Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1853
The Accident on the Michigan Road.
The express train which left this city at 9 o’clock Monday night, on the Southern Michigan Road, came in collision at the crossing, about eight miles out with an emigrant train coming into Chicago on the Michigan Central Railroad.1
The locomotive of the express train struck the sixth car, filled with passengers, and in a moment the locomotive, tender, baggage car and one second class car of the express train, together with three emigrant cars of the Michigan Central train, were a heap of ruins.
On the northerly side of the Central track, one first-class passenger car was thrown upon its side, and groans and cries assailed the ears of those who hastened from the rest of the first-class cars which retained their position. Those in this car were aided to escape from the confusion, and from the danger of suffocation, and it was found that none were dangerously injured, though several received severe bruises.
The scene which presented itself upon the other side of the Central track cannot be fully described, and time will not efface the memory of that terrible and heart-rending spectacle, from the mind of the unwilling beholder.
We saw a heap of ruins, from beneath which shrieked out upon the midnight air, cries for help, mingled with the deeper toned groans of the dying. One by one, those who were able, crawled out from the rubbish, while the uninjured were fully employed in rendering assistance to those unable to extricate themselves.
Each moment the scene became, if possible, more heart-rending. Here sat a poor woman with a broken limb, and her little daughter stood by her side, weeping and begging for assistance. They lay a young German, dead, her sister wringing her hands and crying, “Mein bruder, mein bruder!” Here a child crying, “O, my father,” there a woman wailing for the loss of her infant. A woman dead, her mangled features but partially concealed by a cloak, and at her side only a faithful dog.
Three children, from three to ten years of age, were taken from the water, and placed side by side, at the head of one sat the bereaved father. No one came to claim the other two.
An infant was picked out of the ruins unharmed, but no mother could be found for it.
Those most dangerously injured were conveyed into the unharmed cars, and rendered as comfortable as possible. With some the struggle between life and deathseemed uncertain.
In this place was exhibited the kindness of woman’s nature, and the sympathy of many a true heart found expression in timely action.
It was the general opinion that from twelve to fifteen bodies lay beneath the ruins, though it was impossible to ascertain with any accuracy. Four bodies had been taken out.—From fifty to sixty were seriously injured, and some of these cannot recover. The emigrants on the Central road suffered the most.
The cause of this collision, rarely if ever equalled in its fatal and terible results, is beyond conjecture. The night was as bright as a nearly full moon and the clearest atmosphere could make it. The two roads cross each other at right angles and run for a long distance in a straight line. It seems as if it was impossible for both engineers not to have seen each other trains for the distance of at least half a mile before reaching the crossing. But comment as yet on the cause is out of the question.
The news of the collision, which occurred about 10 o’clock, was brought to the city by the locomotive of the emigrant train. Messengers were dispatched to the city from the Depot, and Drs. Palmer and Clark were soon under way. At the Central Railroad Depot, a locomotive and passenger car were in waiting for them, and by twelve o’clock they had reached the fatal scene.
The physicians proceeded immediately to do all in their power fr the sufferers. At 2½ o’clock the first class passengers from Chicago were transferred to the Central passenger car and brought up to the City. Up to that time no locomotives had come from the city to bear away the wounded and dying who had been crushed in the cars of that road, and yet four hours and a half had elapsed since the collision! and yet those poor creatures in all the agonies of broken limbs and smashed bodies could not be conveyed to any house or bed except on that road.
It must be borne in mind that each of the tracks which concentrate at this crossing, are flanked with water on both sides, so that the getting from one place to another, is at all points difficult, and at some impossible.
The ruins of the cars was in itself a terrible sight. Piled up in the water lay an immense heap of wheels, iron railings, splinters, doors, &c. &c. On one side lay the crushed locomotive, still emitting steam as late as 2 o’clock.Perched on the top of all, at the height of twelve feet above the water’s edge, was the baggage car of the Express train, with one-half perfectly sound, not even the end glass broken. The other end had burst open, and a portion of the trunks had rolled down the heap into the water below.
Beneath one edge of the car appeared the bald head and one hand of an old man. The leg of one and the body of another were also visible beneath the car.
To the east of the ruins burned a bright fire kindled from the splinters, whose light flickered across the quiet forms of the three children, and shone brightly upon the passengers who gathered around it. Another fire was also burning west of the Express train. No ine in the first-class passenger car was seriously injured.
Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1853
VERDICT.
We, the Jury, affirm and say the within named persons came to their death by the collision which took place between the Michigan Souther and Michigan Central Rail Roads, on the night of 25th day of April, A.D. 1853, caused by the gross carelessness and neglect of Moses M. Tyler, Conductor on the Michigan Central Railroad, and Thomas Backman, Engineer of said Michigan Central Railroad.—also, Herbert I. Whitney, Conductor on Michigan Southern Railroad, and Edward Davis, Engineer on said Michigan Southern Railroad.
We find and consider them guilt of gross neglect and carelessness, and hold them as the cause of the death of of the within named persons whose bodies have been laid before us.
We likewise hold Mr. Jurret, superintendent of the Machine shop at Michigan City, to the public as censurable in not furnishing the Engineer of the Freight and Emigrant Train of the Central Railroad now in question, with proper materials for lights on his Engine, and deem unfit for the station he now occupies.
Dated, April 27th, 1853
Edward E. Castle—Foreman.2
Excerpted from Inter Ocean, October 27, 1901
Grand Crossing, one of the most dangerous railroad crossings in the world, is soon to have its tracks elevated. For several weeks Superintendent John O’Neil of the city track-elevation department has kept his office working on an ordinance providing for the elevation. The measure is now completed, and, although the railroads are allowed six years in which to make the changes, it is expected that they will commence operations within a few weeks o months at the latest, and that within two years the dangerous crossing will be wholly abolished.
Six trunk lines cross at the junction. They are the Illinois Central, the Monon, and the Michigan Central on one set of tracks, and intersecting them the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroads, and the Nickel Plate line. A little over half a mile from the crossing the Baltimore & Ohio tracks branch from the right of way of the Illinois Central, which will oblige this road to elevate for the short distance necessary to reach the new grade.
The Illinois Central has eight tracks, over which 250 trains pass every twenty-four hours. The other roads have an equal number of tracks, but do not run as many trains. There are sixty-four separate crossings in this network of tracks.
Not only will the surface crossing be abolished but the grade crossing of the railroads will be done away with, The Illinois Central will elevate 17.93 miles of track, or 2.5 miles of right of way. These tracks are also used by the Monon route and the Michigan Central. Sixteen crossings will be abolished, and eleven subways will take their place Paralleling the southern half of this right-of-way, the Nickel Plate will elevate 2,765 miles of tracks, and assist in the construction of five new subways. In order to reach the new level of the Illinois Central tracks it will be necessary for the Baltimore & Ohio to elevate one-fifth of a mile of double track, and assist in the construction of two subways.
After ceasing to parallel the Illinois Central tracks, the Nickel Plate (New York, Chicago & St. Louis railway) crosses them and comes into the city on the tracks of the Lake Shore. The Lake Shore elevates 7.74 miles of track—half of which is used by the Nickel Plate—while the other road elevates 8.863 miles of trackage.
The total length of trackage elevated will be 37.689 miles.
Twenty-seven street crossings will be eliminated and in their stead twenty-two subways will be built as follows:
Under the Lake Shore, Pennsylvania, and Nickel Plate roads, at Vincennes avenue, St. Lawrence avenue, Seventy-First street, Ciottage Grove avenue, Seventy-Third street, Greenwood avenue, Seventy-Fifth street;
Lake Shore and Pennsylvania, at Kimbark avenue, Adams avenue, Seventy-Ninth street, and Stony Island Island avenue;
Under the Illinois Central, Michigan Central, Monon, and B. & O., at Seventieth street and Seventy-First street; without the B. & O., at Seventy-Second street, Seventy-Third street, Seventy-Fifth street, South Chicago avenue;
In conjunction with th Nickel Plate, at Seventy-Sixth, Seventy-Eighth, Seventy-Ninth, Eighty-First, and Eighty-Third streets.
At present there is no street crossing at Grand Crossing, but after the elevation Seventy-Sixth street and Chauncey avenue will both be opened. The South Chicago electric line now crosses the the Illinois Central tracks at South Chicago avenue and the danger of serious accidents which have been narrowly averted several times at this crossing will be done away with.
Grand Crossing
Rand McNally
1897
Chicago Tribune, January 13, 1907
Y Sept. 1, 1907, Grand Crossing, as a terror to life, limb, and vehicle, will have ceased to exist, unless something unforeseen appears to interfere with the work of track elevation now under way.
