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Chicago Tunnel Company

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Pre-1910 photograph of the Chicago Tunnel Company

The Chicago Tunnel Company built a unique freight tunnel network under the downtown of the city of Chicago. It inspired the construction of the London Post Office Railway.[1]

History

1937 system map

The city of Chicago granted the newly formed Illinois Telephone and Telegraph company the rights to construct utility tunnels under the streets of Chicago in 1899 to carry its planned network of telephone cables. The tunnels were large enough to allow a narrow gauge railroad to operate below the telephone cables, and in 1903, the company renegotiated its franchise to allow the use of this railroad for freight and mail service. In early 1905, the system was taken over by the Illinois Tunnel Company. By this time, 26 miles of a projected 60 miles of tunnel had been completed.[2][3] The actual construction work was subcontracted to the Illinois Telephone Construction Company, under the management of George W. Jackson.[4][5]

By 1904, the first round of financing for tunnel system construction had largely been spent. A second round of financing was arranged by James Stillman of the National City Bank of New York City, with public support from E. H. Harriman, Jacob H. Schiff, and Patrick A. Valentine, all directors of that bank.[6] With this financing, the Chicago Subway Company, incorporated in New Jersey, became a new holding company for the tunnel system.[7][8]

The Chicago Warehouse and Terminal Company was an affiliate, formed in 1904 to construct and operate terminal facilities for interchanging freight with railroads and other carriers.[9]

By 1909, the cost of construction had bankrupted the Illinois Tunnel Company. By this time, it was estimated that $30,000,000 had been spent on building and operating the tunnel. The receiver's sale was completed in 1912, with the Chicago Tunnel Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chicago Utilities Company, acquiring all assets of the former company and its affiliates, the Chicago Warehouse and Terminal Company and the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph Company. In 1913, the Chicago Tunnel Company agreed to sell its telephone operations to American Telephone and Telegraph Company, although regulatory approval delayed the actual sale until 1916. By 1920, all telephone cables had been removed from the tunnels.[10][11]

By 1914, about 60 miles of tunnel had been constructed, typically 7.5 feet high and 6 feet wide, with 2 foot gauge track. 19 elevators connected the tunnel with customers, and 5 elevators served universal public stations where freight could be dropped off or picked up by the public. The railroad operated 132 electric locomotives, typically 30 to 50 horsepower each, and had 2,042 merchandise cars, 350 excavating cars and 235 coal and ash cars. In 1914, the tunnel company handled 609,320 tons of freight, 275,218 of which were merchandise. The remainder was presumably coal, ash and excavation debris.[12]

The Chicago Tunnel Company was declared bankrupt in 1956, and the network was closed and abandoned in the summer of 1959. Scrappers removed almost all of the overhead wire and elevators; locomotives and steel freight cars were removed and scrapped as well.

Construction

The standard tunnel was egg-shaped, 7.5 feet (228 cm) high and 6 feet (182 cm) wide, with tunnel walls 10 inches (25 cm) thick and a floor 14 inches (35 cm) thick. The tunnels were built through a layer of soft blue clay, and tunneling was done by cutting the clay with draw knives. Parts of the tunnel were pressurized to 10 psi during tunneling, while other parts were tunneled at atmospheric pressure. The tunnel was lined with coarse concrete and then waterproofed with a portland-cement limestone-dust plaster.[5][13]

During construction, temporary 14 inch (35.5 cm) gauge tracks were laid. The 6 foot tunnel was wide enough for double tracks with this small size. 900 small cars ran on this track from the tunnel headings to hoists that removed the spoil to the surface or to points where the spoil could be transferred to 2-foot gauge cars for haulage to the Grant Park disposal station.[14] Tunneling work continued around the clock, 24 hours a day, completing an average of 2 miles of tunnel per year during the first few years of development[4]

2 foot (61 cm) gauge track was laid in the tunnels, using rails 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) high (56 pounds/yard or 27.8 kg/m). Crossties were not used. Instead, rails were mounted on chairs embedded in the concrete tunnel floor. Frogs and crossings were built on steel plates that were then embedded in the concrete floor.[5][4]

Curves in the tunnels were very tight. Mainline curves were as tight as 16 foot (4.9 meter) radius, and the grand unions under street intersections were built using a 20 foot (6.1 meter) radius. Grades in the tunnel system were limited to 1.75 percent, except for the lines up to the Grant Park disposal station, which climbed at a 12 percent grade.[14]

