IHB/MC Bridge over Little Calumet River and MC Kensington Yard

(no Bridge Hunter)

3D Satellite

I put a red rectangle around this former Michigan Central bridge in the lower-right corner of this map excerpt. The excerpt also shows Kensington Yard, but the IHB operated MC route that accesses the yard is a dotted line. On a satellite image, not only do the tracks still exist, the ballast looks fresh and weed free until you get close to the yard.

Excerpt from B&OCT Map

The yard is now owned by All American Recycling and, at least as recently as the last satellite image, they do get rail service.

Satellite

Michigan Central joined IC tracks at the north end of Kensington Yard for their access to IC passenger stations. I see a small roundhouse on the west side in to the topo map. This was probably their passenger servicing and local freight yard. Gibson Yard used to be MC's Chicagoland hump yard. The South Shore paralleled MC on the north side and also joined IC to access their passenger stations. The electrified part of the IC mainline is now owned by Metra, and the South Shore still uses that for access to Chicago.

1929 Calumet Lake Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Bobl Lalich commented on Robert's post
Probably the north end of Kensington Yard. There were several structures located at ground level. Here is a portion of an IC drawing showing the north end.
Evie N Bob Bruns IHB tied up a crew there engine and caboose in 60's early 70's parked next to the freight house.

Jacob Diorio posted two photos with the comment: "Two angles, one train.
IHB’s 190 Job creeps across the Little Calumet River in Burnham, on the former Michigan Central headed towards All-American Recycling near Kensington. 9/30/20"

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2

Eam Lajm-Treras posted
One of the more inaccessible river crossings around Chicagoland.  IHB's 190 job takes a spin up towards Kensington on the old Michigan Central mainline.   Calumet City, IL  01/11/21
Andrew Urbanski: Been there but never caught the scrap gon move.
Fred Van Dorpe: Let me guess, This job runs completely randomly?
Ean Kahn-Treras: In some ways, sure. 190 always starts his day in the morning. You could just follow him around Burnham and Cal City while listening to the radio to see what he does next. They hit Kensington maybe once or twice a week.
There’s a spot they serve just west of the Torrence Ave overpass. Likely 5 days a week, but I feel like I’ve heard them poking around on weekends before. Not certain though.

This 12/30/19 photo indicates that the route is not abandoned. It is yet another "one industry" bridge in Illinois.

Jacob Diorio posted
CBFX 1594 (ex-TRRA 1517) brings IHB Job 190 east after working All-American Recycling near Kensington. Seen here crossing the Little Calumet River in Burnham. 12/30/19
Marty Gatton Didn’t think those tracks were still active...
Nice catch
Jacob Diorio They only have this one industry to serve every few days. Surprising that they would keep a line like this just for one customer.
Marty Gatton Jacob Diorio I believe there is talk of possibly using that stretch for the south shore extension out to Munster/St John.
Steve Pajak When did the Harbor acquire that one?
Jacob Diorio Sometime in 2016 I believe. They acquired this and a few ex-NS ones.
Ron Hull Back in the late 60’s the embankment for the original MC main line was visible from the branch, about 50 yards to the west. Kensington Yard was still active, albeit with only one day job. Kensington Yard was my first paying (post student trips) fireman’s job on the PC.

Ron Hull asked for info concerning MC's connection with the IC in a post.
Andre Kristopans When the South Shore entered Kensington station on the IC, in reality they actually got on the MC for about 50 feet, then entered the IC. This is why there was a slight reverse curve just south of the junction.
Ron Hull “Thank you” is insufficient to express my gratitude to everyone who has commented here. In 1969 I worked my first paying job as a fireman at Kensington Yard. It was still pretty extensive - we reported to and worked from the freight house shown in the photos. The yard was pretty full of mostly old PFE reefers - some of which we switched into a train which we delivered to Gibson Yard. We used the line and bridge that is still in use to this day. We returned cabin light. My first non-student trip engineer was a gentleman named Al Doolin, a former Michigan Central man. He was kind and patient and shared quite a bit about the heydays of the Michigan Central. Apparently there was quite a bit of animosity between the former NYC and MC people over the way the seniority boards were merged in 1948. Kensington, both personally and historically holds a big place in my heart.
So grateful for the info!
[There are some comments about MC passenger trains stopping at Kensington. Of note:]
Alan Follett Lawrence Smith The last Michigan Central trains switched from Central Station to LaSalle Street on January 18, 1957.
Rick La Fever Now no one is allowed to take pictures at PO. Both Chesterton and Porter have passed ordinances against trespassing around the junction.
They won't bother you down by Bed and Breakfast but that's a long way from the junction.
Rick La Fever Lawrence Smith There were several "incidents' as I understand it including one where a railfan set up his charcoal grill within the gauge of the siding to tailgate party waiting on trains.

Bob Lalich commented on Ron's post
Here is part of a drawing dated 1951 showing the junction at Kensington. MC's Kensington Yard was their main freight yard for the Chicago terminal at first. It declined in importance as operations within NYC were consolidated and the IHB took over much of the classification work.