After nine months of work, the expenditure of $1,500,000, and the performance of several unique feats of railroad right of way work, the Grand Crossing district, at present prolific of more crossing accidents than any railroad crossing in the city, will be so changed that the visitor who knows Grand Crossing today never would recognize it in its transformation. The name “Grand Crossing,” which has stood for “accidents” for the last thirty years of the city’s history, will have another significance. The grade crossing, the cause of these accidents, will be done away with. Grand Crossing will be as safe as any part of the city.
To bring this about the four great trunk lines owning and operating over the tracks in the Grand Crossing district, will do the following work:
Illinois Central elevates from Sixty-seventh street to Seventy-ninth street. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern and Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago elevates from South Park avenue to Greenwood avenue.
Takes Twenty Lives a Year.
This work, together with $11,000 spent by two minor companies operating over the tracks in this district, bring the total cost of this elevation nearly to $1,500,000. While a part of this amount will be spent of the tracks lying outside of the Grand Crossing district, most of it will go into the work directly within Grand Crossing, and the crossings here are responsible for the while expenditure.
But the amount of work, money, and the time that will be taken in the completion of this task is nothing of human lives are to be valued above money. As it stands at present, Grand Crossing takes an annual toll of twenty lives from the people who are forced to cross its deadly maze of trackage, and this number annually will be saved by the tracks’ elevation.
Grand Crossing as it exists today is the most complicated, and therefore the most deadly, railroad district in the world. Nowhere but in a railroad center of the proportions of Chicago, and nowhere in that center but in the exact spot where it is located could such a district exist. It is, in fact, the railroad clearing house of the city to the south. What this means may be understood when it is known that nearly 1,000 trains, or about two trains in three minutes, pass through daily. This is 365,000 trains a year.
Many Millions of Cars Yearly.
Estimating each train at ten cars, a low estimate when it is remembered that freight trains approximating sixty cars each are not unfamiliar here, 2,300,000 cars and 365,000 locomotives and tenders roll over the Grand Crossing Tracks each year. To accommodate this mass of rolling stock thee are forty through tracks in the district, not to mention scores of sidings and spurs. A score of policemen, watchmen, and other railroad employes are needed to keep street cars, vehicles, and pedestrians from meeting destruction at the street crossings. As many switchmen and flagmen keep the railroads from smashups and wrecks.
Grand Crossing, properly speaking, is a series of crossings. From Seventy-third street to Seventy-ninth street, embracing a territory two blocks wide, centering on Woodlawn avenue, the streets, block, and everything else practically was given over to the control and occupancy of the railroads. Woodlawn avenue in this vicinity, Noble court, Cary avenue, and other small streets running parallel with the right of way are streets in name only. Most of them occupied by tracks, and such as are not so are surrounded by them that they are nothing more or less than stretches of cinders.
A Solid Block of Tracks.
The block lying between Seventy-fifth street and Seventy-sixth, and which are bounded on the west by Woodlawn avenue and the east by Chauncey avenue, is no block at all. It is nothing more or less than a mass of railroad tracks, street car tracks, switches, towers, depots, intermingled with n occasional cinder covered spot of ground that could not be used for tracks or for anything else. This is the only block in the city, possibly the only block in the world, that literally has been wiped out of existence as a block in this matter. It is the dirtiest city block in the world. It can’t be anything else, because it all is dirt. The ground is dirt, cinders, coal, waste, oil, mainly covered with dirty wood and iron, and the air is dirty with the refuse of thousands of locomotives. Nobody lives in this block; no structure is stationary with the exception of two or three shelter sheds for passengers. It is just a mass of tracks.
The Illinois Central tracks run north and south, a dozen wide the tracks of the Lake Shore and Fort Wayne cross them diagonally from northwest to southeast. These, with their tributaries, take up all the space that originally was meant to be occupied houses, stores, or whatever usually falls to a city block.
In the heart of this block is the crossing that has long ago come to be looked upon as the “Grand Crossing.” It is located at Seventy-fifth street and South Chicago avenue. South Chicago avenue follows the Lake Shore and Fort Wayne tracks, crossing Seventy-fifth street at Woodlawn avenue, and cutting directly through the heart of the maze. This is the crossing that has been so productive of accidents and death as to win it the title of “The Bucket of Blood.”
