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Chicago Switching => General Discussion => Topic started by: GM on July 03, 2007, 05:48:03 PM
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Anybody see any shipments lately. No mention of Kingsbury or Goose Island activity from anyone lately? Obviously Lakewood is dead.
GM
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There are a few cars at Finkl as of this past weekend. Usually there are 2-3 sitting there when I drive by.
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An almost empty car at Big Bay.....they delivered an empty to Finkl....I think....I saw them go across the river with a gon on each end.....so I dont really know what they did....all I know is that I happened to bike up over to Cortland St. just in time to see hem run light power back to North Ave. Yard.....
Im starting to worry that they are going down the toliet....
-Ian
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I should probably know the answer to this, but don\'t.
Does anybody on Goose Island besides Big Bay receive rail service? There\'s the big siding near the bridge at North Avenue, but I\'ve never seen any cars in there.
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There shouldn\'t be anything but Big Bay on Goose Island.....
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When I was near Finkles a few days ago I saw two gondolas in their siding. One was a white Wisconsin Central gondola. The other one might have been also, I\'m not sure.
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This month\'s Chicago Magazine has an article on Finkl steel and the questions about what will replace the property. In the article, there is a reference to Water Saver Faucet Company building a new factory on Goose Island. I wonder if they will need/have rail service?
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There are 3 cars at Big Bay right now (as of 7/15), so at least they seem healthy!
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Three cars! That\'s more than I\'ve ever seen there. What kind are they? I wish I could get there to take some pictures, but am traveling out of town tomorrow morning.
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1 box car and 2 of those cars that usually have wood products on them (center post cars, or something like that, I think they are called). I almost ran my car right into them they were parked so close to Division Street when I made the turn in front of Big Bay. That would\'ve been interesting to explain to the insurance company.
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That is a lot of freight cars considering the housing market has slowed. Hopefully they are keeping busy with shipments of lumber for rehabs in the area. I have only seen as much as 2 freight cars by Big Bay in the past. I have not noticed any lumber deliveries on the UP to Lee Lumber and Mayfair Lumber in the past 2 weeks. Although the North Ave yard has look fairly crowded over the last few weeks.
Anyone see any signs of delivery on Kingsbury to the firewood customer? Probably that will pick up in the fall. Hope that keeps the line going and the line does not get abandoned. I wonder if Carbit Paints would ever consider reestablishing deliveries via rail. It would be interesting to know if there has been any effort to regain some former customers of the Kingsbury line, Goose Island or off of Elston Ave. like Sipi Metals.
GM
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I believe Carbit Paints may be gone from their Kingsbury Street location. There was a for sale sign on the building recently.
From the mid-1980s on I never saw a freight car on their interesting siding and spur off Kingsbury. Then over time segments of their tracks were paved over.
Sipi Metals is still a current rail customer, though it is sporadic, unless something happened recently.
The best opportunity for the Chicago Terminal Railroad IMHO would be to open up a transload facility on Goose Island for truck to train interchange. Perhaps Waste Management can once again also become a rail served customer on Goose Island-part of their spur is still in place, though covered in dirt and asphalt.
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For Sipi do they come down the spur to street level which exists off the side street by Elston Ave. or is there a spur that exists above next to Sipi where the UP tracks are leading to the bridge which goes over Elston?
GM
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Sipi Metals used to have two spurs into their property which forked apart from the lead that entered off the Mill Yard. This same lead also curved down and onto Wabansia, heading east to the now gone Proctor & Gamble plant.
The Sipi spur that was used the most (until about 2000) dropped down and ran over part of brick paved Besly Ct. where it intersects Waubansia Avenue. The other spur came in on the west side of the property and I never saw it in use as it normally was covered with stored odds and ends on the rails.
Around 2000 Sipi fenced off their plant and cut off the spurs running onto their property. Instead, a \"new spur\" was made from the truncated old spur which terminates in a parking lot just outside Sipi. That\'s where CP Rail and now CTR drop off an occasional gondola.
The spur into Sipi comes off the Milwaukee Road\'s former Mill Yard and makes a sharp curve downward to reach Sipi\'s parking lot. At one time both C&NW and Milwaukee Road took turns switching out Sipi though in recent decades it seemed CP Rail/Soo Line handled it exclusively.
Sipi is high security and very railfan unfriendly so make sure that you observe or take pictures from a safe distance on public streets and sidewalks like on Besly.
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wait a minute......UP still ships over to Mayfair Lumber???? The last time I saw those suckers drop a car in there I was still in grade school (2002)....
-Ian
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Yes, I have seen a box car about a month ago from the Metra while going by the Mayfair Yard. Haven\'t noticed nothing in the past couple of weeks but nothing at Lee either.
