tb_acctofficespur_061988_1

This spur traveling southwest across Altgeld from the C&E North Line once serviced the Milwaukee Road's accounting office at Southport and Fullerton as well as the Northwestern Elevated Railroad power plant with deliveries of coal. The Northwestern Elevated was a predecessor of the modern-day CTA and its power plant was located several blocks west of its tracks. In later years the building was used by Silver Star Storage. Another nearby rail-served customer in this area was Huss Lumber which was replaced by the Lake Shore Athletic Club.

By the time of these photos in 1988 this spur had been out of service for a number of years.

tb_acctofficespur_061988_2

Same spur but looking in the opposite direction towards the C&E North Line. Note the girder rail used where it crossed Altgeld. The sharp curve on the spur was typical of industrial tracks off the C&E and it forced the Milwaukee Road to use smaller locomotives from the steam I-5 0-6-0 up through the diesel SW series and into the MP-15 era.

tb_acctofficespur_061988_3

South of Altgeld the spur forked into two tracks with one going into the Silver Star Storage (Northwestern Elevated) building on the left and the other spur traveling southwest then paralleling the Milwaukee Road accounting office, now a retirement home, at Southport and Fullerton. Paper was brought in on boxcars for the company's own use.

tb_aetnaply_011992_01

tb_aetnaply_011992_02

tb_aetnaply_011992_03

tb_aetnaply_011992_04

tb_aetnaply_011992_06

tb_aetnaply_011992_07

tb_aetnaply_011992_08

tb_aetnaply_011992_09

tb_aetnaply_011992_10

tb_aetnaply_011992_11

tb_aetnaply_011992_12

tb_aroundkingsbury_081985_02

Several boxcars of paper are parked at Wallace's docks along Kingsbury St., at Grand Avenue on an August day in 1985. The tracks in the area are brand-new, part of a City of Chicago project to rebuild Kingsbury Avenue. The multitude of sidings, spurs, and run-around tracks are a thing of the past now and were eliminated during this reconstruction. Wallace is the last rail customer south of Chicago Ave. so there's no need for redundant tracks by this stage. Bill Denton also models this building though a decade earlier. This building was converted to high-end condos in the 1990s when Wallace moved out to suburban Carol Stream.

tb_aroundkingsbury_081985_03

In 1985 the City of Chicago rebuilt street trackage along Kingsbury St. in several sections, including the stretch from Kinzie St. north to Erie St. The area was rapidly changing as formerly rail-served industries either moved out or shut down. By 1985 there was just one remaining rail customer at this end of the Milwaukee Road line, Wallace Business Forms, so one track was all that was needed. This view looks north on Kingsbury St. and across Ontario St. If you look closely you will see the Styrofoam spacers used in the flangeways to keep them clear as new pavement was installed between the rails.

The old truck trailers to the east are from another era as well.