The Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad was a short line running 16 miles. One line ran from downtown Chicago to Dolton, Illinois; the other running from Eighty-First Street to the Indiana state line. After World War II, changes in passenger travel and shipping meant that the need for rail access into downtown Chicago declined. The C&WI ended its service in 1994.
Starting in 1901 as a three-mile-long trolley line in East Chicago, Indiana, the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad expanded in 1908 to connect South Bend, Indiana, with Chicago, Illinois. Once a treasure in the Sam Insull utilities empire, today it is the only functioning electric interurban in the United States. From a world-class city through rolling agricultural acres, from steel mills through a national lakeshore, some 200 vintage photographs illustrate the unique view of the Calumet region that South Shore passengers have traditionally enjoyed. Images of rolling stock, passenger depots, excursion destinations, and historic sites along the way combine to reveal the century-long story of the railroad and its 90-mile corridor.
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