Western Railroad Discussion > An industry spur comes back to life in Chicago

Here is something against the trend - a rail spur coming back in Chicago. I can think of several that have lost service over the last few years, so I think this is interesting to show. I'll compare some old and new. The location is what I think is called the BNSF Lumber district in the near southwest side in a neighborhood called Pilsen/Little Village, alongside 22nd St./Cermak Rd. The track used to extend to Lumber St. and the Chicago River, and actually stills shows on Google Maps that way, but nearly everything east of Halsted St. has been ripped up.

The Central Illinois Railroad operated it for a bit a few years back, serving a brickyard near Cermak/Halsted and a food processing plant, both with minimal traffic. They folded, I think, and BNSF took it back.
I once caught BNSF near the brickyard. But traffic stopped to those customers, leaving service to a scrap yard near Cermak and Paulina St. Then that stopped, removing service from even more of the line. Some amount of local politics may have been involved in regards to the scrapyards operation.

Now, I've noticed a rebuilding of the trackage around the scrapyard, which presumably means service will come back. I've got some before/after shots. Maybe someday I'll have some with a train present again.

Also, there now seem to be more cold storage warehouses located in the industrial sites along Cermak Rd and Blue Island Ave. that used to have spurs. I haven't seen any hint that they will get service. That is a shame, as it seems some of that produce would be traffic that used to go by rail (decades ago.)

1. I made a post in 2013 showing the scrapyard getting switched: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3224712,3224712#msg-3224712

2. Now, things have been simplified. The spur to the left is gone, and the scrap yard lead switch was moved farther towards the scrapyard.

3. A wider view, with a bit of poverty present.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/17 16:28 by inCHI.

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4. A detail

5. The new switch location for the scrapyard.

6. That curve is looking better than what it used to, at least here!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/17 16:24 by inCHI.

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7. Back in 2013, when I last caught the local on camera.

8. Present view. Wonder if any work will be done on that track.

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9. Current view, looking west, showing the track that heads back to the BNSF main/yard. I don't know the name of some of those locations.

10. Track looks about the same as it was.

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Great series of photos on a line which at one time hosted dozens (hundreds??) of industries!! Upon further thought, I believe there was at least three ways the CB&Q could access this line. The first would be in the vicinity of 18th & Lumber Street, the second via a north/south line parallel to Sangamon St. (at the east end of Western Ave. Yard) and the third at the west end of Western Ave Yard parallel to the PRR/BOCT/CJ lines. In fact the Illinois Northern connected to this line as well but I don't think they served industries east of Leavitt St.....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/17 17:05 by ghemr.

ghemr Wrote:
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> Great series of photos on a line which at one time
> hosted dozens (hundreds??) of industries!!

Thanks. So hard to imagine at this point, if you hadn't seen it before.

Very interesting post...thanks for exploring and sharing...

Thanks so much for the series of photos. Hopefully, you'll keep us updated on the progress of this venture.

Well done photo essay. That junk yard fence has a lot of character.

LOTS of money being spent there, someone must be planning on a fair amount of traffic. Love to see urban "shortline" railroading.