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It's the first day of September in 2005, and a cherry-red CP Rail locomotive heads north across the North Avenue viaduct on UP rails. It's headed towards home rails a few blocks north for a day of switching.

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A member of the crew sets the switch which will let the MP-15AC head east across the Elston Avenue bridge and beyond, the North Branch of the Chicago River.

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The crew pauses and looks east, then quickly backs up the MP-15AC onto the interchange track.

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A sound is heard from street level, then suddenly a CP Rail hi-rail truck lumbers across the Elston Avenue bridge headed west which explains why the locomotive backed up.

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A close-up view of the CP Rail truck using the zoon feature on the camera from a safe position on the Elston Avenue sidewalk. Looks like they are waiting for instructions.

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A panorama view of the CP/UP interchange tracks shows the standoff between the hi-rail truck and the locomotive. In the background is the Kennedy Expressway while on the right is Sipi Metals-a current customer for CP Rail.

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The hi-rail truck moves forward onto one of the two interchange tracks while the train crew throws the switch once again to move forward onto the main track across the bridge. One wonders why the hi-rail truck couldn't just raise its railroad wheels and drive off on rubber tires instead of going through this drill.

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The switch thrown, the MP-15AC finally moves forward.

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Yes, the colors really are this bright and bold on the repainted MP-15AC. No retouching done to enhance them! The locomotive is headed east across the old Elston Avenue bridge.

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A passing shot of the MP-15AC from underneath. This view is from the east sidewalk along Elston Avenue just outside the former Hanna Cylinders plant-a one-time Milwaukee Road customer since relocated.

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A CP Rail MP-15AC still in Milwaukee Road colors works the interchange with the Union Pacific on an August day in 2002. In this photo which looks east from the Metra coach in which I was riding shows many details.

The factory in the background is Sipi Metals which generally receives one or two gondolas of scrap steel each week from CP Rail. The spur into the plant can be seen in front of the white trailer and it enters Sipi's property through the gate in the chain-link fence. This spur is rather new and takes the place of another track that paralled the brick buildings. The new spur provides a way for Sipi to improve security as gondolas are now unloaded outside the inner perimeter.

Veering to the right, or east, in the street is the former Milwaukee Road spur that traveled down Blackhawk St., crossing busy Elston Ave., and eventually reaching the huge Proctor & Gamble plant which it served along with the C&NW. The P&G plant was torn down around 1990. A picture of it is shown in the Goose Island series, in the background of the photo showing the Soo Line crew traveling south onto the island off the bridge.

Sipi Metals is very high security so as a warning do not even consider trespassing to take photos. Neither CP Rail nor the UP tolerate trespassers either in this area. Play it safe.

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The next photo taken from the Metra train captures a set of freight cars set out by the UP for CP Rail on the interchange track. Tinted windows on the Metra coach affected the appearance somewhat. In this view we see empty gondolas for the General Iron scrapyard on Kingsbury, and a pressurized hopper with sugar for Peerless Confectionary. Past the last gondola you can see the MP-15AC which is based out of UP's North Avenue yard in a lease arrangement between the two railroads.

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Finally, a shot of the CP Rail line where it curves from north to east, away from the interchange point onto home rails. The bridge in the background crosses Elston Avenue. Just past Elston CP Rail trains will go over the swing bridge spanning the Chicago River.

The Milwaukee Road's one-time Bloomingdale Line once crossed the C&NW and connected these North Side switching operations to the rest of the Milwaukee Road system and the Bensenville yards. CP Rail in recent years discontinued service over the Bloomingdale line which had no on-line customers, and existed merely to access customers on Kingsbury, Goose Island, and the surrounding areas. The diamond across the UP was taken up and this CP Rail operation is now isolated from the rest of the railroad.

Articles in the Chicago Tribune in 2003 speculate that the dormant Bloomingdale Line might be saved as an urban bike trail. It travels some six miles on a raised viaduct across Chicago's West Side. Rusting tracks are still in place. A good vantage point is from the CTA line where it crosses the former Bloomingdale Line.

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Some 90 years later passenger service returns to the former Milwaukee Road C&E North Line! On a muggy August 23, 2008, morning the Chicago Terminal (CTR) SW-8 and a private car sit on the former Peerless Confectionary spur. CTR parent company Iowa Pacific ran a special excursion for its customers over CTR tracks earlier in the week. Several regulars on the Chicago Switching website were on hand to record this historic and surprising event.

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Plans to return with the coach back to the North Avenue yard are delayed by cars that parked across the spur the night before. At first a pair of police officers arrived on bicycles then a squad car arrived to assess the situation and determine with CTR staff on how to get the train unblocked. Eventually city tow trucks were called and the cars were moved just enough to provide clearance for the train.

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The train pulls forward off the former Peerless spur and onto the main track on Lakewood, extending far enough to clear the switch in the street. The coach appears to be as long as two hoppers or tank cars.