I had an hour to kill today on the North side, so I drove around looking for things. I don\'t get out there too often, so some of this may be old news. Here\'s what I saw:
1. 3 gondolas on the Lakewood Branch by Finkl\'s. (Much like the one in photo #656 from link below)
http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v5/articles/article.asp?articleid=822. The Gutman Tannery building is completely gone.
3. The Lakin & Sons tire yard on the north side of Webster has also been completely cleaned out and leveled. The fence along the river (at the NW corner of the lot) is open to the land behind the Salvation Army in case anyone wants ROW pictures back there or under Ashland Ave.
I was able to see the track referred to in photo 654 from link below. The westernmost track is clear of debris, but the eastern track is a little grown over. No camera (of course), so no photos...
Interestingly, there is a yellow RR crossing sign on the fence facing the river/west. This sign is shown behind the stop sign in photos 610-614 using the link below.
http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v5/articles/article.asp?articleid=77Based on observations of today\'s geography, I\'m not sure why there would be one facing west, since if you were looking at the sign, you were likely to be standing on the tracks. But I\'m looking at the \"Deering Line 1955\" map on page 18 of TMR 1st Quarter 2006 and noticing Sandman & Co. may have had track to the north of that fence. Was this sign possibly a left-over indication of that spur? A mistake? Does anyone have more info on this?
4. Just west of Elston where it curves to the south toward the yard, CTRR 900 was stopped with 3 empty cars (2 center beam lumber cars and a gondola) behind it.
