Topics

76

General Discussion / New Article with Picture of Historic C&NW/UP Swing Bridge (Milwaukee)

« on: June 27, 2013, 09:16:36 AM »

Not Chicago, but still cool article and photo.  There are pictures of UP trains using this bridge on the Milwaukee section of this website.

http://www.jsonline.com/business/swing-bridge-could-become-public-art-space-b9939231z1-213077271.html

77

General Discussion / New Addition to Milwaukee Section-UP Green Spur

« on: June 25, 2013, 01:36:53 PM »

Guys-

I know that this is primarily a Chicago Switching website but look for new content over time in the Milwaukee section.  I just added a sequence of new photos of the former UP (C&NW) Green Spur on Milwaukee's South Side.  Pocket sized branch line but with an interesting mix of neighborhoods and parks through which it ran.  Included are links to other sites showing UP trains on this branch before the tracks were taken up and historic aerial photos.

Tom

78

General Discussion / Trib Article Today (6/2/2013) On Midway Airport and Relocation of Rail Line

« on: June 02, 2013, 12:59:48 PM »

The Chicago Tribune ran a full page article today on the early days of Midway Airport including the relocation of the C&WI rail line that ran through the middle of it.  You can search their website for the article.

I also found this interesting gallery of photos of the early days of Midway including track plans for the relocation of the rail line across Midway.

http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-130523-history-midway-international-airport-pictures/

79

General Discussion / 1225 W. Cortland Ghost Sign

« on: April 20, 2013, 12:58:06 PM »

Interesting piece in the Tribune...alongside Kingsbury and Cortland.

http://www.chicagonow.com/look-back-chicago/2013/04/ghost-signs-peoples-pure-ice-company/#image/1

80

General Discussion / Finkl Steel Closes North Side Plant, Starts Operations on South Side

« on: January 21, 2013, 10:18:21 AM »

Headline from the Chicago Tribune this morning-

"Steel company forges ahead with new South Side plant
A. Finkl & Sons phases out operations at longtime Lincoln Park-area site, fires up new, more efficient furnaces on East 93rd Street"

You can Google the article for more details.

So the number of rail-served customers for Chicago Terminal drops to two-General Iron Industries and Big Bay Lumber.  Get pictures while you can of the rails in and around Finkl.

81

General Discussion / Flikr Find-Curtiss Candy Factory Between Ogden Slip & Chicago River

« on: November 22, 2012, 12:23:09 AM »

Found this interesting photo of Curtiss Candy's factory between the Ogden Slip and the Chicago River dating to 1964.  Looks like a tank car spotted nearby.  HistoricAerials.com from that era also shows a tank car outside the plant on a track.  Curtiss made Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars which are now part of Nestle.  In 1966 Curtiss built a new plant in Franklin Park which is now operated by Nestle.  This downtown location was demolished in 1970.  (Information is from the new book "Chicago's Sweet Candy History.")

http://flickriver.com/photos/roadsidepictures/7978947388/#large

Below are other views of the Curtiss plant and a ship tied up nearby-newsprint for the Tribune.

http://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/photo-chicago-chicago-river-ship-is-docked-near-chicago-tribune-plant-newsprint-from-canada-used-to-come-this-route-note-old-baby-ruth-candy-factory-on-left-1962.jpg

http://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/x-photo-chicago-outer-drive-s-curve-near-river-note-curtis-canday-maker-of-baby-ruth-1963.jpg

82

General Discussion / Great Website-Chicago Past in Historic Photos

« on: October 29, 2012, 09:54:10 PM »

Great website with lots and lots of historic photos, including railroads and streetcars.  It's interesting to note the smoggy haze in the air in so many pictures as well as the smoke inside Union Station in the waiting room.

http://chicagopast.com/page/13

83

General Discussion / Gone But Not Forgotten-Peerless Confectionery

« on: September 14, 2012, 08:45:56 PM »

It struck me the other day that it's the fifth anniversary this year of Peerless Confectionery closing.  In memory of Peerless here's a scan of a bag of candy I saved from Peerless.  They used to give the Milwaukee Road/Soo Line/CP Rail/Chicago Terminal crews free boxes of candy on a regular basis. 

84

General Discussion / Scene Under Apparel Center

« on: August 06, 2012, 08:58:48 PM »

Gone but not forgotten...crossbucks under the Apparel Center guard the former C&NW/UP line out to the long-gone Sun-Times Building, and before that, that, Navy Pier.  Picture dates from August 2, 2012. 

85

General Discussion / Mystery Photo-Truck Parked on Tracks in 1948

« on: July 13, 2012, 10:46:13 AM »

Hemmings Classic Car magazine features this picture in their latest issue of a 1948 Federal Model 65.  The picture was taken in 1948 in Chicago with the Tribune Tower in the background.  The staff could not determine more precisely where the picture was taken.

Any guesses as to the exact street location?  I would say somewhere on Grand Avenue west of Navy Pier with the street car tracks in the pavement.  They do not appear to be freight tracks. 

I do not know without checking when the Chicago Surface Lines discontinued the service down Grand Avenue to Navy Pier.  What was left of streetcars were replaced finally by buses and trolley buses in 1958.  If it was still an active streetcar line in 1948 it would be strange for a truck to park on the track and block streetcars. 

86

General Discussion / Is Sipi Metals No Longer Rail Served?

« on: July 10, 2012, 03:32:26 PM »

Is Sipi Metals no longer rail-served?  I drove past their facility today and the track in the parking lot just south of their main site looks paved over.  Does anyone have any close-up views?

Also, it looked like it had been a long time since there was any train movement to Big Bay judging from the condition of the rails and the junk on the track along Cherry St. 

87

General Discussion / Latest Issue of First & Fastest Magazine Covers Removal of Track on Kingsbury

« on: June 15, 2012, 03:01:34 PM »

The Summer 2012 issue of First & Fastest magazine has a photo of tracks being removed on Kingsbury Street and a short article about it.  Unfortunately though the source of historical information clearly came from chicagoswitching.com (details on the August 1985 original installation of new street track for example) no credit is given this website which is too bad. 

F&F used to cover Chicagoland electric railroads past and present but in recent years expanded coverage to include Metra and its predecessors like the Milwaukee Road. 

88

General Discussion / If You Like Urban Street Trackage You Will Like This Site...NY Cross Harbor

« on: May 24, 2012, 07:51:05 AM »

A great site full of street trackage photos and operations.  New York, not Chicago, but interesting either way.

http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/nych.html

Good article in the Wall Street Journal about this operation.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303448404577412180646908266.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Darticle

89

General Discussion / Chicago Terminal List of Customer

« on: April 14, 2012, 12:04:24 PM »

Interesting document on parent company Iowa Pacific's website.  It lists subsidiary Chicago Terminal customers and the rates that are charged to switch them.  My guess is that based on an estimated 500 carloads per year of mostly scrap steel that Chicago Terminal's downtown operation grosses about $135,000. 

The document lists Peerless which is gone of course but it also shows Waste Management on Goose Island as a customer.  The track that went to Waste Management has been out of service and taken up for the most part for decades.  I never saw a freight car spotted at Waste Management at any time during the Soo Line era from the mid-1980s on though it is possible I could have missed one. 

90

General Discussion / Chicago Sun-Times Article on Removal of Tracks in Kingsbury Street

« on: April 07, 2012, 06:38:50 PM »

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/11751934-418/city-removes-old-railroad-tracks-on-kingsbury.html