BNSF Cited in Lead Clean-up Along Lumber District Track in Tribune

[TBurke]

From the Chicago Tribune two days ago...talks about a former (and presumably rail served) industry which left contaminated soil behind as well as BNSF which has high levels of lead on its out of service Lumber District track.  Here is an excerpt.  The Trib states that this out of service north-south line is abandoned-is that the case officially?  Surprising the tracks are still in place if that is the case.  I know BNSF accesses the active trackage from the west now.

"By Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune reporter
7:29 p.m. CST, November 7, 2013

More than seven years after state and federal officials discovered a lead-contaminated lot near an elementary school in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, the tainted soil has been dug up, trucked to a landfill and replaced with bright green grass.

In this case, community activists pressured the EPA to take action in response to stories in the Tribune and USA Today about the former Loewenthal Metals property.

Nobody knew about Loewenthal Metals and scores of other abandoned smelters until an independent researcher published a 2001 study that relied on historical records to identify potentially contaminated sites. In response, the EPA asked its regional offices and state environmental agencies to conduct testing and take action if the sites posed health risks.

The Loewenthal Metals site at 947 W. Cullerton St. is one of several that fell through the cracks, even though Illinois EPA inspectors in 2006 found it contaminated with up to 5,900 parts per million of lead — more than 14 times the federal safety limit for areas where children play.

State inspectors also reported seeing children walking through the lot on their way to and from Walsh Elementary School a block away.

USA Today drew attention to the Loewenthal Metals property in a 2012 series about abandoned smelters. After a November 2012 Tribune story about the contaminated lot, neighborhood groups posted bilingual warning signs and Ald. Danny Solis, 25th, ordered a fence erected around the site.

Another round of testing by the U.S. EPA confirmed the hazards identified earlier by state inspectors. Contractors ended up removing 4,800 tons of contaminated soil, EPA officials said, making the site safe enough for housing.

During their testing this year, EPA inspectors found high lead levels in an abandoned railroad right of way between Cullerton and 18th Street that neighborhood groups had turned into a trail and community garden. The city is cleaning up its portion of the property and negotiating with BNSF Railway to address the rest of the contamination, EPA officials said."

[haggar]

Tom,
A large portion of the north-south trackage was removed a month or two ago. I have a couple of poor cell phone pics from the roof of one of the taller buildings along the BNSF directly north of that line.  I'll try to post to flickr.

Joe

[TBurke]

Thanks Joe.  I have not been down there in a couple of years and depended on Google Maps to see the tracks.  But still the ROW might night have been legally abandoned even if the tracks were removed.  Doug K-any STB postings on this one?

[D. Kaniuk]

here is the STB filings:
AB_6_482_x  id: 233573
http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/d6ef3e0bc7fe3c6085256fe1004f61cb/6e8879739dc4e23585257adb00655ed0/$FILE/233573.PDF
AB_6_487_x   id: 233804
http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/d6ef3e0bc7fe3c6085256fe1004f61cb/ef30a4bb162ffdaf85257b1200686926/$FILE/233804.PDF

[TBurke]

Doug-

It looks like Colonial Brick on Cermak is still rail served then since they left enough tail track on the former Sangamon line to back into it.  Is that the case?

Tom

[Brianbobcat]

I didn't see this topic until just now, but monday morning I walked around this whole area and took a ton of photos.  I will post them and a larger writeup of what's going on, including a weird bit about an 'L' car, when it's not 2:16am.

[haggar]

A shame that the line west of Halsted will be abandoned. Think the last time I saw anything on that line was back in the late '90s. There was a center flow hopper on a spur off Lumber west of Canal St.  Another instance where I regret not taking photos.

Joe

[TBurke]

In my reading of the STB document I think the only trackage west of Halsted to be abandoned is a short stretch from Halsted to just past Peoria Street or less than one city block.  I looked at Google Maps and Colonial Brick (2222 South Halsted) has a boxcar parked on their lot so presumabely BNSF is retaining enough track to access this customer from the west.  The spur enters at the northwest corner of their property along Cermak.

There are still several active customers served by rail besides Colonial Brick between Peoria Street and Western Avenue including a warehouse on the west side of Ashland and on the north bank of the South Branch of the Chicago River (see screen shot below), the Kramer and Company smelter/foundry north of Cermak and along the west side of Loomis (with the fascinating tail track), a scrapyard on Paulina south of Cermak, and Domnio's Sugar on the north bank of the river and on the east side of Western Avenue.

Domino's appears to have its own Trackmobile while the scrapyard on Paulina uses some kind of bulldozer type piece of heavy equipment with a coupler.  See the attached screen shot.

These shippers make me wonder why the Central Illinois Railway could not make a go of it.  The scrapyard and Domino's seem to generate many hundreds of carloads annually.

[Brianbobcat]

In my reading of the STB document I think the only trackage west of Halsted to be abandoned is a short stretch from Halsted to just past Peoria Street or less than one city block.  I looked at Google Maps and Colonial Brick (2222 South Halsted) has a boxcar parked on their lot so presumabely BNSF is retaining enough track to access this customer from the west.  The spur enters at the northwest corner of their property along Cermak.

In the photos I took monday morning, you are correct about Colonial Brick, but not about what track is going.  All the track east of Halsted is all gone now too, all the way to past Canal.  There's a couple old signals and tracks are still present at street crossings, but the vast majority of the track is long gone.  As for getting into Colonial Brick, the tail track runs north to just before Cullerton where it abruptly ends.  There is still some track north of there, but so far they've left the track in the easement but removed all street and alley crossings.

