About the Author J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch") began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads. This column tries to explain some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago for Canadian National/Illinois Central. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

January 7, 2003
After a nice Christmas and New Year’s Holiday season, it is time to get back to the grindstone and have back at this writing thing. Our Holidays were great being spent with friends and family and no worry of annoying phone calls or pages beckoning me to work. I hope yours all went as well.

During my little writing hiatus, I heard from several people regarding information to several of the crossings and locations that I have mentioned in the first two parts of this journey. Instead of trying to write it all out, you can gather a look for yourself. My friend Bill Gustason has amassed quite the website called "Chicago Area Railroad Junctions" at http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/index.html with a detailed look at some of the interlockings and crossings in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana area.

For a photo and a track diagram of 21st Street in its heyday, see
http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/21street.html

For more on 16th Street, including some historical information, see
http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/others-chiso.html

There are also links to other locations I have mentioned as well. Kensington Tower, which we will look at a little later in today’s discussion, is also featured at Bill’s site. Be sure to take a look and you’ll be able to grasp a feel for what I have been discussing.

Another friend and reader heard from during my hiatus reminded me that the Chicago & Western Indiana used to call 21st Street "Santa Fe Junction." I should have remembered that but for whatever reason, didn’t. Having had to take the CWI promotion test in order to be allowed to operate on their railroad as an Engineer in 1981, I should have remembered this from the test. Even though virtually everything associated with what was on the test was long since removed from service and being, there were still some questions on the test dealing with rules and procedures through this location. As you can surmise, the test was never updated over the years.

I never reached 21st Street while operating on the CWI in my MoPac days only getting as far north as the crossovers at 23rd Street to reach the freight house that still received a car every now and again. So I knew virtually nothing about the place other than what I had heard from the old heads, observed from a distance and seen in photographs prior to that.

A look into a few of my really old CWI timetables and special instructions (older than my railroad career so you know they are really old) and sure enough, 21st Street was listed as AT & SF Junction. By the 70’s the crossing and plant had become known as 21st Street as most of trackage associated with the Santa Fe had pretty much been removed along with the diamonds and route to Dearborn Station. Amtrak built their new maintenance facilities along their former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage north of the south branch of the Chicago River between 12th and 16th Streets in the late 70’s. With the opening of this facility all the remaining Santa Fe trackage at 21st Street along with the yard and servicing facilities along the south side of the IC between 21st and 16th Streets were abandoned and removed.

One final correction, the mileage used on the IC was not measured as mileage from the end of the Electric District trackage at Randolph Street Station, but rather from the south bank of the Chicago River in downtown Chicago. This is about a half-mile north of the Randolph Street Station. At one time there were two sets of milepost used on the portions of the Chicago Sub, but they were gone by the time I began operating on this segment of the railroad in 1986 with the CCP. Or at least I don’t recall seeing them anyway.

With all that clarified, it is now time to proceed with the remaining leg of our trip to Markham. This portion of the trip usually allows us the highest track speeds in which we can operate on this particular run. But with so much going on and so much to see along the way, it will take a bit longer to get you there

When I left you last, we had just emerged from the tunnel underneath McCormick Place West and were passing under the Stevenson Expressway, I-55. I did not make a notation of the mileage locations of the Metra stations between McCormick Place and Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood as they are all designated by streets, so we’ll mention them by their street names and applicable neighborhood locations.

The first station we pass is the 27th Street platform. In 1972 there was a horrible and tragic collision between two suburban train here that lead to multiple deaths and scores injured. A train made up of the then new MU Highliners overshot the platform and then backed up to it. In the overshoot, they cleared the block and the signal for the train following in the block behind them came up to an approach indication. After passing this signal, the second train’s Engineer was unaware of the events transpiring ahead of him with that first train overshooting and now backing up to the platform.

