spur into materials site...

[Cway]

Good day,

I was driving by Chicago and Halsted the other day and noticed a long spur by the concrete silos at the materials site. Does anybody know when the last time it was used? I\'ve never seen any cars there. I know that they recieve barges full of gravel,stone,etc...

Cway

[TBurke]

Are you referring to the Material Service facility which is on the Chicago River across from Goose Island, north of Elston, and west of Halsted?  

I\'ve never seen railroad cars on those tracks in front of their silos going back two decades.  My guess is that it\'s still cheaper to bring in construction materials via barge is why but the tracks stay in place so they maintain leverage over the barge suppliers with the threat of going to rail shipments.

[D. Kaniuk]

On Saturday (4/11), had some time, so went and checked out the track that leads to Tribune. The line in now single track. You can see pictures of before and after at: http://www.dhke.com/rrus/pgms/pgms.html