tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post3521831909728228985..comments2024-03-29T05:00:50.812-05:00Comments on Industrial History: MJ: Manufacturers' Junction RailwayDennis DeBrulerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13992361354510209661noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-25009133552403226322024-02-26T21:33:08.209-06:002024-02-26T21:33:08.209-06:00"I'm the anonymous guy above" too. C..."I'm the anonymous guy above" too. Common name, I guess. I'm Sammy D III but I am in a world of computer hurt and can't seem to sign in.<br /><br />John Kunzie meant something to Trains magazine: https://www.trains.com/mrr/news-reviews/news/john-kunzie-founder-of-johns-lab-dies-at-87/ He was losing money on two Baldwin Shark-noses around 1977 (half way down): https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3625578 <br /><br />The current owner of the farm dates to 2008, I don't know if it was her family farm before that. Do the Hills themselves say Northwestern? I would think the owner would know. Maybe not care, but they'd know what it wasn't. I'm not social enough to ask them and from their site I don't know if they'd try to get me high or shoot me.<br /><br />On Historic Aerials 1999 is a sure bet. That white spot in 1988 is in the right place... I think 1980 may be a tree or ground feature.<br /><br />Where do you think that picture from Stephie Kolata was taken? Doesn't look like any place on the ROW that I can see. There is a name or address on the building left center but I can't quite read it. The building itself looks pretty good but I couldn't see it anywhere. Maybe it was inside the Hawthorne plant? Maybe IRM?<br /><br />Donated to IRM then they dumped it sounds good to me.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-22033665956279959492024-02-25T19:34:26.712-06:002024-02-25T19:34:26.712-06:00Re-reading the gofundme... I guess my mind skipped...Re-reading the gofundme... I guess my mind skipped over the part where they said it was delivered to Union, Illinois first before it made its way to them. MJ donate it, and the IRM not want it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-92213903606586155762024-02-25T19:30:38.332-06:002024-02-25T19:30:38.332-06:00I'm the anonymous guy above who linked the hil...I'm the anonymous guy above who linked the hillbunker caboose pic. Nice to see that somebody else still thinks about this forgotten railway, and is also interested in where the caboose ended up! <br /><br />The only source/lead I had on crystal lake was from this page, so it could be that Jim meant ~near~ Crystal Lake. At one point I thought remembered someone commenting on a photo that they saw it stored in a yard out there though, but I can't find it, so I could be wrong. I used a historic aerial viewer website + local news to try and figure out when the caboose got to the farm. <br />MJ had the caboose as late as '77 (http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2325668). I used this website try and get a vague date on when it got to the farm (https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer) - the 1980 resolution is not great but my hunch is it might be there are early as then. It doesn't appear prior to that. <br /><br />A local news piece talked about it and said local folks used it as a changing room before swimming in the little lake on the property. (https://wwordsmith.com/2019/06/10/bees-balm-bacon-and-a-bb/). The Woodstock independent, which published the piece, later ran a correction regarding when/who brought the caboose there (Judy and John Kunzie, if those names mean anything to anybody reading). Next time I go up to Union to the IRM I'm definitely stopping by! <br /><br />From what I read on the farm's website & campaign to save it, they're under the impression it's just an old C&NW caboose. No sign or anything. I have absolutely no clue how in the world it ended up there. MJ sell it at scrap value? Fascinating story for a unique piece of kit. <br /><br />I also need to credit Doug Kaniuk's incredible resource of static railroad equipment around Chicago for the reason I found the caboose in the first place (https://www.dhke.com/rrus/static/static13114.html). Lots of gems on his list. <br /><br />One last treat - the gofundme has photos of the inside.<br />https://www.gofundme.com/f/woodstockcaboose<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-16765814388300265382024-02-24T15:27:38.154-06:002024-02-24T15:27:38.154-06:00The only picture I've seen of it in service is...The only picture I've seen of it in service is this one (also linked above): https://www.flickr.com/photos/arthurbig/49031874497/in/datetaken/ . Looks like a match to me. Look at the light color on the rear wall, comes down to just below the top of the door. Yellow steps, too. Looks like you got the good side of it.