These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
(Satellite) Note the transfer table along the north side of the building.
Steven J. Brown posted Rock Island Golden State 48-seat coach 342 'Golden Trumpet' (built 1947/Pullman-Standard, scrapped 1988) at the 47th Street Coach Yard in Chicago, Illinois - September 25, 1977. Brian Falzon: Wonder what happened to it now? Steven J. Brown: Brian Falzon Scrapped 1988 in Oklahoma. Steven J. Brown shared
Metra aquired Rock Island's 47th Street Yard when they purchased the route from LaSalle Street Station after the RI went bankrupt. The engine servicing facility next to 47th Street is called their 47th Street Yard. A building a little further south of the "Rocket House" was the coach shop. Metra calls this the 49th Street Shop and uses it to rehabilitate railcars. Both facilities were upgraded in 2018.
Metra is one of few U.S. commuter-rail agencies with an extensive in-house car rebuilding program, in part because it retains the facilities and space to do so, Metra officials say. Built shortly after World War II, the cavernous 49th Street shop features enough room for four rail cars to be worked on at the same time. Metra acquired the shop when it took over the now-defunct Rock Island Railroad's operations in 1983....In the Amerail project's early days, it took crews about 40 days to overhaul a car. Six years later, they've cut rail-car overhaul time to 32 days. [ProgressiveRailroading]
GE was able to make a locomotive that met the Tier 4 deadline. EMD is making a Tier 4 locomotive, but I recently read that UP is putting most of the 100 units it bought into storage because of electrical problems.
GE Transportation was recently merged with Wabtec in a $11.1 billion deal. Wabtec is the current name for the Westinghouse operation that invented air brakes. They have expanded into other railroad technologies such as PTC (Positive Train Control) equipment.
Maria Ko
[I didn't realize the wheel flanges were so small.]
GE's original plant was in Erie, PA. I don't know if this is the facility that Alco used when they built locomotives. I've learned they build their engines in Grove City, PA. They also moved a lot of the locomotive production from Erie to a million sq. ft. facility in Fort Worth, TX (16 photos). In fact, for a while they were talking about closing Erie. At least they kept the production in the USA. I don't know what combination of cheap land, cheaper taxes, and union busting prompted the move. There is no point reading articles about the move because no one is going to honestly say "we moved to bust the unions," if that was the case.
Waxhaw Railroads created an album with 18 photos titled "Locomotive #7109."
1 Building a new locomotive has taken on a whole new proposition. This new assembly plant for General Electric is located in Ft. Worth, TX, where BNSF #7109 was built. That's [B-urlington N-orthern S-ante F-e] Railway. #7109 is the new ES44C4, [E-volution S-eries, 44-00 hp, type- C4]. CSX Transportation uses an older sister locomotive, the ES44DC.
2 The engines, or prime movers for the locomotive are GEVO12-4 [G-e, EVO-lution, 12-cylinder, 4-stroke], enormous 4400 hp engines. They turn the generator that produces the electricity for the electric motors [called "traction motors"] on the axles.
3 This is actually an assembly plant where compenents are put together. Different sections have been built elsewhere and are assembled at the Ft. Worth plant. Here are the six-axle trucks.
4 ...and cabs are waiting to be installed onto the frame.
5 The giant overhead crane moves heavy parts around. The pieces are starting to look like a locomotive! Once all of the components are present and production is moving along, it generally takes 5 days for the assembly of one locomotive.
6Here is a graphic of what it looks like "under the hood."
7 The grey primer paint has been applied to the locomotive.
8 A final coat of paint adds a gleam to the engine! Now for the striping and lettering.
9 Now she's finished and all dressed up and ready to test the rails! Hooray, a birthday!!
10 But this big beast needs a push from this little Bobcat to place it on the transfer table to go to the tracks. The locomotive weighs in at a staggering 462,000 [231 tons!] So, can this little Bobcat S850 pull it? Yes!
11 On to the transfer table it goes. The Bobcat has done its work.
12 Here is the builder's plate on the locomotive. The weight difference is due to the fuel, oil, water and crew.
13 This is where it is headed: to a line of engines head west to the BNSF yard for delivery. But while we were gone, the Bobcat has had a problem. Yes, it pulled the 462,000 pounds...
14 ...but, NO, it didn't stop it. Just two weeks after assembly began at the new plant, this over-anxious locomotive needed to test the rails on the right. A runaway!!
