A few photos of South Shore street running in Michigan City, Indiana. These were taken late on a Sunday afternoon, but downtown Michigan City isn't very lively any time.

 

The two miles through downtown Michigan City are all that remain of street running on the South Shore Line. The railroad would very much like to get rid of the street running, as these two miles are the most expensive to maintain on the entire system. They're studying the possibility of relocating adjacent to the CSX line farther south, eliminating many street crossings and providing many more parking spaces.

 

You can see all my South Shore photos, including a few going back to the seventies, here.

 

The old station has been closed for a long time. I was in it in the seventies when it was still in use, and it was an attractive station.

 

 

 

The current "station". Most Michigan City passengers board at Carroll Avenue, on the east side of town. The maintenance shops and storage tracks are at Carroll Avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow.. It's amazing how a station can be reduced to a small, steel and glass box. 

Neat pictures, I love the last one.

Pretty Awesome

Cool!

I don't know why, but I find this terrifying.  If I saw a train that large coming toward me on a street, I'd freak out.  Thank god I don't drive because I'm almost certain that I'd overcompensate and drive into a light pole on the other side of the street.

Rob, how fast do these come down the street?

Wow, that is fascinating!  Was this originally an interurban line?  Are there other commuter train lines (not LR, etc.) that have on-street segments like this?

As for the speed the South Shore operates during street running in Michigan City, I believe it's 10 mph but Rob can say for sure.

 

Yes, the South Shore line is one of this nation's last true interurbans. They're still pretty common in Europe, Japan and Russia, however.

 

There are some freight railroad lines that operate down the middle of streets like this, though I'm not aware of any commuter railroad services that do anymore. There is a service that's close -- Amtrak's frequent Capitol Corridor service between San Jose and Sacramento operates down the middle of the street in Oakland, Calif. See:

 

Here's some videos of "street running" railroads:

 

Erie, PA on NS's Cleveland - Buffalo line, which parallels the busier CSX line. NS's track was realigned next to the CSX mainline through Erie in 2001, ending this street running operation.

 

 

When you pull up this video, you'll see other videos where railroads ran down the middle of streets.

Wow... Imagine a freight train of the size of the one in the first video rumbling down your block.

Jeez..

Wow... Imagine a freight train of the size of the one in the first video rumbling down your block.

Jeez..

 

South Shore Freight is a separate business entity from the South Shore commuter operations, and I believe South Shore Freight actually owns the real estate. The commuter trains are run by NICTD (Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District). South Shore Freight switches several steel mills along the line and runs some lengthy freight trains west of Michigan City. Most freight traffic runs late at night outside the passenger schedules, and although I've seen the trains from the window of a motel where I used to stay, I've never gotten out to photograph at those hours.

 

Nominally the trains run at 10mph on the street in Michigan City, but it depends on conditions. When there's little traffic, like late night, they tend to pick up the pace a little. The traffic signals are probably synchronized with the railroad's signaling system; I've never seen a train that had to stop for a red light at a cross street.

 

On my return from Chicago on Monday evening, my train had an encounter with an auto at the west end of street-running, where the tracks diverge from the street. There's a crossing signal along the street and a bar painted on the pavement in advance of the point where the tracks diverge, with a sign admonishing drivers to "Stop Here When Light is Flashing". Some clown didn't "stop here" but pulled up a few feet beyond the bar.

 

He didn't get hit, but the clearance was extremely close and the operator stopped the train when the first train car had just about passed the auto. I could get a sort of angled view of what was going on. The car was at such an angle that he couldn't back up without backing into the train, and his front wheels were near the curb. The conductor climbed down and talked to the driver, who apparently didn't accede to his request. Next, both the operator and conductor approached the auto, and the driver pulled forward over the curb. The train proceeded, and the last I saw, the auto was sitting with its front wheels deeply stuck in mud on the park strip.

I notice it is single-track. Does the train running in the opposite direction run on a parallel street?

 

Does the South Shore line still go down some streets in Chicago's Southeast Side?

Most of the South Shore line is single-tracked east of Gary, where the train service is less frequent. There are passing sidings evenly spaced every 10 miles or so.

 

The South Shore runs on dedicated right of way in Chicago, and follows the busy Illinois Central Electric line for the last 5-10 miles into the Loop. If I'm not mistaken, nearly all at-grade railroad-street crossings in the city of Chicago were eliminated long ago. I seem to recall the city passed a law banning such crossings in the 1910s.