Half a dozen through car lines feed into the line that run on South Chicago avenue. Practically all lines with a terminus on the southern end of the city contribute to the thousand of people that are carried daily between Cottage Grove avenue and South Chicago on this one line.The same is true of the Seventy-fifth and Auburn Park South Chicago line. While these lines are near the “edge” of the city, at the rush hours of the day they are as well patronized as the Milwaukee avenue, Clark street, or other lines with their principal terminals downtown. South Chicago, with its steel mills and multiple industries, and a hundred smaller factories in the Calumet district, draw thousands of working people over these lines every day. They cross the Grand Crossing tracks at the same point. Seventy-fifth street crossing from straight west to east, and South Chicago avenue running over them diagonally. The result is that in the morning and evening there is a congestion of cars and pedestrians at this point such as is found nowhere else but downtown.
Through oversight in municipal legislation there is nothing to prevent the railroads from likewise making these hours the busiest of the day. The Illinois Central makes a specialty of suburban business. The express and local trains at the rush hours are only a few minutes apart. The same is a lesser degree is true of the other roads. So when the citizen of this section goes to his work in the morning or comes from it in the evening he must dodge trains of all kinds and running at all speeds, whether be on foot or in a street car. After he gets over in safety, though if the tail of hair breadth escapes at this crossing were told it would make volumes of thrilling stories. Sometimes he does not cross safely. Then the papers chronicle in two or three lines another accident at Grand Crossing. For the last fifteen years twenty such deaths have been recorded each year.
Seventy-sixth street has been the scene of more pathetic accidents than any crossing in this vicinity. This street is used by children on their way to school. In times past the railroads found it inconvenient to maintain a sufficient number of watchmen at this crossing. The consequence was that dozens of helpless little ones were ground to pieces under the wheels of passing trains.
Investigation Train Kills Schoolgirl.
What really was the cause of immediate action on the part of the city council in relation to the elevation of these tracks was the killing of a little schoolgirl 15 years of age. A special train bearing representatives of all the railroads concerned, members of the council, newspaper men, and citizens was making a tour over this district. At Seventy-sixth street the train stopped with a jerk. Officials, aldermen, newspaper men, and others piled out to see what was the trouble. The engineer had stopped quickly, so the trouble was caught on the last wheels of the tender. It was a 15 year old girl, and in her hands were a book, a slate, and a handful of flowers for her teacher. A few months later an ordnance ordering the elevation of the tracks in this district was passed by the council.
The date of the passage of this ordnance was Sept. 29, 1902. So it will be just five years between the passage of the ordnance and the completion of the work ordered by the same.
“The Illinois Central is mainly to blame for this delay,” says Track Elevation Expert John O’Neill. “The Central is a mean road, and I don’t care who knows that I say so, If it wasn’t it would have completed this work long ago and saved scores of lives and thousands of dollars’ worth of time.”
One Man Yearly Toll to Pay.
But finally, in less than a year at least, the work is to be done. The Central elevates and the other other roads go under it. People using street cars or streets in the vicinity of Grand Crossing no longer will need to fear for their lives. School children may go to school and return in safety, using the subways below the tracks where they have had to dodge freight, passenger and mail trains. Mothers no longer will need to dread a delay of a few minutes on the part of their children; they no longer need hurry to the crossing expecting to find their dear ones mangled by flying wheels; working people may come and go in security. Grand Crossing will cease to be a terror. Another move to make Chicago less of a destroyer of human life will have been made—next September.
Grand Crossing
Rand McNally
1912
Railway Gazette, May 3, 1912
One of the most complicated problems in grade separation which the railways entering Chicago have had to solve in connection with their track elevation work was found at Grand Crossing near Seventy-fifth street and South Chicago avenue, where the six-track north and south line of the Illinois Central crossed the double-track line of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and the three-tracks of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, and the New York, Chicago & St. Louis crossed the Pennsylvania and connected with the Lake Shore.
Preliminary Track Elevation.
The first ordinance covering the track elevation in this district was passed by the city council of Chicago, September 29, 1902, and included the district between Sixty-seventh and Seventy-ninth streets on the Illinois Central and Seventy-third street and Stony Island avenue on the east and west roads. This ordinance provided for the completion of the work by December 31, 1907, but owing to the desire of the roads to eliminate the grade crossings between their tracks and the difficulty in reaching an agreement as to a division of the cost of such work, the time for the completion of the work was later extended one year.