The tunnel, 40 feet below street level, was drained by 71 electric pumps. There was very little seepage into the tunnels, a natural consequence of excavation in clay, but any water that did find its way in was quickly pumped up to the sewers above. Ventilation was natural, relying primarily on the piston effect of trains pushing through the tunnels to circulate the air.[9]

Equipment

Motive Power

The first test trains were run a few years after the start of construction. Most of the tunnel system was operated using overhead lines and trolley poles for power.[15] Between 1903 and 1904, the Illinois Telephone Construction Company purchased 22 class L. M. locomotives from General Electric. These weighed 5 tons and had two 20-horsepower traction motors. Most of the engines used in the tunnels were standard mine haulage locomotives made by the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company. These weighed 6 tons and had two 18-horsepower traction motors each.[5][16][17] Commonwealth Edison provided the electric power at 250 volts.[18]

On the grades leading up from the tunnel to the Grant Park disposal station, the Morgan third-rail system sold by the Goodman Equipment Mfg. Co. of Chicago was used.[19] These locomotives used a central rack rail for both traction and power supply.[20][5][4][21] This system was also widely sold to the mining industry and was particularly valuable where mines had steep grades[22]. The Morgan locomotives were never intended for use outside the context of the grade to the Grant Park disposal station[5][4] and their use ceased with the abandonment of that trackage.

By 1914, the tunnel company was operating two gasoline fueled locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works on the surface trackage in Grant Park.[23] These engines weighed 7 tons and were 12 feet (366 cm) long, 56 inches (142 cm) wide and 7.5 feet (229 cm) high. The 4-cylinder engines were coupled to the driving wheels through a jackshaft and side rods.[24] These machines had a 2-speed transmission with a top speed of 10 miles per hour.[25][26]

Freight Cars

The standard freight cars on the tunnel were 12.5 feet (381 cm) long and 47 inches (119 cm) wide, running on two 4-wheel trucks and designed to operate on curves with a 15 foot (4.6 meter) radius. Cars were equipped with MCB Couplers, and were of all steel and iron construction.

The tunnel bought hundreds of Bettendorf Flat cars that could be converted to gondolas and had a weight capacity of 30,000 pounds (15 tons).[4][27] Bettendorf's patents include several pertaining to cars that match this description.[28][29][30][31]

Ash and excavation debris removal cars were equipped with the Newman patent dump box[32] with a 3.5 cubic yard (2.7 cubic meter) capacity. Newman developed this dump box because the clay removed during tunnel excavation was so sticky that it was difficult to dump from conventional side-dump cars.[33] Additional cars were built by Kilbourne & Jacobs.[4]

Operation

In 1915, most tunnel operation occurred between 7 AM and 5 PM, with limited night operation primarily serving excavation spoil removal and coal and ash service. In a typical 10 hour work day, there were 500 to 600 train movements, all conducted under the authority of a telephone-based dispatching system.[9] Dial telephones were installed at every street intersection so that engineers could easily remain in contact with the dispatcher.[4] In 1914, the tunnel employed 568 people, including 116 motormen, 57 elevator men, 59 truckers, 74 clerks and 3 dispatchers.

Merchandise

In 1914, the tunnel had direct connections for freight interchange (by elevator) with 26 railroads and 2 boat lines. In addition, there were 4 public tunnel stations where shippers could drop or pick up merchandise, and 36 industries had direct tunnel connections, including Chicago's big department stores, Marshall Field's, Carson Pirie Scott and Rothchild's.[34]

Tunnel freight cars were delivered to railroad freight stations, warehouses, office buildings, and store buildings via elevators or direct access to building basements.

Through the years, the system expanded to approximately 60 miles (97 km) of track, with 149 four wheeled electric locomotives, and over 3000 freight cars in service.

Coal

Before the 1940s the tunnels were used to deliver coal to downtown buildings, and to remove ash or clinkers. Trucks began to siphon off significant amounts of business, however, and by the late 1940s, customers began to switch from coal to natural gas to heat their buildings. The ones that kept burning coal switched to delivery by truck because unloading from the surface was easier, and a complex conveyor system was not required.

