Chicago Ridge Junction and Tower. (Gone-Demolished.) Chicago Ridge Illinois. October 1989.

 

 

The greater Chicagoland area with it's many railroads, was once the

place where classic steam era interlocking towers, controlled the flow

of train traffic through most if not all of the numerous railroad junctions

and interchange connections to other railroads. Beginning during the 1960's

in places like Rochelle Illinois, the interlocking control towers began a long

and gradual, sometimes rapid period of demise. These facilities long obsolete

by satellite communications, GPS and remote dispatching, began to disappear

rapidly from the greater Chicagoland area during the 1980's and 90's era.

 

I took this photograph at Chicago Ridge tower near Oak Lawn Illinois, way -

back in October of 1989. This tower controlled freight train traffic on the very

busy Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, as well as Chicago Metra commuter trains

and limited freight traffic over the Norfolk Southern ex Wabash mainline.

 

Chicago Ridge tower was closed in 1993, and demolished in 1995, after a

series of Arson Fires of suspicious origin were set to the abandoned structure.

 

Thanks.

Eddie K.