Saturday, September 3, 2016

GM&O's Brighton Park Yard, Roundhouse then Freight House

(Satellite)

(Update: GM&O also had a freight house near the loop.)

William A. Shaffer posted
GM&O E7As #102 & #102A at Chicago, IL (2.23.63)
(Photographer Unknown - Collection of William A. Shaffer)
Chris Hudson Southwest side..near old GM&O freight house 37th & California..

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
Albany is on the left, and California is on the right.
36th Place is on the top, and 38th Street is on the bottom.
The freight house on the right side of the William's picture and Chris' comment got me digging deeper to find the freight house. In 1938, there was a significant rail yard and a roundhouse, but no freight house. The roundhouse is in the lower-right corner of the yard.

According to Historic Aerials, by 1952 the tracks north of the mainline had been removed and a large building was built on the east side. The turntable had been removed and the 1952 view is consistent with a comment in the posting that the lower-right part of the yard had become a lumber yard. The, I assume, ice house in the 1938 photo had been replaced by a long building that had tracks on the north side and trailer parking on the south side. So that would have been the freight house. William's photo must have been taken before 1952 when there were still tracks on the south side of the freight house.

The east side of the freight house still stands:
Birds Eye View
I learned from a comment on this photo that this railyard was also the passenger service yard for GM&O.
Bill Molony posted
The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio's Alton Limited, backing into Chicago Union Station - circa 1950.
Dennis DeBruler Would this have been shoved back all the way from Glenn Yard? That is CB&Q passenger service on the right. And Pennsy was on the left out of frame. But I never figured out where GM&O serviced their passenger equipment.
Brandon McShane The Alton coach yard was at Brighton Park (where Amtrak built the Turbo maintenance facility), so it probably came from there.
One of several turbo train photos posted by Robert Daly
Brighton Park service facility, built on site of former Alton/GM&O coach yard, May 18 1975
Bill Molony posted
Amtrak RTG-1 and RTG-2 at the Brighton Park maintenance facility on May 27, 1974.
John Eagan A shop purpose built to support the Turbos...and boy did they need it! And now they are junk. https://www.flickr.com/.../photolist-4ZJ1F4-bfz1Q8-65ygts...

Bill Molony posted again
It is now the "Amtrak Brighton Park car shops." [Glen Olbermann comment on a post]

Marty Bernard sharedfive photos of turboliners.


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