Monday, February 05, 2007

Looking south toward west 51st Street on former GTW interchange track. Chicago Illinois USA. Late January 2007.

This view goes back to My high school days. I attended Curie High School just west of here from 1977 to 1981. Prior to October of 1983, The old Grand Trunk Western Railroad Elsdon Yard and wooden 2 story train station were just ahead on this interchange track connection. This track connected the GTW Elsdon Yard , to the former A,T&S,F (Santa Fe) Corwith Yard at west 47th Street and south Archer Avenue. When I wasn't attending class, many times I would spend a little time here either before the school day would begin, or after school was through for the day. I would watch the hump operations at Corwith, or the GTW switching operations blocking west 51st Street with frequent back and forth movements. There were little hills and dirt trails in this area, and many times one could find Young teenage boys riding their BMX bikes here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I remember many an afternoon at the Elsdon station, with my bike lying on the ground in front of the bench I was sitting on, looking north along this connecting track. One day, a distant headline appeared and a short ATSF train slowly made its way down from Corwith and paused right in front of the station. It was the only time I ever saw a train on this important connection.