<br /><br />Do you know that it was somewhere else in Crystal Lake? Could Jim Delhaye (above) have meant "NEAR Crystal Lake"? Google Earth shows it at the farm in 1999, maybe even 1988 (the resolution isn't good). This article is from 2015, when it was already there. The farm has a Woodstock ZIP but it's not in the town. I don't know the area, though.<br /><br />You probably know that the UP/METRA used to be the "Northwestern". People up there would know that name, how many of us on the planet have heard of the MJ? Is there a sign? I wonder why it went up there to start with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-91244190374780620372024-02-15T17:04:24.602-06:002024-02-15T17:04:24.602-06:00I found a bunch of other pictures in its derelict ...I found a bunch of other pictures in its derelict state if others would like to see them. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-34783298670398276222024-02-15T17:03:49.671-06:002024-02-15T17:03:49.671-06:00Hello MJ Historians - I may have a finding. Throug...Hello MJ Historians - I may have a finding. Through some detective work, I now believe that the MJ caboose is now located on the Hillbunker farms property in Woodstock, Illinois. Not far from the last reported position of Crystal Lake. They claim its a CNW caboose but if you look closely at the older pictures of it (circa 2012) you can see the distinct black bordered by white side panel. <br />This photo from 2019 sold it for me: https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/59948601_2032098376898614_4288447582889312256_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0f5592&_nc_ohc=fvSqYtXddAsAX-8QwOX&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&oh=00_AfCm9dO6wsAd6ljRkre4eMZnSuyAuxgRdXALPR38qJsG0A&oe=65F5E669<br /><br />Looks like they tried to raise funds to repair it and failed. In a sorry state now. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-55836587656886650092023-03-27T13:13:50.631-05:002023-03-27T13:13:50.631-05:001929 was a good year for maps, the @24,000 days we...1929 was a good year for maps, the @24,000 days were here. Like the 1929 Englewood Quad shown above. For scale, from Cermak Rd./22nd St. (I'm using "22nd" for the addresses) south to 31st. St. is one mile. Almost all of MJ's work as inside one mile (there was a little north of Cermak/22nd.<br /><br />It needs to zoom out or re-center a little. The area south of the BNSF and 26th. St. down to 31th St. was Western Electric's telephone pole factory. There is a picture of an 0-4-0 floating around, it must be there.<br /><br />Very little of the track shown is MJ. Very little. They had one "mainline"??? track from 14th. Street (connection with B&OCT) south over the rickety looking bridges and down to a mystery around 31st. St. Almost everything was on the west side of it.<br /><br />At Cermak Rd./22nd. St. two tracks split off and ran south, parallel with the "main", down to the roundhouse area. There is a yard and, of course, Western Electric, on the west. Rob Olewinski Cmraseye's photo #3 is looking north at that (uphill) yard. <br /><br />From the roundhouse track ran west to a bridge over Cicero Ave. to the Burlington (the bridge is gone now). Another track ran east, under the rickety bridge "main" line and the Belt Ry., to the Cable Building and other stuff on the east of the Belt Ry. You can see it in the right background on Marc Malnekoff's MJ RY 23 at Cicero, IL 3/23/2007. JB Hunt is south of the Cable building, which is still there, today. That area is in Chicago, the Belt Ry. is the city limits. Everything else is in Cicero.<br /><br />There are two levels, the MJ and Belt Railway are elevated on embankments from north of Cermak/22nd south to 31st St. Rob Olewinski Cmraseye's photo #3 shows the embankment in the background, the yard goes up to it. Brian Krotzman posted to Off the Beaten Track Branchline a shot of #23 on the south embankment (the tracks in the foreground go to the BNSF). That was the telephone pole factory behind it, Home Depot (in the background on the right) is on fill.<br /><br />To the north there was some industry between 16th and 18th <br />Sts. (the tracks along 16th St. are not theirs). To the south, from about 30th St. south everything has changed and I haven't found maps are detailed enough.