In March, 1907, the Illinois Central began elevating its tracks between Sixty-seventh and Seventy-third streets, involving the construction of four subways over Seventieth, Seventy-first, Seventy-second and Seventy-third streets. The tracks were raised on sand fill with temporary pile trestles over the streets, work being carried on continuously from one outside track to the other by shifting traffic from track to track. The permanent subways which were later built at the four streets in this section are of reinforced concrete, the floor slabs being built in a yard at some distance from the work. In connection with the de sign of these slabs elaborate tests were made of the strength of full size specimens as described in the Railway Age Gazette of July 31, 1908. During the same season the tracks were elevated over Seventy-ninth street, which involved the raising of the west three tracks of the company’s Fordham yard on the run-off south of Eighty-second street, where a connection with the yard is maintained. These tracks were lifted by a derrick car, using clamps hanging from the end of the boom which were attached to the rails. The track was raised about 18 in. at each lift and held in position by the derrick, while sand was tamped under the ties. The car then backed up a short distance and raised another section. This work was practically completed within the time set by the original ordinance, as was also the section of the Pennsylvania and Lake Shore between Stony Island and Adams avenues. The rest of the work was too near the crossing to be undertaken until a definite agreement could be reached as to the separation of the railway grades.
Development of Grade Separation Plans.
It was very important that the grade of the north and south tracks be separated from those of the east and west line at this point, as each of the companies handles a very heavy traffic. In addition to the roads mentioned, the tracks of the Illinois Cen tral are used by the Michigan Central and the Cleveland, Cin cinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, and those of the Pennsylvania by the Pere Marquette. The record of traffic kept at the crossing between November 29 and December 20, 1908, showed the following total number tracks of the four 29 of trains, engines and cars passing over the proprietary roads between those dates.
These figures show an average daily movement of 301 passenger trains, 246 freight trains, and 7,091 engines and cars over the crossings.
The number of tracks involved, the large volume of traffic and the complicated arrangement of tracks necessary to handle satis factorily the business of all the roads on the new elevations made the decision as to construction details and the division of costs very difficult. The cost of raising all tracks to ordinance grade within the limits affected was estimated at $4,000,000, and the added cost of raising the Pennsylvania and Lake Shore tracks over the Illinois Central and Nickel Plate at $1,500,000. The four roads finally agreed to submit these questions to a board of arbitration, consisting of four executive officers of disinterested railways and one consulting engineer, each of the roads select ing one member, and these four selecting the fifth. Such a board was formed in 1909. The city council passed an amending ordinance on June 28, 1908, entirely replacing the original one and providing for a comprehensive scheme of grade separation. This ordinance called for the completion of the work by December 31, 1910, but before the expiration of that time an amendment was passed extending the time one year.
The plan of grade separation adopted provided for eight tracks on the Illinois Central, four each on the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania, and two on the Nickel Plate in the present construction, and 15 on the Illinois Central, seven each on the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania, and four on the Nickel Plate, in the ultimate development. The grade of the Illinois Central at the crossing was lowered 4 ft. below that provided in the original ordinance lowering the street elevation at Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixtth streets 5 ft., and the elevations of the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania were raised to give a clearance of 17 ft. under the structure which will carry their tracks over the Illinois Central. The Nickel Plate alinemcnt had to be altered consider ably, as under the old arrangement this company’s tracks were east of and parallel to the Illinois Central south of the crossing, swinging away from the Illinois Central just south of Seventysixth street, intersecting the Pennsylvania at a sharp angle and joining the Lake Shore just east of the Illinois Central crossing. In order to carry the Nickel Plate from the lower elevation to the upper it was necessary to increase the length of this connec tion by crossing under the Illinois Central near Seventy-ninth street, running in a northerly direction approximately parallel to that line and crossing under the Pennsylvania and the Lake Shore on a 10 deg. curve, bringing the line parallel to the Lake Shore. From the crossing of the Illinois Central the Nickel Plate line will rise on a 0.667 per cent, grade to a point near the Pennsylvania crossing. The grade is level on the curve under the Pennsylvania and the Lake Shore and west of that curve it again rises on a 0.638 per cent, grade to the junction with the Lake Shore between Seventy-third street and Cottage Grove ave nue. The trains on the Nickel Plate were operated over the Rock Island through Englewood and Burnside during construction.