GM
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Was by Peerless Sunday, sure looks empty I wonder how long before they start paving over the rails or removing them? Do they need to first get some federal approval?
GM
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Generally a railroad must wait two years after the last revenue movement on a particular line before petitioning the Surface Transportation Board to legally abandon it. If there are objections from current or potential shippers on the affected line then that can delay or defer the process.
It is probably not cut and dry in the case of the Chicago Terminal line up to Diversey from Clybourn since it all may depend upon the terms of the original franchise agreement between the predecessor Chicago & Evanston/Milwaukee Road and the City of Chicago. Much of the C&E operates/operated on city streets or alleys via franchise agreements.
There may be clause in the franchise agreement where if trains are not operated in X number of months or years it reverts back to the city which can do whatever it wants with the tracks. The original intent of these kinds of stipulations was to ensure that the winning railroad with the franchise actually operated it for the public good and didn\'t just stake a claim for the future, as well as maintaining the area of the street over which the railroad operated.
All of this is speculation. Chicago Terminal of course could decide to keep the line active.
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2 boxcars at Big Bay as of 8/21. Good to see. I feel like buying some lumber from them just to help them keep going!
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The engine has been sitting in the yard off the Kennnedy a lot lately. Anytime I pass on a Tuesday or Thursday it is sitting there where in times past it was out working. Business must be slow, once Finkl is gone there really won\'t be much movement going on.
GM
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Hi,
Well, I guess buisness will become slow. I managed to go down there on Tuesday and I believe they had something like a dozen cars. One crew member commented that was about all their little engine could take going around the curve and up the slight grade. I think it was something like 6 for General Iron 2 for Big Bay and 4 for Finkel.
-Matt
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While driving by on the Kennedy Monday, it looked like Sipi had 3 gondola cars. I was suprised, because I\'d never actually seen any cars there before. I tried to get a closer look but couldn\'t get close enough to confirm the highway view.
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I think those cars are actually not for Sipi, but for General Iron or Finkle. From the Metra, you can see they are on the lead next to Sipi, not on the sput into it. My understanding is the UP puts them there for the CTRR or vice versa. Those particular cars have been there since at least last Monday. I\'ve been riding the Metra past this for about four months and unfortunately have yet to see any cars on the Sipi spur inside their fence.
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Was driving by Finkl on Sunday night and through the lot looking toward the river I saw 2 center beam cars with loads of lumber sitting there, I guess for Big Bay. Thought it was unusual that loads of lumber would sit on the rail cars behind Finkl and not in the North Ave Yard until it was ready to be delivered. Seems a greater chance for theft in the Finkl area. Tuesday and Thursday is when they go out on their rounds still, correct? The lumber has a wait until Tuesday\'s delivery.
GM
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Have not seen the engine at the North Ave the last two nights
(Wed & Thurs.) wonder if they have been making deliveries this week.
Any idea where the engine goes to get serviced?
GM
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If I am not mistaken,they may get serviced at Proviso...North Ave yard gets its freight from Proviso via the Northwest Line to Deval,past O\'Hare then down to Proviso...So,I am thinking the same thing...
Cway
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Hi,
I was able to return to the chicago area over x-mas break and got to visit the elk grove job. I talked with the crew for a bit and one was a former member of the chicago job. Once again he gave no inclination that they were giving up and (once again) they talked about something \"exciting\" that could happen but couldn\'t disclose anything so that he wouldn\'t lose his job and \"to not get my hopes up\" I guess we get to wait and see!
-Matt
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Big Bay Lumber appears to be having a lot of business. I have seen box cars and center beams out on the street by them lately.
GM
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On the other hand I drove by Peerless last weekend and it was a sad site to see the middle part of the building missing from the wrecking ball. Lakewood is going the way of Deering. I wonder how long before the rail starts getting ripped up.
GM
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Saw Chgo. Terminal Engine bringing back empties to North Ave Yard(center beam and boxcar) from Big Bay Lumber on Thursday around 6PM. Engine no longer has a new paint job, looks like a lot of black exhaust from stack staining side of engine. Wonder what is the count down until FInkl closes operations?
GM
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Saw an empty Center Beam freight car in the yard by Lee Lumber on the UP line right on the Kennedy expressway. Haven\'t seen one there for most of the winter. Maybe warmer weather will pick up freight traffic especially for the hoppers by the concrete company by Lee Lumber. Imagine that those loads would be frozen and unable to discharge out of the hoppers lately with the cold. Haven\'t seen any activity by Mayfair Lumber in quite a while also.
North Ave yard is noticeably more crowded now with the yard ripped up by the Tribune Printing facility.
