Eastern Railroad Discussion > CN's EMD standard cab heritage fleet in Chicago

When I heard of CN's heritage fleet I was amused, because (thankfully) there are still quite a few CN engines running in predecessor paint schemes. In Chicago, quite a lot of them are older EMD's used in local service. Gradually I've seen more and more, and today was something new for me, as a pair of EJ&E SD38-2's were power for the R967 local, heading to Glenn Yard. Leaving 15 minutes for work was enough to get this shots at 16th St., as it got permission across the Metra diamonds. In normal non-Covid times it probably wouldn't have squeezed through here at 8am, the peak of the Metra rush.

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Glenn Yard is perhaps the epicenter of older EMD's wearing old paint schemes, as it has a bunch of locals that radiate outwards to serve local industries. Every other time that I've seen R937, or almost any Glenn Yard local, it has GP38-2's for power. Sometimes there are GT, like the leader on this edition back in summer.

More recently, it had a duo, shown here in the Bridgeport siding. I missed it at better spots and then something unusual happened; it seemed like the crew died here. It sat from about 9am to 3pm before a fresh crew took it to Glenn Yard.

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On another morning, L967 is waiting at Kelley for a signal to get across Metra and Amtrak during the morning rush, this time with 4 GP38-2's, three of which are GT.

If anyone can explain what function this local serves, I'd love to hear it. It runs every couple days from Markham (I think) to Glenn, and usually has both empty and loaded centerbeams and some covered hoppers.

In the other two shots, a local is heading west towards Hawthorne yard across the Hawthorne Diamond, where CN's Freeport Sub crosses the BRC. I don't know the symbol of this local, but lately it leaves Glenn in the afternoon or evening, goes to Bridgeport, reverses direction, and heads to Hawthorne.

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Nice catch!
Gonut

The daily freight from Glenn to Kirk Yard, L536/537, is a strong bet of IC SD70's. Most days they are all or part of the power.

First, in summer, an earlier-than-usual L537 from Kirk makes a daylight appearance under the old signal bridge near Corwith

On a more recent day, L536 is heading south past 39th St. (which is just north of the blue bridge.) It has 100-200 cars for Kirk every day, usually on the higher side of that range. A big chunk are tank cars from all the industries near Glenn.

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Two more recent editions of L536. In the lower one, it has some of the local power from Glenn, and I think it was 179 cars that day, so these EMD's were roaring by.

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Lastly, during the summer you can sometimes catch L537 coming back through Chicago in the evening. On this day, the usual IC SD70 led, but a really rough SD40-2W was a unsual vistor, as well as some leaser GP38-2's.

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Great series.  Very interesting surroundings.

Jim

Yes, nice set, you really have locations and runs down.

Bob Jordan

Excellent series, thanks for posting!

 Great coverage of some Chicago railroading scenes!

Is the St. Charles Air Line out of service going over that lift bridge? 

bluesboyst Wrote:
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> Is the St. Charles Air Line out of service going
> over that lift bridge? 

Yes, because of road construction. I can post some more pictures of that area and the progress in another thread soon.

How many, or are there any, units still in the WC scheme?

inCHI Wrote:
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> bluesboyst Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is the St. Charles Air Line out of service
> going
> > over that lift bridge? 
>
> Yes, because of road construction. I can post some
> more pictures of that area and the progress in
> another thread soon.
thanks for the info...how is Amtrak getting around this?  21st interlocking?

inCHI Wrote:
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> On another morning, L967 is waiting at Kelley for
> a signal to get across Metra and Amtrak during the
> morning rush, 

Where did the name Kelley come from?
 

bluesboyst Wrote:
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> thanks for the info...how is Amtrak getting around
> this?  21st interlocking?

Yes. I guess there is two ways, the southeast connector, or going across 21st to the Cermak interlocking. I've seen the latter happen on ACTS. There is a lot less Amtrak running, so I suppose it's a good time for the big bridge and road project to be going on.

RRTom Wrote:
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> inCHI Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > On another morning, L967 is waiting at Kelley
> for
> > a signal to get across Metra and Amtrak during
> the
> > morning rush, 
>
> Where did the name Kelley come from?
>  

I'm guessing that Dan Kelley is who that location is named after. If I remember correctly, Dan was assigned the project coordinator position for several jobs in the Chicagoland area when the CN started working on EJ&E track changes, revisions and improvements. A grass roots track person who seemingly knew how to get his projects done.

Just GP40 3018 I believe and the symbols on it are faded out in orginal paint, plus the new heritage unit. 
MNNRfan Wrote:
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> How many, or are there any, units still in the WC
> scheme?

Outstanding bunch.
JB