Forgotten Streetcar Tunnels of Chicago - IT'S HISTORY

I have been on one of these cable cars it was relocated to New Zealand to transport tree loggers and still has the old Chicago insignia

Having been born and initially raised in Chicago, and a 'streetcar rooter' since age 3, this naturally captured my attention. Available photos of the tunnels/portals are not that many, even with the internet. The Van Buren tunnel portals in particular are now hidden, one covered over at/by a paid-parking lot on Clinton St. (last I looked a couple years ago), and the Franklin Street portal now evidently tucked/buried inside/beneath a parking garage on that thoroughfare. There had been talk some years ago of reopening the Van Buren tunnel as a pedestrian link between Union Station and east of the river (somewhere), but like so many other Chicago transit-related projects, that idea too has evidently faded away. (That would have been quite difficult anyway with the erstwhile east portal being inside a parking garage.) This video should actually be re-edited to add how each respective portal location looks in 2021.

Funny, I live in Chicago and also work for CDOT, and was just last week talking with a co worker about the network of tunnels that run underneath the city. A lot of these tunnels were sealed off and bulk- headed after the flood in the early 90's. Great video !

There are a series of old canal tunnels built in the 1800s underneath Pittsburgh, PA. Built by the Pennsylvania Main Line of Works, the Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel connected the various canal companies to the three rivers at various points, as well as a series of aqueducts (basically “canal bridges”). They were eventually abandoned when railways took off and canals fell out of favor. They laid sealed off and abandoned until the 1960s when US Steel Tower was being constructed downtown and the workers digging the foundations dug into them. But their story doesn’t stop there. Pittsburgh’s subway and streetcar network (known locally as “the T”) would eventually reuse portions of them, making them some of the oldest tunnels still in use today.

Born and raised Chicago and I never knew there were underground streetcar tunnels. 🤯🤯🤯🤯

Cool story...I remember two of these tunnels as a kid in the 1950s. They still had the tracks in them but were unused and had cyclone fences and concrete blocks in their entryways.

There is one entrance known to exist. It's a manhole-within-a-manhole visible on LaSalle north of the river, about a block north of the existing down ramp. Also, a guy said he was present when a wall was knocked down in the basement of the Britannica building and he could see the old tunnel, although it was filled in with landfill.

Having been a Teamster in the '80s, backing my truck to the dock under the Chicago Tower, dodging pilons (& other trucks), folding my side mirrors in, working blind, the incredible underground Chicago is, and always has been an amazing feat of engineering in the middle of a swamp bounded by a helluva Great lake and rivers.

I love the 3D images you always include. Every single time I pause the video and stare until I can see the two images together. And seeing it 3D? Definitely makes it feel less like history and more like I was there. Not to mention you are fantastic with the historical information and giving facts, not exaggerated or sensational stories like many other channels do while skimping on facts and real information. Keep up the amazing work!

5:14 that photo was of the 69th street terminus of the Normal Park Branch. It was demolished in 1954 and is about a mile south of the Green line Ashland/63rd Branch. East of the Former C&WI tracks

Hey, that's a photo of an electric trolleybus at 9:12 (used two trolley poles to access the electric current from two overhead wires). Not a diesel bus as mentioned in the narration. Chicago had at one time the largest trolleybus system in the country. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) last operated trolleybuses in regular service on March 31, 1973.

A piece of Chicago history that I never knew until now. Thanks for the video. 😄

I truly wish that we never lost the use of street cars in major cities, there is something about them. Seeing them running the streets and hearing the bell, a truly lost piece of nostalgia history

Excellent video, and I should know. I have walked and inspected every inch of the Chicago Freight and Trolley Tunnel System (CFTTS). From about 2006 to about 2010 I worked as an engineering consultant for the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). The CFTTS is filled with fiber optic cable, concrete encased high voltage power lines, and steam pipes. I imagine this tunnel system will be maintained for many years to come, because it is very useful in the Chicago Loop for the aforementioned utilities. My favorite trolley tunnel is the Washington Street one, and my least favorite trolley tunnel is the Van Buren Street one. I no longer live and work in Chicago, but I have a ton of interesting and fond memories of these trolley tunnels.

A video on the 500mile overseas Key West Railway would be quite interesting. An astonishing feat for it's time (1912)

‘Gene Krupa at the Panther Inn’ Crystal clear photos from another time.. love this channel.

Many thanks for such a great video. You asked for examples of other such tunnels and so I offer that here is still such a tram ( streetcar) tunnel that exists right in the centre of London. It's called Kingsway Subway and allowed first single and later, double decker trams to pass under the Thames to serve South London. Amazingly, one of the entrances still exists, absolutely as it did when it shut in 1950. Tracks, cobbles and the conduit system of current collection in a groove between the rails, a bit like a Scalextric car racing set. All perfectly preserved for all to see. It has been used as an art gallery, a flood defence and alarm system, ( which always somewhat amused me. A flood warning system ....underground.. erm, Have you FULLY thought this through guys...lol.). And occasionally, you can go down into it on guided tours. Fascinating and a bit like the Chicago one,full of mystery and legend. Cheers.

As a child, I knew about the tunnel system under downtown, but I never heard about these three tunnels under the river. Fantastic!!

Thank you for this very interesting video.

Very interesting, I'd never heard of these tunnels before :)