Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: More about those tankers on Goose Isand

« on: September 22, 2017, 08:11:18 AM »

This was my favorite line: "“In my opinion, these guys are railroad trolls,” Garrison said. “They want to get paid to move out of the way.”"  It's like developers don't like getting paid for their land and rights.  What a hypocrite.

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General Discussion / Re: Developer Alloy Property Seeks Adverse Abandonment of Chicago Terminal Lines

« on: September 13, 2017, 08:16:18 PM »

What's interesting about the site they own is that they've already removed the tracks from the parking lot on the south side of the parking lot.  I don't see any reason why the CTR would pay to build them back in.  Maybe there's a dispute started by the CTR to Alloy Properties over the possibly unauthorized track removal, and Alloy doesn't want to settle that, hence them trying to get the tracks listed as abandoned.  With the Fullerton grade crossing removed, I wonder how long until the City removed the crossing here.

3

General Discussion / Re: Forest Park Branch Track Diagram?

« on: May 20, 2017, 10:14:34 PM »

The very interesting thing to look at is the small trestle over the Silver Creek located at 2890 Armitage Ave, Melrose Park.  In 2014, the whole trackage on the trestle was removed and replaced.  You can see the old and new track sitting in the parking lot to the east in Streetview from that year.  They must think there's still use for those tracks if they're willing to make that investment.

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General Discussion / Re: Forest Park Branch Track Diagram?

« on: May 15, 2017, 08:35:27 AM »

Chuck,

Would you also be modeling south to Greenberg Road?  Interesting thing about the Cermak rail crossing, is if you Streetview from 2007, it appears the westbound gates are on, but no train is in sight, north or south.

5

General Discussion / Re: More redevelopement

« on: May 15, 2017, 08:21:26 AM »

It basically sounds like a pipe dream. I just noticed that they removed the Ashland bridge.

The Ashland bridge was moved to span Western Avenue.  The embankments are still there though, so building a new, taller, bridge would be fairly simple.

6

General Discussion / Re: Mystery Narrow Gauge Private Railroad in Lake Barrington, IL

« on: May 03, 2017, 10:08:02 PM »

That's very interesting.  Using Google Earth, which gives you approximately the past 20 years of satellite imagery, it appears it was not there in 2002, but may be there in 2005.  Even when it was there, it looks like it went straight and dead ended behind the house at the end of Flint Creek Drive.  2p008 has a really clear shot that shows there is no turn table on the north end.  Then in 2009, there's a low-quality image that appears to be churned up dirt, and it's not until 2013 where a high-quality image is finally posted and the northern turntable is clearly evident.

This reminds me of the miniature railroad in Richmond, IL at the intersection of Hill Road and US-12.  It appears to be gone now, but the ROW is still visible.  Again, if you have Google Earth, check it out in 2013 and 2003, you get great views of it, including a trestle over the local creek.  If I see that path correctly, it was 2.5 miles of track.  The land is for sale, so I wonder if they pulled it up and moved it, sold it, or scrapped it.  I want to say the store at the cornet of Hill and 12 was a Lionel store, which would make sense, but I haven't been able to find any info on it.

While researching that Richmond trackage, I came across this forum thread that lists a whole bunch of miniature railroads, including several others in Illinois: http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/80897.aspx

7

General Discussion / Re: General Iron on the way out?

« on: April 05, 2016, 11:22:36 PM »

Not sure how helpful this info is as I haven't ridden the UPNW line frequently in years, but I did ride it last Friday.  On the spur leading towards Elston, there were 5 empty gondolas.  That to me said they were waiting to be moved to General Iron.  However, that was before I read the updates on this thread.  Corroborating that G.I. hasn't used rail shipments recently is the barge I saw this past Monday.  My office is directly on the south branch of the Chicago River, and a barge floated southbound full of shredded scrap metal.  I don't know of any other scrap yards north on the river besides G.I.  I'll see if I can post there photos shortly.

8

General Discussion / Re: Possibly repost of tracks by Wrigly

« on: November 25, 2015, 10:10:08 PM »

There's two more photos in this series, and yes, they were posted before.  Search for Seminary and I think you'll find them.

9

General Discussion / Re: CNW Carroll Ave. bridge lowered!

« on: November 20, 2015, 11:31:21 PM »

My question is, why do they want to keep it active?  The DNA Info article incorrectly states that the tracks are disconnected on each side of the bridge, but that's not true.  Isn't it still connected to the west?  I know that east of Wells the tracks were cut during skyscraper construction and not restored.  What does U.P. want with the bridge active, leasing rights if a light rail ever gets built?

10

General Discussion / Re: CNW Carroll Ave. bridge lowered!

« on: November 19, 2015, 11:54:08 PM »

Here a photo a friend of mine took.  Too bad they didn't publicize it.  It seems like some more people would've ventured over to see it down.

11

General Discussion / Re: Carrol St and Racine

« on: October 21, 2015, 06:25:50 PM »

Update: they're all paved over as of today.

12

General Discussion / Re: Carrol St and Racine

« on: October 20, 2015, 05:21:12 AM »

I didn't even know there were tracks in this area, but if you look on street view, there's at least two different pairs.  One led to the building on the southeast corner, and it looks like the other runs down Carroll.  Anyone know the name of the business that used to be rail served there?

13

General Discussion / Re: Better hurry up and see Moton Salt

« on: October 13, 2015, 10:04:04 PM »

If you didn't get to Morton Salt yet, it's too late.  I went by last saturday, and there's no rail cars parked on the premises.

14

General Discussion / Re: So what's left

« on: October 07, 2015, 05:18:47 AM »

I would imagine the City of Chicago will push as fast as possible for an official abandonment of the trackage on Goose Island much as they did to Chicago Terminal with its franchise agreement to operate over Kingsbury south of North Avenue.

I bet the city won't be that pressing.  The difference between Goose Island and Kingsbury is trackage quality and traffic quantity.  The track on Cherry street is in really good condition, save for the Division Street crossing, which was repaved this summer.  The kingsbury track was in terrible shape, with equally poor switches.  Plus, traffic there was building on a daily basis with all the retail like the new Whole Foods popping up, while on Goose Island, the U of I lab and Wrigley Innovation Lab aren't high traffic destinations.  I bet the Goose Island track gets removed when the city builds the permanent bridges on Division over the river and canal.

15

General Discussion / Re: Big Bay - run-down or closed?

« on: September 28, 2015, 04:36:49 AM »

All signs point to closed.  There's this auction site that has all their day-to-day equipment on it: http://auctionhq.net/view-auctions/catalog/id/159/ from September 16, and then there's this short article on Building-Products.com that says they closed after 97 years in business: http://www.building-products.com/September-2015/Chicago-Lumberyard-Closes-Before-Reaching-Century-Mark/

Dangit.  I never got to properly film the moves at Big Bay.  Saw them a couple times accidentally, but never on purpose.