Carrying Vehicles in Boxcars

Until at least the 1960s, the railroads expected their customers to ship their products in boxcars including grain and automobiles. These notes document vehicles other than cars that were carried in boxcars.

Richard Stewart shared

Andrew Keeney shared
[Case had their own boxcars designed to ship their tractors, plows, etc.]

Carl Venzke posted

Anthony R De Seta shared

Jerry Britton Note the "Return When Empty to PRR Toledo O". Car was in dedicated service with a factory in Toleda. Suggests special equipment.

Mark Massa Why the "triple twos" chalked up on the X31?

Ralph A Heiss Chalk marks were typically made by yard clerks and referred to routing.

Carl Venzke post

Unloading some Ford tractors 😉 Late 40's or early 50's.

Robert Bull Carmichael Those are 2n's.

Logan Staal Tractors rode in boxcars due to multiple wheel arrangements on the front end and tall sizes for larger units, however they still had the automotive marking on the side to designate steel floors or heavy wooden floors. Some boxcars were still being produced with cheaper wooden floors such as pine.

Ritch Williams Car Model X31f

PRR Road Numbers 81200-81889 XM XAR XMR XR

Type,

X31f - 40'0" turtleback round roof all steel boxcar

Center section of roof raised for carrying jeeps

690 cars built. WW2 production. So that Narrows delivery time to 44-47. A 2N

Jeff Mikus Those are definitely 2N’s. Generator location is pre-1950 but that bolt pattern on the wheels is pre-48, leaving out the 8N. The box car appears newer than 42 so that would eliminate 9N’s as well.

Peter Dudley Ford Motor Company's tractor plant was located west of Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI.

Ford was one of Pennsylvania Railroad's best customers, as a result of PRR's ownership of Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad (DTI), which Henry Ford sold to PRR in 1929 (good timing).

Peter Dudley shared

Mason Christensen The Ford tractor plant was only open for a few years in West Dearborn in the 1910s until production moved to the Rouge Plant.

Brent Kneebush Fordsons were made in Dearborn. By the Time the tractors in the Photo were produced which are 9ns or 2ns production had long been at the Rouge Complex. Being 9ns or 2ns this photo is between 1939 and 1947. 8ns came out in 1947 and had a two tone red and grey paint scheme. These are solid grey.

Edward Jarolin shared
Dc Sharp How about those hats!
Gene Herman posted
White Coach Wednesday ~ A quartet of SF Muni and PUC suits hatch a new 798.....
Michael Dolgushkin Those posed shots always crack me up. Kind of like the ribbon cuttings with huge scissors, or the groundbreakings with oversize shovels. And these guys in their baggy suits. Priceless!

Scott Thomas shared three photos with the comment:

New engine delivery by rail....Lets DISCUSS! Here in NW Pennsylvania, the roads were really bad until the interstate came through in late 70, so new apparatus arrived via Erie Railroad. Here are three arrivals. We also had several major fires to our south and north in the 1930s & 40s where they ran our city's ladder truck to the rail yard, put it on a flat car and responded via locomotive! No pictures of those unfortunately. We had a large & active rail yard here so getting a loco manned and fired up was easy.

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Carl Venzke posted
WC56 Dodge Command Car
[Larger side doors helped the loading and unloading.]

Carl Venzke posted
Southern's Big Boy - Ten-foot-wide doors make for quick loading and unloading of the "Big Boy." In this case, mechanical handling equipment that was easily maneuvered through .
[Big side doors helped load and unload other things as well.]

Henry Rodriguez posted

Two boats were converted to train aircraft carrier pilots on Lake Michigan

I saw a TV show on this topic. Unfortunately, one cannot effectively reference a TV show. Fortunately, I have come across a couple of postings on the topic.

Glen Miller posted, 2x
Navy planes fly over Navy Pier in 1942. The Navy not only trained some 15.000 carrier pilots including George H.W. Bush on Lake Michigan during WW2, but thousands more trained to become metalsmiths, aviation mechanics, and diesel operators at the pier. Most of the instructors were furnished by Chicago vocational schools through the cooperation of the Chicago Board of Education.
Bush spent three days training at Naval Air Station Glenview in 1943, The Carrier Qualification Training Unit program required pilots to complete eight successful takeoffs and landings on an airplane carrier in Lake Michigan. Bush completed his training on the USS Sable.
(Tribune photo)
Patti Hunt My mom recalled seeing the sky filled with B-17 bombers over Chicago. She said the noise was incredible. Some of her high school buddies were part of those flight crew...in the ball gun turrets because they were short guys.
Mike Firtik I was stationed at Glenview NAS . Sad when it closed down ..

