I finally (duh!) found out what the UP loco(s) is/are. They are the switch engines and are GP15ACs. It seemed like a major project to do this. I had to wait for one of them (I'm still not sure if there's more than the one) to appear in the enlarged screen of the east view so I could see the number and I kept fumbling around trying to pause the action. I finally saw number 723 and googled it. Built in 1982 and still earning its keep! UPY 723. So, that day I saw it pulling 14 cars, it must have been taking them to a yard. Doug
Thanks for that. I'd seen those too and wondered what they were and what they were doing in the terminal area. Very cool.
Last night there was a crew working on something right in front of the Lake Street tower. There was a vehicle there and bright lights illuminating the whole front of the tower and I heard many "fixing it" type noises- hammering, drilling/grinding, pneumatic tools, etc. The work was actually occurring right below the screen view so I couldn't see what they were doing - not working on the tower, itself. This went on from about 9:30 last night until about 2:15 this morning. Early on, there was some chatter but it's difficult to tell what they are talking about because they speak in very abbreviated language. Doug
At first, I thought maybe the UP was responsible for certain lines so their locos were used for those but I didn't think that seemed quite right. Doug
That's a neat little corner of the terminal area where we can see power parked. I'd always see units there in the '70s. This is from March 1975.
You got some great shots! Three C&NW F units. What more could one ask for? That must be where they fuel 'em up and maybe do light maintenance. A bit more elaborate these days than in 1975 (the year my daughter was born). And, it finally dawned on me that, as long as somebody stays on that long platform between tracks 5 & 6, taking pictures or videos, they probably wouldn't normally need permission, right? Doug
This photo need a caption, something like, "Yessir, you have a ticket to Milwaukee, but you are at the wrong station. You'll need to walk three blocks south to board the Milwaukee Road at Union Station."
Yes, a beautiful photo and showing the general architecture of some of the buildings. The power house has the same basic look as that building under the CTA tracks, doesn't it?. So, the old shed was built in 1911 and the new shed was built in 1994, right. The old one was in service for 83 years! BTW, I have seen the C&NW heritage F40PH locomotive the last few days. Oops, took too long to type. Doug
Are the commuter cars with the huge windows the newer ones? There are at least two GP15AC switchers. Last night, one was spotted in the "corner" at the usual spot and another was out on the shed tracks, collecting cars, One is UPY 723, the one I mentioned the other day. I haven't had a chance to see the other number and googling does no good. Doug
Yes, I think that's right. I'm not current on things, but Nippon Sharyo, Alstom (and maybe others?) have supplied new railcars to Metra.
Imagine what it was like back in steam days, The air must have been pretty thick with soot with all that action in a relatively small area. They must have headed a train into the shed and then another loco would couple on to pull the cars back out? Unless they had cab cars back then, too. Oh wait, that wouldn't work to run a steamer, would it. Doug
I've recently become to appreciate that many of the C&NW's suburban coach yards had turntables and enginehouses in the steam days. With three lines radiating from Chicago, there must have been a bunch. This one was in Barrington, IL, about 35 miles out on the line to Harvard, IL and Janesville, WI. [07/1929]
To your point, can you imagine the movements back then? That's Clinton Street Tower by the signal bridge. [Photo by Wallace W. Abbey]
Amazing! And look at that HUGE building in the background! I wonder if it is still standing? I've also thought about what the engineering meetings must have been like when they were first designing that track work! "Oops, almost forgot, we need another double slip here so a train can get from here to here if they miss the first switch up there or in case an operator throws that other switch the wrong way." Doug
I found the building and it is the Merchandise Mart - still standing. Built in 1928 - 1930 and was the largest building in the world at the time of its opening. Before the Merchandise Mart was built, the land was the site of a railroad yard. The Kennedy family owned the Mart for over 50 years after Joseph Kennedy bought it in 1945. Doug
Presume that all the switches are interlocked and governed by the signals displayed on the signal bridge. Interlockings don't permit conflicting routes to be lined by Operators. Presuming RESTRICTING or its equivalent indication was the signal being displayed to trains arriving on train shed tracks, it would be possible to run two trains onto a station track. If the signal is more permissive than restricting then there is the assurance that the track is clear to its bumping block.
That's the Merchandise Mart, opened in 1930 and very much still there. When I was a kid, I remember going there with my mother to look at furnishings.
Quite the experience for a kid, seeing and entering that colossal structure! I remember going to the St. Paul Montgomery Ward building with my family when I was a kid and I thought IT was huge, and it was, really, but it really didn't approach the size of the Chicago Merchandise Mart: I believe I mentioned. elsewhere, that my aunt worked here back in the nineteen sixties.The building was demolished in 1996. Doug
