(
Satellite, only the southern part is still used by the railroad. It does still have a diesel locomotive service shop.)
In terms of the yard name, Pulaski used to be 40th Avenue.
I have moved the photos of the two coaling towers to
a separate page.
(Updates: Doug Kaniuk has
a couple of pictures taken from an airplane. John Smith has
a Sanborn map and photos of a turntable.
The 40th Street Ramp in the southeast corner of this yard has its own posting and
the streamliner ramp in the southwest corner has its own posting.)
While studying
Chicago swing bridges, I discovered some detailed 1915 maps of Chicago starting at page 300 of
Smoke abatement and electrification of railway terminals in Chicago: Report. (Update: I find the
archive.org .pdf copy is easier to use.) The roundhouses in this map caught my eye.
As expected, all three roundhouses still stood in 1938.
Brian Berthold
posted two images with the comment: "you dont know how much i do LOVE Sanborn maps .... 2 of the coolest pages i ever seen ... Chicago 1908 Vol 18 Page 51&52 cant be beat ... ahhh good old 51/52 .. its what i actually call this subset"
Tim Starr: One of my favorite shops. Covered extensively in The Back Shop Illustrated Vol 2.
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So I looked at a satellite map of the roundhouses area. Evidently Crawford has been renamed as Pulaski in honor of
Casimir Pulaski. Many Chicago city resources, including the public schools, public libraries, and government offices close on Pulaski Day. (
ChicagoTribune)
I added a red circle to a satellite image to highlight where I think the top 360-degree roundhouse was located. The line is outside the footprint so that you can see were the shade of the soil changes. Evidently the roundhouse had a dirt floor and the darker earth is from greese and oil droppings. (Update: see the
40th Street Ramp for much more information about this area of the yard.)
Although the yard is significantly reduced in size from its steam-era days, it is still an important engine servicing facility. Below is a picture taken of the west side from
Kilbourn Ave that I took during a field trip to follow the Belt Railway Company of Chicago (BRC) north through town.
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| 20140928 0121, west side of UP engine service facility |
On the east side along Pulaski Road, because of the grade separation
between the road and the tracks, I could not get a good shot of the yard
facilities.
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| 20150502 0574c |
But I was able to get the UP sign.
Update:
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1942 Jack Delano Photo
"Workers perform maintenance on a Chicago & North Western Class E 4-6-2 (what appears to be #1646, a 1921 product of Alco)"
Carl Venzke also posted
Bad place to work, asbestos, solvent fumes, boiling lye vat, etc etc. Carman job outside much better, just don't get old and let the Railroad Doctors get ahold of you. I wouldn't let the Railroad kill me.
I've been looking at these pictures for decades, and I never cease to be amazed at the utter filth inside the old steam railroad engine facilities. In addition to all the things Cort mentioned above, just look at the dirt on the floor! You have to wonder how in the world anything of precision was accomplished in that kind of environment. That those guys did it and kept the locomotives out in service and meeting their schedules is nothing short of miraculous!
Jim Ronchetto posted a different exposure of this photo |
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| 1942 Jack Delano Photo |
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Aerial photos of C&NW 40th St Yard, spring 1969
C&NW 40th st yards aerial photo 1969
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| From a Metra car by David Luyster in Facebook |
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| 1942 Jack Delano photo |
American Rails comments:
Chicago & North Western Class J-4 2-8-4 #2808, a 1927 product of Alco, is under repair at the 40th Street Shops in Chicago during December of 1942. On the next track over can be seen the open smoke box of 0-6-0 #2635. Jack Delano photo.
John Smith posted pictures of the Galena Division turntable in
Facebook. He has
another posting of pictures of that turntable. Mathan Mackey indicated in a comment that it was the last of the three turntables to be filled in. "
Metra still gets the F40's serviced there on weekdays."
Bob's comments:
The Chicago & North Western locomotive backshop in December 1942. That's a trailing truck booster engine in the lower left. They were a maintenance headache for the little bit of tractive effort they provided, but they could really help getting a train started when journal boxes were frozen in cold weather. They were usually cut out around 10 mph.
Bob doesn't indicates which yard this back-shops is in. Looking at the aerial photo above, the 40th Ave. yard certainly had extensive back-shops. So if this building was in this yard, some of the buildings in this yard would do similar repair activities.
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John Nowakowski posted
Locomotive repair building. Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, 1942. (photo - Jack Delano) |
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Guillermo De Leon posted
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, 1942. I found this on Twitter.
[Now we are left with the question of which copy was altered and which was Jack's intention.
Or did he make multiple exposures with different settings?] |
Jack did take several shots from that perch up near the ceiling. This looks like a different one.
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bill Molony shared American-Rails.com's post
A bird's eye view inside Chicago & North Western's 40th Street Shops (Chicago) depicts a busy scene in December of 1942. Note 4-6-4 #4001 (E-4), in particular, receiving attention. This Hudson was one of nine received from Alco in 1938. They wore handsome streamlining and were quite similar to Milwaukee Road's legendary F-7's, http://steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php…. Jack Delano photo, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/owi2001014951/PP/.
This was C&NW's heavy servicing and refurbishing shop in Chicago. I believe it was superceded by Olwein, IA when the North Western took over the CGW. 40th Street was downgraded to a diesel shop for the Suburban service power. More about backshops on my blog: http://chicagorails.blogspot.com/ |
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Imbued with Hues commented on his
original
[Some comments discuss the merits of use the end grain of wood blocks for the floor.]
