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Chicago Tunnel Company Railroad Home Page

35 points by slapshot 17y ago

jrockway 17y ago
They did provide a convenient way for the Chicago River to flood the basements of many buildings downtown, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Flood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Flood
- jcapote 17y ago
  Totally the city's fault, from the page: Early in 1992, a contractor working for the city, near the Kinzie Street bridge, drove a wooden pile next to the wall of a drift under the river. The pressure from the pile began to cause a leak in the wall. The leak was small at first. A cable television employee spotted the leak and even captured it on video tape. The cable televison company then brought the problem to the attention of the city. Unfortunately, the city allowed the leak to continue for several months without repair. Eventually, the drift wall gave way, and the river poured into the tunnels. The water completely flooded the system, including many basements that were still connected to it. The Loop was shut down for days, and the flood caused millions of dollars in damage. The torrent of flood water, silt, and debris probably destroyed most of the remaining Chicago Tunnel Company freight cars and artifacts. If the city acted quickly and if the water tight doors had been left in place and maintained, the flood may have been prevented.
  - mschy 17y ago
    Yes, it was totally the city's fault that the Chicago Tunnel Company built and abandoned a collection of illegally dug tunnels under the city. It is also totally the city's fault that the previous participants in the Chicago Tunnel Company's experiment didn't protect themselves against a flood in that infrastructure. It is totally the city's fault that despite the tunnels not being a public responsibility, they had started a bidding process to get the leak fixed, though it wasn't completed before the flood. Yeah... totally the city's fault. Reader's note: There are elements of sarcasm in my post.
    - jordanb 17y ago
      City Hall was one of the flooded buildings. They had an "unprotected" connection to the "illegal" tunnels.
      - mschy 17y ago
        Okay, so City Hall was responsible for the damage to City Hall. But blaming the city for everything still strikes me as absurd. It was a private enterprise that dug tunnels without getting permits from the city, and it created a problem. Saying it's totally the city government's fault strikes me as nonsense given that reality. I'll grant them some responsibility, because government does tend to clean up when private industry leaves a mess, but it seems far from total to me.
    - noonespecial 17y ago
      It is the government's responsibility to protect the common good, even from threats not of their making or even illegal in origin. Government is one of the few places where "could have and didn't" becomes the same as "did". The Katrina debacle is the largest example of this.
    - jodrellblank 17y ago
      "built and abandoned" - you're missing the bit where they spent three or four decades operating a company between those two events. How illegal were they anyway?
    - anthonyb 17y ago
      It was totally the city's fault because the city owned the tunnels. See the FAQ: http://users.ameritech.net/pokeefe571/ctcfaq.htm http://users.ameritech.net/pokeefe571/ctcfaq.htm Q: Why were the tunnels under State Street and Dearborn Street demolished to make room for the rapid transit subways? Didn't the Tunnel Company have any say so in the matter? A: The Chicago Tunnel Company owned only the locomotives, rolling stock, track, and overhead wire. The City of Chicago owned the tunnels. Because of this, the Tunnel Company didn't have much choice but to give up their most profitable trackage when subway construction was started by the city. You can't fight City Hall!
- antidaily 17y ago
  "cost the city an estimated $1.95 billion"!
jordanb 17y ago
Most of the CTC's business was in hauling coal in and hauling ash back out of the Loop, back when all the buildings were heated using coal. Marshall Fields contracted them for deliveries for a while, and they experimented with some other things, but that was the core of their business. They were also devastated by the building of the subway tunnels through the loop, which cut many of the CTC tunnels. So while they're a cool aspect of Chicago's history, it's not hard to see why they failed. They were an artifact of the coal heating era -- and not a very robust one at that. As an aside, a tunnel project also was a plot device in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. It's a long time since I read it, but if I recall correctly, the tunnels were being built to break a trolley worker's strike.
trevorturk 17y ago
If you like this, you'll love Hidden Chicago 2. They have a nice segment about it, and lots more. I'm not sure what you can find online, but a quick Google turned up: http://video.wttw.com/feature/102/ http://video.wttw.com/feature/102/ and http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,60 http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,60
jodrellblank 17y ago
I expected the link to be to a different tunnel which failed to revolutionise delivery: http://www.idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burrito_tunnel.htm http://www.idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burri...
slapshot 17y ago
For the record, the original title was: "The tunnels that did not revolutionize delivery in Chicago." The point was to tell a lesson for current startups: it is about tunnels, the tunnels were supposed to revolutionize delivery, and they did not do so. It's a story about a bold vision to change the world--very relevant to a lot of startups that think they will change the world but might end up being abandoned in a few years.
- dotBen 17y ago
  Delivery tunnels were useful in other cities, like in London: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway
  - dotBen 17y ago
    Love the fact that I got de-karma'd for this for some reason. It's totally true, the London Post Office Railway was modeled after Chicago and it was useful.

