Houses: (Satellite)
Norfolk Southern got the rights to the 47th street yard when it acquired Norfolk & Western because the N&W had already acquired the Wabash RR. NS got the 55th Street Yard when it got the Pennsy mainline in Chicago as part of the Conrail split. And it got the 51st Street Yard when C&WI was split between Metra, UP, and NS. NS has merged all three of these yards into one big yard.
We learned when we studied the north alignment part of CREATE's P4 (Grand Crossing) Project that Norfolk Southern plans to buy land south of their 47th Street yard to expand it. The $285 million project will add 85 acres to the yard. The March 30, 2015 Chicago Tribune had a front page article that was continued onto another whole page. The article explains that NS has been buying properties for over a decade now and has 531 of the needed 557 parcels of land. 22 owners are still saying "no" to selling their homes. Some want to stay. Some want more money. The person leading the fight against NS lives in Cambridge, MA. (Update: land acquisition is still an issue.)
Ald. Willie Cochran has observed that the expansion should create 400 jobs at about $69,000 salaries as well as an estimated $146 million in overall economic impact. (dnainfo)
To address the concerns of the Englewood community concerning high asthma rates, NS said that 36 of the 38 trucks that move trailers around the yard will have cutting-edge pollution controls by 2018. And container cranes will see an immediate reduction of harmful exhaust emissions. In all, it will provide $3 million for transportation improvements, while also contributing thousands of dollars to local schools. Additionally, they will help with landscaping improvements for Sherwood Park and give its unused 59th Street rail line to the city as part of an elevated bike trail project. NS also said it would sponsor a $1 million fund for sustainability projects in Englewood. (ProgressIllinois, SustainableEnglewood)
It still looked like a residential neighborhood in 2011.
Between 47th street and 55th street, there were two yards between the Chicago and Western Indiana (C&WI) right-of-way on the west and the Pennsy right-of-way on the east. (Trains)
On the west side was the C&WI 47th (49th) Street Coach Yard, and on the east side was the Pennsy 55th Street Yard.
This was the configuration before NS rebuilt this land as an intermodal yard.
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| 1953 Englewood Quad @ 24,000 |
We learned when we studied the north alignment part of CREATE's P4 (Grand Crossing) Project that Norfolk Southern plans to buy land south of their 47th Street yard to expand it. The $285 million project will add 85 acres to the yard. The March 30, 2015 Chicago Tribune had a front page article that was continued onto another whole page. The article explains that NS has been buying properties for over a decade now and has 531 of the needed 557 parcels of land. 22 owners are still saying "no" to selling their homes. Some want to stay. Some want more money. The person leading the fight against NS lives in Cambridge, MA. (Update: land acquisition is still an issue.)
Ald. Willie Cochran has observed that the expansion should create 400 jobs at about $69,000 salaries as well as an estimated $146 million in overall economic impact. (dnainfo)
To address the concerns of the Englewood community concerning high asthma rates, NS said that 36 of the 38 trucks that move trailers around the yard will have cutting-edge pollution controls by 2018. And container cranes will see an immediate reduction of harmful exhaust emissions. In all, it will provide $3 million for transportation improvements, while also contributing thousands of dollars to local schools. Additionally, they will help with landscaping improvements for Sherwood Park and give its unused 59th Street rail line to the city as part of an elevated bike trail project. NS also said it would sponsor a $1 million fund for sustainability projects in Englewood. (ProgressIllinois, SustainableEnglewood)
Feb 1, 2023
This map is of the existing intermodal yard. I was expecting a map of the expanded yard.
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| NS Map via RailwayAge via Facebook "The Chicago City Council on Feb. 1 approved Norfolk Southern’s (NS) 15-year effort to double the size of its storage yard in Englewood, according to a WTTW News report." |
This is what the expansion land looked like during the earliest decent satellite image I could find. (All of these Google Earth images are between Garfield Blvd. & 59th Street and the former-CW&I and Pennsy tracks.)
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| Google Earth, Mar 1999 |
It still looked like a residential neighborhood in 2011.
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| Google Earth, Nov 2011 |
Some houses and buildings were missing by 2013.