When he came around the curve up to 27th Street, the Engineer of the following train discovered this first train, which he believed had departed 27th Street based upon the signal encountered coming up to an approach indication, was now stopped at the platform ahead. The Engineer of the second train was unable to stop in time and rammed the first train. The second train involved was still using the old conventional, single level, heavyweight, green coaches and they literally carved right through the new, lighter Highliners. This collision lead to a rule change that expressly prohibits any electric train from backing up while on the main tracks under any circumstances other than test purposes. If the Engineer overshoots a platform, they must change ends, get an air test and then obtain permission to make a reverse move on that track.

Now back to our trip. We had a clear indication on the signal at 1225, so we know we should expect a favorable signal at the control point at 39th Street. We are still proceeding at 10 MPH until the entire length of the train clears the tunnel.

I began to try contacting Foreman Melvin Fulwilley as we emerged from the tunnel. Melvin and his track gang are doing some work on the main tracks and are protected by a planned work authority. This means I must contact him before any part of my train passes through his limits, which this day are between milepost 6 and 9. Melvin has to give me permission to pass through his limits before I am authorized to proceed. He does so by informing me that his men and equipment are working on track number two and that we have permission to proceed southward through his planned work limits with no speed restrictions other than what we carry on our TGBO (Tabular General Bulletin Order). He also instructs me to sound the whistle and ring the bell as we pass his workers.

I repeat these instructions and get his okay and we are now permitted to proceed through the length of his limits without stopping. The intent of contacting Melvin so far in advance of his limits is so that he can get his people in the clear and hopefully eliminate the need for us to have to stop first before we enter his limits. Being that McCormick Place tunnel is like the dark side of the moon when it comes to radio signals I had to wait until we had the engines clear of it before I could begin to attempt to contact Melvin for instructions.

The parallel Metra Electric District is four tracks along side of us here. At one time it had six tracks. The Chicago Sub is two tracks, but was at one time four tracks, with two freight and two passenger mains. The freight mains came out in favor of the passenger mains when Amtrak came along and the IC’s Central Station and the associated 27th Street Yard and servicing facilities were eliminated. A portion was left between 31st and 37th Streets and became a two-track interchange yard (dubbed 31st Street) with the Chicago & Northwestern. The CNW would deliver cars to the IC at 31st Street and pull the cars the IC left for them there. This method lasted into the UP days at the CNW but has since been abandoned in favor of interchange through the Indiana Harbor Belt for excessive height cars and via Hawthorne Yard for all other traffic. Today 31st Street is used to store bad order cars.

Back when I first started at the CCP, the tracks were numbered differently than they are now. After the ICG sold off the Electric District to Metra, they made the change. From west to east they previously were numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 (Electric) and 5, 6 (Freight) between downtown and Kensington. In 1988 the tracks still under ICG control were renumbered from the west 1, 2, 3, 4. From 67th Street to Kensington the tracks now known as 3 and 4 thoroughfare were 7 and 8. From Kensington to Stuenkel where there were only two Electric tracks the freight mains were 3 and 4, the thoroughfare tracks 5 and 6. Clear as mud, right? Pay close attention, as there will be a quiz on this later.

From the south end of McCormick Place to about 31st Street, Lake Michigan is visible to the east. When the trees are clear of leaves, it is really easy to see it as the fourth of the five Great Lakes is less than half a mile from the railroad. At one time, the lake was right here and the railroad used a causeway built above it to cross and reach downtown Chicago. But that was well before my time.

As we roll past 31st Street Yard we swing around the super-elevated curve at milepost 4. To the west of all the tracks and back up away from the right of way looms a tall pedestal with a statue at the top. This is the famous Illinois politician Stephen Douglas. If you recall your US History, you might recall reading about the Lincoln-Douglas debates that took place in Freeport, IL. This was the Douglas that Abraham Lincoln debated. Douglas leant assistance and support to the Illinois Central in order for them to obtain land and build their railroad. In this honor to him, he gets to overlook the railroad in perpetuity.

