CNW commuter service at Winnetka...

Just north of the Winnetka depot along the Kenosha subdivision, there is a spur branching off of track 1 (normally signaled for Metra's NB traffic) that runs alongside the main for about 800 feet or so. A couple of Metra trains originate and terminate here during rush hours, but these days, Metra uses this track for its MOW equipment at times. My question is, in pre-Metra/RTA days, did CNW ever use this track to store commuter equipment between runs? Anyone that knows, TIA...

Interesting question for me as I grew up in Winnetka in the early '60s. I don't remember seeing commuter trains layover north of the village, then again I was a kid, so I wouldn't have been around there at the time when it might normally have been occupied. June '64 Milwaukee Dvision time table lists two morning inbounds originating at Winnetka, 7.37 and 8:18am, and one evening outbound terminating there at 6:10pm, so apparently they didn't immediately reverse as scheduled runs, likewise a 13+ hour layover was unlikely. My guess is they deadheaded to or from Waukegan, as there's plenty of space before and after those times in the schedule for the 20 minutes it took back then to make the trip non-stop. As an aside there was a house track north of town where a box car of lumber or building supplies would periodically be spotted by the local SW during the week.

That was pretty much my guess too, that the equipment deadheaded to/from Waukegan, although my original post made it obvious that I didn't know for sure. At least Metra gets more out of the equipment these days, with the trains now running from downtown in the AM as scheduled revenue runs, and returning downtown in the PM to pick up more passengers. But anyway, thanks for the reply...

The North Western did use that track during the morning rush non reveniew train 3101 would go through Winnetka at 700 AM go on to that track wait for train number 303 to go by and would come back out and cross over and would be train number 310 leaving Winnetka at 7:37.

One thing I forgot to say last sunday, back in the day up untill 1994 or 95 the switch was at the North End near Elderado the rail road moved the switch when the cross overs were changed from manual to automatic and the signals installed.