15 Right through the fence it went until it hit the ground. What can stop 462,000 pounds? Only the brakes of the locomotive. And it was turned off. It got away. It made a mess.
16 Just WOW. How do you explain this to the boss? Or do you just go ahead and pack your bags and move? Well, it took a while to get it back in. The plant had no machinery for "disposition plan B." And this story was not exactly "planned."
17 The good news: but they did manage it. Here is #7109 sailing down the rails, free of the confines of a plant! You may see it in Waxhaw one day. That is why I post when "foreign power" [a reference to 'another railroad'] comes through town.
18 The Ft. Worth plant has now produced over 1,000 locomotives, for all of the US railroad lines. Here is a face-shot of the Kansas City Southern RR #4911. For some of you, it might be 'a face only a mother would love' but for the rest of us, she is a beautiful, yet powerful machine. And a lot smaller than 4400 horses would be! Thanks for listening to the story of locomotive construction and one locomotive BNSF #7109. Keep your eyes open... she may come through Waxhaw soon! Pat Kitto Seems impossible to ever move this back on the tracks?? Waxhaw RailroadsPat Kitto just takes the right machines.... which they didn't have and had to call in.
(new window) I can't believe they didn't hand the "bubbly gal" a torque wrench to finish installing the the "oh wow" oil pressure sensor. Letting the public think that finger tight is OK hurts my brain. I really miss the WWII produced videos that had a professional narrator behind the scenes focused on providing information. (I still haven't figured out if one guy did many films back in the 1940s, or if several guys did "the narrator voice." Some of the GE videos also had Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame. So they are not sexist. Sometimes they include a "bubbly guy.")
McCracken says while workers are frustrated with wages, worker control over scheduling has been a major factor, too. According to a press release sent by the U.E. union rep, Wabtec’s proposal includes mandatory overtime.
(Satellite, the site is now occupied by a townhouse development north of Belmont and between Washtenaw and the river. According to a 1938 aerial photo, some of the land north and to the west was also part of the shipyard.)
The bridges along the North Branch used to be movable up to, and including, Belmont Avenue. Grebe Shipyard took advantage of this navigation channel because they built some fairly large boats. It used to specialize in building custom luxury wooden yachts. They used exotic woods like teak and mahogany.
And the mahogany was not just for interior use. This boat was listed for $134,500. The listing indicated the hull material was "Double Planked Mahogany" and the deck material was Teak.
A Chicago Tribune article says the shipyard produced 200 luxury boats since it opened in 1926. But ShipBuildingHistory shows it producing boats since 1916. I reconciled these dates when I learned the company started in Milwaukee and then moved to Chicago. And it started with the name Great Lakes Boat Building.
Steve Clements: And on the right edge, you can see Bally Manufacturing, Inc. Home base for slot machine and pinball machine design and manufacturing fame.
ChicagoMaritimeMuseum, 1 of many photos "World War II was the Grebe yard's most prosperous time, building mostly wooden mine sweepers called YMS's for Yard Mine Sweepers. These small warships were used in the Pacific to clear Japanese magnetic mines before amphibious landings."
I found someone's recollection that it closed in 1995. [YachtForums, Jeff Ondrla]
MWRD posted A view to the east showing a shipyard on the west side of the North Branch of the Chicago River, just north of Belmont Avenue, on February 11, 1922. Some of the rides at Riverview Park are visible in the background. MWRD posted on May 24, 2023 William Lafferty: This would not be the Grebe yard in 1921. Henry Grebe Company was initially formed as a yacht brokerage and marine surveying firm that year with an office on North Michigan. Henry Grebe also provided naval architecture service primarily to yachtsmen. Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation was organized at Milwaukee on 1 February 1916, capitalized at $200000, to build power boats at a yard constructed at Becher Street and the Kinnickinnic River, and Grebe, a native of Milwaukee, was originally associated with the firm until his move to Chicago. On 23 October 1923 a group of wealthy Chicago yachtsmen including Sinclair Oil's Sheldon Clark, Phil Wrigley, and lumberman Herman Hettler, took control of the firm and announced its intention to move it to Chicago. Hettler leased the firm the site of one of his former lumber yard docks on the North Branch at North Washtenaw for the new plant. Grebe became the de facto naval architect of the firm that continued to build boats as the Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation until at least 1938. Walter Beauvais was the resident naval architect when the firm was located in Milwaukee. Grebe was its president by 1930 and he consolidated the yard, brokerage, and naval architecture office under the name Henry C. Grebe & company in, I believe, 1939, then called in advertising the "Great Lakes yard of Henry C. Grebe & Company." After Grebe's death on 24 May 1952, his widow Marguerite took over management of the yard. Raymond Kunst shared
A view to the east showing a shipyard on the west side of the North Branch of the Chicago River, just north of Belmont Avenue, on February 11, 1922.
