I took this photograph in early October of 1983. We are looking east on West 51st Street on Chicago's southwest side. This was the once very busy Grand Trunk Western railroad's Elsdon Yard. This yard was located on West 51st Street betwen South St. Louis and Lawndale Avenues. There were manually operated crossing gate operators towers on 51st and 55th Street at the south end of the yard.The railroad yard facility contained 14 tracks with frequent back and forth switching moves , requiring manual operation of crossing signals during busy operating times. The operators tower on West 55th Street had already been demolished and replaced with automatic crossing gates by the time of this photograph. The tower seen here on West 51st Street was in its last week of operation and was demolished the following week.
6 comments:
A very bumpy 51st st. across them 14 tracks.All great photos Eddie
Eddie, any chance you have photos of the 55th street crossing? Again like the previous posted comment it was a very bumpy crossing until they were replaced. It had 16 tracks total with one not used anymore near the CTA stop. Dennis
I remember these tracks as a kid in the 70's. I use to love it when my mom drove over them but at the same time I was scared that a train was going to hit us. They were fond memories that are missed.
Eddie, Do you have more pictures of elsdon yard?
Hi Ken!
Welcome aboard buddy.
Yes I have a small handfull that I am glad I took back then. I will be
posting Elsdon photos occasionally.
Thanks for discovering
Eddie's Railfan Page.
http://eddiesrailroad.blogspot.co.
Eddie K.
Eddie, the at 55th Street grade crossing was the longest grade crossing East of the Mississippi River with a total of sixteen tracks crossing 55th Street at Grade.
The Crossing at 51st street was narrowed down to ten tracks with the mainline tracks California Lead Tracks #1 & #2. counted as the ten, so two Main tracks plus three yard leads going to the roundouse which use to stand at Kedzie Avenue where today the K-Mart Stands; the other five tracks were yard tracks proper and were seperated by a sort of no-mans land where a dirt roadway ran to the scalehouse and the old Victorian Car shops that use be on the far east end of the Elsdon Yard. I don't know if many remember that when you traveled eastbound on 55th Street and were midpoint at the crossing people would see what was a big black car barn sort of building that was the old Elsdon Carshops so in it's hayday the total trackage at 55th Street reached twenty tracks at onetime twentytwo if one wants to count the old Chicago Surface lines trackage that crossed in the center of 55th Street and ran from the old trolley station too Archer Avenue and at ontime connected with the old Chicago & Joliet Electric Interurban line to Joliet.
The old Trolley turnaround use to stand just East of #3 carshop lead. this is where the Trolley line from Harlem Avenue would terminate and the trolley line to Garfield Blvd and Cottage Grove would begin; later this terminal was used by the CTA on the same routing till the Midway Orangeline went into operation which drastically changed bus services on the Southwest Side.
I grew up and resided at 59th Place & Lawndale Ave one block East of a former GTW Customer the old Chicagolawn Coal Company hence my nickname, the Chicagolawn Kid.
I plan to model this section of the GTW from the western edges of the Central Steel Complex at 49th and Kedzie too Wellsboro, Indiana so I would have a mixture of urban and rural modeling, I plan to model the era from the late 1950's to the early 1960's so I would have a great mix of Steam, early GTW diesel, Frieght & Passenger Services, I would run my line from the Southwest edges of the Central Manufacturing District through Residental and commercial areas of the old neigborhood as well as rural and farming areas of North and Northwest Indiana, I would model the old GTW Roundhouse at kedzie Ave, the Freight Station at 51st Street, The Scalehouse Carshops and various Towers at 51st St., 55th St., Hayford, Blue Island, Harvey, Posen, Thorton Jct, Griffith, Sedley, Valpo Yard, Haskells and the end of my pike Wellsboro where the GTW crosses another of my favorite lines out of the Southwest side The B.&.O. the other of my favorites is the old P.C.C.& StL / PRR the Panhandle route out of the old 59th Street yard formerly located a 59th Street & Hamilton; the GTW use to cross the Panhandle line in Munster, Indiana pretty darn close to the Stateline a matter of yards away. Oak Glen might I add was in Illinois, Hays Junction AKA Munster, Indiana is in the state of Indiana. the total mileage from Chicago (Dearborn Street.) to the state line is 30.6 miles oneway, too Wellsboro it is 71.1 Miles, so this would be a nice layout but I need help. Does anyone out in webland happen to have a copy of the official GTW or Sandborn Insurance Company Track Schematical diagram of the Elsdon Yard? If so, and if your nice enough to share this with me and your willing to send a xerox copy or an attachment in a e-mail, please contact me at brianjoycem@charter.net.
Thanks.
Brian Morgan
The Chicagolawn Kid.
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