The railroad's primary businesses are coal and steel. The coal is delivered to the Michigan City generating station owned by Northern Indiana Public Service Company. The railroad also serves steel mills along the line.
The South Shore Line is the last remaining of the once numerous electric interurban trains in the United States. At its formation on November30, 1901, the corporate title was the Chicago & Indiana Air Line Railway (Air Line). The Air Line was controlled by Frank and James Seagrave, brothers from Toledo, Ohio, who had envisioned an electrically operated freight and passenger railroad from Toledo to Chicago, Illinois. The Seagrave brothers had completed their Toledo and Western Railroad mainline across the former Great Black Swamp from Toledo to Pioneer, Ohio, in an area that otherwise had no direct rail service to Toledo. A branch was constructed from Sylvania, Ohio, to Adrian, Michigan.[2] The Seagraves’ anticipated that they would build west to Goshen, Indiana, where they would obtain trackage rights from the Indiana Electric Railroad Company (later the Chicago, South Bend and Northern Indiana; successor company to the first commercial electric trolley line in North America) to South Bend where it would connect with the Air Line for Chicago.[3]
Financing to complete the railroad was announced on January17, 1903.[3] Property acquisition and engineering from South Bend west to the St.Joseph— LaPorte county line was completed within the year.[4][non-primary source needed] The Seagraves’ also obtained franchises for operation in the streets of South Bend, New Carlisle, and Michigan City. The Seagraves’ began streetcar operations on a route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor in September 1903.[5] Grading for the railroad was begun in St.Joseph County during 1903, but the Rich Man's Panic put an end to the work and apparently the Seagraves’ interest in the company.[6]
The historical significance of the Seagraves’ effort in developing what would become the South Shore Line was that in 1903 there was no business model for a short line regional high-speed electrified railroad handling freight and passengers. Economic historians George Hilton and John Due noted in their history of the interurbans that the Seagraves’ effort was probably the first.[7] But for the Panic of 1903, the Seagraves’ would have likely completed what is recognized today as a regional high-speed electrified railroad from Toledo to Chicago.
The directors of the Air Line voted for a corporate name change on July30, 1904: The Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway Company.[8] In 1907, with the easing of monetary pressures, property acquisition, engineering, and construction began again under the direction of a new promoter, James B.Hanna.[9] Although the scope of the project was then limited to a rail line from Chicago to South Bend, the business model posited by the Seagraves’ remained.
The first phase of construction from South Bend to Michigan City was completed and in scheduled service on July1, 1908. The remainder of the line from Michigan City to Hammond was in service on September6,[10] only twenty-one days before the first Ford Model T automobile left the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit.[relevant?] In December, the company officially rebranded its operation as the South Shore Line.[11]
Not only was the South Shore Lines embroiled in a transportation war with the automobile, but it was also unwittingly embroiled in the war of the Currents waged by Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. Edison famously clung to his original direct current system, while Westinghouse embraced the alternating current system developed by Nikola Tesla.[12] While alternating current proved to be superior to direct current for municipal power grids, the technology to precisely control the speed of an AC motor was still being developed, while control technology for DC motors was well-established. Some twenty other interurbans adopted the Westinghouse system, most between 1904 and 1908. The alternating current system was not perfected however, and nearly all the lines operating with it were quickly converted to direct current, some in as little as three years. Despite the high expense of maintaining the alternating current system, the South Shore Lines would not find itself in a financial position to convert to direct current until taken over in the 1920s.[13][14] (The line utilized streetcar voltages in Gary, Michigan City, and South Bend.[15])
Wreck at Shadyside, Indiana, 19 June 1909. The motorman of eastbound car #73 (foreground) overran a meeting point and collided with westbound car #3. As a result, twelve were killed and 25 injured.
