The End Of Finkl

[chuck]

Drove by Finkl over the weekend and noticed the Heneghan Wrecking signs all over.  My guess is it will be coming down very soon!

[TBurke]

That would be too depressing for me to watch!   

It also means the end of what was left of the Deering Line!  I imagine there will need to be extensive remediation done of the brownfield site prior to any redevelopment.

At least Finkl was well documented in photos over the years. 

[cnwnorthline]

Time marches on...

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150211/lincoln-park/finkl-demolition-begins-march-forcing-closure-of-cortland-street

-Matt

[Jsu]

I went by there today, only the two buildings west of Southport between Cortland and Armitage have been taken down, the rest is still intact.  It does not look like they have not done anything recently.

[cnwnorthline]

Looks like more is underway...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97011076@N06/17096870999/

Anybody know if all the rail cars are gone?  A shame that the Chicago Terminal isn't shipping any of the scrap/soil out.

-Matt

[Jsu]

I went by there today, Cortland is closed from Kingsbury to the river.  Almost all of the buildings north of Cortland are gone or in the process of being demolished, except for a shack located between the point where the Lakewood line branches off and where the Deering Line heads west.  All of Finkl's rail cranes were still there, but in a bad state.  I saw no flatcars, but the foundry ladles were still there.
On a different note, I saw what might be a bulkhead flatcar in the Sipi Metals spur.
My camera just died, so I couldn't document any of this.

[TBurke]

I wonder what happened to the little cars that ran on the intra-plant railroad which interconnected the buildings?  One of the tracks ran across Cortland.

Probably scrapped I imagine.

[Jsu]

Unless the CTM took the flats away at some unknown date I'll bet they were scrapped.  I was glad to see the rail cranes still there, so hopefully they will be refurbished and reused either at Finkl's south plant or to a new owner.

[chuck]

I'm shocked how fast they are bringing it down.  Seems like a lot of environmental work may have been skipped!!
I noticed a lot of equipment parked in the scrap yard.  Is that being cleaned out too, or is it just a storage area for the demolition crew?

[Jsu]

They still had to clear out all of the nonmetal  rubble, so I assume when they begin to ship out all the shattered brick and concrete they will be able to excavate the foundation, and below it.  They have been operating there for over a hundred years, so I assume there must be quite a lot of contamination to dig out.
TBurke - They had already ripped out the tracks crossing Cortland when I was there in early March, and they hadn't had any of the tracks in the actual complex intact when I was there this week, so it looks like they have no future plans for the in-houe rail system.

[tytrain]

Looks like more is underway...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97011076@N06/17096870999/

Howdy! I wondered why that picture of mine got so many views - glad to see it found its way to these forums.  I took another trip to Finkl Steel today, as well as checking out the Bloomingdale Trail. Pictures are on my stream for those interested.

[Jsu]

This is as of yesterday morning.  The rail-cranes and the ladles are all else that is left.  This is the only structure either north or south of Cortland.

[TBurke]

Too depressing to view...