The St. Charles Air Line is a rail line in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, partially owned by the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, and

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

. It is currently used by the

for freight trains and by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

passenger trains. The line runs east from south of Union Station to a junction with

at 16th Street interlocking (the CN line then continues towards the shore of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

, where it turns south under McCormick Place, passing over and then paralleling the

Metra Electric Line The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Station), in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs. As of 2018, it is the fifth ...

History

The line was chartered in 1852 as the Chicago, St. Charles and Mississippi Air Line Railroad, planned to run from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

west to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

via St. Charles. The Chicago depot would be at the northeast corner of Stewart Avenue and 16th Street. This line would compete with the

Galena and Chicago Union Railroad The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU) was a railroad running west from Chicago to Freeport, Illinois, never reaching Galena, Illinois. A later route went to Clinton, Iowa. Incorporated in 1836, the G&CU became the first railroad built out ...

, which thus opposed the project, and chartered the Dixon Air Line Railroad from St. Charles west to

Dixon, Illinois Dixon is a city and the county seat of Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,733 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,941 in 2000. The city is named after founder John Dixon, who operated a rope ferry service across the R ...

. Eventually the St. Charles Air Line, an unincorporated jointly owned line, was formed as a reorganization of the project. It only built from the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

(also used by the

Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in ...

) on

, near 14th Street, west along the original alignment to Western Avenue. From there a connection was built north to the

, finished January 1, 1856. (The west end of the jointly owned line was, and still is, the west bank of the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...

.) On March 30, the G&CU and

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

began using it to access the Illinois Central's Central Stationbr>
The planned alignment west of Western Avenue was later used by the

Chicago and Northern Pacific Railroad (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and piers in the Fox River at St. Charles had influenced predecessors of the Chicago Great Western Railway to build their line through that town. The

also built a line into Chicago, intersecting the Air Line at Western Avenue. Eventually, the line came under equal control of the four companies that used it: the

and

Chicago and North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

(successor to the

). The Air Line's track was originally on ground level with numerous street crossings. In the late 1890s, work was begun to raise the line onto fill and replace the grade crossings with overpasses. As originally constructed, the east end of the Air Line connected with the IC with connections that curved to the north to serve both Central Station and the yards and warehouses through downtown up to the Chicago River. There was a shorter, steeper ramp down for passenger trains to get into Central Station while a longer, less severe incline was used by freight trains. In 1968, a southward-facing connection was built, generally known as the South Leg because together with the original lines a wye was formed which was occasionally used to turn passenger trains around. The South Leg enables trains using the Air Line to travel directly to and from the south. After the coming of Amtrak in May 1971, the remaining passenger trains were gradually shifted from Central Station to Union Station and the northern connections were removed. This coincided with the gradual elimination of yards to the north (this area is the Illinois Center office, hotel, and retail complex today). Central Station closed in 1972 and was razed in 1974. Now the South Leg is the only connection from the IC mainline to the Air Line. The CB&Q has since become part of the

, and the C&NW is now part of the

, each of which still owns a 1/4 share. The MCRR has sold its share to the

, now owned by the

's '' City of New Orleans'', '' Illini'', and ''

Saluki The Saluki, also known as the Persian Greyhound, is a standardised breed developed from sighthounds – dogs that hunt primarily by sight rather than scent – that was once used by nomadic tribes to run down game animals. The dog was origina ...

'' utilize this line with a time-consuming switchback into Union Station from its west end. The

Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program is a $4.6 billion program to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of freight, commuter and intercity passenger rail and to reduce highway delay in the Chicago regio ...

(CREATE) is in the preliminary design phase for the Grand Crossing Project. This project will reroute the passenger trains from St. Charles Air Line to Norfolk Southern's Chicago Line in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood in Chicago. The CN also uses it as a freight connection. As of October 2021, a large project was nearing completion to replace a bridge passing over the future

Wells Street Wells Street is a street in the City of Westminster. It runs from Riding House Street in the north to Oxford Street in the south. It is crossed by Mortimer Street and Eastcastle Street. It is joined on its western side by Marylebone Passage a ...

Extension, and rebuild retaining walls on both lines between the 16th St. interlocking and the Chicago River. However, this section of the line has been inactive since May 2020 when the adjacent St. Charles Air Line Bascule Bridge crossing the river was elevated due to work on the west side of the river. The

's employee timetable dated July 2011 states: "St. Charles Air Line is a connection between Metra 16th St. Interlocking and BNSF Union Ave. BNSF and UP jointly own the line between Union Ave. and a point 70 feet west of the Bascule Bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River. CN owns the line from that point to 16th St. ... Both tracks are designated Non-Main Track, CN Rule 520 applies, and is also designated East-West. The north track is Track 1, and the south track is Track 2. ... The bridge is controlled by CSX Bridge Tender."

References

{{Reflist
Railroad History Database
*Brandi McLoughlin

(1885) *Green Diamond #43 November 1996, publication of the Illinois Central Historical Society Rail lines in Illinois Illinois Central Railroad Michigan Central Railroad Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Chicago and North Western Railway BNSF Railway lines Union Pacific Railroad lines Canadian National Railway lines

History

See also

References