For commuters and
day-trippers on the South Shore line--distracted by their jobs, their
devices, their plans for a night on the town--a ride on the train is
typically just a way to get from Point A to Point B as quickly and with as
little aggravation as possible. No traffic to fight, no tolls to pay, no
need to worry about parking.
And since
1926--when the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railway ran the first
through-train from South Bend to Chicago--it's probably always been that way
for travelers: less an excursion or an outing than a matter of convenience
(although for a brief few years, until 1932, the CSS&SB did run a deluxe
service including dining and parlor cars).
And yet for all
that it’s a good scenic ride with much to hold the interest of a rider with
a window seat: the dunes and swales and woodlands; the heavy-industrial
corridors; the urban grit of Downtown Gary and East Chicago; and the
marvelous old neighborhoods of South Chicago. It’s the same line
too--exactly the same line--which the men in gray flannel suits rode in the
‘50s, Duneland’s hippy children did in the ‘60s, and Chesterton’s swelling
population of suburbanites did in the ‘70s. And in that sense a South Shore
train car is very much like a time capsule, were a rider to close her eyes
and imagine the ghosts of the past rushing by her window.
And in fact there
is a way to summon those spirits: on Saturday, June 16, “Rail Rangers” with
the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF), based in LaPlata,
Mo., will board a designated car to give riders a narrated tour of the South
Shore line. Board the westbound train departing Dune Park Station at 1:15
p.m.; or the eastbound train departing Millennium Station at 8:40 a.m.
There’s no charge for the tour beyond the standard fare but seating in the
designated car is on a first-come/first-served basis. Tours will also be
given on July 8 and 14; and Aug. 11 and 25.
“We keep our
program ‘general interest,’’ APRHF Vice-president Robert Tabern says. “It’s
not really geared for rail fans. We don’t tell you the whole history of the
South Shore. We keep things general knowledge and general history: the
industry, the people, the parks, the animals, the plants.”
Ghosts? Ghost
stations for sure. As late as 1971 the South Shore operated six different
stations in Porter County alone: Beverly Shores, then--moving
west--Tremont/The Dunes, Portchester, Mineral Springs/Dune Acres, Baileytown,
and Wilson. All of them have disappeared, some returned to forest, others
buried beneath the mills. Dune Park Station, for the record, opened for
business in 1985.
A ghost town as
well. Tremont, founded in 1833, was a prosperous rail hub until the creation
of Indiana Dunes Park in 1925, after which it was gradually surrendered to
Mother Nature. For perspective consider this: the Tremont town square that
was is now the approximate site of park headquarters.
On the other hand,
a regular commuter of the 50s would today likely find a ride along the line
a long, strange trip. “I’d say (commuters from half a century ago) would be
mostly surprised by three things,” Tabern says. “The skyscrapers in Downtown
Chicago. The Port of Indiana. And the preservation that has taken place with
the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. None of the National Park Service land
existed in 1955”--the National Lakeshore wasn’t created until 1966--“so
hopefully while some might be disappointed by the loss of the Central Dunes
region where the Port of Indiana is now, they would be proud that so much of
the landscape has been preserved in the State Park and National Lakeshore.”
Tabern says that
for him personally every ride on the South Shore is an opportunity to
excavate just a little deeper into the past. On one occasion he was leading
a tour and drawing folks’ attention out their left windows to the new
Pullman National Monument, when a woman looking out her right window asked
him about an old building with horse heads built into the motif. He had no
idea what the building used to be, but after a little research determined it
to have been a horse stable used by a Schlitz brewery.
“Pullman didn't
allow bars and drinking in his company town, so people would go to the
‘other side of the tracks’ for their beer and libations,” Tabern says.
“Thanks to the woman who looked ‘the other way’ when I was giving my Pullman
talk, we learned about a new landmark to point out.”
Tabern is
especially grateful to the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District
for its support of the Rail Rangers program. “They have been great to work
with 100 percent of the way. They know people’s train rides are a lot more
fun when passengers know what they are seeing outside their window.”