A Tour of CTA Route #17 & the Remains of the Westchester 'L' Branch

Chicago Transit Authority's bus route number 17-Westchester roughly follows the route of the long-abandoned Westchester Branch of the 'L' system. The Branch followed the Chicago Aurora & Elgin interurban west from Desplaines Avenue (Forest Park) to near Bellwood Avenue, where it curved south to terminate at 22nd (Cermak) & Mannheim Road. It opened in 1923 as part of a CA&E bypass project, turned over to the Chicago Rapid Transit Co, and then the CTA, and closed in 1951... just months before the area began to be subdivided and turned into a dense suburb. It was supposed to have generated significant ridership, but the Depression slowed suburban development in Westchester. After the Branch's abandonment, the CTA replaced it with the #17 bus route, which roughly follows the old branch's line and serves the same areas it once did.

The route begins at the post-CA&E-built Forest Park Transit Center, where Blue Line Forest Park Branch trains begin and end their runs from Desplaines Yard. Pace suburban buses are the main bus transit users of the terminal, as the CTA #17 serves a suburban area that would otherwise be served by Pace. The route goes up Desplaines Avenue, then turns onto Madison St, which it follows through Maywood and Bellwood. It encounters the old CA&E right of way (now the Prairie Path) around 25th Ave, as well as the old Chicago Great Western right of way that paralleled the interurban. The bus then takes Bellwood Avenue - Westchester Boulevard south until Canterbury St, where the route ends. The whole distance down Westchester Blvd, the CTA branch's
R-O-W is a half block away. Pole lines give its former location away.

~Thanks for watching!~

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• CTA
• Chicago Transit Authority
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• transit
• el
• elevated
• Westchester Branch
• Westchester
• IL
• Illinois
• train
• rapid transit
• CA&E
• Chicago Aurora & Elgin
• interurban
• abandon
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• Illinois Prairie Path
• CGW
• Chicago Great Western
• right-of-way
• tour
• urban exploration
• bus route
• 17
• New Flyer
• 40-foot
• Pace Suburban Bus

[DaftStrings]

It's nice those lines are trails. Are the whole rights of way trails or only parts?

[Nachtwolf1]

@DaftStrings The entire CA&E interurban system, including its four branch lines, is now a network of trails going from the city into the suburbs. The Westchester Branch of the "L" though, was not made into a trail- there are houses and such on the right of way now.

[The43501]

nice video and a nice 1700 series NF