In 1963, Illinois naturalist May Watts, inspired by walking paths she’d seen in Britain, wrote a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune, suggesting converting a stretch of abandoned railroad into ...

The railway tunnels had been abandoned in 1963.

However, in the decades following nationalisation in 1948, the number of stations declined sharply due to financial pressures and competition from road transport, a period which included the 'Beeching ...