The South Shore Lines found itself in financial difficulty from the start as passenger revenues were insufficient to cover the railway's bonded indebtedness. This was exacerbated by claims resulting from two head-on wrecks in 1909 that resulted in an unfunded legislative mandate to install a costly block signal system.[16][17][18] Despite these setbacks, service had been extended to Pullman on Chicago's South Side on April4, 1909.[19] An agreement with the Illinois Central Railroad dated May25, 1912, called for non-motorized trail coaches to be attached to trains originating in Gary to be hauled by steam locomotives for the run to Randolph Street near Chicago's Loop via the Kensington and Eastern Railroad.[20]
Attempting to overcome inadequate earnings, the South Shore Lines made every effort to develop freight service in 1916,[21][22] and an excursion business to bring Chicagoans to the Indiana Dunes, the amusement park at Michigan City, and the Casino at Hudson Lake. The most significant of the rail excursions to the development of Northwest Indiana were the regular outings of the Prairie Club of Chicago on the South Shore Lines that began in 1909.[23] The access to the Dunes that the South Shore Lines provided to the Prairie Club led the members to erect cabins in the Dunes. With assistance from Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, The Prairie Club soon waged a lobbying campaign for the creation of a Sand Dunes National Park that for a time was unsuccessful, but did culminate in the opening of the Indiana Dunes State Park in 1925. Congressional authorization of a National Park Service unit in the Dunes in 1966 resulted in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (now Indiana Dunes National Park).[24]
In 1925, the Cleveland Trust Company still held the original construction bonds of the South Shore Lines in the amount of $9,500,000 ($165million in 2023 adjusted for inflation).[25] The prior year, Samuel Insull, a utilities developer who had electric and gas utility investments throughout much of the United States, sought a means of developing a new customer base with a balanced electrical load in the Indiana Dunes country.[26] After investigating both the South Shore Lines and the Chicago, South Bend and Northern Indiana, Insull had the South Shore Lines appraised. Based upon the depreciated appraised value of $6,463,076,[27] and with a commitment to invest $2,500,000 in the property, Insull purchased the original construction debt from Cleveland Trust in exchange for 6% noncumulative debentures. Insull controlled a 60% majority stock interest in the new company. The closing of the transaction took place on June29, 1925, six days after Insull reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. Plans were promptly put in place to remove their 6,600 Volt AC system and replace it with a more conventional 1,500 Volt DC system.[14]
One wooden passenger car has survived from the South Shore Lines. Combination coach-baggage car #73 was built by the Niles Car and Manufacturing Company in 1908. It was wrecked in a crash on June 19, 1909, though was rebuilt for service. #73 is currently undergoing restoration.[32]
↑ Profile - Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend Railway – South Bend to Hammond. Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend Railway.[non-primary source needed] (showing dates of engineering and grading, but the overall date of this antique document is not legible)
↑ Jay Samuel Hartt, Central Electric Railfan’s Association Address (1962).
↑ "Contracts and Contracts". Electric Traction Weekly. Vol.2. 1906. pp.44, 47. "An Important Road Contemplated for Indiana"(PDF). Street Railway Journal. XXVIII (4): 151. July 28, 1906.
The interurban is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms used outside it. They were very prevalent in many parts of the world before the Second World War and were used primarily for passenger travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. Interurban as a term encompassed the companies, their infrastructure, their cars that ran on the rails, and their service. In the United States, the early 1900s interurban was a valuable economic institution, when most roads between towns, many town streets were unpaved, and transportation and haulage was by horse-drawn carriages and carts.
The Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad (C&LE) was a short-lived electric interurban railway that operated in 1930–1939 Depression-era Ohio and ran between the major cities of Cincinnati, Dayton, Springfield, Columbus, and Toledo. It had a substantial freight business and interchanged with other interurbans to serve Detroit and Cleveland. Its twenty high-speed "Red Devil" interurban passenger cars operated daily between Cincinnati and Cleveland via Toledo, the longest same equipment run by an interurban in the United States. The C&LE failed because of the weak economy and the loss of essential freight interchange partners. It ceased operating in 1939.
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana. The line's trackage remains a major rail transportation corridor used by Amtrak passenger trains and several freight lines; in 1998, its ownership was split at Cleveland, Ohio, between CSX Transportation to the east and Norfolk Southern Railway in the west.
The South Shore Line is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois and the South Bend International Airport in South Bend, Indiana, United States. The name refers to both the physical line and the service operated over that route. The line was built in 1901–1908 by predecessors of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which continues to operate freight service. Passenger operation was assumed by the NICTD in 1989, who also purchased the track in 1990. The South Shore Line is one of the last surviving interurban trains in the United States. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 1,406,900, or about 6,300 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.
Central Station was an intercity passenger terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois, at the southern end of Grant Park near Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue. Owned by the Illinois Central Railroad, it also served other companies via trackage rights. It opened in 1893, replacing Great Central Station, and closed in 1972 when Amtrak rerouted services to Union Station. The station building was demolished in 1974. It is now the site of a redevelopment called Central Station, Chicago.
The Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad (CNY) was a proposed high-speed electric air-line railroad between Chicago and New York City in the early 20th century. At roughly 750 miles (1,210 km) it would have been over 150 miles (240 km) shorter than the two primary steam railroads on that route, the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad. The promoters' vision proved wildly optimistic and, in the end, only a short interurban route in the vicinity of Gary, Indiana was built and operated. It was the most ambitious of several such proposals at the dawn of electric railroading, all of which ended in failure.
The Lake Shore Electric Railway (LSE) was an interurban electric railway that ran primarily between Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio by way of Sandusky and Fremont. Through arrangements with connecting interurban lines, it also offered service from Fremont to Fostoria and Lima, Ohio, and at Toledo to Detroit and Cincinnati.
The Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad is a historic railroad that operated in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan.
The Indiana Railroad (IR) was the last of the typical Midwestern United States interurban lines. It was formed in 1930–31 by combining the operations of the five major interurban systems in central Indiana into one entity. The predecessor companies came under the control of Midland Utilities, owned by Samuel Insull. His plan was to modernize the profitable routes and abandon the unprofitable ones. With the onset of the Great Depression, the Insull empire collapsed and the Indiana Railroad was left with a decaying infrastructure and little hope of overcoming the growing competition of the automobile for passenger business and the truck for freight business. The IR faced bankruptcy in 1933, and Bowman Elder was designated as the receiver to run the company. Payments on bonded debt were suspended. Elder was able to keep the system virtually intact for four years, and IR operated about 600 miles (970 km) of interurban lines throughout Indiana during this period. During the late 1930s, the routes were abandoned one by one until a 1941 wreck with fatalities south of Indianapolis put an abrupt end to the Indiana Railroad's last passenger operations.
