THE ALL WEATHER MODE MAKES HEAVY WEATHER. This painting greets passengers disembarking from or boarding the
Hiawatha at Milwaukee's downtown station.

Last month's
mental health excursions got me thinking about doing some more train riding, this time with work less time-sensitive than a stack of homework assignments. In browsing the
Hiawatha schedules, it all of a sudden occurred to me ...
this is an 89 minute timing end to end. In steam days, the Milwaukee bragged on its
85 Minute Train service that made one stop at Glenview. A plan forms. Board the 10.20 am off Chicago. Ride to Milwaukee. Stuff self with
Real Chili. Browse some bookshops. Board the
3.00 pm return, get home at a decent hour.
The plan started to unravel at Union Station. The 8.00 Milwaukee, due in at 9.29 to turn as the 10.20, limped in at 9.59. Instead of the cleaners descending on the train to prepare it for the quick turnaround, carmen and mechanics got to work cutting out a bad-ordered coach. The station staff kept us informed of developments, but many of those weren't encouraging. "We've now broken the train apart." "We've brought the replacement coaches over." "We've put the train back together." "The lights aren't working yet." Some passengers left the boarding area, opting to drive instead. Around 11.40, the train is finally ready for boarding, with an 11.58 departure. With no further difficulties, a somewhat more rushed lunch and the original schedule is still possible. There were, however, reasons beyond troubles with the coaches delaying the inbound equipment. The signalling was not working north of the Wisconsin border, requiring the crew to make "know-nothing" stops at permissive signals, proceeding at restricted speed, as well as to dismount and inspect the points at interlockings. Plod, plod. Finally, into Milwaukee at
2 pm. The equipment on the delayed 10.20 is supposed to become the
1.00 pm return to Chicago. Amtrak annulled that train and used the equipment to protect the
3.00 pm trip. I looked at the departure board, noted that there was another departure at
5.45, and modified my plans somewhat. (After having to arrange
overnight lodging in Brussels, on short notice, relying on schoolbook German, I'm not going to give up easily on an itinerary.) Walk to the chili parlor. Stuff self. Walk to the bookstore. Spend money. Window-shop the Grand Avenue. Have an E-T-T-S moment thinking about eight stories of Gimbel's where the riverside Borders now is, and eight stories of Boston Store where a much-reduced store occupies the first two floors, the upper stories are lofts, and the bargain basements are gone. I wonder if any of the owners of eighth-floor condos have memories of the toy departments that were once there ...
Back to the station. More troubling developments. The stock of the
1.00 train ordinarily turns as the
3.15 Chicago, arriving at
4.44 with an hour to turn it as the
5.45. Amtrak apparently decided to annul the
3.15, although there would be stock in Chicago for one, rather than contend with the signal troubles and more late running. Thus, the
5.45 return is also annulled, with the
7.30 train to be run, and the possibility of Chicago passengers being able to board a late-running
Empire Builder expected around
6.40. I'm thinking about the 2 hour running time with the signal troubles, the prospect of equipment failure, and the risk of missing the 12.40 am scoot to Geneva if everything goes badly. Some people are pooling their money to hire a van and drive to Glenview and downtown...
The worst-case scenario doesn't materialize, fortunately. At about
6.40 there is some noise outside. Not the
Builder. It's the
5.08 Chicago. Might the signal troubles be fixed? Station staff advises all passengers to plan to go on the
7.30 as the
Builder is still somewhere beyond Columbus.
Board train.
Horizon car with leg and foot rests??? Consider possibility of a good run. Recall lap-timer feature on watch. Recall how to start it.
Amtrak 342
Hiawatha Service, Milwaukee-Chicago: 200 - 54557 - 51503 - 54579 - 54563 - 54017 - 54525 - 39. Locomotives 200 and 39 are "Genesis" series diesels. 54-series Horizon coaches have corridor density seating, 51-series have long-distance density with leg and foot rests. 15 degrees Fahrenheit at Milwaukee, clear and dry. The service difficulties have scared away passengers at Mitchell International (four passengers on) and Sturtevant (nobody on or off). Mayfair in the 72nd minute, Pacific Junction in the 75th minute, Noble Street 80, Madison Street 85, stop 85:52.75.
Give 'em free rein to 110 and let's do some serious corridor railroading.
The
Builder? It pulled into Milwaukee while 342 was loading. We left on time. The
Builder left a minute or two later, and passed 342 on Lake Hill as 342 was leaving Mitchell International. (Note to overseas readers: two main tracks lets you do things you can't on double track.) But the signal gremlins apparently were not exorcised by the full moon, as we passed the
Builder at the new crossovers north of Caledonia (A-70?) and ran ahead of it the rest of the way into Chicago. The crossovers at Wadsworth worked properly, getting 342 out of the way of a freight train and the
8.05 Chicago. Our arrival at Union Station caused some consternation among the redcaps, who had brought all their electric baggage carts onto track 17 expecting to meet the Builder. The Builder ran through and unloaded on track 28 at
9.15.
Metra back to Geneva was routine. But that was not the end of the weekend.

