Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Chicago's Brighton Junction. R.I.P April 2007.

The end of an era happened around the 4th of July 2007, when the antiquidated and sentimental steam era manual junction at Archer and Western Avenues officially closed.

I visited Brighton Junction back in April of 2007, and new signal systems and preparations for them, were already being gradually set up. The writing was on the wall, and an era in Chicago railfanning was about to come to an end.

Luckilly, I had the foresight to photograph this side view of the manual semaphore signals looking east at the shanty.
Some of the mechanical linkage required to operate them
can be seen along the ground.

The good news if any, is that the Norfolk Southern Railroad is exploring the possibility of Museum Preservation for the shanty and signals in the near future.

No comments: