My Community
Chicago Switching => General Discussion => Topic started by: mark_k on February 01, 2007, 01:24:41 AM
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In light of the upcoming closings of Finkl Steel and Peerless Confection I\'d like to propose a group outing to witness the last or close-to-last service at these sites. It\'s a bit far into the future to know when the last service will be, but let\'s at least get the ball rolling.
I assume Tuesday and/or Thursday service for Peerless.
I\'ll be flying in from NYC so I\'m not as flexible as most of you. Still want to give it a shot though.
Any takers?
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Work for me is pretty much week to week knowing if I can take time off. So when I date is decided I will do my best.
Sounds like a plan,
Chuck
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I might be able to make a trip for Thursday.
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Thomas Mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com
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Hi,
It would be cool to get together with people who appreciate this area as much as I do. Because of school, however, the only day that would work for me would be April 12 (possibly April 10).
Would this work for anyone else?
-Matt
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Tuesday 10 April would work better for me than Thursday 12 April. I was thinking about flying in that weekend (Saturday the 8th).
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OK I\'ll officially be in town for Easter weekend, through Tuesday 10 April. If anyone wants to get together for a Chicago Switching gathering during that time I\'m open to suggestions.
Sadly no Peerless service, but I\'m sure there will be plenty of other diversions.
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Hi,
I forgot to reply, but I\'m planning on heading down that same day. Where you just planning on focusing on the North side?
-Matt
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North Side and possibly stuff along the South Branch (north and west of Chinatown). Street, switching and industrial trackage.
Are you coming down for Tuesday the 10th?
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Any update on when this outing is taking place?
I would be very interested in joining as long as there is a few days notice so I can plan taking vacation time.
Dan J
Evanston
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Guys,
I\'m looking at a few possibilities.
Easter Sunday -- No train ops that day, but street traffic will be relatively light for most of the morning provided we get an early enough start. Ample parking abounds. Lots of time to tour, take pix, talk.
Tuesday 10 April -- Trains potentially operating, but no idea as to exact times and locations. I need to leave for the airport in the late afternoon unfortunately.
Saturday the 7th also possible. Again, no trains though.
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My vote would be for the Tuesday because of the chance of seeing ops, but Sat/Sun would work for me as well.
Dan J
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Hi,
I\'ve set aside Tuesday, April 10 for a visit. There is a chance that Saturday would work but Tuesday would be much better. And, of course, I\'d like to see something running!
-Matt
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Tuesday 10 April 2007 it is: We can meet early-mid AM at the Tom Burke Starbucks on North & Kingsbury (200 W. North Ave).
There\'s a good amount of seating there. Details, times, etc. TBD closer to the date.
(http://images.yelp.com/bphoto/ryepdkMRQfwvPqKlMfCg2Q/l)
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Just throwing this out there... If you want to see that southside operation, head there first. They seem to get things going around 8AM. Not sure about their other line around 31st & Kedzie. CTR doesn\'t really seem to get moving till after 11AM.
Chuck
-=Chuck=-
Mail: chuckjanda@hotmail.com
Home: http://www.chucksphotospot.com
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If you meet up, please take some group shots and I\'ll post them to the aboutus/contributors section.
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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com
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quote:
Originally posted by tom mann
If you meet up, please take some group shots and I\'ll post them to the aboutus/contributors section.
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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com
Already have it on my checklist Tom.
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A little less than 2 weeks to go until 10 April.
Due to a family crisis there is now a _possibility_ that I might not be visiting Chicagoland.
I can\'t say either way yet, so let\'s continue to fine tune the plans.
I\'m setting 8 AM to 3 PM aside for this outing, just to be flexible. Meeting time at Starbucks (Kingsbury & North Aves) still TBD.
Could any forum members give us a rough idea of when the Chicago Terminal crews get started (presumably at North Avenue Yard) on a Tuesday?
Some of us might wish to contact each other off-list for cell phone numbers if necessary.
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Hi,
Are there any plans to do something on the southside before this?
-Matt
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quote:
Originally posted by cnwnorthline
Hi,
Are there any plans to do something on the southside before this?
-Matt
Matt,
Not on Tuesday. I had briefly considered doing a South Side drive-by on Easter Sunday AM. No trains, but not much traffic to contend with.
Mark
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Hi,
I thought someone had mentioned that things don\'t get rolling on the north side till around 11ish which would give time to do a quick southside stop. It\'s not that we have to, it\'s just that I don\'t know anything about those lines and it would be cool to learn a little about them. What was the plan for the first 3 hours then? Just wondering and adding my 2 cents.
-Matt
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quote:
Originally posted by cnwnorthline
Hi,
I thought someone had mentioned that things don\'t get rolling on the north side till around 11ish which would give time to do a quick southside stop. It\'s not that we have to, it\'s just that I don\'t know anything about those lines and it would be cool to learn a little about them. What was the plan for the first 3 hours then? Just wondering and adding my 2 cents.
-Matt
I\'m not entirely sure when things get started for Chicago Terminal hence my 8AM-3PM rough guess. We can move the initial meet to 10 AM or so as more operations info becomes available.
I had mentioned the South Side as a possibility, however logistically speaking, it probably deserves a day of its own.
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5 days and counting.
