(
3D Satellite)
What the name Weldon Yard refers to depends on which century you are talking about and which railroader you are talking to. During much of the 20th Century, Weldon Yard was the western yard and it handled the intercity trains. The eastern yard was, and is, the 18th Street Yard and it handles the commuter (suburban) trains. [Larry Candilas' comment below]
 |
David Daruszka posted
The 18th Street MU shop, with Soldier Field in the right and the Field Museum above it. All the land to the east of the tracks was created by landfill. This was NOT made with landfill from the Chicago fire. Much of the fill came from various construction projects including the new Union station and the straightening of the Chicago River. The Chicago Freight Tunnel ran to the lakefront as well, so the fill included debris from the various coal fired boilers in downtown office buildings.
Dennis DeBruler: MU means Multiple Unit? So this would be the electrified cars or suburban service yard?
Vanished Chicago posted
CHICAGO – RAILYARDS – AERIAL – SKYLINE BACKGROUND – 1958 |
 |
David responded to my question
Yes. The shops were built when the line was electrified. Daily maintenance and inspections are still performed there. Heavy servicing was done at Burnside and later Woodcrest at Harvey yards. Metra built a new facility at KYD (Kensington YarD) at the junction of the Blue Island line. |
Some evidently used the name 16th Street Yard for the 18th Street Yard.
 |
Marty Bernard posted
Critter of the Day Illinois Central Electric freight locomotive 10003 at the 16th Street shops in downtown Chicago. The Shops are still in use by Metra Electric. The IC steeplecabs were sold to the South Shore Line in 1941. This one became South Shore 901. B&W print in my collection, photographer unknown. Marty Bernard shared with the same comment |
 |
Original Chicago posted via Dennis DeBruler
1942 track chart Chicago lakefront. Some of these tracks are still there, just underground now.
Ken Jamin shared
|
 |
Calumet412
Looking north from [actually, toward] Grant Park, 1948, Chicago. Andreas Feininger
Mike Breski shared
Tabitha Mira posted
Art Fischman: Dead center in that picture is an elevated walkway that went across the tracks. Walked across it one time as a kid. It was pretty awesome.
Matthew Chapman: Very much south of Grant Park, actually. This photo was taken from a place south of 18th St., perhaps from an upper floor of the RR Donnelly Printing Co bldg that was served by the tracks in the immediate foreground.
Paul Webb shared
John L Garcia shared
Matt McClure: I loved the 18th Street pedestrian Bridge in the foreground. Perfect for photography and never bothered by a soul. |
 |
History's Mirror posted
This iconic photograph, originally published in *Life* magazine, captures the incredible density of rail traffic converging toward Chicago—once the undisputed rail capital of America. With 42 different freight and passenger railroads using the lines shown, the image is a testament to the city’s status as a vital hub of commerce and transportation. Stretching across the foreground is the old 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge, a tar-covered wooden structure that for decades served as a lifeline for foot traffic over the sprawling rail yards. Built for the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair, the bridge helped millions of fairgoers reach venues on Northerly Island and around Soldier Field. Long after the fair ended, the bridge remained a beloved and essential crossing for South Loop residents and sports fans alike. Anyone who used it remembers the creak of the boards underfoot and the panoramic view of the lake, skyline, and labyrinth of tracks below. In 2004, the old bridge was replaced by a modern, 1,400-foot pedestrian and bicycle bridge, offering even better access from neighborhoods to the lakefront. Though the original bridge is gone, the spirit of connection and movement it embodied continues in its sleek successor, still guiding Chicagoans across time and steel.
[42 railroads did not use these lines. There were five other major stations in town. Offhand, I can think of only Michigan Central and Big Four using this in addition to Illinois Central.]
Mike Roegner: Photo by Andreas Feininger. Chicago skyline in 1954. You can clearly see the old, rickety 18th Street bridge traversing the tracks. Remember going across this for the Bears games? Rahm replaced it in 2015 Frank Neilson: It was already rickety in the 70's and 80's. |
 |
Mike Breski posted
ANDREAS FEININGER 1906 - 1999 View from Donnelley's (350 E. 22nd St.), Looking North, Chicago, 1941 Date: 1941 Credit Line: Andreas Feininger Archive, Rights and Reproductions Description: [bird's-eye view of railroad yard; Chicago skyline in background] Associated place: USA, Chicago Nationality: United States [Most of the comments were about Donnelley. One was about the Pabst Blue Ribbon sign so I added Jack Delano's photo of that sign.] |
Andreas took more than one photo while he was on the Lakeside Press building.
 |
Jim Arvites posted
View looking north toward Central Station of the Illinois Central Railroad freight, inter-city passenger and commuter train yards in Chicago in 1954.
(Andreas Feininger Photo)
Jim Arvites posted again with the same comment
Larry Candilas: The coach yard to the left was Weldon Yard and the suburban yard to the right was, and still is, 18th St.
Bob Hayden: Field Museum on the right? |
.jpg) |
Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's comment
The columns must have been part of Soldier Field. The "hat" above the columns is part of the Field Museum. This photo posted by David Daruszka helps show the sight lines between Cermak Road and the Field Museum. The photo was probably taken from the RR Donnelly Lakeside Press Building, now a data center.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8520246,-87.618336,241a,35y,39.39t/data=!3m1!1e3 |
A different exposure:
 |
Jeff Nichols posted
Tracks converging south of the Loop, June 1954. Life Magazine.
