Of all the "Old" railfan photographs I had taken during My beginings in the 1980's, this one without a doubt...is one of My personal favorites.I was standing on the "Just Abandoned" Grand Trunk Western Elsdon Yard embankment, and spotted this everyday seen of a Conrail industrial switching local at work. This view is looking north toward the many factories on west 48th place near south Kedzie Avenue. In a couple of years, this industrial spur trackage would become abandoned and quickly dismantled.
I am so glad that I had pointed My camera, and had the foresight to preserve this now "Rare" image, of industrial railroading on the southwest side of the city of Chicago Illinois USA. The embankment where I was standing that day, is now the Chicago Transit Authority's orange line rapid transit, to Chicago Midway Airport.
1 comment:
I used to scoff at branchline, inner city and shortline railroading, thinking the big engines on the high iron were the only things worth foaming about. Now, like you, I treasure scenes like this and regret they are nearly all gone.
I walked a portion of this line just before the Orange Line was being laid out. It dipped down to a brick yard on 47th and Fairfield, crossed behind the RC Cola plant on California, and snaked in and around a variety of old buildings, almost all of which had long given up on rail service. That spur serving the brick yard sometimes had a boxcar parked on it that looked mere inches away from the public sidewalk!
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