The ordinance also provides two interchange tracks. One leaves the Illinois Central at the crossing of South Chicago ave nue, rises on a 1.423 per cent, grade to a track paralleling the Lake Shore, which is several feet lower than the main tracks at Seventy-sixth street, and rises to the main line grade near Stony Island avenue. The other interchange track leaves the Illinois Central about opposite Seventy-eighth street, rises on a 0.7 per cent, grade to the crossing of VVoodlawn avenue, on a 0.216 per cent, grade from that point to Chauncey avenue, and a 0.7 per cent, grade to the Pennsylvania connection. The roads agreed to prosecute all work on their own rights of way and the wye tracks were arbitrarily divided into sections to be handled by the interested roads.
75th and Woodlawn Avenue in 1912.
Looking north along the Illinois Central Railroad, with the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway and New York Central Railroad’s Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway crossing overhead. At the left is the planned alignment of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway.
Elevation of Tracks at the Crossing.
Active work was begun by the Illinois Central on the section between Seventy-third and Seventy-ninth streets, and by the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania on the section between Seventythird street and Adams avenue, in December, 1909. The Illinois Central had driven piles at Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixth streets on the four westerly tracks in 1907, and as the season was late the bents under the other tracks were not driven until the following spring. These four tracks were carried over the streets as the grade was raised, the fill being completed under all tracks between street crossings. The Illinois Central grade at the crossing is at elevation 16 above Chicago datum, and as the nearest streets on the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania were far enough away to allow these roads to raise their tracks to elevation 15 without interfering with street traffic, work was carried on jointly up to this elevation. The crossings were raised under traffic about 6 in. at a lift, sand being used for the fill. The Illinois Central raised its tracks to elevation 16 as close to the crossing as possible and for a distance of 900 ft. in both directions. This made the approaches to the elevated line at Seventy-third street on the north and at Seventy-ninth street on the south very steep, but during the season of 1910 these grades were reduced to 0.6 per cent, on the north and 0.5 per cent, on the south by filling in the sags. After the traffic on the east and west roads had been carried over head the Illinois Central grade at the crossing was raised to the final elevation.
The Lake Shore and Pennsylvania had to drive continuous trestles from Greenwood avenue to Seventy-sixth street. The Pennsylvania tracks were near enough to the south right of way line to allow the trestle to be driven near the Lake Shore prop erty line and the fill carried up for some distance before it interfered with traffic on the low level tracks. A great deal of work was involved in the driving of these trestles, and as many as eight pile drivers were used simultaneously at some stages of the work. Sand was used for filling by both the east and west roads, the Pennsylvania getting its supply from Gary and the Lake Shore from Dune Park, about 25 miles away. Outside the limits of this trestle the tracks of both companies were raised on sand fill under traffic.
Considerable work was required in the depression of streets for the building of some of the subways. The Illinois Central began excavation for subways at Seventy-fifth street and South Chicago avenue, and at Seventy-sixth street in March, 1910. South Chicago avenue intersects Seventy-fifth street at an angle of about 45 deg. near the west right of way line, and as these streets were originally 100 ft. and 80 ft. wide respectively, and the subways required by the ordinance were 65 ft. wide, the subway in Seventy-fifth street was built along the north property line and in South Chicago avenue along the south property line in order to throw the intersection of the central abutments as far west as possible. The excavation for these two subways amounted to 39,000 yds., most of which was handled by shoveling into small cars running on narrow gage tracks laid in the street and pulled by mules. These loaded cars were hauled to two derricks which picked up the car bodies and dumped the material into standard gondola cars for use in bank widening between Seventy-sixth and Eighty-fifth streets. The material excavated at Seventy-sixth street was hauled by teams on to the adjoining right of way. Most of the excavation handled by the other roadswas also team work. One street, Chauncey avenue, was diverted and one was closed. The Illinois Central subways under Seventy-fifth street and South Chicago avenue were too low to drain into existing sewers and the company was forced to build 3,100 ft. of 24-in. sewer extending south to Seventy-ninth street. Two double-track street car lines, one in Seventy-fifth street and one in South Chicago avenue, had to be taken up and relaid, and the disposition of overhead and underground connections of public service companies was a serious problem.
Illinois Central Subways.
