We can and should electrify UP North Line and Aurora Line as well as most of the rest of the system

sextant wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 12:43 pm here is a journal article on how Chicago Suburbs and Railroads worked early on to develop the flat empty fields around Chicago into the bustling burbs that we have today---Necessary Adjuncts to Its Growth": The Railroad Suburbs of Chicago, 1854-1875
Carl Abbott
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984)
Vol. 73, No. 2 (Summer, 1980), pp. 117-123, 125-131 (14 pages)
Published By: University of Illinois Press
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40191595

Hogwash... The article is available here: http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/coll ... u02/id/474

There's no doubt that the development of Chicago followed the railroads outward from the city center, and I'm sure land speculators worked with railroads to get stations established at their developments, however those lines already existed with a purpose, which was more about bringing livestock and raw materials into the cities factories, since Illinois was (and still is) relatively resource poor aside from perhaps corn and maybe dairy products (Harvard billed itself as the Milk Capitol of the World into the 1950's...).

The only lines that you might be able to argue were done for the purpose of commuting were what eventually became the CTA, plus the defunct interurbans CA&E and CNS&M as well as the still standing CSS&SB.