NS/NKP and Aban/Erie+C&O Bridge over Grand Calumet River and (ED) Tower

(no Bridge Hunter?, Satellite)

Pete Fileca posted
Late 70s
Dennis DeBruler Looking at a 1967 aerial, which has decent resolution, you are looking North. But what were you standing on? They did not have drones back then.
Bob Lalich The photographer was likely on the EB home signal for Hohman Ave.

It is hard to believe that at one time, a long time ago, this river was navigable.

Street View

Josh Lemier posted

Here in this epic photo Tom Golden got this shot on top of the Grand Calumet River Bridge with an Erie Lackawanna Westbound passing underneath in 1976.

Collection Of Sam Beck.
Mark Bilecki Sr. The Erie, Nickel Plate bridge was replaced with a culvert bridge by NW around 1983.
Mark Bilecki Sr. There was a control shack up there that was considered a tower.
Bob Lalich The operator on the bridge controlled the interlocking that allowed the railroads to jointly use the bridge and swap positions. West of the bridge, the EL was north of the NKP. East of the bridge, the NKP was north of the EL. Going way back, the operator also controlled the opening of the bridge. This portion of the Grand Calumet was navigable in the late 1800s/early 1900s.
Joseph Tuch Santucci This bridge continues to be used regularly as NS schedules numerous trains on the former NKP daily.

Update:

Ira Silverman posted
Can anyone identify this location? "I believe" it is in Hammond IN and that's the Amtrak Floridian coming at you.
William Vandervoort Couldn't have been the Floridian, at the time the only semaphore on the Monon in Hammond was the northbound home signal at State Line. Maybe this is the James Whitcomb Riley or Cardinal, which used the Erie through Hammond connecting with the C&O.
William Vandervoort Erie/EL called it CA Tower. The bridge was shared with Nickel Plate, those railroads traded places there. On April Fools Day 1976, Conrail was formed and they basically abandoned the EL line. C&O didn't want responsibility, having had trackage rights, and started rerouting the freight trains via B&O to Wellsboro, then the former Pere Marquette La Crosse Subdivision to join the C&O at La Crosse. For about a month the James Whitcomb Riley was bussed between Chicago and Peru IN, until arrangements were made to use the former Erie. In 1977, the train began using the Wellsboro routing and was also renamed the Cardinal.
William Vandervoort Wellsboro to La Crosse was not signaled. Though as I recall it had welded rail in decent shape. Here is a train order from one of my trips on the Cardinal, authorizing Amtrak to run "extra". What seemed strange was the angle at which we crossed the PRR main line at Hanna, and the fact that the crossing over paralleling US 30 had no gates, just flashers and bells. The westbound Cardinal was actually traveling slightly northeast at that point. Theoretically a straight line north from La Crosse to the B&O to would have been the Monon Michigan City Branch, which crossed the B&O at Alida. Wellsboro is 7 miles east of Alida, a 7 mile displacement which needed to be compensated over the La Crosse Subdivision.
Jon Roma I've read that, in the rush of getting Conrail underway, someone had forgotten about the joint Erie-C&O trackage, and the shutdown of that route had to be corrected after the fact.

Jon Roma commented on Ira's posting
Since many people are having a hard time visualizing the location of Ira Silverman's picture, I've taken a scanned page from the 1915 Sanborn fire insurance atlas and overlaid it with blue bullets that show the three pertinent interlocking towers. (Erie's "HY" Tower is out of frame and hence is not shown.)

The approximate angle the photographer was facing is depicted with a red arrow.

Josh Lemier posted

Here in this new cover photo we see two Erie Lackawanna Manifest Freights passing at Hammond, Indiana crossing the Calumet River Bridge. Date Unknown.

Photo Credit To Mike Raia.
Michael Mireles HD tower sits above....
Bob Lalich The EB likely originated at either 51st St Yard or Clearing on the BRC.
[A swing bridge that hadn't swung for years.]

Michael Dye posted
NKP 763, at 'ED' drawbridge. Hammond, FEB57.
[Monon's bridge is on the left.]

Michael Dye posted
RR East view of 'ED' drawbridge, Grand Calumet River. Hammond, FEB57.
[Monon's bridge is in the background.]

Michael Dye posted

A photo, looking North, taken from a floodlight tower in the Erie's Hammond yard, in JUN 1957. The single Monon track to the left with the Erie's main and yard leads to the right. I believe that is Douglas Street in the foreground. [Actually, it is Clinton Street back when it still went across the tracks.]