GM
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It\'s been covered before but not in a long time so I will mention it again for newcomers to the website. The track that goes to Lee Lumber and the building material company was part of a branch line that once went all the way east to the ComEd facility at Addison Street and the Chicago River. Some traces of the old viaduct can still be seen as well as some cut-off spurs if you look hard enough. The tracks were in place until the late 1980s when they were removed on the eastern end.
UP also services a lumber yard right at the north quadrant of where the UP (C&NW) Northwest Line crosses the CP (Milw) North Line. Sometimes you can see boxcars in there if you take a Metra train. It\'s hard to see into the lumberyard from Lawrence Avenue and its street entrance.
Another customer is the Newlywed Bakery on the Cragin Line. I\'ve seen UP locomotives pulling a single pressurized hopper up the Northwest Line then shove it down the Cragin line, usually around 1PM. It\'s easy to see from a Metra train or the Kennedy Expressway.
What\'s the status of the factory next to the Gladstone Park station? It used to receive occasional tank cars but I haven\'t seen one in a long time.
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Going home tonight on the Kennedy it looked like two centerbeam car loads for Big Bay were set out at the yard by Sipi metals right by the switch to the Bloomingdale line. Looked as if a Monday delivery. Noticed Gondola loads by FInkl also throughout the week.
Any news of new businesses that may be served in the near future? Wonder if they are actively seeking out new business or regaining old business like Carbit Paint. There must be some businesses that could benefit from rail delivery vs trucks given gas prices these
days. A Team Track would certainly help out local sites from long haul traffic.
GM
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3 cars at Big Bay on Sunday when I drove by. One of the cars is so far down the road, it\'s hard to believe the guys at Big Bay move the stuff from the car to the store. It\'s almost a full block away. I\'m guessing they use forklifts or something.
I\'d love to be there someday when they are unloading the cargo.
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That\'s interesting that those cars are all at Big Bay. For about a week and a half there has been a growing string of gondolas on the approach parallel to sipi metals. As of yesterday there were 9 cars I believe.
Is it that these cars are not needed yet by finkl or general iron, or that the CTR can\'t keep up? It doesn\'t look like their engine had moved in all that time, but maybe they are bringing cars to Big Bay and leaving the others for later.
I ride the Metra UP Northline most days, so I usually get to see the yard twice each day!
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Activity at Mayfair Lumber off the UP. First time in awhile I have seen a centerbeam car in the lumber yard. Saw int from the Milwaukee North Metra Line on Friday night, didn\'t notice it their on Thursday. Freight traffic should start picking up.
GM
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As of Friday night saw 2 more empty center beam cars in the yard at Mayfair Lumber from the Metra on the way home. Looks like the housing season may be starting to take off. 3 cars I\'ve seen in one week.
Noticed alot of car activity at Big Bay lumber also. Hopefully they can get a few more clients to save what is left of the line. Maybe they are just going to concentrate on the Bensenville Industrial Park area only.
GM
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The yard was full tonight by Lee Lumber with about 20 hoppers of sand for Prarie Materials ( I believe that\'s the concrete company located there).
Also quite a few gondolas sitting in the yard by Sipi metals. Finkl seems to be very busy these days when I go by.
GM
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Two box cars outside Big Bay this weekend.
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Riding to work on my bike on Elston, say two loaded centerbeam cars on the curve approaching the Bloomingdale Line & bridge over Elston probably for Big Bay.
GM
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I haven\'t seen any cars at Big Bay for a couple of weeks now.
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There is a full center beam car in the North Ave yard as of this afternoon. I would assume this is going to Big Bay. Although I guess it could also be going to Lee Lumber?
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I suppose business is down for both Lee Lumber and Big Bay Lumber given the housing slump and the recession...it might translate into fewer deliveries for both.
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As of 5:45pm today there were three full center beam cars and the CTR engine sitting on the approach to the Bloomingdale line next to Sipi Metals. Either a very late delivery today, or first thing tomorrow I imagine.
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On Saturday, went down to Big bay, there are 3 empty centerbeam cars in the street. One car in front of Big Bay and 2 cars down the street.
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Weather and time permitting, I often walk rather than take the North Avenue bus. This Tuesday my timing was just right, and a Chicago Terminal train came trundling south across North Avenue right after I reached the crossing.
Someone had opened the gate for them ahead of time, and there were no signs of any construction workers on the site. The train tip-toed across the bridge. Not that it ever hurries anyway.
It was a good size load. They had five cars: a gondola (not sure with or without a load), two loaded center-beam flats with plywood, and two more loaded gondolas.
These last two were interesting, an old C&NW and an old ConRail, both so rusted and battered they looked to be held together more from habit than construction. It wasnÕt clear what they were carrying was scrap or some manner of castings. I know there are incoming shipments of scrap, but is the CT getting any outgoing shipments of metal? IÕve seen gondolas on the train to Goose Island before, but theyÕve been empty.