You can see Riverview in the background.
Christopher Janisch posted They were on the Chicago River @Belmont. You can see Riverview park in the background. [William Mullican added some photos from and a link to these notes.] Ray Schmid: I see the Comet roller coaster and the brick smoke stack of Lane Tech HS.
Sam Johnson posted twelve photos with the comment:
GREBE & CO. INC. U.S. NAVY SHIPYARD HISTORY ON THE CHICAGO RIVER AT BELMONT AVENUE.
In 1926, Milwaukee's former "Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation" became the "Henry C. Grebe & Co. Inc. Shipyard" and moved to Chicago. The shipyard was over eight acres on the north branch of the Chicago River at 3250 North Washtenaw Avenue, across the river from the famous Riverview Park.
Before World War II, Grebe (Gree-be) produced sail yachts and powerboats for exclusive clientele.
During the war, the shipyard built over 56 ships, wood, and steel, for the U.S. Navy, including 21 tugboats, 4 tankers, and 28 minesweepers (aka auxiliary motor minesweepers). These vessels were used in detecting mines laid by enemy submarines, and their wooden hulls helped prevent the explosion of nearby magnetic-triggered mines.
Rumor has it that Grebe built P.T. boats (small patrol boats, the most famous, PT-109, was commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy). According to the Chicago Maritime Museum, which holds the Grebe archives, they never built P.T. boats.
The shipyard's existence was why moveable bridges were kept in place on the north branch of the Chicago River because the bridges needed to open to let the Grebe-built craft to Lake Michigan.
After the war, Grebe returned his business to mostly building pleasure craft for such Chicago luminaries as Philip Wrigley and Sterling Morton of Morton Salt. They also made some powerboats for the Chicago Police Department.
When Grebe passed away in 1952, his widow Marguerite took over operations, unusual enough to merit several newspaper articles about her. As time went on, the interest in these high-end yachts waned. She ran the company until they completed their last boat in 1972. The company continued to operate at the site until 1994, providing boat maintenance and storage. The land was worth more than the business.
Ben Hirsch: I could be wrong, but I thought Grebe was there until 1997.
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I first learned about this shipyard because they made minesweepers during WWII and the Navy installed machinery in the railroad swing bridges on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal so that they could be opened to allow the minesweepers to get to the ocean via the Mississippi River. (The St. Lawrence Seaway would not open until 1959. The Navy also shipped other ships from Great Lakes shipyards down the Mississippi River such as Manitowoc Submarines.) I dug through a lot of luxury yacht photos before I figured out how to search for photos of mine sweepers. A collection of photos of their yachts is at the end of these notes.
The Navy wanted to build ships inland to avoid German U-boats. Sometimes they built a shipyard from scratch like the LST shipyard in Seneca, IL. In the case of Grebe, they just had to change the product line. I can't determine if the hull of the YMS class of minesweepers was steel or wood. I remember reading that Grebe was chosen to build wooden minesweepers because of their expertise and tooling to make wooden hulls. But a reference indicates that magnetic mines, and thus wooden hulled minesweepers, were not developed until the Korean War.
YMS Class
Displacement is 270 British tonnes, length is 136', and the crew was 32 men. It had 2 shafts and 2000 hp. 494 ships of this class were built, which was, by far, the largest class.
YMS-84 was the first minesweeper built at Grebe. It was order 4-1-1941, the hull was laid down 6-2-1941, it was launched 3-3-1942, and it was commissioned 5-23-1942 [YMS-84]. I assume the period between launch and commissioning is when it made its trip between the North Branch of the Chicago River to the Gulf of Mexico. The last, and 25th, minesweeper built for the Navy by Grebe was YMS-421. It was ordered 7-21-1943 and commissioned 3-3-1945.
The Henry C. Grebe & Co. Inc. Shipyard was on the Chicago River at Belmont Avenue Building U.S. Navy Ships, across from Riverview Park, that built over 50 Navy Ships.
