The main purpose of this posting is to record a Facebook posting by Ramon Rhodes describing the BNSF/SantaFe bridge that crosses the Sanitary and Ship Canal in Forest View, IL.
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| Steven J. Brown posted Santa Fe B40-8W's departing Chicago, Illinois - June 1991. Jerry Jackson That isn't Lemont, but the Bridge close to I55 near Harlem ave, just out of Corwith |
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| Glen Miller posted Santa Fe Railroad Bridge over the Sanitary and Ship Canal, near Harlem Avenue, now owned by the BNSF Railroad, this swing bridge sits perhaps a quarter mile northeast of Harlem Avenue and still sees frequent traffic. The Historic American Buildings Survey Engineering Record dates it to 1899. All the moveable bridges over the canal are inoperable today with most of the machinery removed. Paul Webb posted |
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| Ramon Rhodes posted |
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| Photo by Wallace W. Abbey
ATSF, Chicago, Illinois, 1946
Santa Fe Railway passenger train "First 20," the first section of the eastbound Chief, comes across Bridge 9C east of McCook behind FT diesel no. 164 on July 28, 1946. Photograph by Wallace W. Abbey, © 2015, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Abbey-02-062-03Dennis DeBruler shared [permanence of link is experimental]
This is the first photo I've seen where the old power line has wires. It was one of the first high-voltage lines in America, and I presume the world. The power line went from the powerhouse in Lockport to downtown Chicago and it was built by the sanitary district.
The 9C bridge is in Forest View:
...See Morehttps://www.google.com/…/@41.8040176,-87.7881…/data=!3m1!1e3 |
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| Ken Rehor commented on Dennis' share, cropped I spent many hours of my teen years on the other side of that bridge. I wish I would have seen Wally's photos back then. (Westbound Southwest Limited, Fall 1978) |
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| Photo by Wallace W. Abbey
ATSF, Chicago, Illinois, 1946
Santa Fe's eastbound Chief passenger train, behind streamlined 4-6-4 steam locomotive no. 3460, crosses Bridge 9C east of McCook, Illinois, on its way into Chicago on April 20, 1946. Photograph by Wallace W. Abbey, © 2015, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Abbey-01-047-01 |
Bob Chaparro shared
Stan Jefferson: 84" drivers and 300# boiler. HUZZAH!!
I have done the trip down Canal Road but there is a tree line between the road and the canal that does not allow getting decent pictures of the bridge. Below are the best views I found of the bridge.
The bad view was even more frustrating when a power move of 4 engines
came through. I had the dumb luck that the numbers of the lead engine
was behind a girder. This photo is at camera resolution. I'm pretty sure the last 3 digits are 547. But of course it is the first digit that is most important in determining the type/era of the engine. Since it has a "swish" paint scheme, I think the number is 7547, which makes it an ES44DC. This consist of four locomotives had 3 different paint schemes.
As mentioned, the first locomotive had the "swish" logo. 5205 (C44-9W) and 7722 (ES44DC) had yellow block lettering and 1041 (C44-9W) had black block lettering.
Since the numbers for 1041 were blocked by leaves, I did have another shot that allowed me to determine that number.
Going further down Canal Road, there is an end-on shot of the bridge, and a clear view of the tracks. But the grade separation makes this another bad shot of the bridge.
So I tried a shot from standing on that little pile of ballast.
It is a decent end-on shot of the bridge, but I don't like end on shots. For example, it is hard to determine the truss type of a bridge. But you can clearly see that the top cord near the center truss are strictly tension members and that steel bridges need far less material for a tension member than for a compression member. (Combining the tensile strength of steel with the compression strength of concrete is why many bridges now use prestressed concrete rather than steel.)
Because it is hard to get pictures of this bridge, I was very relieved to see that Ramon has allowed me to cross this bridge off my todo list.
I also found three 1800s era power poles along Canal Road.
Update: I never knew it used to have four tracks until I read:
Stan Jefferson: 84" drivers and 300# boiler. HUZZAH!!
