Riverdale Junction: Aban/PRR(Panhandle) vs. B&OCT and IC Overpass

(no CRJ, Satellite)
3D Satellite, it looks like the wood bents have been rebuilt with concrete supports.

Scott Griffith posted three photos with the comment: "Riverdale tower." The comments on the pictures are mine.

1: looking Northish. The truss on the left side of the tower would be an IC bridge across the Cal Sag.

2: Looking Westish The PRR Panhandle is on the right and the B&OCT east lead of Barr yard is on the left. This must be an old photo because the Panhandle looks like more than just a remnant going to the steel mill. The overpass is Illinois Central.

3: This photo indicates the tower was north of the Panhandle tracks.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I put a red rectangle around the tower.

Update:

Scott Griffith posted

Making the IC delivery, this was one of my favorite jobs to work.

[This B&OCT transfer run would be headed to Markham Yard.]

Update:

Steven J. Brown posted
Chessie System GE U30B C&O 8210 crossing the ex-PRR Panhandle line and passing under the Illinois Central Gulf on its way into Barr Yard in Riverdale, Illinois - June 10, 1977.

William Kruspe posted
Taken at Barr yd. and Riverdale heading east

Scott Griffith posted
Bob Lalich Does anyone know why the IC continued to operate this tower after their tracks were elevated over the B&OCT and Panhandle?Paul T. Govern I think It was tornh down in the mid 60's as I hired out in 57 & it was there for several years after I hired out,Rich Thielman This tower was in such bad shape, you had to nail your chair down to keep it from sliding away. They finally tore it down about 1982.

Paul Petraitis shared Bill Bielby's post.
[Bill's posting provides a link to a 1979 photo. Obviously, this is before the IC elevated their tracks.]
David Ruklic posted
Bill Bielby maybe could tell us more about this photo. It shows the Illinois Central railroad line in Riverdale before the tracks were elevated from 1926-28.

Steve S Czajkowski: The view is looking north , the tower was on the north west corner of the I.C. and P.R.R pre Acme Steel .

Bill Bielby: Google AI

The photograph depicts the Illinois Central Switch Tower in Riverdale, Illinois. The tower was located at a junction where the Illinois Central main line crossed other railroad tracks, including the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal (B&OCT) and the Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle line. The Illinois Central line at this location was elevated in 1925. The mechanical interlocking for the tower was installed in 1894, rebuilt in 1913, and the tower was ultimately closed in 1986. The former B&OCT and Pennsylvania Railroad lines crossed directly underneath the Illinois Central overpass.

Bryan Salvage: Bill Bielby Elevating the Illinois Central (IC) tracks in Chicago was done in stages –and took place from the 1890s to the 1930s, Google AI adds.

In 1892, the initial phase of track elevation occurred in preparation for the 1893 World's Fair. Looks like the elevation project was completed in the Riverdale area years before some sections of Chicago were even completed. Fascinating history.

Crews working in steam-locomotive cabs during the winter experienced an intense blending of two extremes–heat and cold. My dad was a fireman on Illinois Central steam-engine trains hauling cargo during WWII. He once lamented how cold it could get while underway heading south through corn fields in the dead of night and winter.

Cabs at that time had walls on the sides and a rear wall with windows, but there was an open passageway to the tender. The engine’s firebox radiated incredible heat while the partially-protected cabin remained drafty in spots during the sometimes brutally cold Illinois winters.

The fireman's job was extremely grueling in winter. They shoveled tons of coal per shift while managing the fire and water levels in the boiler. The intense labor plus firebox heat induced sweating while working in the frigid air.

Meanwhile, while the boiler and billowing steam already restricted the engineer's view, winter conditions made it even worse. Discharges of steam evolved into a thick cloud in the cold air, which forced crews to rely on radios instead of hand signals. Visibility was also difficult at night–and especially when snow and ice settled on the tracks and locomotive.

Now and then, his train would make unscheduled stops in the dead of night near certain, now long-gone country bars so the crew could “refuel”–and warm up. Apparently, the bars’ hours must have been pretty loosey-goosey!

Tim Shanahan shared

Stven J. Brown posted
Chessie local with Baltimore and Ohio GP9 6487 crossing the ex-PRR Panhandle Line and about to duck under the ICG on the way into Barr Yard in Riverdale, IL - June 19, 1977.

Jim Griffith posted two photos with the comment: "Riverdale Tower-Riverdale, Illinois."

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Dennis DeBruler I like this wider angle photo because it helps me better visualize where it stood.
Dennis DeBruler And it provides a rare view of the CN/IC bridges over the Little Calumet River.

Scott Griffith posted again
Jim Griffith took this photo of Riverdale Tower
Thomas White 3d trick operator, Brownie, was a manufacturer of firearms. He was a supplier for railroad guys, stuff they couldn't get down at the store.

One night 1971ish, the night gumshoe for the Altenheim called me (2d trick Chief) all ecstatic because he just picked up his new hardware from Brownie, a fully automatic Thompson with a 100 round magazine. He bought it mostly for patrol between Rockwell and 46th Ave.

A couple of weeks later, he told me that he was disappointed. I asked why. He told me that they don't shoot at him any more.

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Steven J. Brown posted

NOW AND THEN - RIVERDALE, ILLINOIS!