As continue a little south of the curve at milepost 4 the tail end of the train has now exited the tunnel and I begin to accelerate the train in the attempt to gain track speed of 50 MPH. The speed for freight and intermodal trains is 50 MPH and 65 for passenger on both tracks between milepost 2.7 and Homewood. There is a 60 MPH restriction for passenger and 40 MPH for freight trains through the curve at milepost 4 though and then a 25 MPH restriction through the Kensington interlocking limits for all trains.

Just south of 31st Street Yard is the 39th Street overhead. The signal for 39th Street is just beyond that and can be hard to see when approaching it from the north. Again with that way of placing signals in the most inconvenient places for viewing, an industry trend that goes back to the beginning of the use of signals for governing train movements. When you cannot see the aspect on the top unit of this two-unit signal, it normally means we have a clear indication, normally. And being that I had a clear at the last signal, I should expect nothing worse than an approach signal here.

At night you have the advantage of seeing the reflection of the green light of the clear signal on the rails. During the day though, no such luck. But like I said, we had the clear at 18th Street so I should not expect a stop or restricting (flashing red) signal. As it comes into full view, I can now plainly see it does indeed display a clear (green) signal. The signals at 39th Street protect the universal crossovers located here. There are two sets of crossovers that allow trains to crossover to and from either track in either direction. Unfortunately though, when this plant was built and cut in during the mid-1990’s, they opted to use low speed 10-MPH crossovers instead of something faster. Whenever we crossover here, it is an additional delay even though we are not stopping to do so.

39th Street was built to replace the single set of crossovers that were in service at 23rd Street. 23rd Street now sits directly underneath McCormick Place West and although the plant is long gone, careful observation reveals where it was located.

Near 43rd Street was pass what once was the connection to the Chicago Junction Railway. A line looped off the freight mains and then passed overhead to reach the CJ. This was how the IC affected interchange with the New York Central. The CJ was long part of the NYC empire. If you look to the west of here, you can see the remains of the CJ as it was elevated through this area. The overpass spanning the IC tracks has long since been removed. In fact, I don’t even recall seeing it back in 1986.

At 47th Street is the recently rebuilt 47th Street (Kenwood) Metra stop. As recently as the mid-1980's Metra wanted to close this station and eliminate it completely. The residents of the Kenwood neighborhood protested and came up with the money and people to preserve the stop. Metra just finished a complete rebuild of this station last month so it just goes to show you that sometimes the squeaky wheel does get oiled.

At 49th Street is a long closed tower located just west of the Metra right of way. Metra uses brick tower to house switching equipment used for their operations and also as a headquarters for the Signal Maintainer assigned to this portion of the Electric District.

At milepost 5.4 we meet and pass train 497, (Battle Creek to Union Pacific at Proviso Yard). Today this train is led by UP SD70M 4377. At this point our speed is a whopping 17 MPH and I am in run 8 pulling about 950 amps of power to the traction motors underneath me. We are climbing a very slight ascending grade here as we rise out of the Lake Michigan basin.

We now enter the northern most end of the Hyde Park community of Chicago. There are three Metra stations located in Hyde Park, the 51st/53rd, 55th/57th and 59th Street stations. Both the 51st/53rd and 55th/57th stations are going through a complete rebuilding process with each of them better than half completed. Chicago’s world famous Museum of Science and Industry is located several blocks to the east of the Chicago Sub and can be plainly seen. It is located at 57th Street and Lakeshore Drive.

Signal 1667 displays a clear signal (green over red). This indication tells me that in addition to the clear block we also have a favorable signal at the 67th Street control point and will remain on track number one from there to Kensington.

To the east of the 59th Street platforms stands the renowned University of Chicago. UC features quite the history including being the home of the Manhattan Project that developed the world’s first atomic bomb. A much-heralded hospital is also located there. The beautiful bride’s best friend is an ER nurse at this hospital.

