Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS serving an ADM mill in Chicago that is slated to close

ADM has a wheat mill in the now named "Fulton Market" area of Chicago, next CP Morgan on the Metra Milwaukee West district just northwest of Union Station. In 2017 they announced it was close in 2019 once they open a new mill in Mendota, IL, that can handle unit trains. The current Chicago mill, increasingly surrounded by high-end residential housing and corporate campuses, is served by NS. I think it is former PRR track, with the ironic former PRR signal bridge that Metra recently replaced the signals on. It has a couple stub tracks that have to be switched by a trackmobile while NS brings loads and takes empties.

The most recent news is that a major developer is closing in on a deal to pay $25 million for the site wants and Metra stop there (link). Meanwhile, out in Mendota, the new mill is being constructed (link).

The Chicago mill will close sometime in 2019, with the loss of 60 jobs. I decided not to wait around to get some more photographers of the mill and the service to it, which is one of the last freight customers close to downtown Chicago. This post has 18 photos that were mostly shot on two nights last week.

1. The NS local is switching the mill tracks
2. A Hiawatha is almost at Union Station, as it illuminates flurries falling
3. Pulling out a cut from a mill track



 

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4. The power next to one of the food service truck trailers
5. The old brick architecture of the mill
6. A truck being loaded

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7. The mill itself. Across the street there is already something totally different, a corporate office building I think
8. The short tracks where cars get spotted. A green signal on the CP Morgan signal bridge is in the distance
9. The switch for the mill

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10. With work finished at the mill, the empties are pulled out
11/12. And, with the switched lined back, they begin the shove back to a runaround siding
 

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13/14. Shoving back as an inbound Metra passes by
15. For any fire truck fans, this CFD truck screamed by right afterwards

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Last post. Two years ago, also in December, I followed the local back part of the way to NS's Ashland Ave. yard.

16. Taking the wye track at Rockwell, where they join the UP. I think this is only train that uses this track and that ancient looking bridge
17. Heading under the elevated CTA Green Line at Lake St.
18. Crossing the imposing lift bridges near Ash Street

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Night photos of this quality these were nearly impossible in the time of film. An "A+" effort.
Bob

 What a great series of photos of this little-known operation!

Awesome shots and explanations. Thank you for posting this.

Very nice..!!  I like the last one...

inCHI Wrote:
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> 18. Crossing the imposing lift bridges near Ash
> Street

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1192141,1192141#msg-1192141 Date: 07/02/06 11:56 If you can't raise the bridge... Author: TAW

TAW

Excellent work, looks cold!

Out

TAW Wrote:

> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11
> ,1192141,1192141#msg-1192141 Date: 07/02/06 11:56
> If you can't raise the bridge... Author: TAW

Thanks for that! What an incredible story. It is wild that even then those bridges no longer opened, I wouldn't have thought that. Right now where you can take a photo from is a small park district parking lot that has a boat launch and dock for the kind of boats that can squeeze under!

Thanks for the series. The night photos make it even more interesting.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

I forgot to show the ADM critter that has moved a bit over the years since it was replaced by the trackmobile. In 2013, in daylight, it was on the right. Now, in the night shot, they seem to be used as a special kind of track bumper...

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Looks like ADM's new mill at Mendota, adjacent to its exisiting grain facility along I-39, is to be serviced by BNSF on the ex-CB&Q main line? IOW, is NS losing a high volume customer? I have no idea where these grain trains originate - perhaps it was always a short haul for NS from BNSF interchange at Chicago?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/18 02:31 by JPB.

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A new Metra station will need to be integrated with the proposed A2 Tower flyover separating the MILW and CNW (UP) lines, which I hope they build someday.

Great series of photos. 

Is this line the former Pennsy Panhandle route that gave them access to Union Station?

Jimbo Wrote:
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> Is this line the former Pennsy Panhandle route
> that gave them access to Union Station?

Yes.

TAW