I have done the trip down Canal Road but there is a tree line between the road and the canal that does not allow getting decent pictures of the bridge. Below are the best views I found of the bridge.
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| 20140906 0134 |
Since the numbers for 1041 were blocked by leaves, I did have another shot that allowed me to determine that number.
Going further down Canal Road, there is an end-on shot of the bridge, and a clear view of the tracks. But the grade separation makes this another bad shot of the bridge.
So I tried a shot from standing on that little pile of ballast.
Because it is hard to get pictures of this bridge, I was very relieved to see that Ramon has allowed me to cross this bridge off my todo list.
I also found three 1800s era power poles along Canal Road.
Update: I never knew it used to have four tracks until I read:
The only other swing bridge in Chicago is the Atchinson, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad Swing Bridge crossing the Sanitary Canal at West 46th Street. Also built by the Sanitary District and converted to a swing bridge by the U.S. Navy in 1942, it carried four tracks over the waterway. When built in 1899 there were very few cases where a single two-truss bridge carried four railways; normally a three-truss superstructure was employed. The bridge carried two tracks down the middle and a track cantilevered off each side of the bridge. The outside railway tracks have since been abandoned and removed from the bridge. This sturdy 1,346-ton bridge is designed to carry at least 4,200 lbs per linear foot over its entire length on each roadway (or about 700 tons per roadway). At just over 334-feet long and 54-feet wide the bridge was designed to safely support any combination of trains crossing the bridge at the same time. (Patrick McBriarty in ForgottenChicago. I have read his book and watched his DVD, but if he mentioned four tracks there, I forgot it.)
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| Luke Malin posted A shot I've been after for a while now that I was finally able to make a reality. Santa Fe 659 leads stacks over the 1899-built Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal swing bridge in Forest View, IL. 7/15/2022 Daniel Fredrickson: This engine suffered a catastrophic engine failure on the way back from Ohio this evening [July 17, 2022.]. The scrap yard is its next home. From what I've heard so far it was a turbo failure leading to a major oil leak rather than the engine block. If that's the case there may be a sliver of hope, though I've seen locomotives trashed for less so I guess we'll have to see. Tanner Wical: Blew a rod out of the engine block [Railfans pay attention to the few BNSF locomotives that are still lettered for Santa Fe.] Alex Lorenz: Beautiful shot! Is that bridge still operational? Ramon Rhodes: Alex Lorenz The bridge has never been "operational." It does not have a motor to open it and never has. It once was able to be opened manually using cables and a winch, and was opened about six times during World War II. However, it is fixed in place and the rails across it are welded solid. All barges and towboats using the canal must fit under the closed bridges. Dennis DeBruler: The formerly-movable railroad bridges from the BNSF/Santa Fe Bridge in Lemont to the Lake haven't moved since 1954 except for the South Branch Bridge (also known as Canal Street or Pennsy Bridge). The St. Lawrence Seaway is now used for big loads. I did catch a towboat from Houston, TX, that did not get the memo about the bridges. It was parked at the Lemont Bridge. https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../houston-we... |
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| Ramon Rhodes commented on Alex's comment The tow boats that use the canal have pilot houses that are retractable. When they need to get under a bridge the pilot house is dropped down to the deck, and then as they come out the other side it is elevated back up again. It's on a hydraulic lift like you would see in your auto mechanics garage. Jeff Lewis: Clever. I'm guessing the stairway is hinged and on a track so it moves backwards? Dennis DeBruler: Jeff Lewis I believe so. If you look in these notes you can find closeups of Al Weaver with its pilothouse up and down. Unfortunately, I focused on getting a video of Sam M. Fleming going upbound and missed the pilothouse going down on Al Weaver. (Hindsight can be frustrating with tow fanning as well as railfanning.) https://dldreference.blogspot.com/.../20180708-sam-m... There are more photos of towboats with retractable pilothouses in these notes. https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../variable... |
Very nicely done sir! Ramon
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