Trains & Planes

Thanks for posting this! I grew up on the West side of Midway and always heard about the railroad running thru the middle of the airport.

Frank

Frank,

I grew up east of Midway, 2 blocks south of the IHB tracks that paralleled Archer Ave. and 1 block west of the GTW's Elsdon yard. I remember the landing planes following the IHB tracks on their approach to the NE to SW runway. My favorites were the TWA "Connies" with the triple tailfins. That was in the 50's, before jets and O'Hare made Midway a ghost town for a long while. Had a great view of those low and slow approaches from my parent's dining room window. Good times.

Ed 

Great photos, thanks! I grew up a mile east of Midway in the 50's, and used to hang around the airport and the Chicago Belt Railway tracks all the time. The tracks that paralleled what became the main east west runway(in line with 59th St.) were moved to north of 55th St. and west of Central Ave. in 1941, which was before me. However, because of spending so much time there, I got to see all the classic prop planes, as well  steam locomotives of all types on the Belt. I still love those things.

By the way, for those of you on Facebook, there is an excellent group called "Chicago Midway Airport Historians", which has hundreds of photos of the airport and its environs (including the railroads)from its establishment back in the 20's to the current date.

jay jay,

Thanks for the heads up on the Midway historians site. Took a look and it certainly did bring back memories. Haven't thought about those old prop jobs in a long, long time.

Lots of bygone airline names too.

I'm guessing that if you went to public school, it was Peck Elementary (maybe Pasteur) and Gage Park High. If so, I wonder if we had any of the same teachers? Do the names Fogerty, Toomy, Gordon, McKee, Joyce rings any bells? My K-12 years were '56 to '69.

Ed

You're welcome! No, I didn't go to Peck or Pasteur. I lived around 61st and Pulaski and attended parochial school (except kindergarten....went to Hubbard when it was a grade school). Nevertheless, I used to hang around Midway and the Belt Railway (a mile or so west of me), as well as the Grand Trunk "vy-docks", as we used to call them, which were a couple blocks to the east. By the time I was in high school, we were living in the suburbs.

Thanks.  Midway was one of my favorites. I probably only landed there 20 times, but I loved it.  You had to be on speed.

I also took a Cub into Meigs and walked downtown - glad I did that.  A piece of history.

Great pics...couldn't help but notice how well dressed most everyone was.

here's some trains and planes.