Indian Hill & Iron Range Railroad

(Flickr1, Flickr2, Flickr3 (search); Satellite, this bird sanctuary is part of the landfill created by dumping slag before they built the rotary dumper.)

Scott Griffith posted
I remember my Dad taking me out by the lake and seeing this. Barstow I think, I have the blueprints to this and the servicing agreements somewhere.

Bob Lalich commented on Scott's post
here's the postcard.

Bob Lalich commented on Scott's post

Joseph Gustaitis posted
The Indian Hill & Iron Range RR, which was located on the Lake Michigan shore at the border of Chicago and Hammond, IN, was all of one mile long. The engine, formerly of the New York Central, pushed cars of slag up to a rotary dumper. Probably one of the last, if not the last, working steam engines in Chicagoland. I took this picture in Nov. 1958, but the locomotive was there for a few more years. The operators of the business (H. Bairstow Co.) were kind enough to let me come in and snap photos.

Lou Gerard posted
Indian Hill and Iron Range 0-6-0. Slag dumping operation at Calumet Ave. between the B&O and EJ&E near the present site of the Amtrak Hammond/Whiting depot. From my collection.
Jon Roma Chicagoland's most obscure railroad!
Andre Kristopans Technically not a railroad but H Bairstow industrial operation.
Rod Truszkowski It was north of Amtrak station by nipsco plant.
Dennis DeBruler I didn't recognize the name, but I had written some notes about. So this railroad is proof that I need the notes to remember stuff.
https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../indian-hill...

Lou Gerard posted
Indian Hill and Iron Range Baldwin in 1966. Taken by my Dad.
Andre Kristopans This replaced the 0-6-0.
Rod Truszkowski Ex chicago short line locomotive.

Rob Conway posted
The EJ&E always had something interesting to offer. Such was the case with this special movement of scale test cars in 1979. Don't know the exact location, but it is certainly "Chicagoland".
Lou Gerard Looks like along the lakefront at Hammond-Whiting. You can see the Indian Hill and Iron Range car dumper ahead of the engine.
Michael Mireles Lou Gerard Agreed. The yellow topped electrical towers is a dead giveaway.
Bob Lalich The grade crossing is Lake Ave in Whiting.
[Street View]

Marty Bernard posted

A Rare Lima-Hamilton LS-1000

Indian Hill & Iron Range Ry 302 in Hammond, IN on March 31, 1964.  She was Lima-Hamilton LS-1000 built April 1950 as Lima-Hamilton demonstrator 1004.

For more information see:  http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,2410563

From the trainorder page: The IH&IR was a one mile railroad owned by H. Barstow Co that disposed of steel debris, e.g. slag. Evidently it first just dumped it into the lake. Then it built a hill and a rotary dumper to transload the debris into trucks and haul it away. It used a steam locomotive for a long time and then switched to diesels 301 (another 301) and 302. "For those of you interested, the 301 was formerly Chicago Short Line 101. 302 was a Lima Hamilton LS-1000 built as Lima Demo 1004, later sold to the TP&W as #302 before being resold to the IH&IR. I believe the BLW VO-1000 was purchased to replace this loco."

Marty Bernard shared
Michael Matalis: It was the TP&W 302. The TipUp had a little bit of everything except FM.

Marty Bernard posted again.
Harold J. Krewer IH&IR 302 was formerly TP&W 302, serial # 9401. delivered to TP&W in April, 1950, sold to IH&IR December, 1958. This from TP&W diesel roster compiled by the late Monty Powell, railfan and TP&W dispatcher.
TP&W had L-H demonstrator 1000, which became their 300. No mention if either 301 or 302 had also been demonstrators.
Jacob Rajlich Harold J. Krewer TPW 302 was ex Lima 1004. 301 was built new.

The fill created when Barstow just dumped the debris into the lake is now a bird sanctuary for migratory birds. After they built the dumper, "the slag was then trucked to a nearby facility where it was crushed and used in highway construction." [TrainOrders2]

John Smatlak posted 12 images with the comment:

Finally some additional "action" photos have surfaced of the obscure Indian Hill & Iron Range Railway on Chicago's Southeast Side (actually in Whiting Indiana just across the State Line). These were taken by the late John Kamacher on 11-11-57. A shout out to the CNWHS for making them available to me so that I could share them. 

The south end of this very short railroad was the rotary car dumper at Calumet Ave., and the north end appears to have been the engine facility and EJ&E interchange trackage across from the State Line Generating Station located 1.25 miles north of Calumet Ave. Operated by the Bairstow Company (whose name also appeared on most of the equipment), the line existed to transload slag from the nearby steel mills onto trucks.