I also wonder if CTÕs interchange is now solely with the Union Pacific or whether the Canadian Pacific occasionally sends some cars its way.
be well,
bob roman
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I have noticed a lot of firewood stacked down at the south end of Kingsbury at the firewood place. Anybody know if they are getting any deliveries by train as they did early on?
GM
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Good question.
I thought that last winter it was an outbound load of firewood from that location to a customer somewhere else on one of parent Iowa Pacific\'s shortlines out west.
Chicago Terminal dropped off an empty gondola at the end of the tracks to be filled.
The developers of the former Midwest Zinc property claimed that this movement was \"contrived\" by CTR as I recall.
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quote:
Originally posted by TBurke
The developers of the former Midwest Zinc property claimed that this movement was \"contrived\" by CTR as I recall.
That gon was never full, as I recall. It just sat there for a few days.
-=Chuck=-
Mail: chuckjanda@hotmail.com
Home: http://www.chucksphotospot.com
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Not really sure to what capacity this means to anything or anyone, but there was a CP Rail (want to say it was a GP38) sitting by itself on the west side of the Bloomingdale line right at the A2 tower this morning as my Metra train went west at about 8:15....
here http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=114769471366695441383.00045b7f68d5c0020ac3e&ll=41.913803,-87.721024&spn=0.000758,0.001684&t=h&z=19
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Hi,
I have a feeling this doesn\'t mean too much. We discussed something similar to this in the past. Thanks for the post. Hope everything is well.
-Matt
GM
USA
99 Posts
Posted - 01/29/2007 : 18:49:14
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See the link to the following photo. Proof that the Bloomingdale Line is still in use! Take a look at the middle right area of the picture, you can see a live red signal in effect. Check out the remarks area verifying the picture was taken on the Bloomingdale line thought to be abandoned. Photo was taken this month and year! Too bad it wasn\'t a train bound for the Kingsbury/Goose Island/Lakewood Lines like in the past. Then again who knows what the future holds. Never say never.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=172109
GM
TBurke
USA
183 Posts
Posted - 02/01/2007 : 18:39:06
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CP Rail uses the westernmost end of the Bloomingdale Line for freight car storage. I have photos of cars up there with a caboose on the end.
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From the Kennedy yesterday, I saw the CTR engine carrying a centerbeam car and two gondolas, including one that had a steel coil in it. I hope it\'s enough to keep them going. I wonder if UP is interested in spinning off their Tribune and chocolate company business to CTR.
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On Friday morning there was a string of 8 gondolas lined up on the approach to the bloomingdale line (next to Sipi Metals). Looked like all empties, but hard to tell for sure from my passing Metra train.
It would make sense to me that the UP would want to have the CTR take over switching for Blommer and the Tribune. While the Tribune is probably seeing less traffic, Blommer seems to always have lots of cars on around it (on the upper and lower spurs, in the Tribune yard, and on the old approach track for the bridge to get to the Sun Times).
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I saw them on the weekend by Finkl Steel
GM
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Went out this past Tuesday and took some pictures. They were having problems getting through some of the snow piles and clearing it from the switches, but nothing they needed a backhoe for. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cardstock/sets/72157612541897986/
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3213239583_36f6da8e64.jpg)
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Great photos!
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My guess is that the forklift and possibly the backhoe in that other photo used to clear the compacted ice and snow off the track came from Big Bay Lumber. The crew probably notified Big Bay that they could not get through and Big Bay sent their equipment up Cherry Street to help.
I have a photo from way back on this site of a CP Rail crew using compressed air from MOW truck to blow snow and ice out of the switch points at the Big Bay Lumber spur.
From talking to folks who used to work these lines, winter was rough with derailments caused by wheels on freight cars sliding off flangeways packed in ice. Another risk was losing your grip while holding onto a slippery hand rail on a freight car that was moving-and getting hit by traffic or worse, falling under the moving freight car\'s wheels.
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Speaking of falling under the freight car I just saw an unbelievable story that was on TV (NBC I believe) about this happening to a BNSF employee in Texas who fell during a switching move and was pulled under the moving freight car wheels and was literally severed in half. Amazingly he survived and is still working for the railroad as a yardmaster, he is now in a wheelchair as his legs could not be saved. The news piece was about how certain people defy the odds and survive horrible tragedies.
GM
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I remember getting to witness the effects of ice causing derailments first hand.
http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v5/articles/article.asp?articleid=107
Bad day for the crew. Awsome day for me.
-Matt
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In doing my research for The Milwaukee Road in Chicago book I found that there were two men who were killed while working the lines.