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| Google Earth, Apr 2013 |
A couple of years later, all of the buildings and many of the houses are gone. And the CREATE project is done.
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| Google Earth, Apr 2015 |
In the next avialable image, they started the expansion south of Garfield that is labeled "Roadability" in the above NS map.
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| Google Earth, May 2016 |
By Apr 2017, I could find just three houses left. The house on 57th Street was gone by Jun 2017. By Mar 2021, the house on 57th Place was gone. I see the house on 58th Street in a Jun 2022 image. I can't tell if it is still in a Aug 2022 image because it is a poor image. As I add these Global Earth images (Feb 2023), that is the last image available.
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| Google Earth, Apr 2017 |
The NS web page has a menu that provides the following destinations for intermodal service from this yard. The times are for Monday departures. Most destinations have the same times for each day of the week. Why does it take an extra day to go to Detroit instead of Toledo? Even if it goes to Toledo and then Detroit, it should not take an extra day. After all, the Buffalo+Albany+Ayer train can drop of the Albany block and get to Ayer in just 3 hours.
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| NS, click Intermodal option |
| Destination | Leaves | Arrives | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany, NY | M 2000 | Th 0500 | ||
| Ayer, MA | M 2000 | Th 0800 | ||
| Buffalo, NY | M 2000 | W 0700 | ||
| Cleveland, OH | M 2300 | W 1600 | ||
| Detroit - Livernois, MI | M 2230 | W 1000 | ||
| Harrisburg, PA | M 1700 | W 0500 | ||
| Morrisville, PA | M 1700 | W 1000 | ||
| Taylor, PA | M 2000 | F 1300 | ||
| Toledo, OH | M 2330 | Tu 1130 |
The following arrival times are for trains that leave on Monday. Some of the asymmetries make sense. For example, Cleveland is a separate train because they don't want its availability to be impacted by delays of the Ayer+Albany train. But why is there service from Erail, NJ, but not to it?
| Origination | Available | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Albany, NY | Th 0500 | ||
| Ayer, MA | Th 0500 | ||
| Buffalo, NY | W 0600 | ||
| Cleveland, OH | W 0800 | ||
| Detroit - Livernois, MI | Tu 1830 | ||
| Erail, NJ | W 1230 | ||
| Harrisburg, PA | W 0800 | ||
| Morrisville, PA | W 1200 | ||
| Taylor, PA | F 0600 |
This information that I found on Trainorders does not help clarify what is happening with Toledo and Detroit.
47th St. Intermodal Terminal:
205 AYER, MA (PAS)- CHICAGO, IL (47TH)
206 CHICAGO, IL (47TH) - AYER, MA (PAS)
20Q CHICAGO, IL (47TH) - MORRISVILLE, PA
21Q HARRISBURG, PA - CHICAGO, IL (47TH)
21Z RUTHERFORD, PA - CHICAGO, IL (47TH)
22K CHICAGO, IL (47TH) - AYER, MA (PAS)
23K AYER, MA (PAS) - CHICAGO, IL (47TH)
25T MORRISVILLE, PA - CHICAGO, IL (47TH) (SA)
25Z ERAIL, NJ - CHICAGO, IL (47TH)
26T CHICAGO, IL (47TH) - HARRISBURG, PA
-All trains go via ex-NYC Chicago Line.
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| NS, click Corridors option |
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| Norfolk Southern posted |
1. Introduced the Eco locomotive, a locomotive rebuild program that recycles older locomotives and outfits them with new low-emission engines.
2. Rolled out the “Sleeper,” an engine-heater system that eliminates unnecessary locomotive idling in winter months.
3. Expanded work on a rebuild program to create locomotive “slugs” – units with traction motors but no engines. The slugs are paired with diesel-powered locomotives to add emissions-free pulling power and reduce fuel burn.
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| This photo has been moved to "Chicago, IL: C&WI's 47th Street Depot." |
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| This photo has been moved to "Erie & C&WI 51st Street Yard and Grain Elevator." |
Now I'm left with the question of where is the "Calumet repair shop?" It would be the shops they got from the Nickle Plate in their Calumet Yard.
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| 8:59 video @ 2:05 |
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