Nostalgia & History > C&WI Wednesday - Main Line Bridge

Chicago and Western Indiana's Main Line Bridge over the Calumet River
at 125th St. and Torrance Ave. on Chicago’s southeast side.
The two photos are looking north.  In photo 1 the Torrance Ave. bridge is on
the left.   The N&W (NKP) Cummings Draw Bridge is about one block to the west.
The Torrance Ave. Ford Motor plant sits between the two right of ways from here
to 130th St.  Photos taken in the late 60's.
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/15 16:42 by Englewood.

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These photos were taken on a later trip to the bridge.
You can see the driveway has been cut away and a crane
is working on the other side of the river.  Work is starting on
the new Main Line Bridge.  It will be a vertical lift bridge.  Sadly it
will not see much use.  A few years after its completion Conrail was
created and the E-L traffic disappeared.   The C&WI right of way through
here was abandoned sometime after that.
 

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Is the bridge still there, and who's grain elevator is in the backround?

The new bridge is still there.
That is the Cargill elevator on the right hand side.
There was an old IHB (I think) line that had a bridge east
of Main Line.  Its bridge had been destroyed and instead of
rebuiliding they diverted their line to connect with the C&WI on
both sides of the bridge. That happened during the life of the
bridge pictured.  I think they were still using the bridge
for some time after the C&WI mains were gone.  When Torrance Ave.
bridge was rebuilt some years ago, auto traffic was rerouted onto the
Main Line bridge.

It was fun to pace a southbound E-L down Torrance Ave.  There were no
traffic lights and you could really hear those SDP45's and U36C's.  They made
quite a bang as they got on the bridge.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/15 16:55 by Englewood.

Englewood Wrote:
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> There was an old IHB (I think) line that had a
> bridge east
> of Main Line. 

Indeed, the line was known as the Calumet Western Railway......
 

Wow, what a bunch of show stopping photos !  So much history in that little area.  The Cal Western bridge mentioned was a swing bridge not far east of the  Western Indiana bridge, and was hit by a ship in the early 60's.  We used to drive up Torrence Ave. every Sunday for several years and one Sunday there it was, tilted on it's base, one side much lower than the other.  I never saw it back in a normal position again.  It would have been visible in the Monon photo had it still been there;  by then even the island for the swing mech. was gone to widen the channel.  The Western Indiana bridge was usually cracked like in the first photo, to let barges pass under; you can see it is lower than the Torrence bridge.  

The new main line bridge was a really impressive sight next to the Torrence bridge.  Long, gradual approaches were built on both sides so the deck of the new bridge would clear barge traffic when down.  Both sides were protected with nice CPL high mast and dwarf signals, just like B&O standards.  The Erie always put on a great show in the Chicago area and especially so eastward dropping down the hill from the bridge to 130th Street, where it would begin to curve to the southeast, duck under the South Shore, and fly towards State Line.

Not known by all was an oddity by the Cargill elevator.  The Chicago & North Western had a yard there known as Irondale.  I remember a little metal yard office with a regular C&NW station sign thereon.  A friend was a hostler for them and the plum job was to bring a motor down once in a while from Proviso to relieve the power there and take it back.  That was an all day job.

Before the great recession of the 80's, this area was the epitome of industrial America, and I am glad I got to see it and work in it when it was hopping.  Thanks for all the photos and their reminders of great times.

Rich

CSX_ENG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Englewood Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > There was an old IHB (I think) line that had a
> > bridge east
> > of Main Line. 
>
> Indeed, the line was known as the Calumet Western
> Railway......
>  

...whis was PRR, not IHB.

TAW

rantoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> C&NW acquired and built the Irondale Yard about
> 100 years ago, 1913-1914.
>
> Why did CNW construct an off-system rail yard? 
> Any ideas?
>
> How did CNW traffic get to-from Irondale Yard when
> the closest CNW line was miles northwest/north
> near Proviso or downtown Chicago (seems unusual
> for a Railroad company to handle the long haul,
> hand off the traffic for what amounts to a short
> bridge movement to itself)?
>
> My speculation, until early 1960's CNW held an
> interest in Indiana Harbor Belt Railway and by
> that interest I speculate CNW ran trains
> direct between Proviso and Irondale Yard;
> Proviso onto the IHB, south via Blue Island to
> State Line Tower, then north to Irondale Yard
> using a 3rd bridge that is not in the 2
> photos...or some other route using IHB rights.

I've always wondered about that, but I was around the IHB regularly in the early 60s and less than regularly in the late 50s and never saw a CNW train.

I also never saw a CNW train on the Belt. I worked Western Ave quite a bit in 67-68 and never saw a CNW go to or from CJ, which would be the only way for them to get to C&WI.