If anyone from out of town needs anything photographed, please let us know. I think SlowFreight/Taylor mentioned wanting some pix from Goose Island, but I\'m not sure if he meant historic or current.
Meet-up time is 10 AM. Look for a crowd of people with camera gear. Starbucks at North/Sheffield/Kingsbury.
Should anyone wish to exchange cell phone numbers, just in case, e-mail me: dilly64468 [at] mypacks [dot] net
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Good times were had at the outing. Four of us went all over the area and got many good pictures of the Chicago Terminal switching.
I\'m sure one or more of us will be doing a writeup and submitting some pictures soon.
Dan J.
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Good times were had for sure.
Our crew was Dan J (djohanns), Matt S. (cnwnorthline), Doug Kaniuk (D. Kaniuk) and myself.
We met at Starbucks, waiting around until about 10:20 or so. Doug was on a tight schedule so we really couldn\'t wait much longer -- apologies if anyone showed up afterward looking for us.
First stop was end of track at Division/Kingsbury/Halsted. An old truck trailer with a late-era Iliinois Central logo was spotted in Chicago Firewood\'s yard.
Next stop: Goose Island mini-tour. Division to Hickory to North Branch to Cherry. We walked around Big Bay and Nazdar. A new Commonwealth Edison facility has gone up at the intersection of Bliss/NorthBranch/Cherry. Rail service to deliver transformers and heavy equipment could happen some day.
We next drove up to the Goose Island drawbridge and the run-around track. A relatively new footpath parallels the tracks and people were walking over the drawbridge, presumably to get lunch on \"the mainland\".
On to Morton Salt on Elston with a peek into the UP/CT North Avenue yard. We spotted the Chicago Terminal switcher getting prepped for the afternoon job.
Doug had to leave us for a few hours at this point. Matt, Dan and I went on to the industrial area east of Elston (\"East Bloomingdale Switchign District\" for convenience of reference), just south of Chicago Terminal\'s swingbridge. Access to the bridge from the south is severely restricted now as a formerly abandoned lumber complex is now gated off with an office of some sort on part of the premises.
We asked permission at one of the facilities adjacent to the river, but were politely declined.
On to the Cortland Avenue drawbridge where we waited for the Terminal to show. An hour or so passed so we headed off to Clybourn to get lunch. En route, some sightseeing at Finkl\'s was in order: steel was being poured in one of the bays.
Following lunch we headed back to Cortland drawbridge where we immediately spotted C.T.\'s engine on the Elston overpass, switching out cars. We ran over to Elston for an hour plus of watching the crew put a train together. Gondolas full of scrap and 2 cars full of lumber. Just as the final consist came together, Doug returned from his appointment.
After Elston we were able to watch the Terminal crossing the river then do some switching just west of General Iron. The train finally arrived at C&E Junction just before 3:30 PM which was when I had to leave for the airport.
I presume Dan, Doug and Matt followed the train down to Big Bay on Goose Island. One of them can finish this report.
Many thanks to Doug K. for his generosity.
Additional thanks go to Chicago Terminal\'s fine crew for answering our questions and allowing us to photograph their operations.
(http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3079/group10april2007bz5.jpg)
(http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/7745/group210april2007yu6.jpg)
(http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/5558/mkolodnyfinkls10april20bg8.jpg)
(http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/3271/mkolodnyelston10april20pw3.jpg)
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After Mark left, Chicago Terminal first switched Finkl steel, then went down to Goose Island to leave a carload of plywood. Finally, the crew decide to park a box car on a siding at Kingbury and Blackhawk (across the street fom VIPs).
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Cool, guys. It\'s great to see the group expand over the years and pick up new members!
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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com
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First real post here, other than my introduction.
I was surprised to see a TBOX boxcar on Kingsbury today. I checked this forum when I got home and saw that D. Kaniuk had noted this. Anyone know why it was spotted there?
Joe
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Joe,
I\'m guessing they delivered that TBOX car to the ex-Midwest-Zinc spur just to claim their territory. I\'m thinking that the eventual destination of this car is Big Bay Lumber.
I\'ve seen photos from the past where either the same TBOX car or one very similar to it has been heading there.
see this pic from 2006:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=151294
Hope that helps,
Btw, I plan to submit some of my pics from the photo outing to the site in the next few days.
Dan J.
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Speaking of Midwest Zinc, I sent Tom M. a batch of photos to post of a Soo Line crew working their spur from years ago. They\'re swapping out an empty boxcar for a full one. Since that spur is once again seeing some use, even temporary, it made sense to show what things were like at Midwest Zinc prior to its closure.
Also included are other shots along Kingsbury, including freight cars at the former Plibrico refractory (two sets of spurs) and a boxcar parked outside the former waterbed factory (lumber for the frames) on Kingsbury from the 1980s. Plibrico\'s building is still there but it was swallowed up by General Iron Industries, while the waterbed factory burned down in the 1980s.
Hopefully they will appear soon so people can do some now and then type viewing of the same section of tracks.
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The photos showing the delivery of lumber for the waterbed frames are up.
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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com
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More photos showing a midwest zinc delivery are up.
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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com
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I assumed the boxcar on Kingsbury was for Chicago Firewood, but that could certainly be incorrect. Didn\'t someone on the board here say they were a potential customer? Kingsbury is one odd street these days. Everything from firewood to kids\' birthday party places to strippers.