Excavation Debris and Ashes

Early operation in the tunnels was dominated by removal of excavation debris from the tunnel itself, and once tunnel service reached various areas, several contractors found that it was less expensive to dump excavation debris down into tunnel trains than it was to haul it out through the congested streets of the Chicago Loop. As a result, excavation debris continued to make up a significant part of tunnel traffic after the tunnel system was completed. Ash from coal-fired furnaces was freely mixed with this stream of debris.[4][5][13]

In the early days of tunneling, excavation debris was hauled to the surface through small construction shafts, but by 1905, the inclined access tunnels up to the Grant Park disposal station were in place, and the vast majority of excavation debris and ash was hauled out to fill Grant Park. A derrick with a 65 foot boom picked the dump boxes off the cars and swung them out over the lake to dump the fill.[33] Essentially all of Grant Park east of the Illinois Central tracks is built on fill, much of it placed by the tunnel company, including the ground under the Field Museum of Natural History, Soldier Field and McCormick Place.[9]

Even though coal deliveries were made with trucks, it was still more efficient to remove ashes by tunnel.[citation needed] This basically left the company in the ash removal business for the last ten years of operation.

Secondary Businesses

The tunnel company had a curious secondary business, air conditioning by selling naturally cool tunnel air to theaters above the tunnels.[35] The tunnel air was a constant 55 degrees, year round.[9]

Disasters

See also: Chicago Flood

In 1991 near the Kinzie Street bridge, a new set of pilings (collectively known as a "dolphin") were driven into the riverbed to prevent barges from bumping into the bridge. As the pillars were installed, a miscalculation was made that caused severe damage to the tunnel directly below the river.

In 1992, a cable television employee in the tunnel underneath the Chicago River videotaped mud and water oozing in where the bottom of the wooden pilings had penetrated the tunnel's roof. Official response was slow; no emergency measures were deemed necessary, and a formal bidding process began for the contract to repair the damage. However, in April a large hole formed in the roof of the affected tunnel, causing the river and large quantities of mud to pour in. In what became known as the Chicago Flood, the entire system was quickly flooded, as well as many skyscraper basements that were still connected to it, causing severe property damage and disrupting utility service throughout the Loop. Many businesses had had no idea that they were still connected to the tunnel complex, as the openings were boarded up, bricked up, or otherwise closed off—but not waterproofed. The accident shut down the entire downtown area for days, causing considerable economic losses. Insurance battles lasted for years, the central point being the definition of the accident, i.e., whether it was a "flood" or a "leak." Leaks were covered by insurance, while floods were not. Eventually it was classified a leak, which is why many residents still call it the "Great Chicago Leak."[citation needed]

At that point, government agencies belatedly responded. The leak was stopped and the tunnels were emptied within days at great cost. The tunnels are still used for power and communication cables.[citation needed] They have been popular with urban exploration groups who would sometimes sneak in to have a look around, but after a terrorism scare in the early 2000s involving a deranged former Chicago Urban Exploration member, all access to the tunnels has been secured.[36]

On October 14, 2009, workers pumping concrete into the tunnel under the Kennedy expressway caused the roadway to buckle, shutting down all but one lane of I-90 West.

