Introduce Yourself!

[tom mann]

We have a lot of new members lately!  Please introduce yourself here and tell us how you found us.

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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com

[chuck]

Nobody!?!?  OK, I\'ll go first.  My name is Chuck, I am 33 years old.  I work for a trade show photography company in Chicago, live in the western burbs. I grew up in the rail triangle of BNSF/CCP(IC)/IHB.  I have always been a train geek, but it slowed once the new locomotive became so generic.  Now I focus on shortlines, regionals and critters.

I also developed this eye toward abandoned buildings, and photograph them.  Both exterior and interior.  Check out my web pages for train and ruins photos.  The new one is a work in progress but the old one has some content.

Old: http://www.geocities.com/chucksphotospot
New: http://www.chucksphotospot.com

Chuck

[TBurke]

Chuck

I enjoyed browsing your websites.  The old Dixie Square Mall reminds me of the place where they filmed Dawn of the Dead.

BTW, I actually visited Shireland during the one year it was open apparently, 1991.  The buildings and exhibits had a homemade feel to them, but that was part of the charm.

Tom

[mark_k]

Chuck,

The bulldozers sit still for no one. It looks like you got to some of those places just in time.

Keep up the good work.

Mark

[tom mann]

I like your photos of the Dixie Square Mall.

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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com

[chuck]

Thanks for the kind words!  

Tom B, so you were one of the 10 people that went to Shireland?!?!  It is a very odd place.

Dixie Square is amazing too, only in Harvey!  It is the mall that the Blues Brothers car chase scene was filmed in. A documentary is in the works: http://www.dixiesquare.com

Thanks again,
Chuck

[mark_k]

Chuck,

The new Popular Photography (March 2007) has a fairly large feature devoted to urban exploration and the kind of stuff you\'re photographing.

If you haven\'t seen it yet, by all means check it out. It\'s a keeper.

Mark

[cpcolin]

Hi every one the name is cpcolin. I am currently residing in NW Burbs. I lived on the NW side most of my life by the Weber Line. I have watched Mayfair Lumber switched by CNW and the UP. I found your site a while back on the links page on a train club page. I just want to say that this site is a gem. Keep up the good work.

[Ian]

Hi all!

My name is Ian M. Contreras.....Im 17.......a student at Lane Tech on Chicago\'s northside.......

My friends and I shot the CP switcher on Goose Island a couple of times over the summer and I found this site later on.......really fed my appatite......

I lived over by Mayfair Jct. from age 2 til\' about 12 so I had a huge interest in the CNW Weber Line, Skokie Valley, and 40th St. line........anyone know the status on those?
My mom used to work downtown....and I remember seeing the UP\'s Navy Peir job (more like newspaper job) run over the Chicago river near OTC (Northwetern Station)a couple of times......and my grandparents live remotely close to the Lakewood Branch.......so thats where my interest in these lines come from.......

I applaud everyones hard work on the site.......one of the most important sites about the general Chicago area..........as a random question.....does anyone have an interest in the CTA also?

-Ian

[TBurke]

Ian:

Welcome to the website, and thank you for your comments.  

There\'s an excellent CTA fan website which is run by Graham Garfield.  It\'s at:

www.chicago-l.org

That\'s a lower-case L in the domain name, not a number 1.

Tom

[chuck]

quote:Originally posted by mark_k

Chuck,

The new Popular Photography (March 2007) has a fairly large feature devoted to urban exploration and the kind of stuff you\'re photographing.

If you haven\'t seen it yet, by all means check it out. It\'s a keeper.

Mark

Mark, I have seen it, that is what I do!!

I do have my top 3 list of places in Chicago that I want to get into:

1. Freight Tunnels
2. Cook County Hospital
3. Old Main Post Office

So if anyone has any connections...Please help me!!

Thanks,
Chuck

[WC_SD45]

Hi everyone!

I\'m Matt Lastovich, going to be 18 in less than a month, currently a senior at Morton West HS, and I\'ve lived in Berwyn, IL my whole life...those of you who don\'t know where that is it’s right by the BNSF Cicero yard and CNIC Hawthorne yard. I’m also a huge Wisconsin Central fan……

Ian and I are good friends; I joined him over the past summer to chase around the Kingsbury switcher on our bikes. It had a MILW bandit both times which was really cool. I\'ve always been interested in street running....I guess we could thank the people at Pentrex for the Today’s Chicago Railroads.....LOL.....I really didn\'t think I\'d actually get a chance to shoot it.

I hope to make it down to catch the last run on the Lakewood branch!

[tom mann]

Matt,

Does the Pentrex DVD contain any footage of the near north side operations?

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tom mann
http://www.chicagoswitching.com

[TBurke]

Tom, others-

I have a VHS copy of the Pentrex video on street running freight operations.  They have a very short snippet-perhaps a minute or less-of video of a Soo Line train running down Kingsbury in the North Avenue area.  

I was disappointed overall with this Pentrex video since it mostly featured boring runbys of trains with no switching as I recall.  If you can get it cheaply then it is worth viewing.

The Pentrex video \"Juice\" on electric freight operations in the 1990s (Iowa Terminal, East Troy, WI, and the now gone Pearl Brewery operation in San Antonio) is far superior if you like shortline and switching action.

Tom

[SlowFreight]

It\'s a little OT, but speaking of Pearl Brewery in San Antonio, I accidentally blew a roll of film on it the week before they ripped it out, if anyone\'s interested.  I\'d have to scan the photos.  

BTW, I\'m Taylor, and while I\'ve contributed a few things in the past, I only now got around to joining the forum.  Grew up in the NW \'burbs and chased the Kingsbury job back when it was busy  I\'m currently working on a layout that incorporates many of the industries and general flavor of the area that this website covers.  Someday I\'ll post some photos, but for now the construction continues at a furious pace!

-T