Colleen Blackburn shared
Bob Busch The Navy used CVS high school,and left many airplane engines, carrier plane parts ,and rumor had it several airplanes in a hanger on campus. ,
Donald J Coday Jr. A few of those planes were tossed overboard and laying in the bottom of the lake, in the early 90s, a great group of people who I had the chance to know, rescued a few, Sent to Pensacola and were refurbished, not rebuilt, and are in the museum of airspace... I got to see one particular plane that I knew was rescued... was really a treat to see it. And to know the story about it.

James Stein posted
The 'old' Navy Pier
David Church Notice the two ex passenger steamers converted to aircraft carriers for training Navy Pilots from Glenview Naval Air Station. One was the Greater Detroit I believe.
Justin Reynolds Look how long Ogden Slip is compared to today!
Dennis DeBruler I'm so glad the resolution is high. You can see three boxcars on the C&NW tracks to Navy Pier and many cars on the C&NW industrial leads running between the buildings on the north side of the river and the south side of the slip.

David Church commented on James post
Here she was in all her glory. Notice, she was a side wheeler. Other ship was the Greater Buffalo.

David Church commented on James post
And here's the Greater Buffalo prior to conversion.

David Church commented on James post
And now she's an aircraft carrier - minus a few customer amenities.

It is obvious that this is basically the same photo that James posted, but I think the different exposure and cropping is of interest.

John Grummitt posted
During WW Two it was suggested to the Navy that they convert two side paddle ships into training aircraft carriers. At the time German U-boats were sinking hundreds of ships in the Atlantic. With the need to train thousands of pilots Lake Michigan seemed a logic location. Both the USS Sable and Wolverine are pictured here docked at Navy Pier.
Marita Varnes President Bush the elder was trained as a Navy pilot on them. There are a few planes on the bottom of Lake Michigan from that time.
John Grummitt He qualified on one of them. Over 100 planes went into the the lake, They continue to find and restore them for museums.
Stephen Boisvert The SS Eastland was also converted to a training vessel (gunboat - USS Wilmette) on Lake Michigan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Eastland
Stephen Boisvert Images: WWII aircraft carrier documentary [payware]

BNSF Fire Fighting Trains

BNSF Railway posted on July 24, 2019 at 10:32am
BNSF operates in parts of the West that are prone to wildfires. That's why we have specially equipped firefighting trains that can carry up to 30,000 gallons of water to help combat fires when they do strike. Learn more on #RailTalk: https://bit.ly/2Yh31yb
Jason Beardsley Proudly built by Pasco Mechanical, glad to see them helping out.
[They seem to have deleted the comment about BNSF trains causing most of the fires.]

Why not use tank cars instead of plastic tanks on bulk-head flat cars? A single tank car can hold 30,000 gallons.

BNSF
[The water cannon can shoot water just 30 feet.]

Some of their fire trains do use tank cars.

BNSF Railway Friends posted

BNSF specially designed and built fire trains that are at hard at work again this summer on scene at forest and grass fires throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Fire trains are rapidly deployed and can reach roadless areas – transporting both water and crews. High-powered pumps on board can shoot water up to 300 feet. The equipment is also useful after fires have been put out. Not only can it be used to fight fire directly, or to refill equipment, but it can be used to spray down to prevent flare-ups after the fire has been contained.

Several water-filled tank cars are strategically placed on BNSF routes and are equipped with the proper connections so firefighters can refill their equipment or rig hoses directly to the cars.

BNSF
BNSF’s large fleet of firefighting rail equipment is deployed throughout the Pacific Northwest and is on call to support local, state and federal government fire suppression teams. The specially designed and built units quickly move tanks holding thousands of gallons of water to wild fires in remote locations. Water cannons mounted on the trains can reach 300 feet up an embankment. Cabooses provide shelter and work space for fire managers. The trains have also been used to transport firefighters to and from fire scenes. Learn more by reading the full article in Wildfire Today!