One was killed at the former sanitarium at the end of the Dunning Line and the other at an industry on Goose Island. In each case they were riding the sides of freight cars being pushed into indoor loading docks and there was not enough clearance and they were crushed...
...which explains the weathered sign that is on the wall of a Finkl building where an unused spur goes into the building, just east of the swing bridge, warning about no room for man on side of car.
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On my inbound commute this morning I saw an empty gondola at the Sipi Metals spur.
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I was walking home on Thursday, April 9, after 4 PM. There was a good bit of activity around Goose Island. The rowing teams were out, and there was a tug pushing an empty barge south through the turning basin. It was a huge barge and empty. But there was also Chicago Terminal train coming on to Goose Island with two gondolas.
Out of curiosity, I waited around to see the return run. It didn\'t take too long for it to return with an empty BNSF boxcar (\"excess height car\"), an empty lumber rack (Northwestern Oklahoma Railroad), and the two empty gondolas (private car fleet, Tube City Inc: a metals reprocessing firm). The gondolas were well used, but had been repainted and refurbished not that long ago.
This was rather late in the afternoon, and I\'m wondering if Chicago Terminal is having one crew cover both Elk Grove Village and Chicago. That could account for the report of an untended Chicago Terminal run parked on the tracks: crew out of time.
Not only was the automobile traffic very dense on North Avenue and (I imagine) Division, but do they also have to run the gauntlet of commuter traffic to get into the yard?
be well,
bob roman
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Bob:
What were the gondolas doing on Goose Island? Normally they would leave the gondolas for General Iron Industries or Finkl farther up the line while they switched Big Bay. I would like to think that CTR management is recruiting a new customer.
There is no impact on CTR operations by Metra trains on the UP line since CTR hugs the far eastern side of the yard, then drops down onto home rails via a freight only connecting track that runs behind Sipi Metals. In the old days (pre-2001) CP Rail/Soo Line/Milwaukee Road trains did have to wait for commuter trains to clear when accessing the C&E Line via the Bloomingdale Line which crossed the busy Metra/UP/C&NW line.
After CP ceased using the Bloomingdale Line as a bridge line in 2001 it based their engines and crew at the North Avenue office and yard of the UP as a tenant, a practice CTR continues. The former interchange track between the CP/Milwaukee Road and the UP/C&NW is what is used now to reach home rails by the CTR.
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Don\'t know, except I\'ve noticed they do this routinely. My guess is that they pick up cars as they go along then make an uninterrupted run home (like a horse headed for the barn?). Although the alternative is that they serve Goose Island first then drop off and pick up on their way back. Either way, they park the cars on the Goose Island run-around track then shove the cars for the lumberyard the rest of the way. Either way, it seems like a waste of fuel, but it\'s likely there\'s no convenient place to park them.
(It would be fiendish, wouldn\'t it, to use Kingsbury Street for that?)
Thanks for the clarification about yard access. From the CTR web page, I suspected they had their own route in but I don\'t often take METRA and have only a dial-up internet connection so I don\'t get to actually see the tracks.
be well,
bob roman
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I was on the Metra Milwaukee North line today and I noticed two centerbeam lumber cars being unloaded at Mayfair Lumber. Up until today I hadn\'t noticed any rail activity there in months.
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Nice to see activity at Mayfair Lumber. Two centerbeam cars also.
GM
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Hey guys,
Is CTR still running Tuesdays and THursdays, also When does the Elk Grove job run?
Frank
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There are two cars parked on the Sipi Metals spur. I\'ve never seen more than one parked there in the past. It is always they same type of gondola car.Does anyone know if they are receiving materials or shipping them out?
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After observing for a few days, I think I can answer my own question. When the gondola cars arrived at Sipi they were uncovered. When I passed by again, one of them had a tarp covering it. When I passed by the next day, both had tarps secured on top. I imagine they are loaded and then covered for shipment...
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Yesterday, July 9, my timing was lucky and I left the North & Clyborn L stop in time to see a CTR run crossing North Avenue. It was hauling a single car, a load of lumber.
By the time I got to the tracks, the run was at the Cherry Av runaround. They left the load there, and remembering the news that Serious Materials might be a new customer, I hung around to see if they would leave it there. They returned from the lumber yard with an empty center beam car. They pulled behind the loaded car and pushed both back to the lumber yard, then came back with the empty.
It turned out to be their sole business that day.
The renovations to the bridge to Goose Island include the installation of metal matting between the rails over the bridge and new sidewalks crossing the tracks. In each case, the space for flanges have been filled with an odd material resembling rubber. It\'s pretty solid, doesn\'t seem to compress much when a train rolls over it, suggesting that, initially at least, the equipment is running partially on its flanges. I wonder if it\'s designed to eventually compress to allow for the flanges. I wonder what it will be like come winter and snow if it does not compress.