Geneva, Illinois, 9 am, December 18, habitat of the
American dung beetle. Metra's weekend pass makes for a great day rover. I used it to get to
Kenosha for the trolleys, and I have used it to shop at bookstores in Printer's Row and Hyde Park, and if I were venturesome enough, those in Evanston as well. There's also a way to go to Blue Island on one line and return on another, and at one time there were some great Polish grocery stores in downtown Blue Island, are they still there?
But today, it's the interurban time machine.
As a matter of pride, I still aim to walk from the Burlington or Milwaukee or North Western to the South Shore in 20 minutes. Today's routing includes a stop at the Union Station bakery, after confirming an on-time departure of the 10.20
Hiawatha (but the chili parlor's Sunday hours are different ...) and a walk east on Adams Street, where, between LaSalle and Clark, I discover a pub called "Elephant and Castle," complete with the figure that later evolved into the bishop (yes, you'd think it's the rook, but the Russian notation for "bishop" begins with "C" as in "Slon," and that's Russian for "elephant," go figure) on the sign. Keep this in mind for future reference. On my first trip to London, I made a point to ride to "Elephant and Castle" because that struck me as such a fine name for a pub. Get there to find a small mall, decorated with a pink elephant, and no food court, and a rather tatty billiards club.
There's no place like home, there's no place like home. There's also a rather funky old-style office tower with lots of domes on the northwest corner of Lake and Wabash. Looks like it's been there since I was riding the North Shore, but this is the first time it registered ... lighting didn't work with the cheap digital, but I had the Canon along. Picture of the building later.
The cheap digital did work well enough in "Millennium Station," the new name for the Illinois Central - South Shore Randolph St. Station in the basement of the Prudential Building.

This is looking past the passenger waiting area toward the South Shore ticket office and boarding concourse. There isn't a straight line in the place until one goes through the doors to the South Shore's platforms.
The old Gary, Indiana, New York Central and Baltimore and Ohio joint station is still standing, if somewhat trashed. The U.S. Steel Gary Works continues to smelt iron and cast steel.

But the signal gremlins were at it again ... the 11.59 am Chicago-South Bend was knocked for about 20 minutes owing to signal troubles along the East Chicago bypass and through Gary. I wasn't concerned about missing my return train from South Bend, as the outbound equipment returns as the inbound train, but the signal troubles and the prospect of heavy loads of Chicago Bear fans on the return had me wondering about cutting my connection back to the North Western a bit close.
Not to worry. Through the dunes, the signals were working. The South Shore dispensed with the traditional "cut" at Michigan City Shops, and with no passengers on or off at Hudson Lake, it's a fast ride to the South Bend airport.

In at
3.35, time to disembark and take a few pictures, passengers begin boarding.
It's still possible to work a streetcar turnaround. Departure for Chicago is at 3.42. At Grandview substation, the South Shore begins to parallel the old New York Central. There was a long freight train going west as we crept around the curve onto the original mainline alignment. Off the curve, wind up the controller, overtake that freight train within two miles and leave it behind.
The "genius department" at Michigan City Shops still has its work to do.

The oldest of the South Shore's current fleet of cars are about the same age at which the South Shore rebuilt its steel "arks" as the longer, air-conditioned cars that had to be babied along into the early 1980s. Time passes...
No "add" at Michigan City either, and relatively few Bear fans boarding. The train made an additional stop at 18th Street to set down the Bear fans close to Soldier Field, and I did make the connection with time to spare.