Paul Webb shared |
 |
Bob Eisthen posted
Unlabeled slide by Joe Rogers, processed September 1974, of an IC coach yard. This is Chicago (electric service cars are slightly visible behind the main line of older cars). Randy Bosma: The 1920s-era green Pullman coaches are being replaced by the new double-decker 'Highliners' delivered over the course of several years in the 1970s. Both were EMU powered by 1500 volt DC from overhead catenary. The 40+ year lifespan of the Pullmans was not matched by the Highliners; another generation of cars has replaced them. Chuck Earley: Weldon yard. Louie Giometti: This is the Illinois Centrals Weldon Yard worked there often in my early days with the ICRR The winters where tough wind snow knee deep my job was to stuff pillows into City of Miami train in the Material Dept warehouse and drive them up to 12th Street Station so they could load them for the trip to the south. That’s when it got rough driving in the snow and wind coming off the lake behind Soldiers Field home of the Bears. Gene Purkhiser: I loved working on the old green tanks |
 |
David Charles Linberg posted
South Shore running through the ICG yards In March of 1978. |
 |
Mike Raia posted
The end is near for Illinois Central passenger service. Three IC trains at Central Station in Chicago on April 4, 1971. On May 1, the newly formed Amtrak would take over passenger service. Bill Raia photo.
Mike Raia shared
Steve Merriam: If this is morning, we probably have, from left to right: the Hawkeye (From Sioux City); the City of New Orleans, (to its namesake city); the Governor's Special (to Springfield).
Mike Raia shared
Derrick Hampton: To the far right, you can see "The Prudential" insurance building! |
 |
Paul Musselman posted
This small engine house SORT of looks like it could have been a small roundhouse-but I'm not familiar with the IC stuff down there-anybody have a clue as to what this was?
Joe Flens: Those are the 18th street shops and yard. They were built in 1925 for the Illinois Central electric line. The building was built temporarily for the shops but has lasted the test of time. Metra Electric uses the shops now…… Joseph Tuch Santucci: This is the 18th Street MU shed and yard. During the week during the off rush, this yard is full of MU electric cars. This is where they do running maintenance on them. There is also a wash rack here on the far right side of the building. It’s all still in business. |
 |
Marty Bernard posted
6. ICG GP8 7714 coming off the east end of the St. Charles Airline, Chicago, IL in March 1976. from Rick Burn's Camera.
[The ballast still being nice and white is a reminder that the southern connection of the St. Charles Air Line was added as intercity passenger train traffic was dying.] |
 |
Michael Brandt posted
A pic of an old Iron Horse IC from 1972. It appears they are still ruling the rails at this point. Nice shot of Solder Field in the background. |
 |
Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook posted
On a beautiful fall September 29, 1970, afternoon, the southbound "Panama Limited" pulls out of Chicago's Central Station, embarking on its daily 921 mile overnight run to New Orleans. To the right is IC's Weldon Coach Yard, where IC cleaned and maintained its passenger car fleet (however, heavy repairs were done at the Burnside Shops at 95th Street). For most of its history the "Panama Limited" was Pullman only, and was one of the finest passenger trains to be found on any railroads. However, by the mid-1960's the IC was losing approximately $1.5 million annually on the train. To help cut these losses, on October 29, 1967, coaches and a food bar were added to the train. But, to give the illusion that the "Panama Limited" was still an all-Pullman train, the coach section was identified in public timetables as the "Magnolia Star". This charade ended December 13, 1968, when the "Magnolia Star" name was dropped and afterwards the coaches operated as regular equipment on the train. The "Panama Limited" made its last run on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak took over most intercity rail service in the U.S. The "Panama Limited" name was used by Amtrak between late 1971 and 1982 for its sole Chicago-New Orleans train, but Amtrak's version of the train simply was no match for the level of service offered by the IC's "Panama Limited". |
 |
David Charles Lindberg posted this March 15, 1978 photo
Mark Jones: 18th st footbridge— old Weldon St Coachyard in distance, now filled w/ stored boxcars. |
I think this is a view across the south throat of the yard.
 |
Marty Bernard posted
An outbound CSS&SB (South Shore) train just southeast of the Chicago Loop, August 18, 1982.
Marty Bernard shared
Jeff Lewis: You appear to be standing adjacent to Soldier Field. I briefly knew a woman who lived in the Lake Vista Apartments, the prominent building in the center of the image, at the time of this photo. I would occasionally look out her window at the activity in the yards and along the electric line. Cool shot. And thanks for the memory, I haven't thought of her in a very long time. |
 |
Jeff Nichols posted
Passenger train leaving the Illinois Central Station. Cataloged as c. 1952. Source: Museum of the American Railroad, Dallas, Texas
Paul Jevert: That is no doubt #303 "The James Whitcomb Riley" departing about 3:55 pm. It looks like it has a I.C.R.R. "stand-in 2600 doing the honors to KKK due to a failure of NYC power on arrival from KKK on the northbound trip. The Big 4 had a big Roundhouse at KKK and they were no doubt lending them a I.C. race horse to be cut off at KKK for their own motor or steamer !
The Riley was an all stainless steel train put on after WW II !
I incidently fired the Riley in 1968-71 since I.C. Engine crews did the running from KKK-Chicago-KKK ! The Big 4 train crews worked through to Chicago and return.
Paul Jevert shared
New York Central Big 4 trn. #303 James Whitcomb Riley departs Central Station Chicago with I.C. 4-8-2 2600 Class Mountain on the point from Chicago to Kankakee, Ill. where NYC power will swap out to Indianapolis/ Cincinatti, OH. |
 |
Michael Brandt posted
What a great shot of an old Iron Horse IC running along side two aluminum can IC's.Notice big Stan, the Standard Oil building under construction in the background.
Bill Mildaus: Must of been before the horable crash, after crash the IC painted the ends of cars bright orange. |
.jpg)
