tb_lakewood_01202004_07

The train heads north down another alley with more townhomes to the east, on the other side of the cinder block walls. On this particular day the engineer moved the locomotive a few paces forward, then backed up, and moving forward once again, to push compacted snow and ice out of the flangeways. The load groaning of the MP15s traction motors showed it was working hard! The former southbound main track is to the left, poking out from underneath the pavement. At one time the Milwaukee Road maintained a double-tracked branch to handle the freight volumes.

tb_up_mp15_0904_01

On a quiet Saturday morning in late September, 2004, a Union Pacific MP15 travels south on the viaduct over Kinzie St towards the passenger terminal at the Ogilvy Transportation Center. In the background on the right is the Blommer Chocolate factory which receives inbound shipments off the UP on the ground level and via a spur off the viaduct on top. At one time the C&NW and Milwaukee Road had active tracks passing in the foreground of this picture. The UP/C&NW's Navy Pier line curved around under and in front of the viaduct while the Milwaukee Road's C&E line cut across Kinzie St. at the river where it linked up with the terminal trackage into and around Union Station. The C&NW line is still in place but out of service while the Milwaukee Road track was cut back to Grand Avenue in 1973 and is long since gone. Ironically, Ogilvy was the court-appointed trustee of the Milwaukee Road during its finally bankruptcy and breakup in the early 1980s, as well as a former Illinois governor.