Nice view of the layout of the Monon and Erie/NKP Calumet bridges, in the far background.

Photo taken by my late Grandfather, C.L. Coates, Signal Gang foreman, Erie Signal Gang 33.

One of nine photos posted by Michael Dye
Photo 9: A photo, most likely taken from atop the Northernmost floodlight tower in the abandoned Erie Douglas Street yard, looking North towards the Monon (Left) and Erie (Right) bridges over the Grand Calumet, Hammond, IN, 1980. Photo credit: Unknown.
Note: The site of the parking lot (between 1st and 2nd streets from the bottom), from 1878 to the mid-1950s, the was the location of the Erie's Hammond Passenger Depot. To the left, where the red brick building is, was the site of the Monon's original depot. Both were torn down when the Monon and the Erie moved to the 1950's era depot, located South on Lyman Avenue.

 Darren Reynolds posted two photos with the comment: "'ED'(Erie Jct Drawbridge)  Indiana."

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"Erie Jct Drawbridge " February 1957

Photo by: Michael Dye collection

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"Erie Jct Drawbridge " interlocking machine June 1956

Photo by: Michael Dye collection

Larry Candilas commented on Darren's post
Bridge taken out in the early 1980s and replaced with three big culverts, was suppose to be cemter-swing bridge but I doubt if it ever opened since the Grand Calumet River was never improved. It was ED Tower due to the Erie crossing over the Nickle Plate at the bridge. Erie was on the east side north of the bridge, then shared trackage on the bridge than the Erie west of the Nickle Plate south of the bridge and onward to Hohman Ave, just a few blocks south.

Larry Candilas commented on Darren's post
We use to go up in the old tower building all the time to party and never realized such a beautiful machine had been up there!. Here's one looking north from 1953 with the Monon bridge visible to the left; that's the bridge that got stolen!

C&E: Milwaukee's Chicago and Evanston Overview

The beginnings of the Chicago & Evanston as a route built by the Milwaukee Road to compete with the C&NW in the north suburban commuter market is described by David Daruszka's ChicagoRails blog. (Update: another blog article) John Evans, one of the founders of Northwestern University, help charter the C&E in 1861 and service began May 1, 1885. The line reached Wilmette in 1889. [TrainWeb] At the beginning of the 20th Century, C&E allowed, even helped, the "L" take over the passenger service and, later, freight service north of Wilson. Richard Mead's posting describes the passenger service, and David provided photos of several of the depots as comments. Probably the main claim to fame of Milwaukee's C&E route is that it was the railroad that went past Wrigley Field.

I begin with an overview of how it fit into the Milwaukee Road. Note the Chicago & Pacific came from Tower A-5. crossed the C&NW northern branches at CY Tower (Clyborn Junction) and joined the C&E to go south to Union Station. This was the freight access to the C&E because Milwaukee's Galewood and Bensenville yards are west of Tower A-5. Passenger access to the C&E was from Union Station using a bridge that no longer exists to cross the Chicago River just north of Kinzie Street.

ChicagoSwitching

Someone else's description of the C&E route

I'm dividing the discussion of the C&E into segments. From north to south:

• Service north of Wilson: in latter years this was provided by the CTA
• Service between Wilson and Diversey: this is the segment that went past Wrigley Field
• Service between Diversey and C&E Junction: the last customer on the north side was Peerless Confections
• Service on Goose Island
• Service south of C&E Junction to Kinzie Street

This is what was left of the C&E when the Chicago Terminal Railroad assumed operations on 2/2/2007. The crossing at CY Tower had already been removed in 2000. Canadian Pacific must have been interchanging freight cars in C&NW's North Avenue Yard.

Chicago Area Shortline Railroad

The northern segment had Peerless' business for less than a year. I have yet to determine what business was on the southern branch and when they abandoned it.

Satellite

When I started rail (track) fanning in 2014, the lumber yard on Cherry Avenue on Goose Island was still receiving cars. In fact, they were left parked on Cherry Ave. So this was the status of CTR in 2014.

Chicago Area Shortline Railroad

David Daruszka commented on a share

There was still a lot of industry along the line in 1973.

ChicagoSwitching

Resources for the C&E: Chicago Reader (the article is interesting, but read it and close it because the advertisements can hang your browser) ("Inconvenience to the sweat set occurs, at most, one or two days a week, whenever the Peerless Candy Company receives a shipment of sugar syrup. Peerless, on Lakewood between Schubert and Diversey"), Chicago Switching overview.

