An era is ending. December 1988.

We are looking west from Lawndale Avenue and 49th Street on Chicago's Southwest Side. The Sun is not just setting on a fine Chicago day...but
also on the set of train tracks in the photograph.

The railroad branchline seen here belonged to the Indianna Harbor Belt Railroad. This line was known as their Chicago Stockyards Industrial Branch. This was the last year of service as a freight railroad line. The line was "Abandoned" shortly after this photo was taken. The tracks were dismantled in 1989, and the line was Reconstructed and Redeveloped into the Chicago Transit Authority's -Orange Line Rapid Transit line to Chicago's Midway Airport, wich opened to the public in the fall of 1993. The silhouetted building with the floodlight posts at the far right of this photograph, is Curie High School. I attended school here from 1977 to 1981. The rail line itself was in poor condition. The rails were kinked and the wooden ties Rotted in many places.