There are still several active customers served by rail besides Colonial Brick between Peoria Street and Western Avenue including a warehouse on the west side of Ashland and on the north bank of the South Branch of the Chicago River (see screen shot below), the Kramer and Company smelter/foundry north of Cermak and along the west side of Loomis (with the fascinating tail track), a scrapyard on Paulina south of Cermak, and Domnio's Sugar on the north bank of the river and on the east side of Western Avenue.

Domino's appears to have its own Trackmobile while the scrapyard on Paulina uses some kind of bulldozer type piece of heavy equipment with a coupler.  See the attached screen shot.

These shippers make me wonder why the Central Illinois Railway could not make a go of it.  The scrapyard and Domino's seem to generate many hundreds of carloads annually.

I thought the STB documents had a map that showed the other rail that was being abandoned was to the WEST of Western, not east?  I saw MANY hopper cars parked on Paulina on monday, and the tracks all along Blue Island and Cermak were clearly being used and in good shape.  The track west of Western from immediately north of the YMCA all the way to the river has no connections to mainlines anymore.  It's severed just north of the river and right before western, so trains couldn't even access that if they wanted to.  There are no cars left on that line either.  There clearly had been a lot of industry along there, especially Crown Steel Sales Inc., but none of them look rail served in a while.  Google Earth shows that the line was severed between March 2012 and April 2013.  Before that the rail line was still open and usable, but in March of 2013 other trailers and whatnot blocked the tracks.

I question what will happen to the bridge on the Chicago River because the Illinois Central Railroad Swing Bridge #1 is one of the last remaining center pier swing bridges in Chicago.  It's over 100 years old and is a Chicago Landmark: http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=13123

[TBurke]

In my reading of the STB document I think the only trackage west of Halsted to be abandoned is a short stretch from Halsted to just past Peoria Street or less than one city block.  I looked at Google Maps and Colonial Brick (2222 South Halsted) has a boxcar parked on their lot so presumabely BNSF is retaining enough track to access this customer from the west.  The spur enters at the northwest corner of their property along Cermak.

In the photos I took monday morning, you are correct about Colonial Brick, but not about what track is going.  All the track east of Halsted is all gone now too, all the way to past Canal.  There's a couple old signals and tracks are still present at street crossings, but the vast majority of the track is long gone.  As for getting into Colonial Brick, the tail track runs north to just before Cullerton where it abruptly ends.  There is still some track north of there, but so far they've left the track in the easement but removed all street and alley crossings.

There are still several active customers served by rail besides Colonial Brick between Peoria Street and Western Avenue including a warehouse on the west side of Ashland and on the north bank of the South Branch of the Chicago River (see screen shot below), the Kramer and Company smelter/foundry north of Cermak and along the west side of Loomis (with the fascinating tail track), a scrapyard on Paulina south of Cermak, and Domnio's Sugar on the north bank of the river and on the east side of Western Avenue.

Domino's appears to have its own Trackmobile while the scrapyard on Paulina uses some kind of bulldozer type piece of heavy equipment with a coupler.  See the attached screen shot.

These shippers make me wonder why the Central Illinois Railway could not make a go of it.  The scrapyard and Domino's seem to generate many hundreds of carloads annually.

I thought the STB documents had a map that showed the other rail that was being abandoned was to the WEST of Western, not east?  I saw MANY hopper cars parked on Paulina on monday, and the tracks all along Blue Island and Cermak were clearly being used and in good shape.  The track west of Western from immediately north of the YMCA all the way to the river has no connections to mainlines anymore.  It's severed just north of the river and right before western, so trains couldn't even access that if they wanted to.  There are no cars left on that line either.  There clearly had been a lot of industry along there, especially Crown Steel Sales Inc., but none of them look rail served in a while.  Google Earth shows that the line was severed between March 2012 and April 2013.  Before that the rail line was still open and usable, but in March of 2013 other trailers and whatnot blocked the tracks.

I question what will happen to the bridge on the Chicago River because the Illinois Central Railroad Swing Bridge #1 is one of the last remaining center pier swing bridges in Chicago.  It's over 100 years old and is a Chicago Landmark: http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=13123

Colonial Brick's postal address is on Halsted Street but I did not mean to infer that somehow their rail access was east of Halsted or on Halsted itself.  Indeed the trackage east of Halsted has been out of service for many years.  Colonial's spur comes into the northwest corner of their property off Cermak.

There are really two different segments so the one from Western Avenue east to just before Peoria Street is saved while the segment west of Western Avenue is abandoned as you indicated.  Oddly Google Maps still shows tank cars on this isolated stretch.  Were they used for storage at one time?  How were they removed if the tracks were in such bad condition?  Were they abandoned there when Central Illinois Railway went under?  Did BNSF somehow get them out or were the salvaged in place?

[Brianbobcat]

Turning to Google Earth once again, it shows in 2010 and 2011 that Pure Asphalt has multiple tank cars, but at that time, the tracks were still connected to the mainlines.  Oddly enough, the current satellite view does show a tank car still parked on their track.  What will come of that?  Seems like scraping will be the only option, but can you cut apart a tanker filled with asphalt ingredients?  Also, there's a large shortage of tanker cars right now, so does it make sense to scrap one of them?  These answers will come in the future.

[D. Kaniuk]

Here is a picture of the tank car. Just scroll down about 3 quarters of the way:
http://www.dhke.com/rrus/static/static13006.html