(Update: the lumber yard closed and the scrap yard is being kicked out as part of the gentrification of the industrial area north of Goose Island. Since the Chicago Terminal Railroad has no customers, the City of Chicago is taking control of the right-of-way in anticipation of a new public transit route. One problem is that the Cherry Avenue Bridge is not big enough for both pedestrians and busses or rail cars. The C&E trains ran so infrequently that sharing the bridge with pedestrians was not an issue. Hopefully, rapid transit would cross the bridge frequently.)

David H. Nelson posted

If anyone is interested in Rail simulators, I;m still working on my Milwaukee Road in Chicago project (Goose Island, ca. 1947).

I was in my editor earlier and I thought this image might be worth posting. Everything shown except the track is created by myself.

The "camera" is positioned at 450 W Chicago Ave, looking south. The faint yellow lines are a visual aid above the track.

The scope of the project is centered at C&E Junction, W Cortland at Kingsbury, and runs NW to W. Belmont and SE past Union Station to the big PRR warehouse near Roosevelt Rd. IIRC this is about 4.25 miles.

Rail simulator projects do not need to compress distance and that's the case here... everything is indeed 12 inches to the foot.

David commented on his post

Dennis DeBruler commented on David's comment
I knew that Milwaukee had a yard on Goose Island, but this image makes it more real than just a 1938 aerial photo. And it reminds me that there was a gasometer near the south side of Goose Island in addition to some that were north of the island.

I checked, the Ogden Viaduct over Goose Island and Milwaukee's mainline was not removed until 1993. So it should be in this model as well. https://forgottenchicago.com/.../the-extension-and.../

David H. Nelson posted

One more screenshot from the simulator project I'm working on (The Milwaukee Road's Division Street Yard on Goose Island). This is an aerial panorama.

FB has done a huge reduction in size. If you want to see it a bit larger you need to click on the image and then right mouse click.select view image, and then click on the image once more to enlarge.

Enjoy.
David H. Nelson Here is a link to half size image: http://www.elvastower.com/forums/index.php...
Eric Quick OpenRails?
David H. Nelson Of course.
OR is the only sim that does reasonably realistic physics. Easier to do both freeware and open source projects too.
I'll be uploaded Goose Island as a very incomplete freeware "alpha" soon (elvastower).
I own elvastower.com; I'll be posting a link for a freeware download of this route within the month. It's very incomplete but it can still be fun if you are into industrial switching.

B&LE 1918 Silicon Steel Bridge over Allegheny River at Acmetonia, PA

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, 3D Satellite, looking west)

HAER PA,2-OAK.V,1--10 from pa3714

Oblique view of cantilever truss over main channel, looking NNE from south abutment. - Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, Allegheny River Bridge, Spanning Allegheny River, East of Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76), Oakmont, Allegheny County, PA

The bridge was designed by two U.S. Steel subsidiaries - the railroad and the American Bridge Company - as a showpiece for their parent company. This structure not only introduced new silicon steel to American bridge construction, but also helped revive continuous truss design. [pa3714]

 I included the label "metalIron" because this was evidently the first bridge built with silicon steel, which was stronger than existing steel. It is also a pioneering bridge because it used continuous spans rather than simple spans that were cantilevered and generated an upward force on some of the piers, especially during construction. This double track bridge replaced a single track bridge. The old bridge had a steel trestle for the north approach. That trestle was buried in an embankment when this bridge was built. Furthermore a "felling trestle" was built parallel to the existing trestle so that dump trains would not interfere with the normal ore trains. "Engineering News remarked, 'It is not often in any part ofthe country that a perfectly serviceable steel viaduct is treated in this way;... [Here] two such viaducts, side by side, are being buried.' The embankment, however, allowed U.S. Steel to dispose of 1.2 million cubic yards of slag from its mills, which may have outweighed the scrap value of the steel trestles." "With the trusses continuous across two piers, train loads are distributed among the three spans, requiring less material than an equivalent series of simple spans....The bridge was clearly intended as a showpiece for U.S. Steel" [pa3714data]

Note that the piers of the old bridge were extended using cut-stone even though reinforced concrete was becoming a more common construction material by 1918.

3D Satellite

Both a Flickr photo and a Facebook photo show iron ore trains on the bridge in the 21st Century. It is nice to know that there is at least one blast furnace still working somewhere in the Pittsburgh area. It looks like the old Homestead Works may be gone, but there are two blast furnaces still standing near Braddock, PA

Crossing of EJ&E Industrial Spur and CNS&M

(Satellite)

The Chicago, North Shore & Milwauky is an interurban that was abandoned along time ago. Its right-of-way appears to now be Commonwealth Avenue. Part of the industrial spur appears to now be Morrow Avenue. The main crossing of the EJ&E and CNS&M is a block north and was grade separated.