BNSF Railway Friends posted

When needed, BNSF deploys firefighting rail cars to help fight wildfires near the rail network. The cars, specially designed and built by BNSF employees, hold up to 30,000 gallons of water and have a spray range of up to 300 feet.

#wildfires #firefighter #trains #railroad
Paul Yelk In the past years, BNSF used to have a fire train follow behind their freights looking for fires that may have started along side the rails. Don't know if they still do that or not here in the Spokane area..

A model of one of the cars

It is interesting how many different designs they have come up with.

FirefigherNation

(new window)

Demolition of buildings, etc.

For several decades buildings were demolished with a wrecking ball. But, with the advent of hydraulic excavators and explosives ("energetic felling"), one seldom sees wrecking ball action anymore.

For two or three story buildings, a regular excavator with a "thumb" added can do the job.

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20170816 2555

(new window)  I mentioned to a truck driver that I was surprised that the excavator did not have a "thumb." He responded that this operator is proud of the fact that he doesn't need a thumb. But I think the second scoop would have gone faster if he had one.



This is the second "scrape" that I passed by on the way to the grocery store. After shopping, I grabbed my camera and tripod and went back to catch both operations.

(new window)  If you want to skip to the action, it is at 3:16. I thought about shortening the video, but you can move the slider if you want. I didn't shorten the video to show how much of his time is spent grooming the debris pile in the crawl space so that he can drive on it. I stopped when he stopped.


Another view of where he stopped.

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For metal intensive structures such as truss bridges, they replace the bucket with hydraulic shears. An excavator can also use a bigger version of the hydro-hammer attachment that is on this skid steer.

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I agree with the comments that this photo as been rotated 45 degrees. But it is still an example of a hydro-hammer attachment.

Rotated and Zoomed

Special long-boom crawlers are built that specialize in tearing down taller buildings. But the comments on the following posting indicate that a wrecking ball is still the "weapon of choice" for very tall structures such as smokestacks.

Steven Xzin posted

David Guarino commented on a posting
This ended the use of wrecking balls. You can still get an option to run most conventional cranes in free fall.

Transporting an extended reach excavator looks expensive.

John W. Coke posted

They are using a big crane, a Mantowoc 21000 with Max-Er Wagon, to dismantle a smokestack at a power plant in Romeoville, IL using a worker basket. It has been going very slowly. They started this work last June. This is a sneak peek. I plan to write some notes on this later. But at the rate they are going, it will probably be a few months before I write them.

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Two Porter Junctions in Northwest Indiana

I've discovered that I had some mistakes in my notes because I confused the two junctions in Northwest Indiana that both had the name "Porter." This post provides the "big picture" as part of my effort to fix those mistakes.



Concerning the satellite image below.

The orange lines were the EJ&E Porter Branch.
The yellow line was the Michigan Central track. Now Amtrak owns MC north of here and CSX owns MC south of here.
The red dot indicates where the tower used to stand. I used a circle because the long side was on a diagonal along the MC tracks.

The PO Tower was on the west side of this map excerpt. EJ&E Porter, which is now totally abandoned, was at the east side. That junction is actually in Chesterton, IN.

See PO Tower and EJ&E Porter for more details concerning the two junctions.

Satellite

Note that there were quite a few interchange yards in this area.

1940 Porter Quadrangle, 1:62500

Evolution of Illinois Central and Grant Park at the Lakefront

When Chicago was founded, the shoreline was at Michigan Avenue and the richest houses were built along it for the lakefront view. But the owners were learning that lake erosion was a serious threat to Michigan Avenue (and their property value). A breakwater was needed. As explained in Crossing War, the Rock Island beat the Illinois Central to the preferred entry into Chicago west of Calumet Lake. IC was granted permission to build an entry into the city in the lake because this would provide the breakwater that the city needed.

See 1860s for early illustrations of the lakefront. Illinois Central created fill at their north end to extend the river to create land for their original passenger station and freight yards. (Later, in time for the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition, IC built Central Station.) Below are the 24 images posted by David Daruszka. I then added the other images I had that are not specific to the 1860s, passenger stations, or freight yards to David's images in chronological order.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
An old print of the original IC Station on the left, and the two elevators that dominated the landscape at the Chicago River.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
A Sanborn map image of the elevators.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
One of the elevators was still there in the 1942 image.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
This old print shows the elegant homes that once lined Michigan Avenue. The residents were no doubt not thrilled by the arrival of the railroad.

