Stock Yards "L" Branch

(Satellite links are embedded throughout these notes)

Bruce Moffat commented on a posting by William Shapotkin of the C&WI 40th Street Tower to help date William's photo:

Apparently the black & white views supplied by William Shapotkin date from after 1958 because prior to that time this location was a rather rare triple level crossing! The top level was the elevated structure for the Stock Yards "L" which ran directly above the CJ tracks in this area. The elevated structure was actually owned by a sister company of the Chicago Junction/Union Stock Yards & Transit Company but operated by the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and successor CTA until October 7, 1957 when CTA discontinued operations. The USY&T demolished it the following year. Attached is a photo that was credited to the C&WI that was printed in some magazine (Maybe Railroad?) in the early to mid-1950's.

The NS/NYC/Chicago Junction/ Union Stock Yard & Transit railroad was built as part of the 1865 Union Stock Yard project to connect all of the trunk railroads that entered Chicago to the stock yard. It was intended to be a freight railroad, but it did run passenger service to help get the workers needed by not just the stock yards and the packing houses that were west of the stock yards, but also to the plants that made products from animal byproducts. At its peak, 50,000 workers needed to commute to this area. When the city forced the Chicago Junction, along with the other railroads, to elevate their tracks, they decided to build two routes along the elevation, one for freight and another for passengers. The South Side Elevated, which later became part of the CTA, signed a 50-year lease with the Chicago Junction to operate the passenger route and opened it on April 8, 1908. It was a shuttle service between the Indiana Transfer Station and the seven stations on its route. [Chicago-L]

The branch went west from the Indiana Transfer Station (buildings near the right side of this image along the tracks).

1938 Aerial East Photo from ILHAP (Satellite  It is no longer a transfer station because the branches have been removed)

It headed west over the NYC and Rock Island. Note the shadow of the truss bridge that took the passenger line over the trunk railroads. This would be a triple level crossing because the Chicago Junction went under the trunk railroads.

1938 Aerial East Photo from ILHAP (Satellite  Not only is the "L" long gone, Metra now owns the remaining trunk line tracks)

Then we come to the crossing of the Pennsy and C&WI captured in the photo at the top. Again, we can see the shadow of the truss bridge.

1938 Aerial East Photo from ILHAP (Satellite   When they split up Conrail, NS got both the Pennsy trunk line and the NYC Chicago Junction. 

Between Union and Emerald Avenues, it turned south and then worked its way back west.

1938 Aerial West Photo from ILHAP  Nothing left in a satellite image.

It terminated in a counterclockwise loop around Packingtown. "The loop generally followed Exchange Avenue, Packers Avenue, 44th Street, and Racine Avenue." [Chicago-L]

1938 Aerial West Photo 

Satellite  The edges of this image is where the loop ran.

David M Laz posted a couple of pictures with the comment:

DID YOU KNOW THAT there were actually two loops in Chicago, the other being the loop around the old stockyards where it made stops at all four meet packing companies? ? It was just a single track loop, not two way. Imagine the smell working on the "L"'s that made that route!

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I speculated on William's posting:
Dennis DeBruler I just looked it up. The bonds for the Dan Ryan Expressway were issued in 1955 and it opened in 1961. I wonder if that is why the "L" quit in 1957 and it was soon torn down. Because of the decline of the stock yards, the expense of bridging over the Dan Ryan was too much.

Bruce Moffat explained: "The abandonment had nothing to do with the express way. Ridership had dwindled to almost nothing and the line was a money looser that CTA had been trying to dump for years." The reason for the shutdown was the expiration of the 50-year lease.