supporting that. |
 |
| Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob Lalich's comment on William's post This diagram shows the old connection on the east side. https://books.google.com/books?id=1egRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA889... But there are a couple of photos in these notes that show that there was a connector in the southwest quadrant as well. https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../railroad... |
The first railroad from Chicago was the Galena and Chicago Union. But soon after G&CU was started, the Illinois Central's branch from Centralia to Chicago and the Rock Island were also started. The original plan for the IC route was to build west of Lake Calumet and proceed due north to the Chicago River. But before the IC could implement this plan, the Rock Island interests had bought "considerable acreage along the very right-of-way that the Illinois Central had hoped would provide a route to the heart of Chicago. Not only had they bought up much of the needed land, but they had also immediately begun to build." (ChiRail, p32)
The first two railroads to build to Chicago from the East were the Michigan Central (MC) from Detroit and the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana (MS&NI) from Toledo (later part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern then NYC). Both of these railroads intended to shorten the trip for people and cargo coming from the Erie Canal to the I&M Canal by eliminating the circuitous water route up Lake Huron and then down Lake Michigan. But their entry into Chicago was stymied because there was no provision for granting charters to out-of-state railroads. To get around this issue, the IC agreed to award trackage rights to MC while the RI granted the MS&NI access to Chicago. Since the RI was the first line constructed, MS&NI was the first eastern railroad to enter Chicago on Feb 20, 1852. (ChiRail, p32)
Since the Rock Island beat the IC to the preferred route, the IC obtained permission from Chicago to build north through Lake Michigan. At that time, Michigan Avenue was at the shoreline, and it needed a breakwater that the IC would provide when it built its railroad in the lake. But to get to the lakeshore, the IC had to cross the branch line that the RI had built southeast from 63rd street to the Indiana border for the MS&NI. Since the IC was allied with the MC, an enemy of the MS&NI, it was denied permission to cross the MS&NI trackage. And to emphasize the point, they posted a guard to prevent unauthorized construction activity. They expected the IC to build an overpass. But the IC was not going to spend money on an overpass, one night they simply kidnapped the guard and by dawn a frog was installed. Each railroad ran its trains with the assumption that they had the right-of-way until 1853 when a wreck killed 18 people. The rule was established that a train had to stop at a crossing and proceed only after verifying that there were no other trains approaching. (ChiRail, p 42-43)
The MS&NI became part of the New York Central System (and now the Norfolk Southern) and those tracks were later elevated because of Chicago city ordinances requiring grade separations between railroads and streets. But it appears that somehow the IC dodged the requirement to elevate its tracks. Looking at a sattellite map, the NS/NYC tracks now go over the CN/IC tracks. (Update: looking again, the CN/IC tracks are elevated towards the north.)
The crossing is known as the Grand Crossing. I can't get this view because this looks like the photographer is on CN/IC property. Checking a satellite image, I was surprised that most of these IC tracks are still present.
 |
| .pdf copy from 1915 Smoke Abatement Report, p. 488 |
 |
| David Daruska posted in Facebook |
 |
| David Daruszka posted Northbound on Metra Electric Track 4, approaching 75th Street. The bridges are former Pennsy and NYC heritage. |
 |
| American-Rails.com posted Illinois Central's train #1, the southbound "City of New Orleans," is seen here at the Grand Crossing overpass in Chicago on March 31, 1964. Roger Puta photo. |
 |
| David Daruszka posted Grand Crossing |
 |
| Jon Roma commented on a post An article about Grand Crossing from the Chicago Daily Tribune, July 21, 1907 David Daruszka  The news article is inaccurate in that the IC was not the first railroad through Grand Crossing. It was the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and they refused to allow the IC to cross them. The IC cut in their crossover in the dead of night. |
 |
| Marty Bernard posted Illinois Central GP9 9219 built Jan. 1957 at 75th and Skyway (Grand Crossing), Chicago, IL, March 31, 1964. The stack on the short hood shows she had a steam generator. This was supposed to be spring break from College. Right! Nhat Quan V. Do: Is this looking south? What's the spur on the left? Jeff Lewis: Nhat Quan V. Do Yes, south. The boxcars on the elevated line are on the NYC connector. The spur beneath led to a freight house. |
 |
| Larry Candilas commented on Marty's post |
 |
| safe_image for The Greater Grand Crossing Frog War Marc Kaplan: How does one just build across an existing ROW without authorization and no one noticed? |
 |
| Dennis DeBruler commented on Marc's comment The early 1850s was the wild west of railroad construction. Even after the crossing was built, each railroad refused to recognize the existence of the other and refused to stop for the crossing. It was this wreck that caused the introduction of the "stop and proceed" protocol that we now take for granted. To provide more context, back then a railroad had to get a charter from each of the states it crossed. Instead of dealing with Illinois state, Michigan Central got IC to agree to build their Illinois part and Lake Shore and Michigan Southern got the Rock Island to build their Illinois part. In fact, IC's segment to MC was the first part of the IC that was completed. Pennsy built into Chicago along the LS&MS route so the crossing in the photo had IC going across Pennsy and NYC. Today, the former routes of NYC and Pennsy, along with the Skyway, still goes over the IC. And the IC itself is elevated. |
A comment on a posting: Lawrence Smith since we're on the subject of the NKP and Grand Crossing - here r some links to old engineering articles on the original track elevation project - https://books.google.com/books?id=1egRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA889... and https://books.google.com/books?id=YAUjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA995...
Signalling Timeline indicates the "gate signal" was developed in 1860.
Railway Age Gazette article abouth the elevation project. (eBook) (source)
Hey Dennis, thanks for the link to my blog.
ReplyDeleteIn the race between a car and a train, everyone loses. Let's remember to yield the right of way at railroad crossings and avoid taking unnecessary risks. Share this message to save lives.
ReplyDelete