Having spent time climbing around on the abandoned rotary car dumper as a kid in the late 1970's (some photos I took in 1978-79 are included in the post), I've always been fascinated with this operation. Would love to see other photos or information on the line if you have any!

[There are more photos of the diesel locomotives in the comments of this post]

Peter Zimmermann: When was this line abandoned?

John Smatlak: Peter Zimmermann Unknown to me, but I believe around 1975. I did find the following on TrainOrders twenty years ago from DenWoz: "The following is what I obtained from H. Bairstow Co. for my reporting to Blackhawk NRHS's newsletter at the beginning of 1979:

Early 1960s had seen the last of the very active operations of H. Bairstow's slag track in Hammond/Whiting IN. The Indian Hill & Iron Range Ry. was privately owned and operated by Barstow to transfer steel debris at the slag track near Lake Michigan and Calumet Avenue for truck deliveries. The scoria was brought to IHIR's yard behind Conrail's Colehour Yard by the EJ&E Ry steam power (ex-B&O 7927[?]) had been used over the slag track up to about 1960. Bairstow purchased a diesel locomotive from the TP&W RR (#302), and it had been on an assignment for a few years. Chgo Short Line's 1000 hp loco #101 was sold to Bairstow and was the only unit used on IHIR at this reporting. It was maintained by CSL. IHIR activities had been reduced considerably for the past 10 or 15 years to about 3 hours weekly. Its loading operations performed in 1960 within 5 minutes amounted to a period of 2 weeks to a month then. Memories had seen the glory of IHIR. Den"

1

2
View from the cab of an Indian Hill & Iron Range steam engine which has now worked its way almost to the top of the incline and the rotary car dumper itself. The track at left is the gravity drop "exit" track, the empties queuing up. Further to the left is the EJ&E main along the Lakefront. John Kamacher photo 11-11-57

3
Indian Hill & Iron Range 7296 passing the line's small engine facility north of the rotary car dumper in Whiting. John Kamacher photo 11-11-57

4
View from the cab of an Indian Hill & Iron Range steam engine working the tracks north of the rotary car dumper in Whiting IN (located at Calumet Ave. and the Lakefront) . The track at left leads up to the car dumper, which can be seen in the distance. Looks like they're pulling another line of loaded cars out to start cycling them through the rotary dumper. John Kamacher photo 11-11-57

5
IH&IR water truck parked next to the Quonset hut shop in Whiting. John Kamacher photo 11-11-57

6
John Kamacher collection, c1957

7
Indian Hill & Iron Range 7296 taking coal at the line's small engine facility north of the rotary car dumper in Whiting IN (located at Calumet Ave. and the Lakefront). In the background you can see the State Line Generating Station. John Kamacher photo 11-11-57

8
Indian Hill & Iron Range railway, abandoned rotary car dumper 1979. View north, State Line Generating Station at right. I am standing on the ramped tail track which facilitated gravity return of the empties via the spring switch in the foreground. John Smatlak photo.

9
ndian Hill & Iron Range railway, abandoned rotary car dumper 1978. John Smatlak photo, looking south, my cousin posing in front of it. Check out the giant vise on the workbench and the other stuff just left behind when the operation quite some years before.

10
Indian Hill & Iron Range railway, abandoned rotary car dumper 1978. John Smatlak photo.

11
Indian Hill & Iron Range railway, abandoned rotary car dumper 1978. My cousin posing in front of it. John Smatlak photo, looking north.

12
Indian Hill & Iron Range railway, abandoned rotary car dumper 1978. John Smatlak photo, looking south down onto Calumet Ave. The big Lever Brothers plant was just out of view to the right.

Rick La Fever commented on John's 12th photo
To add a little more information to the picture, the tracks left to right are the 1.The EJ&E LakeFront Line 2. Former trackage of Pere Marquette/B&O/C&O(now gone) and 3. The Former Pennsy/Penn Central/NS Chicago Main. In between the PM and Pennsy was the former New York Central. I have added the numbers to the picture for comparison purposes.
[Bob Lalich has commented at the bottom of these notes: "about the B&O tracks, they are still there and in service. Among other movements, NS brings coke trains from the east and spots them between Calumet Ave and the Calumet River. SC&IH takes the coke to Cleveland Cliffs Indiana Harbor."]

Larry Candilas commented on John's post
Nothing there in the 1930s - the mills must have been still dumping everything into the lake.