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What is Competing Rails all about? John Evans, one of the founders of Northwestern University, desired rail competition. He did not want the Chicago & North Western to be the exclusive railroad in Evanston, Illinois. He obtained a horse-car franchise that ended up as a steam railroad commuter service, the Chicago Evanston & Lake Superior, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, operating between Chicago Union Depot and Evanston. (In those days The Milwaukee Road was referred to as the 'St. Paul.') The St. Paul's plans to expand beyond Evanston never materialized. Instead from the north came the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric, predecessor of the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee. More competition came from the south, the Chicago North Shore Street Railway Company. Initially controlled by 'robber baron' Charles T. Yerkes, this streetcar line connected with Yerkes' North Chicago.