The shipyard’s existence was the reason that moveable bridges were kept in place on the north branch of the Chicago River. Lots of pictures and a great story to boot! Who knew?
The YMS-84 was laid down on June 2, 1941, by Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, IL. Launched March 3, 1942, and was completed May 23, 1942. The USS YMS-84 was a YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper built for the United States Navy and commissioned into service in May 1942. Notable for being the first US Navy Vessel built in Illinois during the Second World War, the YMS-84 and her crew steamed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and then into the Gulf of Mexico, where she began training and convoy escort duties through early 1943.
It struck me that minesweepers are one of the few military assets that continue to do their primary job after a war is won. A lot of mines had to be removed from the English Channel. During the war, they just cleared lanes across the channel.
During the Korean War, they built 3 more that were delivered in 1953-54. [ShipBuildingHistory] So the photo below would be of one of the three ships for the Korean War. During WWII, they also built 20 tugs, and in 1945 they delivered four water tankers that had a displacement of 440 tons and were 174' long. [ShipBuildingHistory]
Encyclopedia.ChicagoHistory U.S. Navy minesweeper under construction at Henry C. Grebe & Co. shipyard on the west bank of the North Branch of the Chicago River, June 1952.
Photographer: Louis F. Zimmerman
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37004)
[We can see they built them from the bow backwards. I don't see any cranes big enough to lift in pre-built modules like they developed for Liberty Ships.]
The above photo was driving me nuts. I already knew the power plant that we see on the left is west of the river. From the middle to the right background is obviously an amusement park. I have confirmed that it was Riverview. It was on the right side of the river. That means we are looking north. And the photo must have been taken with a really wide-angle lens. But I was curious how they were going to get the land-locked boat on the left into the river. In the following full resolution excerpt from a 1938 aerial, the big boats were built by the river. It looks like they built the smaller boats on transfer platforms. When done, I presume they moved the platform to the north/south "white strip" and then north to the boat ramp that lowered them into the water.
By 1952, the site looked completely different. The part to the west of the "white strip" may have been sold to others because that part changed between 1952 and 1962. The remaining site looked about the same in 1962, 1972 and 1988. It was cleared in 1999. But the part that changed between 1952 and 1962 looked the same in 1999.
MWRD posted The North Branch of the Chicago River, looking north from the west side of the Belmont Avenue Bridge, showing boats and a ship repair yard on May 27, 1920. Charles M. LaBow: Also, in the distance, the smokestacks of the Commonwealth Edison, Northwestern Generating Station and the lift structure of the Shoot-the-Chutes at Riverview Park. MWRD posted with the same comment
Tyson Park: Wasn't there a company that made boats/yachts on the west bank in this view? The North Branch had obviously been dredged out quite a bit by 1920 as it is more like a creek where it enters the North Shore Channel.
William Lafferty: This would not be the Great Lakes Boat Building Company yard in 1920, later Grebe. Henry Grebe Company was initially formed as a yacht brokerage and marine surveying firm that year with an office on North Michigan. Henry Grebe also provided naval architecture service primarily to yachtsmen. Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation was organized at Milwaukee on 1 February 1916, capitalized at $200000, to build power boats at a yard constructed at Becher Street and the Kinnickinnic River, and Grebe, a native of Milwaukee, was originally associated with the firm until his move to Chicago. On 23 October 1923 a group of wealthy Chicago yachtsmen including Sinclair Oil's Sheldon Clark, Phil Wrigley, and lumberman Herman Hettler, took control of the firm and announced its intention to move it to Chicago. Hettler leased the firm the site of one of his former lumber yard docks on the North Branch at North Washtenaw for the new plant. Grebe became the de facto naval architect of the firm that continued to build boats as the Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation until at least 1938. Walter Beauvais was the resident naval architect when the firm was located in Milwaukee. Grebe was its president by 1930 and he consolidated the yard, brokerage, and naval architecture office under the name Henry C. Grebe & company in, I believe, 1939, then called in advertising the "Great Lakes yard of Henry C. Grebe & Company." After Grebe's death on 24 May 1952, his widow Marguerite took over management of the yard.
MWRD posted The North Branch of the Chicago River, looking north from the west side of the Belmont Avenue bridge showing a shipyard and boats on October 8, 1925.
Lance Grey commented on MWRD's post Smokestacks of Northwest Power station @ Roscoe & California seen in lots of Riverview pics. Grebe shipyard did major work for the Navy. Dennis DeBruler
Lance Grey Grebe's main business was custom luxury wooden yachts.