<br /><br />Hmmm, I wonder what it looks like from the 31st. St. bridge. Maybe I should get Joon and... <br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-76857515747753400552023-03-26T19:37:10.816-05:002023-03-26T19:37:10.816-05:00If you want to brag about your layout email me at ...If you want to brag about your layout email me at sammydthree@gmail.comSammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-13604874015369437892023-03-23T09:18:12.667-05:002023-03-23T09:18:12.667-05:00If I had your email address, I lost it. So please ...If I had your email address, I lost it. So please email me at bruler@xnet.comDennis DeBrulerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13992361354510209661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-57925474526825896712023-03-23T06:20:41.658-05:002023-03-23T06:20:41.658-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-71539297999658563882023-03-23T06:07:36.484-05:002023-03-23T06:07:36.484-05:00No, they didn't. In April 2008 the USGS satell...No, they didn't. In April 2008 the USGS satellite shows the place almost empty but everything looks intact, including the roundhouse and turntable. In October 2009, (5 months after Ray Weart's picture of #23) the USDA satellite shows about 20 empty gondola cars on the main track behind Menards, in June 2010 Google shows couple of them had moved south of the roundhouse. If that was a scrap train it probably left empty, in March 2018 Google showed the railroad just like it looks today. Most, maybe all, of the rail between Ogden and Cermak is in place. I can't see the south embankment, but a siding from the Western Electric days still has rails that run into the bottom of a fill hill.<br /><br />A ghost railroad that only graffiti artists, a few homeless people, and the occasional tourist use.<br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-26962753137597212302023-02-11T18:46:22.909-06:002023-02-11T18:46:22.909-06:00Thanks for collecting all of this info! I made it ...Thanks for collecting all of this info! I made it out to the roundhouse ~1 month before they tore it down and it was in a sad state. I can share pictures if anyone is interested but there's quite a few photos of it in its abandoned state already.<br />I'm currently building a model railway layout based on the MJRY, and the photos here have been quite helpful!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-45502497184799226242022-07-19T20:58:31.409-05:002022-07-19T20:58:31.409-05:00In July 2022 the ROW, including some rail and all ...In July 2022 the ROW, including some rail and all bridges, still exists from Cermak Ave. south and Google Maps satellite view appears accurate. Only the lead west to the BNSF ends at a new Cicero Ave. alignment. Although you can get to the ROW in several places it is so overgrown with weeds that you can’t really walk it. Some rail is left but you can’t see how much. None is in service.<br /><br />On Cicero Ave between Cermak and Ogden you can get to the roundhouse site thru the Menard’s lot, all the way to the south side then east. Along the south side of the wall is a nice paved road that goes to the roundhouse site and stops. This area is cool but very rough.<br /><br />The water tower, just north of Menard’s, behind the AMC, looks nice from a distance but when you get close it rises out of a ruin. The tracks run right behind (east) of it, over a dangerous viaduct.<br /><br />South of Ogden/BNSF/26th you can get very close behind Food 4 Less, just north of 31st St., but it is just so overgrown.<br /><br />This is what “abandoned” looks like, I’m not sure if they even scrapped the rails.<br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-17758871416639245262021-05-20T20:35:24.844-05:002021-05-20T20:35:24.844-05:00Omnitrax still lists the MJ on their website as a ...Omnitrax still lists the MJ on their website as a customer. And I heard they still have one customer. The map for the MJ on the Omnitrax site is confusing as it seems to show an MJ long spur circling to the east also to access Charter Steel just south of 16th Street. What is the real story on the MJ today?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-25098471745488228692019-08-29T10:12:45.265-05:002019-08-29T10:12:45.265-05:00My dad worked for Western Electric for over 30 yea...My dad worked for Western Electric for over 30 years, starting his career with the company at the "Hawthorn Works". I remember going with him to see the M.J.R.R. when I was a young boy, probably around 1950. I took a picture of one of their locomotives during that visit which was actually published in Western Electric's employee newspaper. What a proud moment that was for this boy, seeing my photo in print and my very own name in the newspaper! I've never forgotten that and never will Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09339273802429497026noreply@blogger.com