Check out the Shortlines of Chicago Historical Society, a group that is preserving historical information about industrial and shortline railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area. The organization publishes a quarterly ~tmann1_cs_com_newsletter.

As reported in Crain's Chicago Business, Finkl Steel has been sold and will shut down their plant at Cortland and the river where they have operated since 1902. This event will mark the end of operations on the Deerline Line.

A new shortline, the Chicago Terminal Railroad, is set to take over operations from CP Rail on the former Milwaukee Road lines later this month. Chicago Terminal Railroad is part of the Chicago-based Iowa Eastern holding company which operates other shortlines.

We are currently working on version 5 of ChicagoSwitching.com. Our targeted release date is summer 2007.

The first quarter 2006 The Milwaukee Railroader featured an extensive article on the Deering Line by Tom Burke. The Milwaukee Railroader is a high quality quarterly magazine published by The Milwaukee Road Historical Association. Visit them on the web at http://www.mrha.com for information on becoming a member or how to purchase individual issues.