South Bend is a train station in South Bend, Indiana. It is served by Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited between Chicago, Boston and New York City, and Floridian between Chicago and Miami. The station was built by the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad in 1970; South Shore Line trains continued to use it until 1992.
The Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company, or THI&E, was the second largest interurban electric railway in the U.S. state of Indiana during the height of the 1920s "interurban era." This system included over 400 miles (640 km) of track, with lines radiating from Indianapolis to the east, northwest, west and southwest as well as streetcar lines in several major cities. The THI&E was formed in 1907 by the Schoepf-McGowan Syndicate as a combination of several predecessor interurban and street car companies and was operated independently until incorporation into the Indiana Railroad in 1931. The THI&E served a wide range of territory, including farmlands in central Indiana, the mining region around Brazil, and numerous urban centers. Eventually, it slowly succumbed like all the other central Indiana interurban lines, to competition from automobiles, trucks, and improved paralleling highways.
Beverly Shores is a train station in Beverly Shores, Indiana, served by the South Shore Line interurban commuter railroad. The station serves the town of Beverly Shores as well as the nearby Town of Pines. It is a flag stop.
Miller is a train station in Gary, Indiana, serving the South Shore Line commuter rail system. It serves the community of Miller Beach and is one of three South Shore Line stations within the municipal boundaries of Gary.
Gary Metro Center is a multimodal commuter hub operated by the Gary Public Transportation Corporation. It was built in 1984 as an elevated replacement of the previously ground-level Broadway Street station. Named in honor of local US Representative Adam Benjamin, Jr., who died in 1982, it serves as the central bus terminal and the Downtown Gary station on the South Shore Line. It also serves as a stop for Greyhound Lines and other intercity bus systems.
Michigan City/11th Street station is a train station in the central city neighborhood of Michigan City, Indiana. It serves the South Shore Line commuter rail line and is one of two active stations in Michigan City, the other being Carroll Avenue station. It is located adjacent to the location of the historic 11th Street station of the former Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad station, which operated the station from 1927 until 1987. Prior to the May 2021 closure, the station was composed of a passenger shelter and a sign on the northwest corner of East 11th Street and Pine Street; boarding and alighting was done from the street itself. A more modern station with two tracks and high-level platforms opened in October 2023.
Hudson Lake is a train stop operated by the South Shore Line in the unincorporated community of Hudson Lake, Indiana. It is one of a very few interurban stations located in a rural region of the United States, being located approximately halfway between the much larger communities of Michigan City and South Bend. The station is composed of a passenger shelter, a sign, a small concrete pad, and a small parking lot. As of 2021, the Hudson Lake station is a flag stop. A customer seeking to board the train here must push a button to activate a flashing strobe light that will catch the attention of the train engineer.
New Carlisle was a South Shore Line flag stop located at the corner of Arch and Zigler Streets in New Carlisle, Indiana. The station opened c. 1908 and was built by the Chicago, South Bend and Northern Indiana Railway whose line was immediately north of the South Shore Line. Both lines used the station until the Northern Indiana Railway abandoned its South Bend–Michigan City line leaving the South Shore as the sole occupant. The station remained in service on the South Shore Line until July 5, 1994, when it was closed as part of an NICTD service revision which also saw the closure of Ambridge, Kemil Road, Willard Avenue, LaLumiere, and Rolling Prairie.
Dune Acres was a South Shore Line flag stop located at Mineral Springs Road serving Dune Acres in Porter County, Indiana. The station opened prior to 1910, and it was originally known as Mineral Springs Road. The station closed in 1994, as part of an NICTD service revision which also saw the closure of Ambridge. Kemil Road, Willard Avenue, LaLumiere, Rolling Prairie, and New Carlisle. The station did not close on July 5, 1994, like the other stations, instead closing after parking was expanded at the Dune Park station.
Kemil Road was a South Shore Line flag stop located at the corner of Kemil Road and U.S. 12 in Porter County, Indiana. The stop was located at the eastern edge of the Indiana Dunes State Park. It was established in 1977 on the initiative of South Shore Recreation, a citizens group, and closed in 1994.
References
Carlson, Norman (1985). Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad: How the Medal Was Won. Central Electric Railfans Association. p.10. ISBN978-0915348244.
Middleton, William D. (1970). South Shore: The Last Interurban (1sted.). Golden West Books. ISBN978-0870950032.
Middleton, William D. (1998). "Insull's Super-Interurban". In Cohen, Ronald D.; McShane, Stephen G. (eds.). Moonlight in Duneland: The Illustrated Story of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad. Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-33418-7. OCLC38862554.
Walker, James (1925). Cost of Reproduction and Cost of Reproduction Less Accrued Depreciation as of May 1, 1925 Based on Prices Prevailing at Time of Appraisal of the Property of The Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway Company in Indiana. Cover Letter.
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