The bridge ain\'t ready for the public yet. The project seems to be at a pause point, possibly waiting for a new (sub)contractor to come in to handle a different part of the reconstruction. But at least one guy on the small crew present kept on checking the progress of the CTR run.
The empty car was Canadian National (CNA), incidentally.
be well,
bob roman
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Chicago Terminal was busy at work on Sunday at 2:00PM in the North Ave Yard arranging gons. Saw it while driving past on the Kennedy. There must have been at least 30 Gons on two tracks with 15 having what looked like scrap steel loads. Maybe business is starting to pick up.
GM
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Riding my bike down Elston noticed there were gons inside by SIPI metals.
GM
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Looks like business is picking up then...
Wednesday was a perfectly lovely day. Even though I was a bit short on time, I decided to walk east on North Avenue rather than take the bus. When I crossed the tracks to North Avenue, I noted a nice but thin (amid the rust) polish to the rails. I figured it must have been done yesterday, yesterday being Tuesday. But when I came to the North Ave yard, there was CTR\'s 800 coming across the bridge pulling a string of 6 gondolas: Missouri Pacific, Arkansas-Oklahoma (looked familiar), Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and (if I remember correctly) two more Missouri Pacific. I couldn\'t see if there were any loads, but the springs appeared to be compressed and the tracks were certainly groaning enough, so I think they were loaded.
be well,
bob roman
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While heading downtown today on the Metra Milwaukee District West Line 2232 I observed CP 4600 traveling west on the Bloomingdale Line (just west of Lawndale). No cars in tow.
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Probably to deliver the hoppers sitting on the line for Newleywed Foods by Healy
GM
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Isn\'t Newlywed Foods handled off the Cragin Line by the UP?
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Today (Thursday) the Chicago Terminal switcher was in the yard when I passed by it in the morning and later in the early afternoon though the bridge over the river was open as if ready for a train movement.
Also, Blommer Chocolate had five hoppers on their upper level spur which is the most I can recall. The bottom spur was taken up by trailers though a couple of weeks ago there was another freight car parked there.
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While I was heading downtown yesterday (Jan. 5) on the Metra Milwaukee District West Line 2232 I observed CP 4440 traveling west on the Bloomingdale Line (just west of Hamlin). No cars in tow.
Go to Top of Page
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Chicago Terminal ran to Gooose Island today. Just after YN068\'s power returned to North Avenue Yard the crew spotted cars at Sipi metals, and took one bulkhead flat for Big Bay, and 1 gondola for either finkl or general iron. I had to leave after they went to goose island, but they seem to be running pretty consistantly on mondays now, pics coming soon.
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I have noticed them switching a large number of gon\'s in the North Ave yard on Saturdays also. One Saturday there were close to 30 gon\'s with loads of scrap steel.
GM
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Interesting. Is Finkl possibly starting to pack up for the move?
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Could be. Or possibly we\'re seeing a result of the \"cash for clunkers\" program. There were outbound gondolas in the North Avenue yard on Tuesday (3/16) but, judging by the spring compression, I\'d guess they were empty. So somebody is taking at least some inbound scrap loads. But I have been seeing a steady stream of gondolas in the North Avenue yard, even if traffic to Goose Island seems to be very occasional.
be well,
bob roman
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(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4454789262_702e26db72.jpg)
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Caught this guy too!
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(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2777/4453633042_7d33b54956_b.jpg)
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I started but never finished an almost complete walking tour of the CTR in Chicago. I finished taking photos for the Lakewood Branch recently, but don\'t have the time to go through them all, post, geotag, etc. There are a lot of photos posted at: http://www.pbase.com/gordg3/chicago_terminal_railroad
If anyone would like any of the shots, let me know I will E-mail them to you. My plan is to shortly consolidate this gallery into a few of the more interesting shots.
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Nice shots, especially of the in-house switching operations of Finkl Steel. It would be great if someone could get access into Finkl to photograph this unique rail operation before they close.
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quote:
Originally posted by TBurke
Nice shots, especially of the in-house switching operations of Finkl Steel. It would be great if someone could get access into Finkl to photograph this unique rail operation before they close.
Thanks Tom. I edited the photos down to the more interesting ones. Again, if anyone needs a copy of any of the photos just let me know.
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Around 8am this morning from my passing Metra train I was able to get glimpses of a very unusual looking train in the North Ave. Yard.
From what I could see, it had a blue locomotive on both ends, with markings I did not recognize. Not UP or CTRR for sure. In between the locomotives were 4-5 black cars that were very strange looking: tall like box cars, but looking almost like pieces of machinery. I couldn\'t see very well as there was another train parked between it and my passing train. It looked as if it was just pulling into or out of the yard as it was moving north very slowly.