If you look at the 1860s images, you will see that IC filled in their trestle along the lakefront and created Lake Park. But the lake became stagnate and unattractive. So debris from the 1871 fire was dumped into that lake. This photo shows that Lake Park was filled in and the IC tracks were significantly widened by 1886.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka

Looking north from approximately 12th Street. The tents are an encampment for the troops called out during the Haymarket riots [1886]. The park ground they are camped on was created with debris from the Chicago Fire. That area was once a small lake that was created when the IC built their tracks into Chicago.
Dennis DeBruler I went back and looked at your photos for the walkway between a lake dock and the Van Buren Street Station. The truss in the background appears to be part of that walkway. And we can see boats at the pier by the dock. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1270038776414622/permalink/1638946072857222/

Dave Gudewicz posted

1893 image of the Art Institute, yet to be completed. No lions until 1894. Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge from Boston were the architects. Roof signage to the north "Trocadero", a vaudeville theater.

A little know fact. Just beneath the cornice are the names of various artists, etched in stone. On the north wing Michelangelo's name is spelled wrong.

[Note the tracks and grain elevators in the background.]

Dennis DeBruler shared
Note the big wood grain elevators on the south side of the river and the Illinois Central (and partners such as Michigan Central) tracks in the background.
David DaruszkaDavid and 1 other manage the membership, moderators, settings, and posts for Chicago Railroad Historians. Completed in time for the 1893 Columbian Exposition it housed the World Congress Auxiliary. The World’s Congress Auxiliary (WCX) of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 consisted of a series of meetings on almost every scholarly and cultural topic affecting the rapidly changing society of the 1890s. The congresses were held in the newly built Art Institute of Chicago, and ran concurrently with the Exposition from May 15 – October 28, 1893. The Auxiliary consisted of 19 departments: Woman’s Progress, Public Press, Medicine & Surgery, Temperance, Moral & Social Reform, Commerce & Finance, Music, Literature, Education, Engineering, Art, Government, Science & Philosophy, Labor, Religion, Sunday Rest, Religious Societies, Public Health, and Agriculture. Within these 19 departments, scores of the most prominent national and international leaders in the arts, sciences, business, and theology convened over 200 individual Congresses consisting of thousands of addresses, meetings and symposia.
Paul Petraitis Probably from the Auditorium Tower
Lawrence Smith this shows how close the lakeshore came west in those days b/4 they filled it all in to create Grant (later Millenium) Park. And, depressed the IC tracks.
Dennis DeBruler The tracks weren't depressed, the streets were raised in the 1850s.

Aug 2019 Update: I was indeed wrong. The tracks were depressed a few feet and the city added more fill to Lake Park to raise the level of the streets over the tracks.
https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../evolution-of...
Lawrence Smith Dennis DeBruler I actually looked it up - around 1900 or so the City and the IC agreed that the city would build access bridges across the IC tracks so they could fill in land E of the tracks to complete Grant Park and the IC agreed to depress the tracks. In turn IC got rights to build a new lakefront station. The fill came from various garbage dumps around the city plus fill from the then newly excavated Sanitary Ship Canal. We all know that ultimately the IC yards became parking lots and then covered by Millennium Park. (See Liquid Capital, - 2018 - a new book re the development of the Chicago river and lakefront. Lot of history of the IC and its lakefront access and related history.)
Dennis DeBrulerYou and 1 other manage the membership, moderators, settings, and posts for Chicago Railroad Historians. Lawrence Smith Thanks for the update. They must have built some sort of concrete "tub" after they excavated to keep the river water off the tracks if the tracks are now below river level. And I thought I had problems keeping water out of my basement.
That also answers the question of when Grant Park was enlarged and confirms that it used the spoil piles from the Sanitary & Ship Canal that was dug between 1893-1899. It would be easy to barge and dump the canal spoils since they were right next to the canal.
Lawrence Smith Dennis DeBruler the book mentions that over time in the 1800s and into the 20th century the Army Corps of Engineers made many improvements to the River including sealing the banks with piles and concrete. That probably kept the river from heading south under Randolph St into the yards.
Lawrence Smith while not specifically train related - the area between Mich Ave and the tracks was filled in after the Chicago Fire of 1871 using debris from the fire. The Lake shore actually ran w as far as Mich Ave. b/4 then.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
A panoramic view of the lakefront looking south west. The tall spired building in the center is the Montgomery Ward headquarters. The other tall building to the right is the Masonic Temple office building. Viewing this scene from his offices Ward took it upon himself to lead a personal crusade against the ongoing desecration of the lakefront.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
This view looking south. The domed building in the center right is the Interstate Exposition Building, and the eventual location of the Art Institute.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
The Art Institute is the low building and the left and the tall building to the right is the Montgomery Ward office building.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
An illustration from a map book by Rand McNally shows the collection of freight terminals that covered the north end of the IC property.
Dennis DeBruler The river still has swing bridges, but the boats are steamers instead of schooners.
Dennis DeBruler It looks like the McCormick Reaper plant has already moved away from the north shore.
Paul Jevert I worked those North end Pier job switch engines out of Monroe Street Yard Office and So.Water Street Freight House yard engines !

