My Community
Chicago Switching => General Discussion => Topic started by: haggar on September 25, 2010, 10:46:17 PM
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Do the cars for Blommer\'s upper level normally come from North Avenue Yard? For 3 years I have lived along the the UP West line just east of Ogden and have never seen a freight car. The other day a loco was pulling two hoppers west from Blommer. I did see some mow equipment on the UP Northwest line so maybe that had something to do with it.
Joe
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UP used to switch Blommer\'s upper level out of the North Avenue Yard but I heard that may have changed from what I heard. I recall seeing a UP freight locomotive come down from the North Avenue Yard into the throat of the Ogilvie Transportation Center in the early 2000s, making its way across the ladder tracks to eventually move onto the West Line and then down the Blommer spur to retrieve a freight car. I saw it from the upper floors of an office building.
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Thanks Tom. Years ago, I too saw a loco with hoppers near Ogilve. Never got to see the whole movement though. Figured it came from North Ave. because of it\'s location.
Joe
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UP switches the \"upper level\" of Blommer with a switch job that comes down from Kedzie Yard on the Geneva Sub. Generally it\'s the same power that serves as the CPT switcher.
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I believe one of Blommer\'s claims to fame was that it was the only industry switched by two different divisions of the same railroad
-Matt
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Monday 4/7/12 I happened to catch hoppers being pulled at 12:15 pm. Not sure if they have any kind of set schedule, but maybe this helps if someone is trying to get pics or videos. One of the very few times I've seen this being switched and I live only about a half a mile west, right next to the tracks.
Joe
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I've noticed lately at the North Ave Yard UP sets out a couple of box cars right next to the yard of the business that has bricks, cement blocks etc..., can't remember the name of the business thats on Elston. Does anyone know if this business is receiving their shipments from UP? Seems like they are receiving shipments with the location being prime adjacent to the yard.
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Hi all,
I'm new here, but joined specifically because of this thread. I work at an office out by the United Center, and I snapped these two pictures back on June 5th. They show an older Norfolk Southern, I believe, locomotive pulling 12 or so mixed hopper cars. There's some Burlington Northern, BNSF, and Union Pacific cars. The train was heading inbound, and although I've been working here for 6 months, this was the first freight train I've seen on it. There's mostly Metra, a fair amount of Amtrack, and now this freight train. I can't say for sure if it was headed to Blommers, but 1. That's a lot of cars for them, but 2. I don't know where else it'd be headed if not Blommers.
As for GM's comment, that business is Elston Materials LLC. On Google Maps, you can see a tail that used to lead into the business, but right now it's blocked by a ton, literally, of bricks on pallets and the track leading to it looks in terrible condition.
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And here's the second photo:
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What are the approximate street coordinates for these photos?
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The pictures are the NS's train that services ADM Milling at Odgen Ave.
ADM Milling Information at: http://www.dhke.com/schs/schs801.htm
ADM Milling is usually switch around 6pm on week days or Just after the evening rush.
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Does Blommer continue to receive deliveries on the lower spur?
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Yes, Blommer gets deliveries by rail on its lower level spur also but not as often.
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What are the approximate street coordinates for these photos?
1900 West, so yes, west of ADM. I forgot about them, but in 6 months of working there, this was the first time I had seen a freight move on those tracks.
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Doug answered the question about the NS train that you depicted it sound like. NS is using ex-Conrail>ex-Penn Central,>ex-PRR trackage to reach ADM. The Pennsylvania Railroad ran parallel to the Milwaukee Road just to the south of the Milwaukee Road and north of Carroll Avenue, entering Union Station from the north.
Blommer appears to receive tank cars on the lower level. I presume they are full of corn syrup.
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That PRR line was also called the Panhandle, and it ran from Pittsburgh west through Ohio and Indiana to Chicago. It actually crossed the old RI suburban line in Englewood and ran north up to where it turned east to access Union Station from the Milwaukee Road side. Quite a bit of its Chicago trackage has been gone for at least 30 years.
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Found couple pics of Blommer upper level switching on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31053639@N06/7889955318/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31053639@N06/7889976202/in/photostream/
Lots of other Chicago pics in that photostream.
Joe
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Good catch.
I passed Blommer on the Metra train in and out of Chicago on Wednesday and I noticed six covered hoppers parked on the upper spur and a black tank car parked on the street level spur on the lower east side of Blommer. Another black tank car was parked farther north on the same spur closer to Grand Avenue.
Business must be good for Blommer lately.