Following up on KJP's comment, the street running is all single track. There are storage tracks and siding at Carroll Avenue on the east side of Michigan City, and on the west side there's a passing siding. About the only time on-time trains will meet at Michigan City outside Carroll Avenue is on weekends and holidays, when trains run every two hours all day in each direction. Then, the eastbound train waits on the siding west of Michigan City until the westbound clears. I think that's also where the line diverges for the coal trains headed to the NIPSCO power plant.

 

I haven't seen a before/after track map comparison, but in the past few years there's been extensive track construction and improvement and resignaling between Gary and Dune Park. They've eliminated the infamous gantlet track on the bridge at Gary, scene of the worst wreck in the South Shore's history in the early 1990s, by adding a second span, and lengthened many sidings. I think they may have even laid track bridging the gap between some sidings, creating lengthy stretches of what probably qualifies as double track.

 

After departing Hegewisch westbound, there aren't many grade crossings, if any at all. Trains enter the elevated Metra Electric (Illinois Central) track at Kensington (Pullman)(115th Street) and make the first of several stops in Metra territory. From Kensington on, it's all grade-separated and impeccably maintained welded rail. The South Shore trains sometimes will reach about 60mph there, and it's smooth as silk.

 

On Metra's track they can only discharge passengers inbound and pick up passengers outbound. Other stops are: 63rd (flag); 55-56-57th Streets; McCormick Place (23rd) (weekends and auto show only); Roosevelt (12th); and Van Buren. All trains terminate at Randolph (Millennium). Probably a good thing, because that's where the track ends.

 

South Shore is traditionally pretty good at keeping schedules, although 5 - 15 minute delays haven't been uncommon. The last few times I've ridden, though, they've been precisely on the money at every stop from beginning to end. The punctuality Nazi in me worships that kind of performance!

 

If you follow this link to my South Shore web page, you'll find a link the the South Shore's web site and other info.

Back when I was a kid, 1970 I think, my granparents took me and my sister on a trip on the South Shore to Michigan City, just an excursion.  At that time the station was still operating, and what I recall behind the station was a metal shed canopy, and a big painted sign for the railroad.  The canopy was for buses, as the SS used to operate buses from the station as feeder lines...so the station doubled as a bus station as well as a train station.

 

I think the busses went up the shore to the resort towns in Michigan, up to New Buffalo.  Dont know if they went south or not into the farm country.

 

@@@

 

For street running nearby, the L&N (I guess CSX now) has street running down main street in LaGrange Ky, and also, believe it or not, downtown Frankfort KY. 

 

A famous (to railfans) bit of industrial spur street running is the KingsburyLakewood Branch in Chicago (which has an obscure historical link to the northern reaches of the CTA Red Line L route)

 

 

 

 

That is great!

 

 

They should have done this with the Newport KY line that used to go across the Purple People Bridge.

( I can't seem to find that old pic of BEFORE NOTL was built.  It is running around this forum somewhere.)

Most of the South Shore line is single-tracked east of Gary, where the train service is less frequent. There are passing sidings evenly spaced every 10 miles or so.

 

The South Shore runs on dedicated right of way in Chicago, and follows the busy Illinois Central Electric line for the last 5-10 miles into the Loop. If I'm not mistaken, nearly all at-grade railroad-street crossings in the city of Chicago were eliminated long ago. I seem to recall the city passed a law banning such crossings in the 1910s.

 

I know there was a train on the Southeast Side as recently as 20 years ago that was at grade level. I remember seeing it when I live in Chicago. This would be down near the old US Steel mill.

^

Yeah, that is a branch of the Metra Electric, I think.  Im not sure if its actually electric or they use diesels.  It terminates downt there in South Chicago.

 

 

Is that in Chicago or is that in Blue Island?

Is that in Chicago or is that in Blue Island?

 

Chicago, so far as I can tell; the Blue Island branch diverges south of Kensington/115th Street and heads southwest for quite a ways. On the map it appears to terminate at the Rock Island District line to Joliet. The South Chicago branch is shorter and diverges from the elevated Metra Electric main somewhere between 63rd and 75th, via a cut in the center of the embankment where the tracks drop down to grade and turn eastward. The line runs southeast from there and terminates at 93rd Street, very near where the Calumet River enters Lake Michigan.

 

^

Yeah, that is a branch of the Metra Electric, I think.  Im not sure if its actually electric or they use diesels.  It terminates downt there in South Chicago.

 

It's electrified; where the line crosses Stoney Island I've seen the catenary and the Metra bilevel electrics. There's a platform in the middle of the cross street, as I recall, at the intersection on the west side of Stony Island.