I grew up in Chicago near the Santa Fe owned Illinois Northern industrial branchline, and later experienced the Indiana Harbor Belt Stockyards branch running behind Curie High School. Theseindustrial feeder branchline railroad lines, have always held a special fascination for Me. You won't find high speed Amtrak Acella service here, but the door to door customer service pick up and deliveries, provide plenty of activity for those who model this operation on their miniature model railroads. This branchline near Wolf Road and Green Street in Bensenville, is a reminder of My railfanning roots. Switching locals that serve the industries have personality.
1 comment:
Eddie,
This is a very loose connection at best, but this scene looks almost exactly like what you can see by standing at the IHB crossing of Harlem Avenue at about 59th Street, looking east. I know that you're a big fan of this old IHB line and that you know exactly what I'm talking about.
The reason that I bring this up is that last week I noticed a lot of work on the tracks just beyond the pavement at that location. The purpose was to remove a spur that fed the old Daily Southtown building (formerly called the Southtown Economist to you fans of Eddie's blog who have moved away from Chicago) on the right, looking almost exactly like the building in your photo.
The Southtown moved to suburban Tinley Park in the late '90s, and although it still continued to use the building for a while, it seems pretty deserted these days. I guess the removal of the spur that used to bring all the newsprint boxcars to this facility is a sure sign that the era is over.
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