They built 25 of the 494 YMS class minesweepers built for WWII. They had steel hulls because magnetic mines, and wooden hulled minesweepers, were not developed until the Korea War.
Lance Grey commented on Dennis' comment Thanks for the reminder, Dennis; The pic I put with the line of ships was probably a courtesy stop for a Photo-Op. I've seen this one posted by Riverview too. Otherwise just the abandoned houseboat junkers.
THE HENRY C. GREBE & CO. INC. SHIPYARD WAS ON THE CHICAGO RIVER AT BELMONT AVENUE BUILDING U.S. NAVY SHIPS.
In 1926, Milwaukee's former "Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation" became the "Henry C. Grebe & Co. Inc. Shipyard" and moved to Chicago. The shipyard was over eight acres on the north branch of the Chicago River at 3250 North Washtenaw Avenue, across the river from the famous Riverview Park [also here].
Before World War II, Grebe (Gree-be) produced sail yachts and powerboats for exclusive clientele.
During WWII, Grebe built various wood and steel vessels for the Navy. The yard had cranes to lift 50 tons and a complete inter-yard rail system throughout. There was storage for 400 yachts.
During the war, the shipyard built over 56 ships, wood, and steel, for the U.S. Navy, including 21 tugboats, 4 tankers, and 28 minesweepers (aka auxiliary motor minesweepers). These vessels were used in detecting mines laid by enemy submarines, and their wooden hulls helped prevent the explosion of nearby magnetic-triggered mines.
This is a 1943 panorama of the Grebe Shipyard, which operated from 1926 to 1994. The former Riverview Park is visible in the background of this photograph. In the foreground, several U.S. Navy vessels are under construction.
Rumor has it that Grebe built PT boats (small patrol boats, the most famous, PT-109, was commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy). According to the Chicago Maritime Museum, which holds the Grebe archives, they never built PT boats.
The shipyard's existence was why moveable bridges were kept in place on the north branch of the Chicago River because the bridges needed to open to let the Grebe-built craft to lake Michigan.
Grebe shipyard looking east across Chicago River. Note Riverview Park's rides, Shoot the Chutes and The Bobs roller coaster in the background, circa 1928.📷The YMS-84 was laid down on June 2, 1941, by Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, IL. Launched March 3, 1942, and was completed May 23, 1942. The USS YMS-84 was a YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper built for the United States Navy and commissioned into service in May 1942. Notable for being the first US Navy Vessel built in Illinois during the Second World War, the YMS-84 and her crew steamed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and then into the Gulf of Mexico, where she began training and convoy escort duties through early 1943.
After the war, Grebe returned his business to mostly building pleasure craft for such Chicago luminaries as Philip Wrigley and Sterling Morton of Morton Salt. They also made some powerboats for the Chicago Police Department.
When Grebe passed away in 1952, his widow Marguerite took over operations, which was unusual enough to merit a couple of newspaper articles about her. As time went on, the interest in these high-end yachts waned. She ran the company until they completed their last boat in 1972. The company continued to operate at the site until 1994, providing boat maintenance and storage. The land was worth more than the business.
Today the site is occupied by the Belmont River Club townhomes.
Millie Jean, 1959 [Note a comment below: "the photo of the Millie Jean is from my personal collection, and is signed by the yard Superintendent then, Corey Berg-Olsen who was not only my boss but a personal friend."]
Lady Grebe, 1961, 48-foot yacht with a mahogany deck
I don't know how permanent sales links are. So this Wanigan III link is an experiment: a 1949 76-foot yacht. The link accesses a lot of interior shots, including the engine room and crew bunks. I did copy a couple of photos in case the link breaks.
In case the link does break, I saved this image.
In case the link does break, I also saved this image.
Bonus, the view on the other side of Belmont Ave. Bridge
MWRD posted on Apr 17, 2023 A view to the south from the Belmont Avenue bridge showing a view of boats and a shipyard on the North Branch of the Chicago River on May 27, 1920. Terry Gregory: These are houseboats and the North Branch of the river was called Houseboat City. https://chicagology.com/harbor/houseboatcity/
Dennis DeBruler commented on MWRD's Apr 17, 2023 post Dennis DeBruler
The Grebe shipyard was north of Belmont Ave. Here are a couple of MWRD photos of that view. The first one includes the top of a ride at Riverview Park.
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