Paul Petraitis shared

1896 moving the tracks below street level in the Loop.

Dennis DeBruler An interesting perspective on the two grain elevators. It helps place where they were along the Chicago River. Note the ferry at the Van Buren Station dock.

Paul commented on his post
Hopefully this article from The Railroad Gazette in 1896 will clarify. My above statement wasn't completely accurate. For the most part, the land on either side of the IC ROW between Monroe and 11th Pl, aka Lake Park Place, was built up as a result of the 1895 agreement with the City. The IC tracks were only lowered a few feet.

Tomas Manz posted

Interesting early view of IC lakefront tracks looking south in August 1898. This was posted in the Historic Madison (WI) Photo Group along with a group of C&NW images from Madison.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/159700503902/
Dennis DeBruler To make Grant Park, some people claim the IC tracks were lowered and others claim the streets were raised. It turns out that both are correct. The tracks were lowered a few feet. And an embankment wall and more fill was added to Lake Park to raise the streets. IC was also required to build bridges over their tracks for the streets that would go into Grant Park.

Philip Wizenick posted

I.C. Freight yard at the Chicago river and lakefront. The Municipal (Navy) Pier hasn't been built yet so that dates the photo prior to WW I.

Jay Nawrocki Where that boat is, is where Lake Shore Drive crosses the river now. That yard was there not too long age. I remember looking down into that yard from Wacker Drive when I was a kid. All covers up by buildings now.

[From another posting, "the elevated road is Randolph Street." This was also early 1900s because Grant Park is still being filled.]

David Daruszka commented on Philip's posting
Sometime between 1902-09 when the landfill was undertaken to create Grant Park.
[The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was opened in 1900. When they dug the canal, they piled the spoils along the side of the canal. Getting rid of those spoil piles was one of the sources of fill to build Grant Park. The sanitary district went on to dig the North Shore Channel, which probably provided more fill. Also, the Chicago Tunnel Company built its 2' gauge underground tunnel system during the first decade of the 20th Century. And many basements for building in the loop were dub and coal ash needed to be dumped somewhere.]

David Daruszka commented on Philip's posting
They used ash from the various boilers of buildings in the Loop as well as a lot of other debris for landfill. It was delivered by the freight tunnel trains and probably by horse cart as well. I see a temporary roadway north of the Art Institute that connects to the structure over a bridge.

David Daruszka commented on Philip's posting
About the same location as the right side of the posted image. Two dredges are at work.

Thomas Manz posted
Library of Congress panorama showing Grant Park in development

Paul Petraitis added two photos to Thomas' posting:

1

2

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
Looking north east shows the two elevators marking the Chicago River. To the left the the small white building with windows was the original headquarters of the CB&Q Railroad.
Dennis DeBruler What is CB&Q doing in IC territory? I learned just today that CB&Q had offices over where thier tracks curved from heading east to heading north. http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../cb-support...
Dennis DeBruler Was IC so important back then that CB&Q felt they had to have their offices close to the movers and shakers? Then later they thought they were important enough that they could have their offices near their own operations.
Bob Lalich CB&Q used IC's station for a period of time, before Union Depot was built. CB&Q was a 25% owner of the St Charles Air Line, which provided access to IC's lakefront facilities.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
Post card image of some of the freight houses.
Dennis DeBruler This one was 1910s because this first Mongomery Ward headquarters was finished in 1899 and we don't see any trucks, just horse&wagons. http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../montgomery-ward...

