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We arrive in Chicago – US Rail Journeys Series 3 Episode 32
‘We arrive in Chicago’ completes our journey on the Texas Eagle. In 62 hours we have passed through cities and countryside, deserts and lush pasture, an amazing, ever changing, panorama.
Please click on a thumbnail to see the photographs that go with this podcast:
Leaving Pontiac:
Our stop in Pontiac is brief, a few seconds maybe and worthy of a Formula 1 pit stop.
Pontiac station hosts both the Lincoln Service, running between Chicago Union Station and the Gateway Transportation Center in St. Louis, and the Texas Eagle. The station has a single, low-level side platform and a modern station building for passengers. It complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Originally a stop on the Chicago and Alton Railroad the old station depot, built in 1901, was replaced with the current one in 2017.
The old station, one block north of the new station, becomes a pizzeria.
Joliet:
The railway reaches Joliet began in 1852, enabling the city to rapidly grow into a railway hub. In 1909 an improvement project removes level crossings and constructs a new Union Station.
Joliet Union Station opens in 1912, serving at its peak over 100 trains a day. The decline in passenger numbers in the late 20th century coupled with the increase in freight traffic leads to issues because of congestion.
The station is 37.2 miles from Chicago Union Station and in 2018 it is the 51st busiest of Metra’s 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 996 passengers boarding on weekdays.
In 2024, Joliet is served by eight Lincoln Service trains (four each way) and two Texas Eagle trains (one each way), every day and in 2023 hosts nearly 60,600 Amtrak passengers.
We reach Chicago:
Our journey into Chicago takes us through a varied landscape. We see old industry pouring pollution into the atmosphere, narrow streets and run down buildings.
Conversely we also pass modern housing with pleasant gardens and then a yacht marina, home to leisure craft. In the distance there are the skyscrapers of the city, their top floors shrouded in the clouds.
For me the high point is the Canal Street bridge, also called the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge, which is a vertical-lift bridge across the south branch of the Chicago River. Opening in 1915 it becomes an official Chicago Landmark on December 12, 2007.
To visit the Amtrak website please follow this link.
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