In years past, the Chicago Transit Authority had one of their "El" lines that spanned across all of the IC tracks at 62nd Street. This portion of the line was abandoned sometime in the late 70’s and eventually the bridge supporting the line removed. Prior to its removal though, it interfered with viewing the old signals that were in place at 67th Street. If you had an approach signal coming south into 67th, you had to have the train really slowed down as you could not see the signal at 67th until you were just about under this CTA overhead. Once this bridge was removed, the visibility greatly improved.

Another Metra station is located at 63rd Street. At one time there was also an inter-city station here along the IC passenger mains as well, but that has long since vanished. There remains evidence of it with portions of the concrete platform and a few light standards still intact. To the east of the Chicago Sub at this location sits Mount Carmel High School. This is a very well known Catholic High School as many famous, and not so famous boys have attended this school over the years. One of the more famous is NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb and one of the not quite so famous (although quite popular around this house) is the father of the beautiful bride.

At milepost 8.17 is the 67th Street control point. We have a clear (green over red) signal. There are universal crossovers here that, like 39th Street, are the 10 MPH variety. At one time there was a connection to the Electric District tracks here as the IC used to have industries to service along the Electric including the coal fired power plant at the university. Those industries that remain no longer use rail service and the power plant converted to natural gas many years ago. Metra has a large brick tower here with an Operator that controls their movements on their trackage. In years past, this tower used to control IC movements as well. But when the connection between the two lines was finally removed the IC gave control of their railroad to the Desk One Dispatcher at Homewood.

With the changes made here also came new signals. The signals that were previously mounted on the catenaries were changed to ground mount signals on poles. The old southward signals remain mounted on the catenaries but are turned away from the railroad.

Up to around 1990, 67th Street was also the northern terminus for tracks three and four. While they were essentially yard tracks, they did reach this point and were used on a regular basis. First track four was cut back, then later on track three was also removed.

At the south end of the plant of 67th Street, the CTC ends and we begin automatic block signal operation. Both tracks are signaled for movement in each direction (often referred to as reverse signaled) and we operate by signal indication. However, there are no controlled signals (signals controlled by the Train Dispatcher) between here and the home signal at Kensington. At one time each track had an assigned current of traffic with track one being designated as southbound and track two being northbound. We needed verbal authority to move against the current of traffic (the opposite direction of the stated current meaning north on the southbound or south on the northbound) between these two points. Now that we have block signals in both directions, the current of traffic on each track was eliminated. We simply follow the indications displayed by them and proceed accordingly.

At about milepost 9.5 is the Metra 75th Street (Grand Crossing station). Just south of the station are the former Conrail Chicago Line (now part of Norfolk Southern) and the Chicago Skyway (I-90) overheads. The NS lines comprise of two separate railroads. At one time the New York Central and Pennsylvania paralleled each other here literally, side by side. The Central was the north set of tracks with the Penny being the south set. In 1972 Penn Central, created with the merger of these two roads, rationalized the trackage through here making the Central’s route yard and running tracks opting to make the parallel Pennsy route the through route main tracks.

South of these overheads was once a connection between the IC and Pennsylvania and later Penn Central Railroads. The connection is long gone but if you look to the east, you can spot the remains of the bridge the connection track used to span a road below. You can also see the embankment that rose away from the IC tracks.

At milepost 10 is the former Nickel Plate Road overhead. NKP successor N&W abandoned this route back in the 70’s. It was hoped and even announced in the media that the portion of this line between the IC and the connection to the Chicago Line at 72nd Street would resurrected. The plan called for a new connection to be built between the IC and this abandoned trackage. Amtrak and IC trains would then use this route to reach into the downtown area of Chicago by using the long removed connection on the Chicago Line at 72nd Street that was called JY in NYC and Penn Central days. Don’t look for this plan to commence anytime soon though, if ever.

Just south of the overhead is the switch that connects to the northern end of tracks three and four and the north end of Fordham Yard. Into the late 80’s or early 90’s Norfolk Southern used to perform interchange with the IC here at Fordham. Their trackage still was in service up to Fordham at that point in time. The Chicago, West Pullman & Southern also interchanged with the IC here although they performed their work at the south end of the yard. Coal trains to and from the South Shore are also interchanged. Today Fordham Yard with only three tracks now is used to interchange all traffic with the Shore and West Pullman successor Chicago Rail Link. There is also an industry that receives rail service here called Merigold and cars for them are stored at Fordham as well.

