The CNW Line That Traveled on a Trestle and Through a Building

Posted by tom burke on 21 December 2009

The C&NW operated a short branch line which came down off the C&NW North Line just northwest of Webster Avenue, descending to ground level via a trestle over the west bank of the Chicago River. It meandered north by northwest, squeezed in by Elston Avenue on the west and the river on the east. At one time it crossed Damen and Elston Avenues north of Fullerton Avenue to hook up with the C&NW Northwest Line, linking these two mainlines not far from where they diverged at Clybourn Junction.

For more on the UP/C&NW/Metra Northwest Line go to the new “Freight Customers Along the C&NW Northwest Line in Illinois” website at: http://sites.google.com/site/cnwnorthwestline/

According to the 1956 edition of the Chicago Switching District Directory of Industries one of its customers at the far northern end where it circled back to the Northwest Line was US Brewing Co. at 2531 N. Elston.

The line was abandoned by the mid-1980s though traces of it are still very visible as of late 2009. The last apparent customer was a scrap yard north of Fullerton Avenue and east of Damen Avenue. One of the unique aspects about the line was that it traveled THROUGH a building at the northeast corner of Elston and Webster in addition to its use of the trestle.

A good aerial view of much of this C&NW line is on page 29 of the book The Milwaukee Road in Chicago (available via The MRHA or Des Plaines Hobby) where a 1958 shows it paralleling the Milwaukee Road’s Deering Line on the opposite side of the river.

The photos in this article were all taken on Thanksgiving morning of 2009. It was a great day for pictures as few parked vehicles were around to block the views and the foliage on and by the trestle had fallen.

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This photo looks north from Fullerton Avenue between Damen Avenue and the Chicago River. You can see the curving tracks of this freight line buried under the asphalt. Ahead was the scrapyard to the right or east of the Vienna Beef factory. From period aerial photos it does not appear that Vienna Beef was ever rail served, and in fact, its plant is built over where this line would have crossed over Damen Avenue. The scrapyard was between Vienna Beef and the Chicago River.

According to the same 1956 directory the C&NW served the following companies in this area:

Fathauser Company, 1880 -1900 Fullerton (hardwood lumber)
Kingsbury Iron & Metal, 1900 W. Fullerton (scrap metals)

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Here’s a close-up of some of the rail reappearing from underneath the asphalt. The gate across the former ROW prevents further exploration.

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The camera is turned the other direction now, towards the south and across Fullerton Avenue, showing the contours of the track. Until the 1990s the track was still visible where it crossed Fullerton. At one time there was a lumber yard in this area that was served by the C&NW.

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Another gate prevents us from taking a closer look at where the track ran south of Fullerton but the curve of the building to the left is a clue as to where the line once ran.

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This view looks east from Elston Avenue about one block south of Fullerton. The C&NW branch line is in the middle ground with the Chicago River in the background. It made a curve at this point to run parallel to Elston.

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The track continues its curve to the southwest to reach and parallel Elston by traveling across this empty parking lot. According to old maps and aerial photos this warehouse looking building was built long after the rail line was in place and was never itself rail-served though the main door looks big enough to accommodate rail cars. At one time this warehouse served as the offices of a UHF TV station in the 1980s. It was later used by the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.

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The camara is looking north from the point at which the industrial track curved around the northwest corner of the building and began to parallel Elston. The way the tracks were embedded in concrete saved them from being salvaged long after they were abandoned.

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A close-up of the tracks running between the warehouse type building and the sidewalk on Elston Avenue.

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This view looks north from a sidewalk along Elston. so the tracks are running in a northwest by southeast direction at this point,

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We’re turned in the other direction now, looking southeast. A relatively new Grainger building is built on top of the former ROW as the tracks end abruptly at the building.

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The tracks at one time went UNDER and THROUGH this building. The opening is still there though partly enclosed. This view looks southeast from Elston. The building through which it traveled is at the northeast corner of Elston and Webster.According to the same 1956 directory this line served the following customers at this location. Presumably the building it went under and through was The International Printing Ink Corporation. The Grainger building is about where the tannery would have been located.The International Printing Ink Corp
2211 Elston
printers ink
Weil & Eisendrath
2221 N. Elston
tannery

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Here’s a view of the same building from the other side looking northwest, showing where the tracks went under and through the building.

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A wooden trestle in the heart of the city is a rare sight, and this one is remarkably well-preserved though the trails are long gone. The C&NW industrial line traveled up this wooden trestle to connect into the C&NW North Line just south of the Chicago River and over Webster Avenue. Behind us is the building that it went under. The difference in elevation between the trestle and the parking lot indicates that much of the ROW was bulldozed to create a flat parking lot sometime after rail service was discontinued.

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We’re looking across the C&NW trestle and the Chicago River to the other, eastern bank. The North Line bridge over the river is to the right or downstream. At a point roughly equal to the tip of the second, green handrail the Deering Line of the Milwaukee Road emerged from under the C&NW North Line. The City of Chicago white buildings to the right of the North Line were build over the former Deering Line ROW sometime after the Deering Line was cut back to Dominick Street after 1984.

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