35 points by slapshot 17y ago

They did provide a convenient way for the Chicago River to flood the basements of many buildings downtown, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Flood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Flood

jcapote 17y ago
Totally the city's fault, from the page: Early in 1992, a contractor working for the city, near the Kinzie Street bridge, drove a wooden pile next to the wall of a drift under the river. The pressure from the pile began to cause a leak in the wall. The leak was small at first. A cable television employee spotted the leak and even captured it on video tape. The cable televison company then brought the problem to the attention of the city. Unfortunately, the city allowed the leak to continue for several months without repair. Eventually, the drift wall gave way, and the river poured into the tunnels. The water completely flooded the system, including many basements that were still connected to it. The Loop was shut down for days, and the flood caused millions of dollars in damage. The torrent of flood water, silt, and debris probably destroyed most of the remaining Chicago Tunnel Company freight cars and artifacts. If the city acted quickly and if the water tight doors had been left in place and maintained, the flood may have been prevented.
- mschy 17y ago
  Yes, it was totally the city's fault that the Chicago Tunnel Company built and abandoned a collection of illegally dug tunnels under the city. It is also totally the city's fault that the previous participants in the Chicago Tunnel Company's experiment didn't protect themselves against a flood in that infrastructure. It is totally the city's fault that despite the tunnels not being a public responsibility, they had started a bidding process to get the leak fixed, though it wasn't completed before the flood. Yeah... totally the city's fault. Reader's note: There are elements of sarcasm in my post.
  - jordanb 17y ago
    City Hall was one of the flooded buildings. They had an "unprotected" connection to the "illegal" tunnels.
    - mschy 17y ago
      Okay, so City Hall was responsible for the damage to City Hall. But blaming the city for everything still strikes me as absurd. It was a private enterprise that dug tunnels without getting permits from the city, and it created a problem. Saying it's totally the city government's fault strikes me as nonsense given that reality. I'll grant them some responsibility, because government does tend to clean up when private industry leaves a mess, but it seems far from total to me.
  - noonespecial 17y ago
    It is the government's responsibility to protect the common good, even from threats not of their making or even illegal in origin. Government is one of the few places where "could have and didn't" becomes the same as "did". The Katrina debacle is the largest example of this.
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    "built and abandoned" - you're missing the bit where they spent three or four decades operating a company between those two events. How illegal were they anyway?
  - anthonyb 17y ago
    It was totally the city's fault because the city owned the tunnels. See the FAQ: http://users.ameritech.net/pokeefe571/ctcfaq.htm http://users.ameritech.net/pokeefe571/ctcfaq.htm Q: Why were the tunnels under State Street and Dearborn Street demolished to make room for the rapid transit subways? Didn't the Tunnel Company have any say so in the matter? A: The Chicago Tunnel Company owned only the locomotives, rolling stock, track, and overhead wire. The City of Chicago owned the tunnels. Because of this, the Tunnel Company didn't have much choice but to give up their most profitable trackage when subway construction was started by the city. You can't fight City Hall!
antidaily 17y ago
"cost the city an estimated $1.95 billion"!

jordanb 17y ago

Most of the CTC's business was in hauling coal in and hauling ash back out of the Loop, back when all the buildings were heated using coal. Marshall Fields contracted them for deliveries for a while, and they experimented with some other things, but that was the core of their business. They were also devastated by the building of the subway tunnels through the loop, which cut many of the CTC tunnels. So while they're a cool aspect of Chicago's history, it's not hard to see why they failed. They were an artifact of the coal heating era -- and not a very robust one at that. As an aside, a tunnel project also was a plot device in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. It's a long time since I read it, but if I recall correctly, the tunnels were being built to break a trolley worker's strike.

trevorturk 17y ago

If you like this, you'll love Hidden Chicago 2. They have a nice segment about it, and lots more. I'm not sure what you can find online, but a quick Google turned up: http://video.wttw.com/feature/102/ http://video.wttw.com/feature/102/ and http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,60 http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,60

jodrellblank 17y ago

I expected the link to be to a different tunnel which failed to revolutionise delivery: http://www.idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burrito_tunnel.htm http://www.idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burri...

slapshot 17y ago

For the record, the original title was: "The tunnels that did not revolutionize delivery in Chicago." The point was to tell a lesson for current startups: it is about tunnels, the tunnels were supposed to revolutionize delivery, and they did not do so. It's a story about a bold vision to change the world--very relevant to a lot of startups that think they will change the world but might end up being abandoned in a few years.

dotBen 17y ago
Delivery tunnels were useful in other cities, like in London: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway
- dotBen 17y ago
  Love the fact that I got de-karma'd for this for some reason. It's totally true, the London Post Office Railway was modeled after Chicago and it was useful.