Seventyfive's story about the hostler presented a good clue. Maybe CNW didn't run trains into and out of Irondale and didn't intend to. The only rail connection at Irondale was Calumet & Western (PRR, or P Company as we called it on BOCT). The only other connection to the elevator was by sea. CNW owned Irondale long before the St. Lawrence Seaway happened, so the point of the facility was probably not export (except export to Canada), since it was built long before the Sag Canal gave access to the river route to the Gulf. That leaves sea/land or land/sea transfer of domestic shipments. What grain grew profusely along PRR lines? Corn. CNW had plenty of that, so it was probably something else, like wheat, which did not grow in profusion along PRR. That probably meant vessel from a Lake Superior port (which pretty much makes it Duluth or Superior), relatively close to the source, to Irondale for transshipment to PRR.

But how long has Cargill been there? I wondered about that and if maybe it was Irondale because of Great Lakes ore ships, but the oldest aerial available is 1938, and there's a grain elevator there. There are older Topo maps, but they show no railroad detail in the area. If the business there has evern been anything but grain, there is no readily available evidence.

Of course, it's all speculation based upon only a few facts. Maybe if he's on this circuit, CShaveRR can shed some light.

Here's a map of Irondale.

TAW



 

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Per a book titled "The Pennsy in Chicago" Calumet Western Ry. was jointly owned by four companies--- MC, CJ, PRR and CRI&P. Later the IHB absorbed the MC and CJ  making them majority owner.

Also, the CNW Irondale Yd. was a joint venture with the PRR. Access may have been via IHB which at one time CNW owned a share. The book also stated that CNW was an owner of the BRC----hence access via this railroad as well---not sure if this is correct?

Corrections/comments are welcome........

Comments...the Pennsy in Chicago by Ed DeRouin is likely the best book about Chicago railroading history I have ever seen.  Sadly Ed passed away not too long after publishing his book so I could not tell him what a gift he gave to all of us.  The last chapter is about the Cal Western including great maps and unbelievable history.  

Way back in the 80's I had the good fortune to meet retired IHB engineer C.L. "Hedgie" Hendrix.  He had a collection of railroad hardware in his basement that would make most of us faint, it was so good.  He also took photos on the job and he showed me many of his albums.  I recall those he had taken on the Cal Western as engineer.  Don't remember his dates but power was the usual IHB switchers in dark olive green with the orange lightning stripes.  So I am guessing the photos were pre-Penn Central.  The last chapter of Ed's book details agreements about track usage at Irondale including some joint agreements between the IHB and PRR.

One other tidbit about the Main Line Bridge area.  Just a few tens of feet from where the photos were taken, across Torrence Ave. was a large garage door at the northeast corner of the Ford Motor plant.  When it opened, out rolled a fleet of new Fords right off the assembly line.  The guys who had that plum job drove the cars down Torrence to their holding yard just south of the Nickel Plate tracks. They would ride back to the plant in a van and do it again all day long. 

Now, if we could only find a photo of the old Cal Western swing bridge...

Rich

What an astounding map !  I will enjoy studying this often.  A few things jumped off the screen immediately:  look at the Erie yard at Griffith; I have never seen that anywhere else previously.  How about the SC&S branch from Calumet Park westward to near Dolton?  And a Panhandle Yard just south of Dolton Tower.  Note the C&CR (Chicago and Calumet River) branching off the Kensington & Eastern near 130th Street and joining the B&OCT Red River line near Burnham Tower.  A large Nickel Plate yard NORTH of Pullman Jct.  And the MC Kensington Yard ("Bumtown") looks pretty large.

Many thanks for posting this great piece of history.

Rich

Seventyfive Wrote:

>  How about the SC&S branch from Calumet Park
> westward to near Dolton?  

 I read somewhere (Pennsy in Chgo book??) that this line was proposed but never built.

.  Note the C&CR
> (Chicago and Calumet River) branching off the
> Kensington & Eastern near 130th Street and joining
> the B&OCT Red River line near Burnham Tower.


I don't see this line but there was a line from Hammond to Hegewisch---to this day the right-of-way is clearly visible if you drive through Hammond! 

 A
> large Nickel Plate yard NORTH of Pullman Jct.


 The old Verson Steel Press Co. was at one time the Nickel Plate's shop/servicing facilities for passenger cars....
 

Photos from the Barriger Library flickr pages
Main Line Bridge. Photo is backwards.
 https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12307782816/in/album-72157640505227503/

Cragill Elevator
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12329010445/in/album-72157640554237773/

A different Flickr page with pictures of the Calumet Western bridge and much more
https://www.flickr.com/photos/46264216@N08/10311496355/

Many thanks for those links to absolutely astounding photos.  Nice to see the Cal Western bridge again just as I remembered it 53 years ago.  I will be enjoying these links for days and longer.

Rich