Also just south of the NKP overhead is the Metra 79th Street (Chatham) station.

As we roll on south we pass the 83rd Street (Avalon Park), 87th Street (Woodruff) and 91st Street (Chesterfield) Metra stations.

At milepost 11.85 is the Norfolk Southern, Belt Railway of Chicago and Chicago Rail Link overhead. The south end of Fordham Yard is just north of here as is a wye track that connects to the Belt up at Pullman Jct. about half a mile east of here. At one time the rail lines overhead here were the Belt, Chicago & Western Indiana and Rock Island. NS took over the CWI trackage through here in 1983 and Chicago Rail Link through its LaSalle & Bureau County predecessor took over the Rock trackage when that line ceased operations in 1980.

Just south of the overhead is the wye track that connects the NS to the Chicago Sub. At one time this wye was used to link the IC and the Rock Island at Pullman Jct. In 1988 NS acquired this track, rehabbed it and paid the IC to install a power operated switch where this track connected to track four. This is the north end of their trackage rights on the CNIC that extends to Gibson City, IL and allowed them to abandon their own Forrest District between Gibson City and the old Arsenal south of Joliet in favor the IC route.

Also just south of the overhead is Metra’s 95th Street (Chicago State University) station. At one time the IC’s Burnside Shops were located on the part of what is now Chicago State University. CSU is located on the west side of the Electric District. These shops were abandoned and raised when Woodcrest Shops opened in 1970.

We roll passed a clear signal at 11237, the signal that governs the approach to Kensington. This signal tells us there will be no stop there today for cross traffic and also that we will continue to proceed south on track one.

We cross above the Ford Freeway (Illinois Route 394) and pass Metra’s 103rd (Rosemoor) and 107th Street.

At milepost 14 we pass the 111th Street (Pullman) Metra station, then on the east side the remains of the Pullman Palace Car Company and then the Pullman Mansion. If you saw the movie "Road to Perdition" you would have seen both of these structures. In fact, the mansion played a significant role in the movie as it was shown several times as it was the home of Paul Newman’s character. While I never observed any filming actually taking place, I did see the preparation work like the artificial snow on the ground and all the vintage automobiles used in the movie parked on the Pullman plant grounds.

The old factory suffered a major fire in early 1999, but there are plans to restore much of it including the historic clock tower which was damaged, but not lost. A museum is planned for this sight.

This is the historic Pullman neighborhood of Chicago. At one time George Pullman literally owned the neighborhood. His workers lived in company owned homes and shopped at Pullman owned stores. Talk about a planned community. A bitter and violent strike took place which brought about the end of Pullman’s iron rule. Today, the Pullman neighborhood exists with many historic old homes. Guided tours are conducted through this area from time to time.

At milepost 14.37 we encounter the home signals for Kensington. The Metra station is located just north of where the South Shore connects and enters Metra trackage. We have a clear signal to proceed through the plant here. There are universal crossovers here with one set located north of the South Shore crossing and the other set located just south of the crossing. The South Shore actually crosses us at milepost 14.61. They use this crossing to reach Metra’s Electric District as the South Shore proper ends/begins at Kensington. There is a connection for the Shore to reach the Chicago Sub at Kensington as well.

A connection also exists between the Chicago Sub and the Electric District. This is the last remaining connection between the two lines. This connection has not been used in some time though as the last industry on the Electric District to use rail service burned down and closed last year.

The brick tower stands on the east side of the Chicago Sub just north of the South Shore. A Metra Operator who controls all the moves for all three railroads involved staffs it. The Operator must work with the CNIC Desk One Dispatcher who authorizes all movements on the Chicago Sub.