Sorry no pictures. Anyone have any ideas what it might have been?
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I\'m going to be around there tomorrow mid-day and will try to get a picture. Is it only visible from the Kennedy?
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Unfortunatly it was gone by Friday afternoon when I passed by on the way home. Thought I might get lucky and see it or some of the cars on a siding somewhere going north to evanston, but no such luck!
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she was stopped at mayfair midday friday, covered with grime and included two coaches each with several a/c units on top, a live-on subcontractor?, she didn\'t look like a the machinery that kicks-out and replaces ties, or gauges track, or tests track for weight-bearing, or replaces ballast, my best-guess is she re-treats ties w/creasote and/or treats ballast, much too large to be a weed-killer
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Just by hearing the description it sounds like it\'s a rail-grinder. Does this look familiar:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1065688
Hope that helps and thanks for the updates!
-Matt
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it looked very similar to the picture
must\'ve been a rail-grinder
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As of today (6/18) around 10:30AM there were almost no cars in the North Avenue yard except for a few covered hoppers that were probably for Morton Salt. Two AOK gondolas were on Chicago Terminal tracks near the connection to the Bloomingdale Line. A CT train was heading east over the Chicago River bridge.
Trackwork had the outbound Northwest Line Metra train using the right-hand track which caused some confusion in loading passengers at the Clybourn Station.
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I visited the CTR on Friday, July 16. Engine and a CP engine 547 (if I recall correctly) were in North Avenue yard. Empty flat car parked to the north. Didn\'t see any cars east of the river (didn\'t check Sipi). I posted a few track pictures at: http://www.pbase.com/gordg3/chicago_terminal_railroad&page=all Is the any good time to see the engine making deliveries on the east side of the river?
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Nice photos, especially the rare shot of the Sipi Metals spur being worked.
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Went by the North Ave Yard on the Kennedy last night about 8:00 PM and saw Chgo Terminal Engine with the side door open having some maintenance work done by an employee. Cab Light was on, must have just got back from delivering or picking up some cars. The Union Pacific engine was not yet tied up for the night.
GM
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The Sipi spur had an empty gondola parked in it yesterday, August 12.
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This past Sunday I passed by Finkl. There were quite a few gondola carloads of scrap metal(at least 5)loads. Factory seems to be busy lately.
GM
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I walked down North Avenue yesterday, Tuesday 2/15. The North Avenue yard had about a dozen gondolas waiting to be picked up by the UP, plus an empty center beam flat car. The latter got my attention. After the blizzard, I took the North Avenue bus a couple of times. As of late last week, the line to Goose Island had not been used. I was wondering how Chicago Terminal was handling the snow and at least for Goose Island it seemed they were waiting for it to melt. Sure enough, when I crossed the river, there were clear, muddy signs that a train had passed through. And the snow had pretty much melted away.
be well,
bob roman
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I took a trip along the CTR today. Unfortunately the new terminus of the Lakewood Branch is now just south of Altgeld Street. The tracks have been paved over (street and sidewalk). I was always hoping to see some action like during the fall of 2009 when several hoppers were placed on the Peerless spur. Photo at: http://www.pbase.com/gordg3/image/133707039
Saw an empty car just west of General Iron. That was about it today. Didn\'t check out Sipi. The City is also repaving Wabansia Avenue east of Elston Avenue so any track left is no more.
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Passed by the North Ave. yard going downtown on the Kennedy. The UP engine was backed out on the spur and the Chicago Terminal engine was firing up. It was throwing a lot of white smoke out of it\'s stack, so much it was coming across the highway. Needs to see more use so firing it up isn\'t such a big deal. They need to get some more customers receiving/sending shipments on Goose Island. Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Facility would be the type of business that would need to ship out dangerous chemicals, Bishop Box, Restaurant Depot warehouse,Republic windows, Waste Mngmt. With Finkl leaving and Goose Island still a business area as opposed to something slated for residential that is the area to look at.
GM
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Yeah, that would be nice and would cut down on the truck traffic, too. But a siding of one\'s own is a substantial investment. Possibly if the business asked nicely, they could get some TIF money for it, assuming it\'s in a TIF district.
Or CTR could lengthen the mid-island siding so that it could be used as a team track; it looks like there\'s space for it. But, in their shoes, I wouldn\'t do it unless I had a commitment for its use by some of the island businesses. I wonder if they have anyone working as a salesman / community liaison; small businesses are frequently short-staffed.
But another concern would be replacing Finkl with another rail customer. I\'m inclined to doubt that Finkl would sell to another metallurgical firm, but maybe some manner of warehouse/transshipping operation might work. But the surrounding community will have a say in the matter, so someone to wear that salesman / community liaison hat at least part-time would be real useful.
