Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Pulling Up Lakewood

« on: February 03, 2025, 08:22:19 PM »

Fellow Chicago Switching member Tom Burke was featured in this 01/23/25 WBEZ 'Reset' interview, offering additional reflections on the Lakewood branch

https://www.wbez.org/reset-with-sasha-ann-simons/2025/01/23/where-chicagos-l-meets-the-railroad-a-history-is-dug-up-in-lincoln-park

2

General Discussion / Re: Alpha Baking

« on: February 03, 2025, 08:16:07 PM »

Happy to report that Alpha still receives hopper cars. Caught the UP crew switching out cars a couple weeks ago.

Unsure whether or not Alpha's rail-served days are numbered at that facility. They could continue for years to come, but given the state of other Northside switching operations, the future seems rather uncertain.

3

Modeling / Train Simulator of Goose Island

« on: April 18, 2024, 10:34:58 PM »

Hey all,

Stumbled upon this guy's YouTube video where he reviews someone's impressive efforts recreating Goose Island's switching ops in a program called Train Simulator. I have no personal experience with the program, but was impressed with the work highlighted in the video. Details include the Proctor & Gamble plant, Ogden overpass, and more. (I spy my beloved Freedom Center in the distance... maybe there's a CNW spur somewhere in the program!)

While not precise (including the BN GP38 and SW1500 working on the island), its pretty damn neat. Might bring back memories for those of us who actually remember Goose Island back in the '80s. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJkXhZp5nqo

4

Modeling / N Scale Chicago Terminal SW8

« on: April 18, 2024, 02:08:12 PM »

One of my goals this past winter was to finally make an N-scale version of ILSX 900. Here it is!

I completed the larger HO-scale version in 2021 (seen elsewhere in this forum's Modeling section), and after finally securing an old N-scale Walthers/Life-Like SW8 in Fall 2023 I applied the same techniques of repainting and detailing by hand.

While my N-scale layout doesn't have any industries serviced by CTRR, it's nice to have this locomotive on standby in case I do a tiny shelf layout of Peerless or something in the future. Thumbtack for scale.

There's a higher-resolution version of this photo on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uspslabelfan/53663082480/in/photostream/

5

General Discussion / Railfanning at Tribune Freedom Center - Sun-Times Article

« on: December 25, 2022, 11:25:43 PM »

Hi All,

My N scale model railroad layout of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center was recently profiled in the Chicago Sun-Times. It's a huge honor to be featured in this way-- quite the full-circle moment for my little layout that I started nearly 10 years ago. I've linked the article below. Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2022/12/8/23499878/freedom-center-model-chicago-trains-railroads-halsted-steinberg

6

General Discussion / Re: CNW in Chicago

« on: April 05, 2021, 02:32:44 PM »

Here's another one, CNW switcher crossing Grand Ave, 1983.

http://chuckzeiler.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4774702

7

Modeling / HO Chicago Terminal SW8

« on: April 05, 2021, 01:48:31 PM »

Hey all,

Spent some time this weekend finishing up my HO scale replica of Chicago Terminal Railroad's ILSX 900.

This is a Life-Like Proto 2000 SW8/900/600 that originally sported a black and white Illinois Central scheme.

I disassembled the shell, stripped off the paint, removed all the handrails, and used a combo of Painters Touch spray primer and paint. Handrails were painted yellow using a micro brush and some Testors paint. The logos were printed on waterslide decal paper using my inkjet printer. The only thing left to add is the reflective striping on the bottom.

It's currently DC, but planning on swapping out the shell on a DCC/sound model in the coming weeks!

A hi-def version of this photo can be found here: https://flic.kr/p/2kRbaQw  More photos to come.

8

General Discussion / New 2021 UP Tribune Job Video

« on: April 05, 2021, 12:44:28 PM »

Hi all,

Caught the Trib job this past Friday and decided to put a short video of the action on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/7_9Gw-AiFeo

Enjoy!

9

General Discussion / Re: Youtube videos UP switching Tribune Freedom Center

« on: March 08, 2021, 09:51:17 PM »

Fantastic footage! I miss photographing all those 50' newsprint boxcars. Thank you for documenting and sharing this.

10

General Discussion / Re: ADM mill being demolished

« on: February 22, 2021, 10:08:27 PM »

My company has the elevator maintenance contract at Freedom Center. I have taken a few videos of switching from the parking lot. I have a few more from under the Ohio feeder bridge. Will try to post them one of these years.

Joe

Please consider doing so. That's some great archival footage there.

11

General Discussion / Re: 1999: Freight Cars Parked along Magnolia

« on: February 22, 2021, 10:06:57 PM »

Fantastic, thanks gents!

12

General Discussion / Re: 1999: Freight Cars Parked along Magnolia

« on: February 18, 2021, 04:48:56 PM »

Also- does anyone have photos of that Magnolia Ave. scrap yard lot when it was active? I'm modeling that spur on my HO Morton Salt layout and would love to see if there's any particular details of the site I could model.

13

General Discussion / 1999: Freight Cars Parked along Magnolia

« on: February 18, 2021, 04:46:27 PM »

Hi All,

While looking up historical aerial footage of the Morton Salt facility, I noticed quite a few cars staged along the Magnolia Ave. spur. The date stamp is 1999, and Home Depot has already replaced the P&G plant so I doubt they're tank cars. Any ideas what kind of cars would be laid up there? Gons for the scrap yard adjacent to the tracks? I've attached a screenshot of the map aerial below.

Thanks in advance.

14

General Discussion / Re: URGENT: Final Day of North Ave Yard Operations: 06/12/2020

« on: June 11, 2020, 10:25:36 PM »

I will try to get down there.  A sad day indeed.  Do you know about what time they operate? 

That will be a long haul to go all the way from Proviso.  I imagine some track(s) will be maintained as run-around tracks.

Operations begin around 08:00 tomorrow morning. Possible Blommer upper level switch job in store for tomorrow too!

15

General Discussion / URGENT: Final Day of North Ave Yard Operations: 06/12/2020

« on: June 09, 2020, 10:18:15 PM »

Our dreaded day of reckoning has finally come.

I have received word from an inside source that this upcoming Friday, June 12 2020, is the final day of freight-based operations for Union Pacific out of the North Ave Yard.

The crew has received orders to round up all of the remaining freight cars and take them up to Proviso on Friday. The freight switching operations of Blommer, Tribune, etc. will be taken over by another UP crew based out of somewhere else (most likely Proviso).

UP 1430 (the current GP40-2 assigned to YNO68) will leave the yard for inspection on Thursday, and UP 1345 (another GP40-2) will be assigned to the final job.

Friday's itinerary includes:

- Rounding up all freight cars at North Ave.
- *possible* Upper-level Blommer Job, TBD.
- Run-around at Tribune Yard with all of the cars from North Ave.
- Slow pull of all cars toward the CY Tower as the crew heads north on the Harvard Sub.

Again, this is the end of YNO68 out of North Ave for the foreseeable future. It is a sudden end to decades of history that many of us on this site have worked hard to document.

If I find out any more information about time, I will update here. Hope to see you out in the field on Friday.

- Horace