References

  1. ^ Unofficial MailRail Website
  2. ^ George W. Jackson, Freight Tunnels in Chicago, The Methodist Magazine and Review, vol. LXII, No. 3 (Sept. 1905);page 280.
  3. ^ George W. Jackson, Freight Tunnels in Chicago, The Independent, Vol LVII, No. 2918 (Nov. 3, 1904);page 1018. Note: Illustrated.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Frank C. Perkins, An Electric Underground Freight Railway, Modern Machinery, Vol XVIII, No. 6 (Dec. 1905); page 321. Note: Illustrated; this article is almost identical to Jackson's 1905 article.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g George W. Jackson, The Chicago Freight Subway, The Americana -- A Universal Reference Library, Volume 4, Scientific American, 1905; page 345. Note: This article is almost word for word identical to Perkins' 1905 article.
  6. ^ Chicago's Traction Project, The Technical World, Vol. 2, No. 5; page 625.
  7. ^ $50,000,000 Company Gets Chicago Subways, New York Times, Tues. Nov., 22, 1904; page 12.
  8. ^ Certificate of Incorporation of Chicago Subway Company, quoted in Thomas Covington, A Manual of Corporate Organization The Ronald Press, 1908; page 303.
  9. ^ a b c d e The Chicago Tunnel, The Traffic World Vol. XVI, No. 10, (Sept. 4, 1915); page 587. Note: Illustrated.
  10. ^ In the Matter of the Petetion of the Chicago Tunnel Company ... State Public Utilities Commission of Illinois -- Opinions and Orders for the Year Ending Sept. 30, 1916, Vol III, 1916; page 83.
  11. ^ Chicago Utilities Co., Burnham's Manual of Mid-Western Securities, John Burnham and Company, 1921; page 189
  12. ^ Edward G Ward, ed., Chapger VII, The Switching Service, Part 15. ... as Afected by Tunnel Service (at Chicago), The Traffic Library -- Special Freight Services -- Allowances and Privileges, Part II, The American Commerce Association, 1916; page 216.
  13. ^ a b Methods and Progress of Driving Freight Tunnel Extension in Chicago, Engineering and Contracting, Vol. 39, Part 2, No 22. (May 28, 1913); page 620.
  14. ^ a b Goods Subways in Chicago, The Tramway and Railway World, Vol. XVII, April 6, 1905; Page 324.
  15. ^ William A. Loudon, Trolley-Stand, U.S. Patent 885,063, Apr. 21, 1908.
  16. ^ Thompson-Houston Electric Co. vs. Illinois Telephone Construction Co. et al, The Federal Reporter, Vol. 152 ( May-June 1907), West Publishing Co.; page 631.
  17. ^ Jeffrey Electric Mine Locomotives, Jeffrey Elevating-Conveying, Power Transmission Machinery, Coal Mine Equipments General Catalog No. 82, Jeffrey Mfg. Co. 1912; page 529.
  18. ^ 179-Chicago Tunnel Co.,McGraw Electric Railway List, McGraw-Hill, Feb. 1918; page 32.
  19. ^ Edmund C. Morgan, Electric-Railway System U. S. Patent 659,178, Oct. 2, 1900. This patent describes the locomotive.
  20. ^ Edmund C. Morgan, Combined Third and Traction Rail for Electric Railways, U. S. Patent 753,803, Mar. 1, 1904. Note: The rail was mounted in the tunnel as shown in Fig. 2.
  21. ^ Third- or Rack-Rail Haulage, Mining and Minerals, May 1904; page 513.
  22. ^ J. J. Rutledge, Recent Improvements in Coal Mining in Illinois, Mining Magazine Vol. XIII, No. 3 (March 1906); page 186.
  23. ^ The Baldwin Locomotive Works -- Gasoline Locomotives for Industrial and Contractors Service, The Bulletin of the General Contractors Association, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Feb. 1914); page 100. Note: Illustrated.
  24. ^ Tunnel Gasoline Locomotive in Chicago, Gas Power, Vol. 11, No. 10 (April 1914); page 62. Note: Illustrated.
  25. ^ Charles McShane, Gasoline Locomotives, The Locomotive Up To Date, Griffin & Winters, Chicago, 1921; page 700.
  26. ^ Internal Combustion Locomotives, The Baldwin Locomotive Works, Record No. 95, 1919. Note: A Tunnel Co. Loco is shown on page 32.
  27. ^ Supply Trade Notes, Railway Master Mechanic, Vol. XXXI, No 3 (March 1907);page 107.
  28. ^ William P. Bettendorf, Box Car Construction, U.S. Patent 1,036,786, Aug. 27, 1912.
  29. ^ William P. Bettendorf, Underframe for Dumping-Cars, U.S. Patent 1,039,638, Sept. 24, 1912.
  30. ^ William P. Bettendorf, Underframe for Dumping-Cars, U.S. Patent 1,062,689, May 27, 1913.
  31. ^ William P. Bettendorf, Railway Car Truck, U.S. Patent 1,032,348, July 9, 1912.
  32. ^ William J. Newman, Dumping Apparatus, U. S. Patent 731,118, June 16, 1903.
  33. ^ a b Halbert Powers Gillette, Dumping Cars with Derricks, Handbook of Earth Excavation McGraw Hill, 1920; page 382.
  34. ^ Thirty-Sixth Day, Exhibits B and C, Five Per Cent Case, [1], Vol 3, 1914; page 2572.
  35. ^ Thomas R. Wilson, A Ventilation Paradox, The Heating and Ventilating Magazine, Vol. XV, No. 10 (Oct 1918); page 42. Note: Illustrated.
  36. ^ "Man allegedly stored cyanide in Chicago subway". CNN. 2002-03-12. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  • Moffat, Bruce (1982). Forty Feet Below: The Story of Chicago's Freight Tunnels. Interurban Press. ISBN 0-916374-54-8.
  • Moffat, Bruce (2002). The Chicago tunnel story: exploring the railroad "forty feet below". Interurban Press. ISBN 0915348357.

External links

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