Growing up in Chicago posted
1924 - The Field Museum
Sharon Avendano shared

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
In the vicinity of Randolph Street. The tracks on the left descend to the IC suburban station. To the right of those is the upper level South Shore platforms. Note the diesel box cab switcher on the right.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
At one time Randolph Street ran all the way to Lake Shore Drive, but was cut back when the drive was reconfigured to eliminate the notorious "S" curve.
Dennis DeBruler Montgomery Wards's building is beginning to look kinda small.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
South Shore MU cars and a sea of boxcars. Note the wooden walkways on top of the boxcars.
Rod Truszkowski I remember them walkways and high brake stands.
Dennis DeBruler FYI, I got rather emphatically criticized for calling them "walkways." I was told they are "running boards."Rod Truszkowski Yes they were you could car to car

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
Inbound refrigerator cars at the Congress Street Yard. The IC ran a number of produce express trains depending on the season.
Dennis DeBruler It is getting a lot harder finding the Montgomery Ward building.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
The end is nearing for the handling of freight on the lakefront. Some of the area was converted to surface parking for automobiles. The IC would store fright cars in the area for year to maintain their claim to the land they had be given when they first built their track into downtown at the behest of the city. The city fought with the railroad for years to reclaim the land.
Dennis DeBruler Sounds like today's Goose Island battle. There is certainly no horse&wagons at the freight house.
Dennis DeBruler I see tower cranes have been invented.

David Daruszka postedOne of 24 images posted by David DaruszkaImages taken by photographer Jack Delano. Delano documented a number of Chicago railroads during the Second World War. Pabst was one of many advertisers who used sign over the years.
Dennis DeBruler It appears coal soot has turned the building on the left black.
Joseph Tuch Santucci David Daruszka if I recall it has gold in the trim at the top too.
Dennis DeBruler I went back and looked at some historic pictures of the skyscrapers around the Michigan Ave. Bridge. It doesn't appear as black as it does in this picture. I guess color photos render black more accurately than B&W photos do. It does have gold trimming on the top: https://www.google.com/.../@41.8855808,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
Another Delano image. The decrepit structure is probably an old icing facility for refrigerated cars.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
Jack Delano again. The Wrigley Building is in the center and The Chicago Tribune Tower is the tall building to the left of the Chessie freight house.
Dennis DeBruler NKP and C&O is a surprise. The NKP came to town on NYC LS&MS tracks (La Salle Station area). The C&O came to town on the C&WI (Dearborn Station area).
Bob Lalich C&O of Indiana predecessor Chicago Cincinnati & Louisville originally used the IC from a location in Riverdale called Highlawn, to reach downtown Chicago.
Joseph Tuch Santucci They ran over the IHB? Never heard that before.
Bob Lalich Both NKP and C&O used a connection at the north end of Fordham Yard to access the IC. C&O used NKP's Chicago terminal facilities for some time. They were both under Van Sweringen control for many years.
Bill Edrington Bob Lalich - Thanks for this info. Good stuff. I know very little about the CC&L/C&O of Indiana, and this fills in some gaps.

Bob Lalich replied to Joseph's comment above
It was only for a short period of time, but IHB and predecessor Chicago Hammond & Western were used from a location in Burnham called Louisville Jct to Highlawn. This original route was out of service by 1915.

David M Laz posted
Look Ma, no trees! Baby Grant Park in 1929
Sharon Avendano shared
Karen De Pirro Do I see Gunsaulus Hall attached to the Art Institute? Ending at.....nothing?

