Normal Park branch

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Normal Park branch - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Normal Park branch

Overview

Status

Closed

Locale

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Termini

Stations

Service

Type

Rapid transit

System

Chicago 'L'

Operator(s)

Chicago Transit Authority (1947–1954)
Chicago Rapid Transit Company (1924–1947)
South Side Elevated Railroad (1907–1924)

History

Opened

May 25, 1907; 117 years ago

Closed

January 29, 1954; 70 years ago

Technical

Line length

0.85 mi (1.37 km)

Character

Elevated

Track gauge

4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

Electrification

Third rail, 600 V DC

Route map

Legend

Englewood branch

to South Side Main Line

The Normal Park branch was a rapid transit line which was part of the Chicago "L" system from 1907 to 1954. The branch served the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago and consisted of four elevated stations. It opened on May 25, 1907, and closed on January 29, 1954.

Operations

The Normal Park branch was a 0.85-mile (1.37 km) elevated line which served four stations. The branch began at the Harvard station, which served a transfer point to the Englewood Branch, and ran southwestward toward the branch's terminal at 69th and Parnell. The branch generally ran only single-car trains, although two-car trains were occasionally run during weekday rush hours.^[1] The branch separated from the Englewood branch at Stewart Junction, west of the Harvard station.^[2] Although ridership was low, the stations had enough capacity for 8-car trains, rare around the CTA during that time period. The vast majority of the line's traffic came from the terminal at 69th; the Chicago Normal School was located in this area, along with a small commercial district.

Ridership had always been low on this line: There was very little passenger traffic between Harvard and the 69th St. terminal. By the time the branch was closed in January 1954, it was a shuttle only service between Harvard and 69th. Most of the intermediate stations had been gutted before, and 69th St. station was halfway locked down. The line was completely torn down around Summer 1954.

When the Dan Ryan branch (serving the Red Line) was built from 1967 to 1969, a brand new 69th station was built a half-mile away from the former Normal Park station. While the original 69th St. was a low ridership station, the new 69th St. is one of the busiest stations on the CTA system.

Station listing

Normal Park branch stations ^[3]
Station	Location	Notes
Harvard	Harvard Avenue and 63rd Street
65th Street	65th Street and Stewart Avenue
Marquette Road	Marquette Road and Stewart Avenue
69th Street	69th Street and Parnell Avenue	Replaced by 69th

References

^ "Normal Park branch". Chicago "L".org. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
^ South Side Elevated R.R. (PDF) (Map). South Side Elevated Railroad. 1913. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 5, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
^ Chicago Rapid Transit Map (Map). Chicago Rapid Transit Company. 1946. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved August 17, 2013.

Chicago "L"

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Current	Blue Line Brown Line Green Line Orange Line Pink Line Purple Line Red Line Yellow Line
Former	Howard–Englewood–Jackson Park Lake–Dan Ryan Loop Shuttle

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Current	Ashland Cermak Dan Ryan East 63rd Evanston Forest Park Lake Street Loop Midway Milwaukee–Dearborn North Side O'Hare Ravenswood Skokie South Side State Street
Former	Garfield Park Humboldt Park Kenwood Logan Square Metropolitan Normal Park Randolph Street and Cuyler Avenue Stock Yards Stub terminals Westchester

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Former	4000-series 5000-series 6000-series 1–50 series 2000-series 2200-series 2400-series

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Current

Chicago Transit Authority

Former

Interurbans	Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad

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References