The subways built by the Illinois Central over Seventy-fifth street, South Chicago avenue and Seventy-sixth street are steel structures encased in concrete, the general appearance being made to harmonize with the reinforced concrete structures built in 1908 on the four streets north of the crossing. The concrete slab construction developed for those four subways could not he used near the crossing because the clearance was insufficient to allow the depth of 4 ft. of floor slab which is required. The columns on curb lines and street center line are sup ported on cylindrical concrete footings varying from 7 ft. to 10 ft. in diameter, carried down to hard pan. The abutments .are mass concrete with surface reinforcement only. The columns are spaced from 14 ft. to 17 ft. apart and support transverse deck girders, on which are carried longitudinal I-beams encased in concrete to form a solid deck floor. The columns and girders are covered with concrete to a minimum thickness of \l/2 in. reinforced by a layer of expanded metal. The forms for coating the steel were built up in movable sections to allow their re peated use. The forms were arranged to provide fillets in all corners between columns and girders, and between girders and deck in order to give the structure a finished appearance. Ornamental parapets are also provided along the faces of the subway over the street. A 2-in. layer of felt, burlap and pitch water proofing is laid over the floor. On the section of the joint sub way at Seventy-fifth street and South Chicago avenue west of the intersection of the central abutments, through plate girders and transverse I-beams had to be used on account of the length of span between outside abutments. The sidewalks along the streets approaching the subways at Seventy-fifth street and South Chicago avenue are in some places considerably higher than the street surface, and in all cases where the difference in elevation is greater than 18 in., the edge of the walk is protected by an ornamental iron railing.
Lake Shore Structure.
The clearance of the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania over streets near the crossing is unusually great, which eliminated the necessity for a shallow deck in the design of subways for those streets. The Lake Shore used a heavy steel deck girder structure with I-beam floor, designed for Cooper’s E 60 loading. Each track is supported by a unit practically independent of the remainder of the structure. Two-column steel bents are located at the street center line under each track and no curb piers are used. Two deck girders 84¼ in. back to back of angles support each track. The floor beams are 12-in., 31½ lb. I’s, spaced 18-1/8 in. center to center, riveted up in pairs with separators of 18-in., 55 1b. I-beams 9 in. long. These floor beams are 12 ft. 5¾ in. long, which leaves a clear space of 6¼ in. between the ends of floor beams under adjacent tracks. Vertical facia girders 2 ft. 10 in. high are placed on the ends of the floor beams and are braced on every third beam by 3½-in. by 2½-in. by 3/8-in. angles. The only connections between the units supporting adjacent tracks are struts of two 9-in.. 15-lb. channels connecting the tops of adjacent bents, and one 8-in. 11¼-lb. channel inverted over the upward projecting plates of the facia’ girders. These channels are held in place by 5/8-in. bolts spaced 3 ft. center to center. A concrete slab with a minimum thickness of 5 in. is carried on the floor beams and is reinforced by ½ in. bars in both directions. The facia girders are protected with concrete up to the top angles, this concrete being laid continuous with the floor slab. The surface of the floor is sloped 1/16 in. per foot longitudinally for drainage and is protected by a 1½-in. waterproofing layer.
A concrete walk is provided along one side of each subway by supporting a second facia girder 3 ft. outside the first one and building a concrete slab over the top flanges of these two girders. The outside girder is carried on two 7-in. channels bolted to every third floor beam, and is braced by 3½-in. by 3-in. by 3/8 in. angles, as shown in the accompanying detail. The sidewalk slab has a minimum thickness of 3½-in., and is reinforced by ½-in. bars in both directions. The outer girder is encased in con crete 3 in. thick both inside and out, the outer face being paneled. A parapet is provided along the opposite faces of the subways, the trough so formed being 2 ft. 5½ in. deep. The concrete in this parapet is carried 3 in. outside the end of the floor beams and flush with the lower flange of these beams at the outer end.
The general design of the subway had to be modified consider ably for the structures over Adams avenue and Seventy-sixth street which carried the Illinois Central-Lake Shore interchange track, and which was low enough to make the deck structure objectionable on account of clearance. The steel bents are similar to the other structures, except that curb piers are provided at Seventy-sixth street to reduce the span. The track is carried by through girders, the floor beams being hung from the girder web plates by plate and angle connections. The concrete floor and waterproofing layer are the same as in the other bridges and a walk is carried along both sides on a concrete slab supported by angles braced from the bottom flange of the girders, as shown in the detail drawings herewith.
