Western Railroad Discussion > Chicago Switching Update-Goose Island+Lumber District

As far as I understand, there are two remaining sections of classic street switching trackage in Chicago - The Chicago Terminal Railroad ex-CP ex-MILW in and around Goose Island, and the former BNSF, now BNSF again Lumber District along Cermak Rd.

BNSF took over from the Central Illinois RR in July or August, and there has been little comment that I could find on what BNSF has done with the line since taking it back.

Yesterday I had to ferry a significant other to the west side from the north side, and decided taking out route back via Cermak & Halsted to Goose Island would be suitable repayment.

Driving on Cermak, I had the incredible luck to catch BNSF pulling scrap gons east on the Lumber District right as it curves towards Cermak. They ended up heading the other way, and the power was a blue/white ex-leaser GP38-2. The two switchers are still in the pen, and it looks like rails were shiny up to that point.

Coming onto Cherry St. on Goose Island, I had the absolutely ridiculous luck to catch the lumber car being shoved into place. And they made quick work of it! They must have only stopped for two minutes before the engine was on its way again NB. Interestingly I hear another customer - the former Republic Windows and Doors Plant, now another company - got a bulkhead flat as well, the first such delivery. I also hear that (one of?) the scrap/steel mill(s) is requiring 8 gons a day.

Seeing this area, and how gentrified it is, I would imagine the future is short for operations. Nowhere else can I imagine you'll be driving down street trackage behind an SW with endless Land Rovers and Lexuses following you, moms pushing the children around, and high-end retail stores nearby. I read that the steel customer will be moving out of the area to make way for a university stadium, which sounds like doom to me.

I can't emphasis enough how ridiculous it is that I caught both city switching operations in motion simply as I was driving, without even stopping! The delay was so minimal the significant other didn't even complain !

The video is rough; it is simply what I was able to get without really stopping. Listen to those horns though!

The first picture shows the BNSF crew shuffling gons where the trackage meets Cermak; the second shows the CIRR SW's still in there pen even though operations have ceased.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/10 14:06 by inRVA.

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More photos -

Interesting to be driving down a street behind a truck and a biker, while a lumber flat is coming at you the other way.

The SW was only stopped for a moment for the Crewman to put the handbrake on the lumber car, but it was enough to grab two shots (in bad light) . I would imagine nearly the same engine in Milwaukee colors used to shine these rails, except serving many more customers...

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Where in Chicago is Goose Island?

Paul Ramer
Cincinnati, OH

pramer Wrote:
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> Where in Chicago is Goose Island?


Northeast of the Loop / central Chicago. The southern tip of the island is basically due west of the Hancock Tower.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=goose+island+chicago&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.555061,92.988281&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Goose+Island,+Cook,+Illinois&ll=41.895761,-87.649012&spn=0.044914,0.12351&z=14

Z

What's the story on the two switchers "in the pen" as you put it? Any better photos to share of those two units?

What's with that blue and white BNSF unit? I like it!

I'm new to the area, but the two switchers were the power for the Central Illinois RR, which recently operated the trackage but folded. IF you search for that on Flickr or railpictures.net you'll find plenty of photos, including of the last run. I hope to get down there sometime and see what BNSF still works. One spur between two building on a curve seems impossible for a GP38-2, so I imagine that traffic is done.

As for the geep, I guess it is ex-leaser but that is all I know. There were threads on here previously about it. It is quite funny that it has migrated to such a unique assignment.

zars Wrote:
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> What's with that blue and white BNSF unit? I like
> it!

Former lease unit, paint was still good so they just relettered it and called it a day.

Great photos and I enjoyed the video.

Great catch. Thank you for posting.

Gary

Great catches! I've gone after both of those lines on a whim before, but I've never had any luck.

Congrats,
Jeff Carlson

Thanks. If it helps, I caught BNSF switching at about 11:40 a.m., and the Chicago Terminal just after noon. This was on a Monday.