It\'ll be interesting to see how quickly Finkl makes the move. My guess is they\'ll be there for maybe a year.
be well,
bob roman
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http://www.pedimentbooks.com/store/product/chicago-mayors-richard-daley/
Recognize this area?
GM
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Yep. South end of the re-habed Goose Is. MILW Rd. bridge Z-2, looking North.
Chuck
MLW North Line Fan since 1954
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Several cars at Finkl along Cortland Street this weekend. No sign of any action at Big Bay or anywhere else.
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Looks like Bay Lumber has been busy. 3 empties attached to the outgoing train in North Ave Yard waiting to go back to Proviso.
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they were there Friday, just what we want to see, those center-beams do impress
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North Ave yard looked empty Sunday night but when I came back over Ohio Feeder saw a large cut of boxcars at the Tribune Freedom Center yard. Must have dropped them there Friday for Monday morning job.
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I was on the North Avenue bus, eastbound, around 6:30 PM on Monday, March 26. The CTR switcher was leaving Goose Island, light, apparently after dropping one or more cars off at the lumber yard. The sight caused a bit of a stir on the bus. Haven't seen them working so late myself, not since the days when CP was providing service.
Quite a few box cars waiting to be picked up in the North Avenue yard, too. A ramshackle rum looking bunch, too, making me wonder about the quality of service the Tribune is getting. Steady just in time? Glut or famine? And if any of those cars leak in the rain....
be well,
bob roman
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One Center Beam car full of lumber sitting by Big Bay on Sunday.
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Fully loaded Center Beam car at North Ave Yard this morning waiting to be spotted at Big Bay.
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As of May 31st, there were about 10-15 boxcars lined up at the Trib Yard.. but as of today (June 2nd) there is only one car! :-\ Guess they must have switched the plant 6/1. (Didnt have enough time to check out Finkl or Goose Island. :P)
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Nothing at Big Bay on Sunday when driving by but there were 7 loads of scrap metal in the yard waiting to be sent out.
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Long string of gondolas as long as North Ave yard this morning. Scrap metal business looking busy lately.
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Took Metra in this morning on the NW Line. I noticed at about 8:30AM that the Chicago Terminal locomotive was shoving some gondolas across the Elston Avenue bridge.
On the 11:30AM train back out I saw UP switching out a pair of covered hoppers on the upper Blommer spur while there was a tank car on the street level spur.
The Chicago Terminal locomotive was back in its resting spot against the bumper in the North Avenue Yard by late morning. The long string of gondolas full of scrap metal were still there. The yard had boxcars for the Freedom Center and other covered hoppers.
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On June 15th, I spent most of my day chasing the switch jobs of both the UP crew and CTRR crew. I rode on my bike to the North Ave. yard around 8:00a. (I was even there earlier than most of the workers..). By 9:00, most of the workers and managers were there, and the UP crew started the task of splicing up the cars into different loads. Once they had a long string of newsprint boxcars, they headed out towards the tribune yard. I hightailed it over there, where i managed to catch some of the switchjob at the plant. (I took a short video of it but have yet to edit it. I will post it-or a link to it on youtube- soon) Anyways, they switched the lower level of Blommer, and proceeded to head back to the North Ave. yard with a string of empties. They dropped them off there, and took two hopper cars to switch down at Morton Salt. Meanwhile, the CTRR crew used their engine to pull the empty string of newsprint cars back into another area of the yard, and then attach the full gondolas to them that they must have brought back from Finkl. After the UP crew came back from switching Morton, they headed over to the far side of the yard and switched some other cars. The CTRR crew headed out and first switched a small area in Finkl with a single gondola, then headed across north ave. and went to Big Bay to pick up an empty Hi cube Boxcar. They took that back across the swing bridge and back to the North Ave. yard. It was a very busy day, but it was somewhat reasurring that both companies did every job that day (Morton, Trib, Finkl, etc). Anyways, I have uploaded some action shots of the trib and finkl jobs on my flickr
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/uspslabelfan/7448158204/in/photostream)<--theres one of em. Enjoy! and hopefully I'll be able to get some of the pics published to this website too. Thats all for now. 8)
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It's interesting that the UP train down near the tribune looks to have 3 gondolas in it. I wonder why that is since neither Tribune or Blommer would be using that type of car.
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Maybe the gondolas are there for maintenance of way work?
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Big Bay had five, yes five, freight cars today 9/4/13. The most I've ever seen there. Four centerbeams and a boxcar.
Took a few pics with my phone. Nothing great but I needed some sort of documentation.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35990458@N03/
Joe
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It's amazing that Big Bay hangs on at all in this era of big box stores like Home Depot not far away.
Perhaps they picked up the slack when Aetna Plywood closed their transload facility off Elston.