Subways on the Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania subways are of the trough floor type. The structures built at Seventy-third street, Greenwood avenue and Seventy-fifth street, have longitudinal floor troughs carried on transverse girders over the steel bents at curb lines and street center line. The Seventy-third street bridge had been built before it was decided to separate grades at the Illinois Central crossing and shop work on the Greenwood avenue and Seventy-fifth street bridges had been started. The columns of the Seventy-third street bridge has to be spliced to raise the elevation about ft. It was possible to change the order for columns for the Seventy-fifth street and Greenwood avenue structures, but the deck was used as designed for the lower clearance. Work had not been started on the Seventy-sixth street subway before the separation of the grades was determined upon, so the design for that street was altered to use transverse floor troughs on longitudinal deck girders spanning from the abutments to street center line. The piers are five-column bents, the columns being rigidly braced together in each bent. The troughs are continuous under the four tracks, making one solid fourtrack deck structure. The troughs for the Seventy-sixth street bridge are 15 in. deep back to back of angles. All parts inaccessible after erection were given two coats of red lead in the shop, all parts in contact were given one heavy coat during erection. The concrete floor over the trough was sloped in both directions from the center for drainage. The surface was waterproofed with a five ply layer of felt and asphalt compound protected by 2 in. of concrete. The faces of the surveys over the streets were covered with concrete molded to form a parapet, which gives the structure a neat appearance.
All concrete abutments and retaining walls on the Pennsyl vania work were of mass design. In some cases retaining walls were made unnecessary by paving the slopes of the fill. In this way the fill, which naturally stands at 1½; I could be made to assume a 1:1¼ slope. The company has used rubble, concrete blocks and concrete spread in place for this purpose, securing good results with all three methods. Rubble is usually the cheapest, but is hard to secure of proper size the Grand Cross locality.
Nickel Plate Structures.
The Nickel Plate subways are through steel girder structures encased in concrete. Two-column steel bents are provided under each track at curb lines and street center line. The transverse I-beams supporting the floor are connected to the girder webs by plate and angle connections. All steel work is covered to a minimum depth of 1J4 in. with concrete. The encasing layer of concrete is reinforced with triangular reinforcement and the floor slab also has }4-in. rods placed longitudinally on 7-in. centers just under the triangular mesh. The triangular reinforcement below the floor beams is supported by wires looped over these beams. The outside girder faces are paneled, the abutments are finished by ornamental columns at the corners, and all cor ners of the concrete covering the piers are turned to a con venient radius, giving the structure a pleasing appearance. Drain age over the subways is provided by laying 3-in. tiles in the gut ters at each side. In placing the bridges adjacent to the Lake Shore, one of that company’s tracks was turned over for construction purpose.
The crossing of the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania over the Illinois Central will be a five-span structure, with a total span of 250 ft. The Illinois Central will handle the work of placing piers for columns and the two overhead roads will place the superstructure under their own tracks. Contracts have just been let for the sub-structure work on this bridge. The undercrossing of the Nickel Plate with the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania was built by the overhead roads within limits of their rights of way.
The work in the Grand Crossing territory has been handled under the supervision of A. S. Baldwin, chief engineer, and D. J. Brumley, engineer of construction of the Illinois Central ; Samuel Rockwell, chief engineer of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern; Thos. Rodd, chief engineer, and R. Trimble, chief engineer maintenance of way of the Northwest System, Pennsylvania Lines West, and E. E. Hart, chief engineer of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis. The representatives in direct charge of the work were Maro Johnson for the Illinois Central, D. M. Craig and J. G. Keenan for the Pennsylvania, and A. C. Harvey for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis, and J. W. Crissey for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.
Grand Crossing
Land Use in Chicago
The City of Chicago
1940
NOTES:
1The Michigan Central line extended to Kensington, IL in 1852, using Illinois Central trackage rights to downtown Chicago.
2In summary, the Michigan Central train was operating at night without a headlight and the Michigan Southern engineer was cited for failing to yield the right of way. Resolutions were passed at a meeting of the citizens, condemning the accident as owing to carelessness, and demanding that thereafter every train should come to a full stop before crossing any other railroad. This was the first time that this very essential safeguard, now universally adopted, was ever suggested
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