CB&Q used to have a lot of industry along the north side of the South Branch because of
an industrial park that it built when it built its Aurora to Chicago mainline in 1862. The
Central Illinois Railroad (CIRY) handled those industries between 2000 and 2010. The Santa Fe also served business along the north side of the South Branch using its
Illinois Northern Railroad.
There was a comment on the following post saying that, in addition to Domino Sugar, there is a scrapyard by Paulina Street and a new warehouse across the street that is rail served. But those comments must have been deleted by the time I got around to writing these notes because now I can't find them to quote them.
Bryan Littrell
posted five photos with the comment: "
Domino Sugar in Chicago."
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Bryan's post
I count 13 covered hoppers on the property. I put a red rectangle at what looks like their car mover at the end of a storage spur.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Bryan Littrell Dennis DeBruler most of what they do is transload work and packaging, which is one reason for all the volume.
[Note the car mover is in operation in image 4 above.] |
Covered hoppers are not only a much less labor intensive way of handling bulk products, they have to be more sanitary. But they were not
developed by Southern Railroad for hauling grain until the 1960s.
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Bob Chaparro posted
Unloading Bulk Sugar Courtesy of Doug Harding, a photo of bulk sugar unloading. Note that this Missouri Pacific boxcar is assigned to sugar service. I sure hope the giant ants from “Them” didn’t take notice of this. Bob Chaparro Hemet, CA Vernon Davidson: Hough loader? They all leaked hydraulic fluid and engine oil wherever they worked.
I operated an old Hough loader, hydraulic steering and the turning wheels never could keep up with you turning the steering wheel, a crazy thing to steer.
[I thought skid-steers were a much more recent development.]
Rich Cizik Jr.: Looks to be a little Hough model HA doing the unloading.
Larry Hennis: Mixed with tire rubber and diesel fuel! Yum!
Robert Holmén: "Anti-caking ingredient" on the package.
Bob Currie: I hauled a lot of it. It was unrefined sugar, not for human consumption until further refined. |
I saved this 3D satellite image because it looks like maybe they receive sugar via barges as well.
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| Google Maps blew up and after reloading won't give me a 3D image! |
The image I now get does show a couple of barges docked at the facility.
The new image also shows a different layout of covered hoppers on the property.
This photo had me check out the current status of Paulina Street. It is still used
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Edward Kwiatkowski posted
We are in the city of Chicago Illinois on a chilly and overcast morning back in November of 1983.
The Burlington Northern Railroad switching local, is viewed picking up freight cars on South Paulina Avenue in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.
Nathan Mackey: Back when the Lumber Street job made the complete loop to Western Ave. yard. |
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Edward's post
Wow, that spur is still in use. It appears that Sims Metals ships out scrap metal using gondola cars. Franklin Campbell: Dennis DeBruler Indeed it is, it seems to go through bouts of disuse from time to time when Cozzi/Sims relies more heavily on barges BNSF reconfigured this spur a few years ago, permanently severing the still intact team track that served Battaglia just east of there. The curve leading into the scrapyard is wider now, and the tracks are now closer to the west side of Paulina than they were. They were pretty much in the center of the street before. I have photos of BNSF on the spur in 2018. The only photos I can find of the CIRY (taken by me at least) all face east near the switch. It was tough to get that shot in the street in the morning with security, heavy truck traffic, and the sun rising in the east. They apparently had some small centercab back there up until the very early 2000s or late 90s. Whenever loads are picked up, the BNSF and CIRY would never go very far down the spur. A front end loader would shove the cars out into the street. I don't recall if it had a coupler installed like the one at Morton Salt. You can get a great view of them loading the gons from the riverwalk park on ashland and the opposite side of the canal. Franklin Campbell: Dennis DeBruler forgot to mention you can get a great view of them loading the gons from the riverwalk park on ashland and the opposite side of the canal. |
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Fanklin's
While checking out that view, I see they do actively load barges here. And I counted seven gondolas down by the canal. I would have guessed rail-to-barge transloading. But you indicate they ship by rail and barge. Dennis DeBruler yes i believe everything comes in via truck and goes out via rail and barge. I think they rely more heavily on the rail in the winter. I remember them sending like 25 loaded railcars out one time back in the CIRY days. The CIRY borrowed the BNSF yard power from Western avenue to pull these cars up the embankment. The BNSF power stalled and they used the CIRY switcher to assist from the rear. |
Three photos provided as comments by Franklin Campbell on Ed's
post.
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There used to be a lot of rail served industry in 1929 along the waterway.
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| 1929 Englewood Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
There was even more in 1953.
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| 1953 Englewood Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
It takes two historic aerials to cover this area. From West to East.
