Chicago Terminal 6/15/2009 at 1:00pm

[D. Kaniuk]

I was in the area and decide to swing by and check out operations.
Here is what I found, the gondolas have been removed from the track on the Lakewood line between Webster and Belden. The CTM loco and 2 gondolas were parked on the track between Kingsbury and Clybourn. Another 2 gondolas were on the Goose Island track between Kingsbury and North ave.
There is a box car at Big Bay Lumber.
The asphalt that covered the tracks in front of the cars wash on Kingsbury near Division has been removed. Looks like the rail was being uncovered.
The swing bridge on the river near Cortland was in the open position.

[raisin]

I wonder if they are going to store the gondolas on Goose Island now instead of Lakewood to avoid upsetting the neighbors.  They could also store some at the end of Kingsbury where that asphalt was uncovered.  Fascinating times.

[robertmroman]

For what it\'s worth, the two AOK gondolas were still parked on the Goose Island line just north of North Avenue on Saturday, wheels a bit rusty though, curiously, the Goose Island rails had a bit more of a polish than I would expect for not having been used. Maybe they have been?

Also on Saturday, at least 3 AOK gondolas were parked in the yard just south of North Avenue on the eastern most track. There may have been a 4th but I didn\'t bother to check.

be well,
bob roman

[raisin]

Three gondolas are now parked on the southernmost portion of the Kingsbury line by the corner of Division and Halsted.

[TBurke]

The lead gondola on the stretch of track between Kingsbury and Halsted derailed and is off the tracks.  It\'s the gondola closest to Halsted.  Looks like an effort was made to re-rail it with a 2 x 4 on the ground next to it.  The wheels are sunk into the dirt.

The gondolas were riding on packed dirt and asphalt-and not the railheads-for much of the distance from the car wash area south.  This section of track on the private ROW-south of where the gondola was placed in 2007 for the firewood load right at the end of Kingsbury-had not seen a train since 1991 so it\'s no wonder that the track was buried in dirt and debris.

I\'m surprised that the Chicago Terminal crews didn\'t first try to dig out the rails and flangeways more.

[chuck]

As of yesterday, there are 4 gons down there.

-=Chuck=-
Mail: chuckjanda(at)hotmail.com
Home: http://www.chucksphotospot.com

[D. Kaniuk]

Hey, have the Gondola been put back on the rails?

[chuck]

No, the lead gon is still off the tracks, looks like it was pushed derailed all the way from the car wash since the dirt was all messed up under the gons.  I\'ll put some pix up later.

Two gons were still on the former Peerless siding as of Friday morning.

-=Chuck=-
Mail: chuckjanda(at)hotmail.com
Home: http://www.chucksphotospot.com

[robertmroman]

Last Tuesday, 10/6, the Arkansas-Oklahoma gondolas that had been parked in the North Avenue yard were on their way out... to where I don\'t know. Possibly Chicago Terminal had outbound loads. Possibly business is picking up for AOK. Possibly they just found somewhere else to park them.

As of Saturday, there were still gondolas parked at the end of the Kingsbury line, but I didn\'t walk down there to see if any had been removed.

Quite a bit of barge traffic on Saturday, too.

be well,
bob roman

[raisin]

The gondolas at the former Peerless site were still there on Friday.  The graffiti taggers are enjoying them being there.

[robertmroman]

If I have time to look today, I will as there was not yesterday. But there were a string of AOK gondolas waiting to be picked up from the North Avenue yard  Thursday afternoon. They were at the far north end of the string and thus hard to examine, but it looks like the Chicago Terminal has removed their inventory from the end of the Kingsbury track. I wonder if the ones parked at Peerless are gone, too?

Also awaiting pickup were a BNSF hi-cube boxcar and three other gondolas: two old SP and one Missouri Pacific. They looked as though they may have had loads, but I was at the wrong angle to be able to tell.

be well,
bob roman

[gordg3]

I was by the area today and the four cars north of Division Street (on Kingsbury) are gone.

[gordg3]

CTR ILSX 900 was pulling some gondola cars (southbound) today. I posted two photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/gordg3/image/118400808
http://www.pbase.com/gordg3/image/118400820

[TBurke]

Good action photos of a hard to catch area of the CTR.  The first photo shows the former Milwaukee Road lead to the Proctor & Gamble factory to the east of the camera and across Elston Avenue.  The City of Chicago uses part of the old P&G facility and you can see the double doors where Milwaukee Road spurs used to enter the building.

[robertmroman]

I second the motion.

The gondolas are Northwestern Oklahoma Railroad Company, not what CTR had been storing.

be well,
bob roman