This is a rare photograph of a Conrail industrial switching local on Chicago's southwest side. This beautiful sunny and mild Indian Summer day in Chicago, was spent photographing trains on the Grand Trunk Western railroads "Elsdon Yard"embankment just west of Kedzie Avenue and 49th street. The Conrail switching job seen here was actually serving the factories along 48th street, in the final years of service on this section of Industrial Spur Sidings. Approximately 3 years later....The siding tracks and the connecting branch serving them were torn up. This line was abandoned and the tracks were Dismantled for good. The remaining factories would now get their shipments by Truck 100%. The connecting branch was dismantled and redeveloped into the CTA Orange Line Rapid Transit to Midway Airport right of way.
3 comments:
The factories faced 47th Street. I remember one was Sherman and Klove S & K Tools. This was CR&I territory. Also the CR&I had the factories under the Pulaski Road bridge to the west of Corwith. They had to cross over the ATSF hump to get back there.
I wish that I could have seen this firsthand like You did.
Although My material is from later times, some of it has become rare. The old GTW Elsdon station ,yard, crossing gate operators towers, and roundhouse in particular.
I wish that I had actually became handy with a camera before 1983. I photographed that Conrail local approximately two years before the rails were ripped up. I believe that this line was abandoned not long after I had taken this photo.
Thank You.
Eddie.
I can only remember one trip east on the Stockyards IHB line from the ATSF with cattle. The only one who had ever been in there was the engineer and it was a maze of tracks and pens. -1964
Post a Comment