snipped-for-privacy@aol.com writes:
>> Danny Burste>> (Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe Railroad were associated from some time
>> in the late 1800s.)
>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Remember also the "Harvey Girls" who
>> were like 'stewardesses' on the Santa Fe trains and the 1940's movie
>> about the Harvey Girls, and they were always singing that song about
>> the railroad ... how did it go? Something about " ... my day, and the
>> Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe ..."
> Tying this (barely) into the thread currently running about WU clocks,
> part of the lyrics went:
> See the old smoke risin' 'round the bend,
> I reckon that she knows she's gonna meet a friend,
> Folks around these parts get the time of day,
> From the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe.
> Joe Morris
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Right you are, I do not have any prize
> for you, however. The AT&SF railroad _originally_ ran between
> Atichson, Kansas, through Topeka, Kansas and southwestward on to Santa
> Fe, New Mexico. Then, as Chicago became the railroad capitol of
> America (start of 20th century) the AT&SF continued pushing eastward,
> making its new terminus at Dearborn Station in Chicago, and relocating
> its headquarters in the 'Santa Fe Building' at Jackson Blvd. and
> Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. I hear your question now: ...
> ... *what was/is 'Dearborn Station'?* Well, along with Union Station
> (Canal Street and Madison) which still exists and is now the terminus
> for most intercity railroad traffic, there were Dearborn Station
> (Dearborn and Harrison Streets), Grand Central Station, (Baltimore &
> Ohio RR, Chesapeake RR's and others at Harrison and Wells Streets),
> Central Station (Illinois Central RR at Michigan and Roosevelt Road),
> LaSalle Street Station (various lines, LaSalle and Van Buren Streets)
> Northwestern Station (Canal and Randolph Streets) and others. All are
> gone, except for Northwestern Station and Union Station, and the
> various railroads still offering passenger service all merged their
> depots/terminals into one of those two locations.
"Not exactly" applies.
La Salle station (as the name at least), a rebuilt, greatly reduced facility, still exists, and has commuter service (only) running out of it. Tracks terminate a bit south of Congress Ave.
'Central Station' also nominally still exists; in use by electrified inter-urban (Illinois & South Shore Rwy) to Gary-Hammond.
All long-distance passenger rail (AMTRAK) is out of Union station, With commuter rail out of Union and Northwestern stations, as well as the aforementioned La Salle and Central stations.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Begging pardon, sir. I was talking about _inter-city_ rail traffic, not a commuter line. Furthermore, the physical platform approximatly at Roosevelt and Michigan Avenue is known by the suburban trains -- the only ones going through there now -- as 'Roosevelt Road', not as 'Central Station'. The Central Station building was torn down several years ago. PAT]