For generations, seemingly all paths led through Chicago as trains carrying passengers, livestock, and freight crisscrossed the country. In a new WTTW special and companion website, Riding the Rails, lifelong train enthusiast Geoffrey Baer hops aboard all kinds of trains to tell the story of this essential mode of transport and how it shaped our city. Along the way, he uncovers clues all around us to railroads of the past, recalls the colorful characters who built them and the unsung workers who toiled on them, and reveals why our current rail system is just as vital to Chicago’s existence today.