Forty-one years apart a GE leads a train into Barr Yard from the same spot! TOP: CSX ES44AC 3088 leads on November 18, 2018 as viewed from the spur line to a steel plant as it is about to duck under the Canadian National. BOTTOM: Chessie System/C&O U30B leads on June 10, 1977 as viewed from the Conrail former PRR Panhandle as it is about to duck under the Illinois Central.

David Daruszka The new, improved can't burn down Riverdale bridge.

Jon Roma As opposed to the Riverdale Tower that looked like it was about to fall apart or spontaneously combust!

Auston Williams David Daruszka the metra trains took a hit when that happened.

David Daruszka I know. I was assigned as a sheep herder at the 211th Street Station to get passengers on buses. I was working as an ASLE at the time. It was also the beginning of the end for the electronic gates. Once passengers switched over to the Rock and saw the lack of them, the poop hit the fan.

Dave Breyer David Daruszka What's the story with the electronic gates?

David Daruszka Passengers who moved over to the Rock during the service disruption were shocked that there were no gates to force them to pay before getting on the train. This was somehow twisted into the belief that the electronic gates were "racist" as a large number of the clientele of the Electric District were African American. People saw this as a symbol of mistrust and racism. A demand arose to remove the gates, the media picked up on it, and Metra was forced to remove the system. In the end it was a good thing because they were a burden to maintain and had long outlived their usefulness.

Jon Roma David Daruszka, and of course the crew checking tickets rendered the gates somewhat pointless. Among the reasons they and the ticket vending machines were purchased was to eliminate ticket agent jobs at the stations, and ticket checking jobs on the train.

I was spontaneously given a tour of the PAL center once as a teenager in the Seventies just for knocking on the door and asking!

Photo from Steve Rosen (source)
Riverdale tower....now there was some old time railroading. The switches and signals were controlled by brute force, through pulling these levers back and forth. The levers were connected to pipelines (see next pic)that were connected to switches sometimes a block away or more. In it's prime, I'm sure it worked well, but, by the time I got there, the pipes were bent, making every pull a grunt and strain producing task.
If that wasn't bad enough, the tower itself was falling down, would have and should have been condemned, and was cold cold cold in the winter. It was a shack, barely held up by the metal locking bed of the levers.

Photo from RAIL (source)
These are the pipelines that connected the levers to the switches.
Riverdale tower is long gone. It was my introduction to railroading, a trial by fire, a true test of whether I'd stay on the railroad or not. I did. Did I mention the electric toilet, that burned instead of flush? I often drove a half mile to the B&O roundhouse to go.
Rumor has it that one of the fellows there flushed (burned electrically) then went to take a whiz. They say he was knocked across the room.

Mike Breski posted five photos with the comment:

Riverdale Tower Riverdale, IL 11-1979 Riverdale Tower in November 1979 protects the former PRR Panhandle Line (PCC&StL) crossing with the B&OCT's Barr Subdivision in Riverdale, IL. Doug Davidson photoex
Pennsy PL signals at Dolton, IL
Eastern former PRR position light signal guarding the Panhandle Line at Dolton, IL, in June 1990. The white building barely visible behind the trees in the background is the IHB Dolton Tower. Doug Davidson photo
From Doug Davidson Page.

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[Note the IC bridge over the Little Calumet River is peaking out on the left side of the tower.]

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David Daruszka The crossing was originally at grade, ergo the tower.

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Steven J. Brown posted
Conrail GP40 3244 (built 1968 as PC 3244 became BM 335) GP35 3624 (built 1963 as RDG 6505) and GP40 3239 (built 1968 became BM 327) crossing the ex-PRR Panhandle about to duck under the Illinois Central on the B&OCT entering Barr Yard in Riverdale, Illinois - Summer 1979.
Richard Brunke very strange to see CR train coming into Barr Yard !!! something strange going on...flooding on IHB tracks maybe ?

HalstEd Pazdzior posted
Something you don't see everyday. A caboose leads a local back in to CSX's Barr Yard as a Catenary maintenance vehicle goes north on the Metra electric line.   3/2/22
Daniel Cianci: Remember this was wooden trestle just 20 years ago the bridge caught fire here welding work Trains could not run on I C.Netra mainline at this point until new stronger rebuild was in place Everyone stay on train and ride on into Blue Island branch then be bused to the Riverdale station continue the commute south suburbs This same going into city rush hour in mornings.
Dennis DeBruler: Do you mind if I copy your photos to other forums? I would be careful to acknowledge that you were the one that posted it and to include your comments. In this case, it would be copied to a caboose group.
HalstEd Pazdzior: Dennis DeBruler sure

Dennis DeBruler posted with HalstEd's information
C Kent McKenzie: HalstEd Pazdzior catches so many great images in the Chicagoland area. Thanks for sharing!
HalstEd Pazdzior: C Kent McKenzie it's mostly dumb luck lol

Dennis DeBruler commented on his post

The location:

https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

Ross Maselli posted seven images with the comment: "Riverdale Station switching tower photos over time. Nice Black & White from 1910."

David Ruklic: What do you think the location was?

Dennis DeBruler: Some of these images are deja vu: https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../riverdale...

Tim Shanahan shared

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Ross commented on his post

Dennis DeBruler commented on David's comment