Tuesday, November 6, 2018

C&NW Noble Street Tower: C&NW passenger main vs. C&NW local freight

(Satellite)  Closed in 1980
NorthAmericanInterlockings:  photo
Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers (click the marker for the correct information)

Mark Llanuza posted
Its 1980 CNW commuter train going past Noble st tower.
Bob Johnson: When did Noble St. Tower close and when was it torn down?
Mark Llanuza: Bob Johnson I think it closed around 1982 but it caught on fire around 1990. i have older photos. i'll look.

Steven J. Brown posted
Metra F40PH 177 at the site of the former Noble Street Tower in Chicago - November 5, 2001.
Dennis DeBruler shared
UP/C&NW on the left and Metra/(Milwaukee + Pennsy's Panhandle) on the right. The spur is gone, but they still store track supplies where the tower stood: https://www.google.com/…/@41.8888377,-87.6620…/data=!3m1!1e3
David Daruszka Noble Street was a C&NW tower. It controlled the junction between the Galena Division tracks that went to the Madison Street CPT and the old line that ran to Wells Street Station. Those tracks were used for local freights.
Jon Roma I think the tower lasted till the early Eighties.
1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
Dennis DeBruler In 1938 there was an incredible amount of track in the area.
1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
Dennis DeBruler An incredible amount of track! Note the viaduct that used to carry Milwaukee Avenue southeast to Canal Street.
The triangular building that we can see next to the viaduct still exists.

Fortunately, David's comment steered me away from Milwaukee or Pennsy and to C&NW. The spur we see in Stephen's photo goes down an embankment, along the south side of Kinzie Street, past Hubbard Street Yard, over the "now always up" bridge, under (and serviced) the Merchandise Mart, past the State Street Yard and the Kraft Plant, through the industries around Ogden Slip, and terminated at the end of Navy Pier.

Lance Wales posted
January 29, 1981 I was riding west on the CNW West Line behind Crandall Cab 504. We were just west of Noble Street as an eastbound MILW train blasted past behind RTA F40PH 120. Note the signal bridge with semaphores to the right of Noble Street for the Navy Pier line along with a mast-mounted PRR position light in the distance governing westward moves.
[This gives us a good view that the mainlines curved away from the Milwaukee+Pennsy tracks while the industrial spur went straight and then curved down the embankment.]
Since the Milwaukee tracks were just south of the C&NW spur, we see the tower on the right side in the background of this photo.
Thomas Manz posted
This looks like it could be Chicago - but where?
Mitch Markovitz Coming downhill towards Chicago Union Station just east of Noble Street.Ean Kahn-Treras Yup, Mitch has it. Not used to seeing an eastbound with an engine instead of a cab car at this location.

Noble St tower on the CNW way off in the background on the right.


Very neat find, Thomas!

Mitch Markovitz And hey kids...Not only the Noble Street Tower as a clue but the Pennsy position light signal back there.

Mike Breski posted
CNW, Chicago, Illinois, 1972
Chicago and North Western Railway passenger train in Chicago, Illinois, on April 1, 1972. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2015, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund-24-01-11
Patrick McNamara At Noble Street.

Mike Breski posted

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mike's post
My thanks to Patrick McNamara for providing the name "Noble." Because the tracks in Chicago are elevated, I don't know what the trackside views look like, and I did not recognize this location. Once I had a name, it was easy to find my notes file. David Daruszka has commented: "Noble Street was a C&NW tower. It controlled the junction between the Galena Division tracks that went to the Madison Street CPT [Chicago Passenger Terminal] and the old line that ran to Wells Street Station. Those tracks were used for local freights."
So we have the four tracks in the foreground that were shared by Milwaukee and Pennsy and that are now owned by Metra and switched by NS. (I think Blommer Chocolate is still rail served.) And on the curve we see the four UP/C&NW tracks that go to the CPT. On the left side of the photo is the turnout for the branch (original mainline alignment) that went south of the tower, down an embankment, south of Kinzie Street, through Hubbard Yard, and over the "now always up except for once a year" bridge.
1973 Chicago Loop Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mike's post
The embankment wall still exists for the freight line. I include ADM Mill in the upper-right corner because gentrification is probably soon going to blow those buildings and silos away.
https://www.google.com/.../@41.8889266,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mike's post
The oldest 1:24,000 topo I could find was 1929. Note that the cartographer made a mistake because there is no connection between Hubbard Yard and the C&NW bridge. C&NW and Milwaukee had freight houses in the area south of Kinzie.
There is no I-90, but there are the Milwaukee Ave and Erie Street Viaducts. I extended the boundaries of the excerpt to include the bridge for Milwaukee's Chicago & Evanston branch and C&NW's Erie Yard.





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