An interesting note about the crossing at Kensington, the overhead wires sometimes play havoc on units equipped with cab signals. Twice I have had a Conrail unit as my leader and had the cab signal system, which was dormant, energize, display a restricting indication and have the alarm go off notifying me of the change to a more restricting signal. Simply acknowledging the system would not appease the demand from it for a reaction on my part. I had to perform a specific sequence of tasks to get around this problem and keep the train moving. Once cleared of the interlocking limits, the cab signal system went dormant again returning things to normal. I could then undo the steps I had to take to override the system and then begin throttling out to continue the journey.

At Kensington the Electric District goes from four main tracks down to just two and a running track called the Blue Island Lead. This lead goes to Blue Island Jct. about half a mile south of here and connects to the Electric District’s Blue Island Branch.

At milepost 14.78 at the south end of the Kensington plant is the CTC entrance block signal. The Desk One Dispatcher controls this signal and its indication is the authority to proceed. At the entrance block the centralized traffic control system begins again.

About a quarter mile south of Kensington is the MoPac (nee C&WI Dolton Branch) overhead. I know, it is really the Union Pacific today, but it’ll always be the MoPac to me. This double track line, taken over by the MoPac in 1983, is used jointly by UP and CSX trains as well as Soo Line trackage rights trains. It is also part of the railroad in which I cut my teeth on as a cub railroader.

We duck under this bridge with five tracks, the two mains, tracks three and four thoroughfare and fourteen pocket, a storage track about a third-mile long that connects back into four just south of the MoPac overhead. Track four was undercut in 1988 to allow the passage of high cars like multilevel auto racks. This project was paid for by NS as part of their trackage rights deal to allow them to operate their trains without any restrictions to the car heights between their connection at 95th Street and Gibson City.

Just south of where Metra’s Blue Island Branch breaks away from their line sits KYD. This is the modern shop used for heavy repairs on the MU Highliner equipment. They also do rebuilds on the diesel hauled gallery cars and perform repairs to some of their Maintenance of Way equipment. KYD also houses the Passenger Assistance Link Center more commonly known as "PAL Center." Other Metra offices are also located here. Metra built this facility after the IC wanted them to vacate the space they were leasing at Woodcrest.

In years past, there was a coach storage yard located on the KYD grounds that was called KYD back in those days too. By the late 80’s this yard was no longer being used to store coaches during off peak and weekend periods.

Continuing on south we encounter the control point at milepost 15.5 (the north end of this plant and the signal are actually at 15.39). It is called both "fifteen five" or Wildwood. The timetable says Wildwood but old habits tend to die hard and many of us still call it fifteen five. The original Wildwood was about a mile south of here. There are power crossover switches between all the tracks here. This was another project paid for by NS. Their northbound trains can crossover from tracks one or two all the way over to track four or southward from four over to one or two without stopping if they have the proper signal. We have yet another clear signal and proceed on south.

To the east of the Chicago Sub at this point used to be two separate facilities. One was a transloading facility in which bulk products like flour, sugar and plastic pellets were pumped out of railcars and into trucks. This facility had two tracks for this purpose. This facility was relocated to within Markham Yard back in the early 90’s. Beyond the transloading facility was Wildwood Yard, once the sight of an automobile unloading yard. Back in ICG days, the philosophy was to work this yard when it was timely for the railroad and not its customer GM. Tired of the poor service, GM came to the MoPac and a new facility was built along their Chicago Sub on the north side of Chicago Heights. With the opening of that facility, Wildwood was closed and the property sold to the City of Chicago.

Today Wildwood Yard is now a processing facility for the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Chicago. The sewage that comes from sanitary sewers (like the stuff from your toilets) is pumped here after processing where it is spread out and dried, then loaded into trucks and hauled away. Rubber-tired front-end loaders with augers on the front of them stir this stuff around to speed the drying process. How’d you like to be the guy working one of these machines on a hot day when the air conditioner quits? Talk about a job that really stinks! The neighbors are also really thrilled with having this facility around as well. It does get quite ripe around here on hot summer days. And the drivers who haul this stuff out are speaking the truth when they comment about having a "shitload" of cargo.

