Metra Kensington YarD (KYD) and IC Wildwood Yard

(3D Satellite)

While describing the 18th Street MU shop, David Daruszka explained "Heavy servicing was done at Burnside and later Woodcrest at Harvey [Markham] yards. Metra built a new facility at KYD (Kensington YarD) at the junction of the Blue Island line."

(Update: an index of IC's Chicagoland yards and roundhouses)

Metra bought the electrified part of the CN/IC and built this new shop.

David Daruszka commented on a posting

This is a remnant of the IC Wildwood Yard. In the same posting, David commented: "Wildwood serviced the Ford plant on Torrence. It is now used by the Water Reclamation District for sludge drying ponds."

Bob Lalich commented on a post

The use of Wildwood Yard varied over the years. Here is information from the 1938 book Organization And Traffic of the Illinois Central System:
Wildwood Yard has a standing capacity of 2,900 cars. It is used as the base of interchange with the Pullman RR, the CSS&SB and the B&OCT. It is used primarily as a hold yard for active equipment and to serve as a cleaning yard for stock cars and automobile cars.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

It appears that two roundhouses had already been torn down by 1938. That is because this yard was replaced by Markham Yard.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

David Daruszka posted a link to an article
I'm sharing this as an example of how the media has no idea of how to write about railroad topics. If you can't tell the difference between the responsibilities of the conductor and the engineer you shouldn't be writing about things you have no understanding of.
Dennis DeBruler I put the blame on Metra PR. They should have reviewed the article. They should not only have flagged the conductor vs. engineer problem, they should have caught saving money because of not using diesel fuel. The cars being replaced already used electricity instead of diesel. In fact, given the $2.2m figure, did Metra explain the savings incorrectly to the reporter?
Mitch Markovitz Here's a problem I've discovered with the media re Conductor vs. Engineer. I've corrected papers several times about this. The response I keep getting is, "Well the public thinks they're (engineers) are conductors." My reply is, "Next time you write about airlines refer to a Captain as merely an attendant and see what happens."
Dennis DeBruler I'm sorry/dismayed/horrified to learn that the media deliberately falsifying facts is not a recent invention.Mitch Markovitz Dennis DeBruler Yep. I remember this problem, applied to railroads, in the early '60s.
Eric Reinert I wrote to an author of a newspaper article that claimed the Fireman on a steam locomotive was there to put out the fires caused by sparks from the stack. She couldn't understand why I was "so upset."

In another post, David observed that the view from the old cars was better than the new ones. He knows because he has driven both as a Metra engineer.