Deering Line Overview

A closer view, looking north, at the C&NW connecting track where it left the C&NW North Line viaduct and entered the Deering Industrial District. The former Stewart-Warner Co. plant was to the left or west of this picture. The C&NW's Deering Yard was located out of view and further north from this angle, across Diversey Blvd.
Another look west at the C&NW's connection into the Deering area, this time from the North Line viaduct.
Good view looking east of the C&NW connecting track where it crossed Clybourn Ave. and the former Chicago Surface Lines streetcar tracks. Some 33 years after abandonment, the streetcar tracks and frogs where they crossed the heavier rails of the C&NW are still there in 1991.
A continuation of the previous photo. Here the spur wraps around the building then heads to the northwest up an alley along the Chicago River (out of picture to the right), parallel to N. Elston Ave. Eventually it swung west across Elston and connected with the CNW's Northwest Line. An intricate network of street trackage once existed in this district.
View from the Damen Avenue bridge looking west down an alley to a tennis club on N. Elston Ave. (just NW of W. Fullerton Ave.) Note spur remnant in weeds along the fence, curving toward the building on the right. This spur likely branched off the CNW's Northwest Line (see next photo).
C&NW's North Line bascule bridge over the Chicago River. This scene is substantially different today.
This Cement Plant is south of Fullerton at the Chicago River. The Milwaukee Road's Deering Line crossed through here prior to cutbacks around 1982. The site is now a Shopping Center. The view looks west of the C&NW north line
C&NW's North Line looking south. It crossed over the Milwaukee Road's Deering Line here just before the bascule bridge. The stone abutments and bridge over the former Milwaukee Road branch line are still there, behind the T.J. Maxx store off Fullerton. Note the former C&NW industrial lead track taken up on the right.
Looking north this time towards the C&NW North Line bridge over the Chicago River. The spur in the foreground will drop down and cross busy Ashland Avenue at grade to reach Tanneries and industries on the west side of the river, north of Cortland and east of Ashland.
Looking southeast from the Diversey Blvd. bridge down the Chicago River. On the east (left) bank was the right-of-way of the Milwaukee Road's former Deering Line which crossed Diversey at one time. The former McCormick-Deering plant was located on the eastern side of the river between Diversey and Fullerton.
A view of the northern end of the Cotter & Company plant on Clybourn taken from the Damen Ave. drawbridge. Cotter & Company was the parent for the True-Value (www.true-value.com) chain of hardware stores, pre-merger and name change, and had a huge complex of headquarters and factory buildings along Clybourn at one time before relocating.