Finkl Steel - Sunday Switching?

[JohnColeman]

On Saturday their were 3 gondola cars parked where the lakewood branch starts at Kinsbury.  I\'ve never seen cars parked there before so it caught my eye when I drove by and saw them from Clybourn.  I drove around and noticed that there were no cars parked in the Finkl Steel spur that usually has a few gondolas.  I figured they must have put them in the other area for some reason.  

Now today (Sunday) I passed by again around 6pm and the three cars on the Lakewood branch are still there, but there are also three more parked on the Finkl spur!  Not sure what all this means, but I was surprised that any cars get delivered or moved on Sunday.  Does Finkl move cars around with an intraplant engine or tractor?  Also, still curious about the cars parked on the Lakewood branch..

[Cway]

Hello there...From my recollection,there is a crane inside the Finkl Works that moves the gondolas around...So,that can be the reason for the cars on the Finkl spur...Where they empty or full,could you tell? As far as the cars on the Lakewood spur,couldn\'t really tell you...I know that they have more cars going back and forth over the years...

Cway

[TBurke]

Finkl does move freight cars around its two spurs and the connection to CP Rail/Soo Line with a self-propelled crane which rides on the rails and has couplers on both ends.  

The track that continues northwest along Kingsbury St. past the switch in the street for the Lakewood (actually, Chicago & Evanston or C&E North Line branch in Milwaukee Road terms) branch is what\'s left of the old Deering Line which once went all the way to Fullerton Avenue more or less paralleling the Chicago River.  The Deering Line crosses Southport in the Finkl complex and ends at Dominick St. and McClean Ave.  

You can see pictures of this action in the Deering Line section of the website.

On another note, Finkl Steel also has another railroad-this one is internal only with no outside connection and it connects three different Finkl buildings on both sides of Cortland Avenue and across Southport.  You can see the tracks where they cross busy Cortland Avenue.  A very small unit is used to shuttle specialized cars back and forth carrying metal.