C&NW Generating Station spur

[themats]

Does anyone know of a resource which shows pictures of operation on the C&NW spur to the generating station at California and Addison?  I recently came across some pictures of Com Ed electric switch engines which crossed California to get to barges on the river, but haven\'t seen anything on the C&NW end of things.  Is there a book or website with pictures?  Is there a formal name for this spur?  I\'m also interested in general info about the spur, like build date, last used, etc.

Here\'s the link to one of the pictures:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YGfyS0_koOE/SKSBhHM-CHI/AAAAAAAABCY/-kQElnkQaE8/s1600-h/ComEd4.JPG

Here\'s a link to the site:

http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/ronald-j-delhaye-collection.html

Thanks,

Mike Murray
La Grange Park, IL

[TBurke]

Coincidently there is a running discussion on the Yahoo group about this line to the ComEd facility right now on the North Shore Line group.  Do a search within Yahoo Groups for \"CNSMRR.\"  Though the group is technically for North Shore Line discussions they do go off topic and this is an example.

The branch line was in place but out of service into the late 1980s from what I recall.  Around 1990 the city replaced the grade crossing where the tracks crossed California with a new, rubberized grade crossing though it had been years since a train went down those tracks.

I\'ve heard the line referred to various ways, including the Avondale line.  It also served other C&NW customers farther west, around Kimball.  A fairly recent spur is still in place if you look hard though it is disconnected.  Again, it was built relatively recently and apparently after rail service was already stopped.

[themats]

Thanks for the info Tom.  I get the North Shore group messages, and that\'s what sparked my question.

Mike Murray
La Grange Park, IL

[themats]

One question Tom: is the relatively recent spur one that went east toward the generating station or west toward Kimball?

Thanks,

Mike Murray
La Grange Park, IL

[TBurke]

The spur came down off the \"main\" line just east of Kimball, eventually curving in a westerly direction until it reached street level on W. Newport.  

If you use Google Earth and put in the coordinates N. Kimball and W. Newport you can make out the spur.  I\'ve not been there since 2004 in person so I cannot verify for sure if it is still there-but it is odd though.  

Looks like a switchback was required to access this spur-if it even carried rail traffic once it was rebuilt.