O/S connecting line in Bucktown (Chicago)

Curious if anyone can provide info/short history on the line that is out of service between the UP North West main just east of Clybourn Station and the MD North/West mains. Was this originally part of the MD West main, or a cut-off? Doesn't appear to have been operated for local freight as it's elevated.

With the exception of some storage tracks on the west end, it has obviously been dormant for quite some time... and seems to have become an unofficial rail trail... ever any plans to officially convert as such?

I'm sure someone else can give more details, but the line is the Bloomingdale Line. To my knowledge, it was mainly used as a shortcut for the Soo Line to get from Bensenville to it's customers on the North Side of Chicago (though I think many decades ago there were some ramps off the elevated structure serving some industrial customers along the west portion of the line). You can learn more and see some great photos on the "Bloomingdale Line" pages at this web site: http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v5/

The forums there have some more info, too. I'm not sure of when the line saw its last train but it was within the last 10 years or so. I remember seeing a train on the line in the summer of 1995. There is a proposal to turn the line into a trail but I think it is stalled awaiting funding.

Thanks for the info. And great link - it made me nostalgic for the Lakeview Branch local. It was always amusing parallel parking next the Peerless corn syrup tank cars and having to obey the "no parking on train days" signs at Lakeshore Athletic Club!

Peerless just shut down a year back. I used to hear the switch job heading up there from my house about five blocks away, at Sheffield/Armitage. I can't wait to move back to the neighborhood - three months!

Yeah, Peerless is now a vacant lot. Didn't take long before it was razed. Wonder if they'll just pave over the branch in time, or actually rip it up.