William Shapotkin posted
How many remember the "streetcar bridge" over the IC trks at Central Station in Chicago? Built for access to the World's Fair in 1933-34, it survived into the early 1950s. Here we see a W/B car, working CTA Rt #12 -- ROOSEVELT, x/o the IC. BTW -- are those not NYC cars (perhaps off a Michigan Central train from Detroit (?)) visible at left? View looks south. Wm Shapotkin Collection.
John Mann At the entrance there were two stained glass windows one for IC and one for the Michigan Central. In the 1850s the IC, MC and CB&Q shared a station that burned in the Chicago Fire. The Q went it's own way after the fire. There are before and after shots in Overton's history of the Q.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
The 18th Street MU shop, with Soldier Field in the right and the Field Museum above it. All the land to the east of the tracks was created by landfill. This was NOT made with landfill from the Chicago fire. Much of the fill came from various construction projects including the new Union station and the straightening of the Chicago River. The Chicago Freight Tunnel ran to the lakefront as well, so the fill included debris from the various coal fired boilers in downtown office buildings.
Dennis DeBruler MU means Multiple Unit? So this would be the electrified cars or suburban service yard?
David Daruszka Yes. The shops were built when the line was electrified. Daily maintenance and inspections are still performed there. Heavy servicing was done at Burnside and later Woodcrest at Harvey yards. Metra built a new facility at KYD (Kensington YarD) at the junction of the Blue Island line.
Dennis DeBruler So much information in a couple of sentences. Burnside Yard: http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../ics-burnside...
Dennis DeBruler The official name for Harvey is Markham Yard. It still contains Woodcrest, but, as we would expect, it has been converted from steam to diesel. CN was going to move engine servicing to Kirk along with all classification operations. But I read they decided to keep Woodcrest. http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../ics-markham...
Dennis DeBruler I could not find a shop building or yard at the junction: https://www.google.com/.../@41.6751708,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3
David Daruszka Its not like its small or anything. [Includes a photo of the shop that is in https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2018/01/metra-kensington-yard-ktd-and-ic.html]
Dennis DeBruler Looking at a 1938 aerial, this used part of the abandoned IC Wildwood Yard. [Includes the aerial photo.]
David Daruszka Wildwood serviced the Ford plant on Torrence. It is now used by the Water Reclamation District for sludge drying ponds.

Bob Lalich Very interesting photo David! Note the small roundhouse near the St Charles Air Line approach, which belonged to the Michigan Central. According to the historic aerials site, the roundhouse was gone by 1962, so the time frame of the photo is between 1955 and 1962.

Joseph Tuch Santucci Actually there is debris from the fire there. They were building the new lunchroom across the tracks from the shed while I was still there. They dug up burnt antiques from the fire. The ex wife’s cousin snagged a few pieces. He told ok then to somebody for evaluation and was told it was from that time period and concluded it was from the fire.
David Daruszka I'm talking about Grant Park proper. The IC added a lot of land south of Roosevelt and I imagine they used fire debris. This from almighty Wiki: "The city officially designated the land as a park on April 29, 1844, naming it Lake Park. When the Illinois Central Railroad was built into Chicago in 1852, it was permitted to lay track along the lakefront on a causeway built offshore from the park. The resulting lagoon became stagnant, and was largely filled in 1871 with debris from the Great Chicago Fire, increasing the parkland."

Dennis DeBruler Note the 42-story Prudential Building in the background. Prudential and IC lawyers invented the concept of air rights. The notion of buying or leasing air rights made possible many of the buildings we see along the north shore of the Main Stem and the west shore of the South Branch. And some buildings that we no longer see such as the Sun-Times Building. http://www.connectingthewindycity.com/.../prudential... [I learned later that this was not the first air-rights building in Chicago. But now I can't remember which building was the first.]
Joseph Tuch Santucci I recall going up to the observation deck at the top several times as a kid. Tho get it was the coolest place in the world, the world we were sitting on top off.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
This image shows the area prior to the construction of the extension Lake Shore Drive.
Dennis DeBruler Still has a grain elevator and no Prudential building.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
The peristyle was a prominent feature of Grant Park. It was eventually demolished and later rebuilt decades later.

Bill Molony posted
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Baldwin VO-1000 end-cab diesel switch engine #9358 and caboose #14837 at the Illinois Central's Roosevelt Road station in Chicago on June 9, 1946.
[It probably dropped of a cut of interchange traffic and will now run light back over the St. Charles Air Line to Cicero Yard.]

Jim Arvites posted
An early 1950's view looking south of the Illinois Central Railroad freight yard in downtown Chicago taken from the Chicago Tribune Tower.
Patrick McNamara The photo I posted is dated 1952.
Matthew Chapman I saw info from somewhere saying the Prude was finished in 1955. Need to check that.
Patrick McNamara It was. The initial photo was probably taken from the 333 N. Michigan Avenue Building.
[The Pabst sign was on Randolph.]

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
While there is still an active freight presence in this photo, the new business of parking cars has consumed some of the land.

One of 24 images posted by David Daruszka
Nary a hint of railroading exists today. The player with railroads is now the player of concerts and special events. The new band shell dominates the picture, with the Cloud Gate "bean" to its right.

Panorama video of Chicago lakefront