Kevin Piper posted two photos with the comment:

The EJ&E crossed the North Shore's Milwaukee line at North Chicago. Here SW1200 306 is running across the diamonds in December 1961. Note the gates protecting the junction. The second photo shows the exact location in recent years. Top, LOUIS CERNY PHOTO Bottom, JOE STUPAR PHOTO

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[You can see the EJ&E overpass in the background.]

Luminant Liberty Mine

(Satellite)  A church was willing to be bought and move.

<This post is in the wrong blog. See "Kosse, TX: 1980 or 2007 Luminant Lignite Coal and U.S. Silica Sand Mines" for the correct post.>

If you Google this mine, you learn about a neighbor who thinks he was not offered enough for his property. I'm going to ignore that issue and concentrate on the fact that this mine has two active dragline cranes.

Screenshot from a video from a Bill Drotar Jr. posting
Have to enjoy D33 while it's so close to the road.
William Oldani Now that's a Different style Bucket! I'm not familiar with that one I'm assuming it's some type of Easy Loading or High Efficiency!
Jay Wilson Almost looks like someone tried to gain a few extra yards by changing the back wall.
Bob Haare No spreader bar on the hoist chains!

Luminant PR video of moving D32 8 miles to their new lignite coal mine 

UP/WP Bridge over North Fork Feather River near Pulga, CA

(Bridge Hunter, Satellite)

Western Pacific built this route up the Feather River Canyon.

Greg Mross posted
UP 3392 brings a train thru Pulga, CA in the Feather River Canyon in May of 1994.

This is one of the "seven wonders of the Feather River" shown in this video.

A Flickr photo capturing a high river flow.

I traced the river. This is part of the watershed for the Oroville Dam.

Union Pacific Museum posted
The beautiful Feather River Highway bridge crosses the historic Western Pacific railroad bridge along the Feather River Canyon route at Pulga, about 30 miles north of Oroville, California. The highway bridge was completed in 1932 and is 680 feet long and 170 feet above the railroad bridge below. A freight train makes its way onto the railroad bridge below.
Paul Jevert shared
Western Pacific bridge over the Feather River at Pulga, Cal.

EIR/NRG/N&W/NKP(Cloverleaf) Bridge over Embarras River near Oakland, IL

(Bridge Hunter, Satellite)

Dave Honan
\The Eastern Illinois Railroad crosses the Embarras River southwest of Oakland on this impressive bridge, viewed here from the south side of the east abutment. The bridge is located at MP 307.0 of the old Clover Leaf (later Nickel Plate) line between Toledo and St. Louis. Two more spans are hidden beyond the tall tree at left. (July 11, 2004)

Aban/PACY/Vandalia/Terre Haute & Peoria Bridge over Embarras River near Oakland, IL

(Bridge Hunter, no Historic Bridges, Satellite)

PACY = Prairie Central Railroad

Dave Honan posted two photos with the comment:

These two photos depict the main spans of the old Pennsy bridge spanning the Embarras River just west of Oakland. The Pennsy line [Terre Haute & Peoria] connected Paris and Decatur with the "Vandalia" mainline at Farrington. Today, the bridge is rusting away alongside IL-133. (July 11, 2004)

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A street view caught the river running a lot higher.

Street View

Roger Kujawa posted five images with the comment: "This bridge over the Embarras River is just west of Oakland, Illinois. It was on the Pennsylvannia Railroad line from Peoria to Terre Haute, Indiana. 11-7-20 it was one of the few remnants left of this line though the cornfields."

Seth Johnson: The tiny depot at Oakland is still standing and still has a PC track map hanging on the wall.

Roger Kujawa shared

Tom Fuller: There's also the Penn. depot and freight house in Oakland. Both on the north side of the ROW.

Kam Miller: Having lived in the area, I can help you out with the river pronunciation. M-Bar. That's it. No "E" or "S", etc... Just M-Bar.

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Parking Cranes in Weather Vane Mode

One of the local construction sites set up this self erecting tower when they had easy access to the center of the building.

10170640(0623) 9537

It is electrically powered and controlled by remote control. So you are renting just a trailer, not a truck, diesel engines, and a cab.

The above photo after it was cropped

Each day the boom would be facing a different direction, so that allows me to get several different angles of the base from the one area where they have not yet built a wall so that construction equipment can drive into the building area.

