page_title: Grand Central Station (Chicago)
section_title: The B&OCT Bascule Bridge
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Central Station (Chicago) / Present day / The B&OCT Bascule Bridge
caption_attribution_description: English: VIEW OF THE B &amp; O RAILRAOD'S LIFT BRIDGE (NEAR) AND THE ADJACENT ST. CHARLES AIRLINE RAILROAD'S BASCULE BRIDGE (BEYOND); LOOKING SOUTHEAST HAER ILL, 16-CHIG, 112-2 Library of Congress Source: http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/il/il0600/il0633/photos/037170pv.jpg. According to the Library of Congress, the records in the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) "were created for the U.S. Government and are considered to be in the public domain."
context_page_description: Grand Central Station was a passenger railroad terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois, from 1890 to 1969. It was located at 201 West Harrison Street on a block bounded by Harrison, Wells and Polk Streets and the Chicago River in the southwestern portion of the Chicago Loop. Grand Central Station was designed by architect Solon Spencer Beman for the Wisconsin Central Railroad, and was completed by the Chicago and Northern Pacific Railroad.
  The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad purchased the station in 1910 and used it as the Chicago terminus for its passenger rail service, including its Capitol Limited service to Washington, D.C. Major tenant railroads included the Soo Line Railroad, successor to the Wisconsin Central, the Chicago Great Western Railway, and the Pere Marquette Railway. The station opened December 8, 1890, closed November 8, 1969, and was demolished in 1971.
context_section_description: At the time Grand Central was completed, passenger trains approached the terminal by crossing the Chicago River to the southwest over a bridge between Taylor Street and Roosevelt Road, constructed in 1885. This first bridge was replaced by a taller structure in 1901 to accommodate larger boats and ships on the south branch of the river.
  When the Chicago River was straightened and widened in the 1930s, the United States Department of War insisted the Baltimore and Ohio build a new bridge adjacent to that of the St. Charles Air Line Railroad which crossed the river between 15th and 16th Streets. The new bridge's location (41°51′40″N 87°38′06″W), about seven blocks south of its previous crossing, exacerbated the circuitous route of the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT) trackage leading to Grand Central Station. Both the B&OCT bascule bridge, and that of the St. Charles Air Line Bridge, also a bascule bridge immediately adjacent to it, were built in 1930.
  As of 2013 the B&OCT bridge sits unused.
caption: Looking southwest, the B&OCT bascule bridge over the Chicago River is in the foreground, locked in an upright position. The St. Charles Air Line Railroad bridge is behind. (c. 1988)
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