Illinois Northern handled all of the industries west of Western Avenue and a few that were east of it. CB&Q had a branch that paralleled east of NYC/Chicago Junction from its mainline south to its tracks along Blue Island, south of Cermak Road, and on to Lumber Street, which was
an industrial park they built with the South Branch Dock Company in the 1860s.
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| 1953 Chicago Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
The most recent topo map available shows a lot fewer industries, but the IN tracks still went east of Western Avenue.
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| 1997 Chicago Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
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Dril Taliaferro posted
Near Blue Island and Wood in Pilsen
Andre Kristopans: There is still a large scrap yard on Wolcott south of Blue Island. Used to be Sims, now? Likely last active customer. |
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Andre's comment
There are still covered hoppers showing up on the satellite image at Domino Sugar. I'm trying to figure out if they are loading or unloading that barge. Andre Kristopans: Dennis DeBruler Domino is last customer on old IN. Sims last customer on old Lumber District.
Franklin Campbell: Andre Kristopans exactly. The Domino lead became part of the "Lumber District" after the BNSF merger when 26th st. Crossing was pulled up.
Domino is the busiest customer at, least in terms of consistency. They usually have a little trackmobile tooling around back there. Sims/Metal Management seems to rely heavily on barge traffic during the warm months, with rail traffic picking up in the winter months.
They go long periods without using rail, but do seem to use it more after BNSF realigned their spur in the middle of Paulina and renewed the trackage and runaround leading to it a few years ago. Sims had some kind of small switcher back there into the early 00s. They will now usually shove the gondolas in and out of the scrapyard with a bigv front end loader. I don't think it has a coupler like the one that worked at Morton Salt.
The cold storage warehouse that is also on the IN Domino lead still maintains their switch and spur, but I only saw them get cars a few times during the CIRY days. They rly heavily on 40 foot reefer containers these days and likely just keep their spur to keep the drayage rates in line.
On the subject of the old INx: here is a rare shot of ATSF working east of the Western Avenue alignment just months before the BNSF merger. I have only seen one other photo of ATSF working here in the early 90s. It is somewhere on rrpicturearchives. View is looking east on 26th street.
https://flic.kr/p/93GNrZ |
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Andre's comment
Since BNSF abandoned the Illinois Northern route, the IN remnant is now connected to the former CB&Q tracks. So wouldn't Domino be served by the local that Dril caught running? But maybe not this trip since the first car is obviously not a covered hopper.
https://www.google.com/.../@41.8444504,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3
Andre Kristopans: Dennis DeBruler A switch job out of Western Ave Yard covers what work there is in this area. |
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Franklin Campbell commented on Dennis' comment on Andre's comment
Yes it has been this way since the late 90s. Same job serves both. In the CIRY days when the crew was based out of the old wye at Cermak/Sangamon/Peoria, the crew would switch all the customers along Cermak and Blue Island, park the train just east of your screenshot on the hill and then run down to Domino engine light.
Now the job will typically switch Domino first then run down toward Metal Management.
I haven't been able to discern exactly how this junction used to be laid out, but there was a connection to the BN somewhere in the vicinity as the IN had a small yard along Blue Island avenue where the school bus depot was. Looking at old aerial photos, it was atleast around until the late 70s early 80s. I don't know if that connection was still in place by the mid 90s. If it was i imagine it was somehow unsuitable for switching the Domino lead from the BN side. |
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Dril's post
I took a photo of the abandoned IN overpass because I was struck by how modern it looked. I wonder how many years of service this overpass saw between construction and abandonment. And if that is the least amount in Chicago. In other words, is this the youngest abandoned overpass in Chicago?
Andre Kristopans: Built on 1980s? Replaced a very old, narrow underpass.
Franklin CampbellFrom what I could gather looking at historic aerials, it seems like ATSF/INx heavily reconfigured the tracks in the 1960s when the IH plant was razed. That seems to be when much of the remaining track was laid/re-laid. The Domino building itself seems to have been part of the IH works at some point. It existed well beforehand as did its tracks right along the river, But they were accessed in a less roundabout way that no longer exists from the INx roundhouse and adjacent yard. The present day tracks and runaround leading to Domino did not exist as there were buildings and a canal where it currently sits. This overpass swung southeast over Western avenue and met the large loop that went around the works. A good ways south of the current overpasses. It seems like ATSF was trying to drum up carload business in the Chicago area around this time as this was around the same time they built and were promoting the Argonne Branch in Bolingbrook as well. According to Loopnet Frozen Assets, the third building to maintain a spur on this trackage was built in 1968. 2635 s. Western. 2555 S. Leavitt, a building with a disconnected spur that went inside of it was built in 1962 2550 S. Leavitt also has/had a spur and was built in 1967 Domino Sugar seems to have been built directly over a smaller IH building that also had rail access in 1954. The old building still existed in 1952 on historic aerials |
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