Messages

1

General Discussion / Tracks near the Brickyard

« on: March 16, 2010, 07:12:32 PM »

Chris M ...try this link to the Milwaukee Road Historical Association ...from the company store link you can order a copy of this fine book.  It is well worth the twenty (incredibly cheap) bucks, especially if you like to look at old pictures of Chicago....Many of the shots in the book are crispy B&Ws aerial photoghraphs that include the surrounding areas along the RR\'s right of way.  Of course many of us are here because we also enjoy one of the remaining segments of the old MILW as it is still in operation from just east of I-94 to Kinsgbury street /Goose Island....although it has changed names several times and has withered itself of most industries as the area has changed in use over the years.  Anyhoo it\'s all in the book  Enjoy!

http://www.mrha.com/

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General Discussion / Kingsbury Branch - Old Industry - Duraco

« on: January 29, 2010, 09:45:19 PM »

Looking at the next set of \"Midwest Zinc\" pictures you can spot the Duraco building in the background.  It is the one with the crazy multi-elevation roof line.  The Old Navy store retained the smokestack and painted a sign on it.  

Based on TB\'s history of this factory/building it would seem that it would be boxcars serving this factory even through the changes in ownership and products made.  Reason I speculate is that I would like to model this area in HO modules someday.  Perhaps Sanitary Rag* gets Pulp/rolls of paper material,  Frankel Furniture gets lumber/furniture, Duraco gets rolls of plastic sheet/chemicals...

* \"sanitary rags\" are just what it says - tampons and pads - I work in the industry (waste treatment side) and we still call them \"rags\" ...all the same and they gotta be made somewhere...better in Chicago then China?

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General Discussion / Kingsbury Branch - Old Industry - Duraco

« on: January 05, 2010, 12:31:16 AM »

Whoops that should read Tom Burke\'s \"Midwest Zinc, 1998\" photo.

I tried to edit but I got an error.

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General Discussion / Kingsbury Branch - Old Industry - Duraco

« on: January 05, 2010, 12:28:18 AM »

Hello all,

In my map notes from 1998 I drew an industry called \"Duraco\" located at the intersection of North and Kingsbury.  If you look at Tom M.\'s \"Midwest Zinc, 1998\" photo you will see the spur to this industry, but the building has been razed.  So it seems that at one time this was rail served.  Also I noted that Midwest Zinc was \"huge and loud\" but there were no cars spotted at the time.  

A google search uncovered a couple of items...Duraco made adhesive coatings and eventually sold the company.  Check out the following links...

http://www.duracoinc.com/mss/mss-wp.nsf/WebEngine?OpenAgent&cmd=page&pagename=about

http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/cap/facility.tcl?facility_id=17031-2217#facility_info

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General Discussion / Found some more vintage shots on Flickr

« on: January 04, 2010, 11:47:31 PM »

After looking at the whole set of 100 shots I realized that this one was located closer to the front of the pack...

Nice crossing shot of the bobtail and the scrap loader just to the north.  

the MILW train has neat specimens of MP and CN combo door boxcars.  The following car is a hopper of ? Coal? Coke?

This area would make for a neat model railroad!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwdavidson/4180380536/in/set-72157621126657535/

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General Discussion / north side C&NW shot on rp.net

« on: January 04, 2010, 11:32:56 PM »

Hello -  Somewhat off the original topic but still related to the old C&NW mainline along Kinzie ...

Is the old signal bridge still standing east of Ogden?  I mapped this area out in 1998 and there was still a track back there with a concrete unloading dock east of the signal bridge west of Racine.  This was connected to the west of there and severed and abandoned/pulled up east of Racine. The loading dock was off the old main to the south and my notes say that there were C&NW boxcars there as well.  The track on the north side of the old double track main was pulled.  My notes also indicate that there were flashers for crossing protection on the old C&NW at Racine.  I did not take any pictures back in the pre-digital days of this area but my memory recalls that it was pretty shrubbed in.  Following Kinzie east of here I found a couple of old remnants of rail spurs serving old industries:between Arberdeen and Carpenter, between Peoria and Green St - both on the north side of Kinzie.  

Have a good day
Shawn O\'Day

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General Discussion / Introduce Yourself!

« on: December 21, 2009, 10:32:17 PM »

Hello all! And Happy holidays too.  I would like introduce myself. My name is Shawn O\'Day and I live in Flat Rock Michigan.  I became very interested in the \"Chicago Northside switching area\" in the late 1990\'s while dating my future wife.  She worked dayshift at the Wishbone resturant and we drove southbound Halstead from her apartment near Irving Park in the early hours.  Meanwhile I was into exploring and mapping all kinds of RR tracks , usually here around Michigan, Ohio and some eastern Pennsylvania.  So needless to say the old tracks around the areas peeked my curiousity.  I started to ask questions on one of the few railroad \"listserve\" type discussion boards and John Mika replied and answered them all.  The rest is written on the history section of this fine website.  

 With some actual knowledge gained of the area I started to explore and make map sketches of the MILW and C&NW north of the two Depots.   Doing this on the weekend in the early moning hours was relatively easy traffic-wise compared to the normal workday auto traffic and there seemed to be quite a few relics and remnants of old trackage and industries left.   Back then I did not appreciate the value of a good camera and regrettably did not take photos  very much.  The few I did take I finally scanned and sent them on to Tom.  I wrote up some captions offering up tidbits of some details noticed while making the maps.  I am currently redrawing these and will scan them as well.  

Cheers
Shawn