Commuter, or Suburban Rail Passenger Train Services have been an important part of the Chicago Metro area for well over 100 years. Since the city and its suburbs are economically interdependent upon one another, passenger service could not be discontinued without severe economic impacts on the entire Chicago area. The Metra Commuter Rail Service and the Indiana Commuter Transportation District (South Shore) services have realized this and are providing a crucial life line for the many Chicago-Suburban corridors, and have made substantial gains and many expansions since the 1980s. This book reviews the commuter services offered in the Chicago area on the Chicago & North Western, The Milwaukee Road, the South Shore, the Illinois Central, the Rock Island, the Burlington, the Wabash, the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio, the South Shore, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroads before the development of the RTA, Metra and NICTD.

Subtitled: A Guide to the Metra System. Illinois Central cummuter trains have connected Hyde Part with downtown Chicago since 1856. This exceptional work chronicles the development history of Chicagos enviable commuter rail network - the Metra System, an umbrella organization coordinating the many railroads that operate trains in the greater Chicago area. Sftbd., 8 1/2x 11, 64 pgs., 50 b&w ill., 56 color.

Three midwestern railroads introduced luxury passenger service in 1935, competing for Chicago-Twin Cities business and leisure travelers. Chicago and North Western's modern, sleek, and fast rail line began with a conventional steam-powered train dubbed the "400" and named after its ambitious schedule: "400 miles in 400 minutes." In 1939, it evolved into an even faster diesel-powered streamlined train, eventually expanding into a fleet of streamliners that served Wisconsin, Minnesota, and upper Michigan. The 400 Story captures the excitement of this era, tracing the rise and fall of the premier passenger system that made "Twin Cities 400" a household term in the upper Midwest. Jim Scribbins had a lifetime career at Milwaukee Road and is the author of The Hiawatha Story (Minnesota, 2006) and four other books about upper midwestern railroads. He lives in West Bend, Wisconsin.

Appendices describe rolling stock and facilities and give operating and ridership statistics.

"A history of the development of Chicago as a railroad hub, from its earliest days to the present, illustrated with color and black and white photographs, maps, and railroad memorabilia"--