Re: narrow gauge trivia--Chicago Tunnel Company

IRM has gone to great efforts to save what is left of the Tunnel Company. Would be great to recreate some of its railroad, though the water table in Union is a bit high for an underground system. A locomotive and several ash cars were retrieved from the Field Museum when the tunnel was breached as Lake Shore Drive was rebuilt. The line to the museum actually took an elevator from 40 feet below to maybe 10 feet below the surface where it served the museum's boilers. The elevator was scrapped before the the locomotive and cars were retrieved - nearly all of the others in the system are long gone, and the Field Museum equipment was the easiest to retrieve. Interestingly most of Grant Park was built from excavation and ash fill from the tunnel system. Michigan Avenue used to be the lakefront roadway, early Illinois Central tracks (the now electrified tracks ducking under the Art Institute) were constructed on pilings at the shoreline.
Here are some photos, the tunnel equipment resides in the newer bus garage.
o. anderson






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2007 01:28AM by o anderson.