20170640(0628) 9550

20170708-10 0005

This video records the rotation speed. It was getting close to quitting time and they just rotated it over 360 degrees with no load.
(full window)

20170708-10 9978

The next day was the first time I saw them actually use the crane. Here they are adding posts to the edge of the east wall. Earlier, when they were working on the north wall and I first took pictures of them, they came over and talked to me because I had a camera. I find this common and to my benefit because it gives me a chance to ask questions. The crane was installed mainly to lift the wood panel walls when they get that far into construction. It can lift four tons by the tower and one ton at the tip of the boom. Those posts were certainly less than a ton! I'm glad you can't recognize the faces because inside the fence is supposed to be a hard-hat zone. When I mentioned that every time my wife or I go to the library, we noticed the boom was pointed in a different direction. We thought that was because they had done some work that day and we missed it. He explained it could be because they park it in "weather vane" mode. That is, the boom turns rather than create a lateral force on the tower if there is a crosswind. He said the wires going up the tower will tolerate three revolutions. I confirmed that the reason the turned it at the end of the previous day with no load was to remove the twist from the wires so that it could do a full three revolutions in either direction while it was unattended.

The photos that were here of a Bucyrus-Erie 1360W have been moved to the coal mine in which it is parked. That dragline was parked with its boom facing West. Then a strong storm turned the boom towards the North. The boom has been rotated back to facing West.

TRRA: Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis

(Map)
The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) owned the St. Louis Union Station and the two bridges that could carry railroad traffic across the Mississippi River. Like Chicago, many of the eastern and western railroads terminated at this city. Unlike Chicago, the only terminal railroad connecting the trunk railroads was TRRA. (Chicago had the Indiana Harbor Belt, B&OCT, EJ&E and other terminal railroads. It also had six train stations instead of just the one Union Station in St. Louis.) The TRRA History emphases the ownership of the bridges whereas American-Rails emphases the ownership of the Union Station.

Madison Yard is their main yard.

David Durham posted two images with the comment:

Found this 1940 TRRA map ofSt. Louis/ E.St.Louis and environs while researching the C&A in Alton ; lots of cool info in this one. Can anyone provide info regarding "cupples", near the mo-pac freight house at center of map?...EDIT; I added a second screen shot of the entire map, which, btw is from the University of Alabama map collection. The U of A website gives the option of viewing as a jpeg (downloadable), or as a plug-in (not downloadable)...this the screenshot of the plugin for better visual clarity.

Bill Edrington: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/.../city.../Cupples-Station.cfm

Timmy Carpenter: I thought cupples buildings were once a active complex that had above and below ground railroad connections for downtown st louis manufacturing and distribution.

Andrew Roth shared

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Mark Hinsdale posted four photos with the comment:

TRRA... By Rail!
It is a rare treat to be able to traverse and observe the trackage of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) on a special passenger train. However, this opportunity presented itself this past Sunday, when a trip was sponsored by several of St Louis' serving railroads on behalf of the American Association of Railroad Superintendents for its annual meeting, held in the Gateway to the West. Although Amtrak trains to and from Chicago or Kansas City do utilize TRRA routes to access the new St. Louis Amtrak Station, much of the Terminal Railroad is rarely visited by passenger trains. I took many photographs, but here are some representative views of the always fascinating bridgework around St. Louis, as well as its iconic Arch.

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[MacArthur (Municipal) Bridge]

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Dave Hopson I've seen movies of trains on the lower level of the second bridge in front of you.Mark Hinsdale Yes, PRR used the lower level of the Eads Bridge to get across the Mississippi. Today those two tracks carry Metrorail (light rail) trains between Belleville & St. Louis.

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Jim Pearson Photography posted

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis

The conductor on BNSF 7447 throws one of several switches as it prepares to take its power out of the yard track to work on building his train at the Terminal Railroad Association (TRRA) of St. Louis Madison yard at Venice, Illinois, with a rainbow of power sitting in the yard.

According to the TRRA website: "Since 1889, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis has played a vital role in the railroad operations and growth of the St. Louis metropolitan area.

The Association was originally created to satisfy the need for an efficient, safe, and economical method of interchanging rail traffic at the railroad hub of St. Louis, Missouri: the "Gateway to the West."

Over 120 years later, the employees of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis make the same commitment to efficiency, safety, and value to our customers, owners, and the public with each new day."

#trainphotography #railroadphotography #trains #railways

Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @550mm, f/6.3, 1/1000, ISO 400.