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| William Shapotkin posted Hard to believe that there was once 'L' service to Westchester! This is a view of a W/B trn arriving at the Roosevelt station. As difficult as it might be to believe, the IC (now CN) bridge over the one-time ROW still stands today! This location looks north from Roosevelt Rd from a point west of Westchester Blvd. Service on the WESTCHESTER 'L' ended in December 1951. Transit service was then assumed (by bus) on CTA Rt #17 -- WESTCHESTER and is today provided by PACE Rt #317 -- WESTCHESTER. While service today does operate seven-days-a-week, it does NOT operate twenty-four-hours-a-day and (with the exception of rush hours), seldom better than once and hour. From the Craig Pfannkuche Collection. Posted with Permission. Brian A Morgan: The locals call Westchester deadchester. Because there are more dead people in the Cemeteries than live people in Westchester.William Shapotkin: Brian A Morgan Have heard the same said about Forest Park... Robert Haugland: River Grove was called River Grave for the same reason. Brian A Morgan: William Shapotkin. The whole reason why the Westchester line was in operation was for the onetime funeral service on both the Elevated and the Roarin Elgin. William Shapotkin: Brian A Morgan Have heard that before -- but to-date have seen no documentation (i.e.: photos) of funeral trains operating on this line. They did operate on the CA&E mainline (serving Forest Park especially) and on the Mt Carmel Branch (even have pix of same at Mt Carmel). The real reason that this line was built was so that developers could sell lots in Westchester and the never-built CA&E line extended westerly from (what is today) Cermak/Mannhiem to Warrenville. For a detailed history, see |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on William's comment Your comment clarified for me what was happening on this 1920s map. The Westchester service used the eastern branch. The funeral trains used the western branch. 1927 Hinsdale and 1928 Elmhurst Quads @ 24,000 The next topo available is 1953, and this branch shows up as just a grade. |
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| William Shapotkin commented on Dennis' comment Here is a detailed track map, should be of even more help -- |
This map provides context for the two branches.
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| Brian Morgan posted via Dennis DeBruler - CA&E |
And this is how the branch related to the CTA. (North is to the right.)
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| 1938 Map from chicago-l; LoopChicago has a similar map; via Dennis DeBruler-L, cropped |
This is another example of high-tension wires marking the right-of-way of an interurban line.
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| Street View, Aug 2022 |
When I zoomed out, I noticed you could see the location of the former Westchester Branch a little west of Bellwood Ave & Westchester Blvd. The RoW is the reason Marshall Ave. is not part of the street grid. There is a church and green space south of I-290. And there are larger homes south of Roosevelt and another park where it curved west to the Cermak station.
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| Satellite |
We can see where the Cemetery Branch curved west because of the IC overpass and because of the odd shaped boundary lines.
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| Satellite |
And this tree line is another indicator of the route.
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| Satellite |
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