Goose Island

[Jsu]

I was reading the book "The Chicago River" (1998) by David M. Solzman, and when he talks about Goose island, he says that: "The island is served by the Canadian Pacafic/Soo Line Railroad, and there are half a dozen operations with trail service."  It goes on to talk about a Budweiser distributing center, a waste management facility and a window company, all of which could have warranted rail access..  I know the WM facility is now a parking lot, and the Window company fell in the recession, but I have not idea about the others.  Does anyone have any knowledge on these operations?

[TBurke]

I was reading the book "The Chicago River" (1998) by David M. Solzman, and when he talks about Goose island, he says that: "The island is served by the Canadian Pacafic/Soo Line Railroad, and there are half a dozen operations with trail service."  It goes on to talk about a Budweiser distributing center, a waste management facility and a window company, all of which could have warranted rail access..  I know the WM facility is now a parking lot, and the Window company fell in the recession, but I have not idea about the others.  Does anyone have any knowledge on these operations?

I list out all of the industries on Goose Island that were rail-served with track diagrams in my book The Milwaukee Road in Chicago but I can try to answer some of your questions here also.

By 1998 there were only two customers with regular rail service and they were AKZO Salt on North Branch near Halsted and Big Bay Lumber.  The Anheuser-Busch distributor (River North Sales and Service, formerly owned by a son of Jesse Jackson Jr.)  is still located on the west side of North Branch, just north of Division Street.  To my knowledge it was never rail served.  The window company was probably Republic Window which went bankrupt several years ago and was replaced by Serious Materials in the same location.  I never saw any rail service to Republic and there was one load by Chicago Terminal to Serious Materials as sort of an experiment.  It would have been delivered on the run-around track on Cherry on the north side of Division Street.  Serious went out of business also.

Other regular rail customers that existed earlier in the 1990s were National By-Products, an animal rendering plant at the north end of North Branch which received tank cars, Midwest Industrial Metals at Cherry and Bliss, and a team track at Hickory just north of Division where hoppers were delivered.  Not sure what was in those covered hoppers but my guess would be plastic pellets as they were transloaded there into trucks. 

Below are links to pictures of those now gone rail customers. 

http://chicagoswitching.com/chicago/former-milwaukee-road-cp-rail-chicago-terminal/goose-island-area/Goose-Island-Odds-and-Ends-part-II/

http://chicagoswitching.com/chicago/former-milwaukee-road-cp-rail-chicago-terminal/goose-island-area/Goose-Island-Switching-Operations/

http://chicagoswitching.com/chicago/former-milwaukee-road-cp-rail-chicago-terminal/goose-island-area/Switch-Job/

[D. Kaniuk]

Here is a link to pictures of the Company after Republic  receiving a shipment.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23359451@N03/5116707492/in/photostream/

this is the last pictures, there are five pictures in this set

[mark_k]

After the extensive rebuilding of N. North Branch Avenue and its related street trackage in 1991 the service to AKZO didn't really outlast the decade.

See my photo from Sep 1991:

http://www.chicagoswitching.com/albums/chicago/former-milwaukee-road-cp-rail-chicago-terminal/goose-island-area/Goose-Island-Walking-Tour/mk_goose_sep1991_29.jpg

and Tom Burke's from the same period:

http://www.chicagoswitching.com/chicago/former-milwaukee-road-cp-rail-chicago-terminal/goose-island-area/North-Branch-Street/

And a sign installed between the rails c. 2003, again from Tom B.:

http://www.chicagoswitching.com/albums/chicago/former-milwaukee-road-cp-rail-chicago-terminal/goose-island-area/Goose-Island-Odds-and-Ends/tb_goose2003_072003_01.jpg

[Jsu]

Thanks, this helps.