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| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Headquarters | Highwood, Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reporting mark | CNSM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Illinois and Wisconsin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates of operation | July 16, 1916–January 21, 1963 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrification |
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| Length | In 1954:[1]
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The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad (reporting mark CNSM), also known as the North Shore Line, was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service over an 88.9-mile (143.1 km) route between the Chicago Loop and downtown Milwaukee, as well as an 8.6-mile (13.8 km) branch line between the villages of Lake Bluff and Mundelein, Illinois. The North Shore Line also provided streetcar, city bus and motor coach services along its interurban route.
Extensively improved under the one-time ownership of Samuel Insull, the North Shore Line was notable for its high operating speeds and substantial physical plant, as well as innovative services, such as its pioneering "ferry truck" operations and its streamlined Electroliner trainsets. Author and railroad historian William D. Middleton described the North Shore Line as a "super interurban"[2]: 227, 402 [3]: 30–31 [4]: 56 and opined that its cessation of rail service marked the end of the "interurban era" in the United States.[3]: 37 [4]: 79
Since 1964 the Yellow Line of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has operated over a short segment of the former main line from Chicago to Skokie, Illinois. Operating examples of North Shore Line rolling stock have been preserved in railroad museums, and the former Dempster Street Station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- ^ Interstate Commerce Commission (1956). Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Vol. 290. Washington, D.C.: L.K. Strouse. pp. 767–768. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
- ^ Middleton, William D. (1961). The Interurban Era. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0890240035.
- ^ a b Middleton, William (1963). "North Shore in Sunset". Trains. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing.
- ^ a b Middleton, William D. (1964). North Shore. San Marino, California: Golden West Books. ISBN 0915348411.