BRC: Belt Railway Company of Chicago Overview

(Shortlines)  (source)
Dennis DeBruler I've noticed that their herald is still on their bridge over I-290, https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEzO5O...
Paul Schlichting Because that is there main line that connect to the CPRS (former MILW)

20140906 0114 view from the west side of Cicero Ave. Bridge

The Belt Railway Company of Chicago is the largest intermediate switching terminal railroad in the United States. It interchanges with every railroad serving the Chicago rail hub and serves about 100 industries. It has 28 miles of mainline track and more than 300 miles of switching tracks. Their main yard, Clearing Yard, already has its own post. Their web site has a nice introduction and history and a timeline.

The C&WI was formed in 1882 by John B. Brown. In 1883, "five major railroads; Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway [Monon]; Chicago and Atlantic Railway [Erie}; Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad [C&EI]; Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway [Wabash} and the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway [GTW]; signed leases to use Belt Railway’s tracks and terminal." In 1898, BRC was created from the freight operations of the C&WI. Seven additional railroads bought stock in the BRC.

Dennis DeBruler commented on a post

The C&WI was charted in 1879 by John B. Brown as the first terminal line in Chicago. Originally the C&WI focused on passenger service to Dearborn. But in 1881 Brown charted the "Belt Division, C&WI." And the passenger oriented part of the C&WI became the "Terminal Division, C&WI." A new belt route that went West along the Wabash right-of-way and then North a few blocks east of Cicero Ave. was completed in Aug, 1883. During this construction on Nov 22, 1881, the "Belt Division, C&WI" became the "Belt Railway Company of Chicago." BRC also built routes to, and along, the Calumet River.
Meanwhile, A.B. Stickney created the Chicago Union Transfer Railway in 1889 as Chicago's primary classification yard that would be used by all the belt lines, and thus all of the Chicago railroads. It was a large loop of tracks in which railroads would be assigned radial tracks. (See attached image.) A train could then efficiently go around the loop dropping off and picking up cars from several different railroads. But what got built by 1902 was a hump yard, one of the first of its type. But the line-haul railroads did not want to pay extra to have their cars classified so the yard closed after just a month. However, as congestion in Chicago grew, nine (another source says seven) railroads joined the original five owners in 1912 and bought into ownership of the BRC as part of the Belt Operating Agreement. This new ownership also acquired the Clearing Yard of the Chicago Union Transfer Railway. The agreement was successful enough that the capacity of the yard was increased from 5,000 cars/day in 1902 to 10,000 cars/day in 1914. And the branch that left Clearing on the west end and U-turned to head East along the north side of the yard to its mainline was built. (This was the route that used to go through the middle of what became Midway Airport. That route has obviously since been moved north of the airport.)
Because of mergers and the general decline of carload freight after the Interstate highway system was built, Clearing was practically empty by 1990. But new management revived it. Now, many of the Chicago railroads have converted their major classification yards to intermodal yards and their merchandise trains go directly to Clearing or IHB's Blue Island. Now BRC "is the largest intermediate switching terminal railroad in the United States." So Stickney's vision was more than a century ahead of its time.
https://www.american-rails.com/brc.html
http://www2.beltrailway.com/about-2/
David Daruszka posted the image for Stickney's circular plan.

The map on this page shows both divisions.
https://www.american-rails.com/cwi.html...

1889 Chicago Quadrangle @ 1:62,500

ChicagoRailFan has more details including a list of mileposts, a track diagram, and links to interlocking towers and track elevation ordinances.

BBC Show Announcement (source)

BRC's photo gallery has steam locomotives and maps as well as pictures of their current locomotives.

Viral Media posted

Belt Railway of Chicago Map

The Belt Railway has over 300 miles of yard tracks and 28 miles of mainline that connect with every railroad in Chicago. Owner lines and other railroads bring trains to the BRC Clearing Yard for interchange.  The heart of the yard is the wicket-shaped tower straddles the hump.  The tower controls the switches and retarders of the two classification yards. Operating much like a post office, computerized controls allow the hump tower to classify 8,400 rail cars per day.  The Clearing Yard separates, sorts, and re-blocks freight cars into trains for cross-country departure. 

The founding company of the BRC was the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, chartered in 1882. A series of connecting railroads was constructed over four years that formed a “belt line” which linked every major railroad in Chicago and also served many industries. Five railroads originally executed leases to use the tracks and terminal as tenants – Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway, Chicago & Atlantic Railway, Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, and Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway. By 1910, seven more railroads had joined. 

After a series of mergers and bankruptcies, the Belt is now owned by six Class I railroads — BNSF Railway, Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, and Union Pacific Railroad. Each of the owner railroads utilizes the BRC switching and interchange facilities. 

The Clearing Yard is located on the boundary between Chicago and Bedford Park, Illinois, just south of Chicago Midway Airport. The BRC also provides rail terminal services to approximately 100 area industries. 

Richard Fiedler shared

Richard Fiedler shared

Richard Fiedler shared

BRC

The photo gallery also has a more detailed map with mile posts and street names on the sides. But that map is dated because it still shows Conrail tracks.

Brian Morgan comment in Ed's posting
[I wish the text was readable. I saved it because some of the trackage right lines were new to me.]

This is slightly different and it has readable text.

Bill Molony posted

David Daruszka enhanced a map posted by Bill Molony
This map of The Belt Railway of Chicago is from their 2000 annual report.

Dennis DeBruler posted

Alan Follett: What is that Chicago Transfer Railway line running east-west at about 4000 north? Was that actually built? If so, when did it operate?

Nick Hart posted

The Belt Railway of Chicago's Clearing Yard is one of the biggest yards around. With constant action, the yard is 5.5 miles in length and houses over 250 miles worth of trackage. It's also one of the largest hump classification facilities in the US and on this sunny morning, we see BRC SD40-2's 300 and 310 preparing to shove their final car over the hump. A slug set can be seen going about its work on the other end of the tower as well. More than 8,400 cars a day and between 40 and 50 miles worth of consists on a daily basis at the hump. Think about that for a minute.

With a roster full of classic EMD locomotives, you can't go wrong with the Belt. The strikingly nice paint scheme helps as well.

Bedford Park, IL

03-02-2021

A post that has so much information I saved it in a raw format as two screenshots.

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2 of 3 photos posted by the The Belt Railway Company of Chicago with the comment: "Chief of Police, Jerry Conoboy, met with Sonya Proctor, TSA's  Assistant Administrator of Surface Operations. Sonya is visiting from Washington DC and stopped by the BRC to learn about the operation and meet some of the team. Local TSA representatives Clay Yoksas (far left) and Paul Lloyd(far right) joined us, as well. Together, they toured the Belt's Command Center and received a briefing on operations from Terminal Manager, Bill Peck."

Richard Fiedler shared

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