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.

By the time it was merged into the Union Pacific in 1995, the Chicago & North Western was one of the nations oldest surviving railroads, a testament to the Midwestern stoicism with which it had gone about its business since 1859. This illustrated history chronicles how C&NW emerged from a collection of regional carriers to become a strategic link between eastern railroads and the West. Author Tom Murray traces the railroads expansion as it extended secondary lines throughout the Midwest. He also explores C&NWs joint ownership of UP passenger trains and describes how the railroad answered challenges from regional rivals with the "400" series of passenger trains. As fascinating as the story are the hundreds of accompanying illustrations--historical photographs, archival images, route maps, and period print ads. The result is an entertaining and informative history of an iconic Midwestern railroad--a narrative that spans the decades from the 1850s to the 1990s and takes in steam and diesel motive power, freight and passenger operations, and all the key characters, events, and deals that figured in the Chicago & North Westerns rise and eventual demise.

Offers a history of the world famous Chicago "L," the elevated railroad that has operated since 1892 and has been ridden by more than ten billion people.

With roots dating back to 1851, the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) transported millions of passengers and countless tons of freight. Most trips were completed without incident. However, there were occasional mishaps, including derailments and collisions with other trains or highway vehicles. Most accidents were minor, while others made the national news, such as the October 30, 1972, collision of two commuter trains in Chicago that killed 45 passengers. The IC frequently had to deal with flooding, for the railroad ran in close proximity to several major rivers. In January and February 1937, much of the southern half of the railroad was shut down because of flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This book depicts many of the accidents that have taken place along the Illinois Central through the years. The photographs are drawn from numerous sources, including the railroad's own photographers, amateur photographers, and photography studios.

“An astute account of [Tokyo’s] commuter train network . . . and an intellectually stimulating invitation to rethink the interaction between humans and machines.” —Japan Forum With its infamously packed cars and disciplined commuters, Tokyo’s commuter train network is one of the most complex technical infrastructures on Earth. In An Anthropology of the Machine, Michael Fisch provides a nuanced perspective on how Tokyo’s commuter train network embodies the lived realities of technology in our modern world. Drawing on his fine-grained knowledge of transportation, work, and everyday life in Tokyo, Fisch shows how fitting into a system that operates on the extreme edge of sustainability can take a physical and emotional toll on a community while also creating a collective way of life—one with unique limitations and possibilities. An Anthropology of the Machine is a creative ethnographic study of the culture, history, and experience of commuting in Tokyo. At the same time, it is a theoretically ambitious attempt to think through our very relationship with technology and our possible ecological futures. Fisch provides an unblinking glimpse into what it might be like to inhabit a future in which more and more of our infrastructure—and the planet itself—will have to operate beyond capacity to accommodate our ever-growing population. “Not a ‘rage against the machine’ but an urge to find new ways of coexisting with technology.” —Contemporary Japan “An extraordinary study.” —Ethnos “A fascinating in-depth account of the innovations, inventions, sacrifices, and creativity required to ensure Tokyo’s millions of commuters keep rolling. It also provides much food for thought as our transportation systems become increasingly reliant on automated technology.” —Pacific Affairs

"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"--

Chicago's South Shore Line is a photographic essay of the last interurban electric railroad operating in the United States. Completed as the Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend Railway (CLS&SBR) connecting South Bend, Indiana, with Pullman, Illinois, in 1909, the line went into receivership in 1925. It reorganized as the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad (CSS&SBR) which rebuilt the railroad and provided direct passenger service from South Bend to downtown Chicago. The Great Depression forced the railroad into bankruptcy in 1933 but reorganized in 1938 and handled record ridership during World War II. After the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad acquired the railroad in 1970, the electric freight service was dieselized. Soaring passenger deficits resulted in the formation of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICDT). Beginning in 1984, the Venango River Corporation operated the line until it went bankrupt in 1988. The Anacostia & Pacific Company began operating the freight service in 1990, and NICDT handles passenger service. Chicago's South Shore Line documents the history of this railway that has survived obstacles to maintain passenger service over its original route.