Tow Chasing: A Tugboat and 3- and 11-barge tows

When I went over the Ruby Street Bridge in Joliet, IL, to take pictures of the CN/EJ&E Bridge, I noticed that a boat was heading upstream towards the bridge. So I quick parked on North Bluff Street and ran back to take a video of the Ruby Street Bridge going up. Then I ran back near the car and caught the boat itself.



It had to wait for a train to clear the CN/EJ&E Bridge.

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I then went down to the Jackson Street Bridge to take pictures of it. But I did not get many pictures of the bridge because a long 11-barge tow was approaching, and I focused on getting pictures and videos of the tow. This towboat was on the front, and it was going backwards! At first, I thought maybe it was an auxiliary boat to help maneuver the big tow. Then I remembered that I have seen a full 15-barge tow go through the Brandon Road Locks. Since this towboat has the type of pilothouse that goes up and down, my current theory is that this boat will take some of the barges upstream of the Lemont Santa Fe RR Bridge. This is probably the biggest towboat I have seen where the pilot house can go up and down. The full tow:

See the Jackson Street Bridge posting for videos and more pictures of the tow passing under that bridge. By the time I got through the traffic jam caused by raising the Ruby Street Bridge for this tow, the CN/EJ&E Bridge was already in the raised position. Below is a picture I took after the tow had turned so that we can see more of it.

I then went back to Ruby Street Bridge to take some pictures of and from that bridge. But when I took a picture of Jackson Street Bridge, I noticed that another tow was going upstream. So I hustled back down to Jackson.

When I got to the there, I found the tow under the Cass Street Bridge. I then took a video of the Cass Street Bridge going down. At 0:26 in the video you can hear the Jackson Street Bridge unlock and start going up. After the Cass Street Bridge went down, I then panned so that you can see the Jackson Street Bridge finish going up.

A closeup of the towboat. The two barges are being delivered downstream of the Lemont Santa Fe RR Bridge because that pilothouse cannot be lowered. Below is a video of this tow going between the Jackson and Ruby Street Bridges.



Since I knew I cound not get through the traffic jam caused by the Ruby Street Bridge to see the CN/EJ&E Bridge go up, I left the river to check out the I&M Canal trail.