Kevin Hoover shared |
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Frank Smitty Schmidt posted
Boiler repairs at the C&NW 40th St shop in 1942.
Delano / OWI photo. |
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Wayne Hudak posted
A good candidate for mesothelioma.
A Chicago & Northwestern shop worker at the 40th Street shops in Chicago spreads an asbestos mix on a locomotive boiler, December 1942.
OWI Photo
Nobody knew anything about the connection between lung cancer and asbestos when steam locomotives were running. Even when they were scrapping steam locomotives in the 50's they let the lagging spread all over the ground while they cut them up.  :-( |
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David Daruszka commented on the 23rd photo in the Grève des trains - USA - 1946. album
[The two Wisconsin Division roundhouses are gone and the Illinois Division roundhouse is torn down. The new diesel shop has been built.] |
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BRHS posted
Daniel Evans: I'm really struggling to line this shot up with any angle of California Ave Yard. Is the printed caption definitely correct? I can line the shot up much better with 40th Avenue Yard, with the BRC bridge in the background.
Bob Lalich: Daniel Evans - you are correct. This is the diesel servicing terminal at 40th St Yard. |
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safe_image for Streamliner harbor
A World War II-era view at Chicago & North Western’s 40th Street coach yard in Chicago shows four streamliners. From left: C&NW’s Twin Cities 400, the C&NW-UP City of Denver, the C&NW-UP City of Los Angeles (apparently coupled behind C&NW E3 5001B), and the C&NW-UP-SP City of San Francisco. C&NW photo
Jerry Nolan: Headlight shield on the City of San Francisco engine... So those long-range German or Japanese bombers can't spot the train at night.
Robert Portner: Are you sure this is 40th St and not Cal Ave.? I worked at 40th St from 1973 till it closed. There was no sign of this. |
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David Daruszka commented on Robert's comment
I believe Cal Ave was the yard for the Galena Div. scoots. When they closed Erie Street all the suburban service cars were stored there. 40th Street was where the Streamliners were stored and serviced. This picture should help. This was between the Galena Main and the shop buildings. |
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Denise Ozga Schodowski posted
Thanks for the add! Does anyone have any information on the building shown in this picture taken about 1930 in Chicago? That is a C&NW train car. I believe this picture was taken on Goose Island near North Ave and the Chicago River. My grandfather is in the picture. He rolled steel hoops for boilers and I’d like to find the name of the building/company because I believe that’s the building he worked in. Thanks for your help!
Patrick McNamara It's the M-1 Building at 40th Street - the Machine Shop. |
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Patrick McNamara commented on Denies' posting
1946 aerial photo looking East shows the Galena Division Roundhouse and M-1 building (with the dormers that show in Denise's photo) lower left. |
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Denise Ozga Schodowski posted
Here’s a photo from rail historian.com (photographer unknown) that shows the building in Chicago I’m trying to identify. I posted a picture yesterday of my grandfather at this location. Thanks! |
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Jack Delano Photo from LC-DIG-fsac-1a34606
Section of a locomotive frame, which will be welded to replace a broken locomotive frame, Chicago, Ill. Workman is indicating what place must be cut. At the 40th Street shop of C&NWRR [i.e. Chicago and North Western railroad] |
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David Daruszka updated
[The Pioneer is getting some tender loving care.] |
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Dwayne Weber posted
Old caboose and old commuter cars sitting in Chicago.
Dwayne Weber Pulaski & Kinzie. |
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Bill's share
C&NW used to own all of the land between Kinzie & Chicago and BRC tracks & Pulaski, and they had it full of railroading. In addition to engine servicing facilities for the Galena and Wisconsin Divisions (over 2.5 roundhouses and two big coaling towers), they had extensive engine repair facilities. I have yet to figure out which of these buildings housed the backshop. I put a yellow rectangle around my current theory. Note the smokestack of the boilerhouse west of this building and the transfer table east of it. |
Most of the land has been turned into a rail-served industrial park.
Ed taught me about the industrial spur that serves the west side.
John Smith
posted his map for the yard.
Michael Riha
shared the
Grève des trains - USA - 1946. album. These comments were on the 21st photo in the album.
Dennis DeBruler I see that there were two yards along the mainline. [And I included
the 1938 aerial extract. The west yard was the
Streamliner Ramp.]
Bob Lalich The CNW packed a lot into this relatively small space! Three turntables and roundhouses, two wyes, transfer tables, shops, several sub yards within the freight yard portion - fascinating operation!
David Daruszka Packed in best sums the place up best. The yard tracks were pretty close together and it was a dangerous place to work when I was there. No lights at night and packs of roaming feral dogs!
But I was able to get the UP sign.
I just found this weblog a week ago.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how much information I have learned from it. {Hi, Bill Shapotkin!}
My dad worked in this C&NW yard for a long time. He was still alive when this blog post was made. I would have loved to give this URL to him. (He had recently asked me about how to sign up for F**ebook, and I was compelled to tell him I was not going to sign up for it, and he should not either.) [He died on 14 October 2015.]
Yes, this weblog is going on my regular bookmark page in the Travel rubric the next time I revise it. Now, please excuse me while I continue forward in this weblog.