In between the Sanitary District and the Chicago Sub is Cook County Lumber. This facility recently expanded into a large distribution facility and pulled the old transloading facility tracks out of the mud, added more trackage and installed a paved, lighted and fenced in lot. They receive rail service five or six days per week now with numerous loaded box and flat cars spotted there for unloading.

At milepost 16.47 there used to be signals on a catenary. After a derailment last year this catenary was knocked down. It also brought down all the wire on the two Electric District tracks bringing all service to a halt for over a day. The signals were never put back up on the CNIC side and Metra quickly built a stand-alone pole to support the wire.

Off track four here is the connection to CSX’s former Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal and was the original Wildwood. We interchange cars on a daily basis with CSX here. We leave their cars on track three south of the crossover switches between tracks three and four and they leave theirs north of the connection on track four and just south of 15.5.

At milepost 16.9 we cross the Grand Calumet River over a large bridge. We refer to this as "the big river bridge." Just south of this bridge we pass over CSX and the remaining portion of the old "Panhandle" which was part of the Pennsylvania’s Columbus to Chicago route. Today it is owned by NS and used to operate their bottle trains into and out of the recently reopened ISG Riverdale steel plant. This was the old Acme Steel plant of which I wrote about in my bottle train piece a couple of years ago.

A tragic collision occurred here in 1969 when a northbound coal train rear-ended an auto train that was crossing over at Wildwood (when there were switches located there from the mains). The coal train piled up and dumped coal out onto the B&OCT and Penn Central railroads below blocking them. Several railroaders were killed in this wreck.

We pass the Riverdale Metra station at milepost 17.37

At milepost 17.8 we pass above the Indiana Harbor Belt. At signal 17.98 we encounter yet another clear signal. This location is called Highlawn and features a connection with the IHB. Like at the CSX connection, we interchange cars here with the IHB. They shove their cars up the hill and onto either three or four and pick up cars we left for them on either three or four. At Highlawn there are crossovers between tracks two, three and four.

There was a Switchtender on duty here daily from 0800 to 1600 up until the very late 1980’s. He handled all the switches here and regardless of signal indications displayed on tracks two, three or four, you had to receive and hand signal from him to proceed.

There is another track that begins at Highlawn and heads south as far as 57th Street. This is track 7. It still carries its old number from before the great track-renumbering scheme of 1988. Why? Who knows, it is just another one of those railroad things.

Today we passed the Markham Local working Highlawn. He had taken over from R934, the Glenn Yard-Markham Transfer (aka Job 7) who had gone dead on the hours. Today they had the IC 6014 in the lead and were in the process of setting out the cars for the IHB.

We continue along passing the station at Ivanhoe (Dolton) at milepost 18.3, span the little Calumet River at 18.8 and pass the Sibley Boulevard Metra station at 18.99

At milepost 19.53 is the connection Elsdon Sub (former Grand Trunk Western) with the north leg of the wye at CN Jct. This wye connects to Thoroughfare four.

At milepost 19.88 was once a catenary that also had block signals 11989 and 21989 going south and 11988 and 21988 going north. Another derailment last year at this location brought this catenary and signals down as well. The downed catenary also brought Metra to a screaming halt for several days.

At milepost 20 is the Harvey Metra station.

Just south of there at milepost 20.2 is 157th Street. At this location are numerous crossovers between all the tracks. There are also the southeast and southwest legs of the wye that connect the Chicago and Elsdon Subs. From this point you can also enter the north end of Markham Yard. This location is also referred to as Harvey. At the present time all the switches here are of the hand operated variety. There are long term plans to mechanize and power all this up making it a control point. Of course we’ve been hearing this for several years.

There was a Switchtender located here for many years. One fateful night in 1979, a new and inexperienced Switchtender misunderstood the directions he received and proceeded to line a northbound Amtrak train directly into the path of a southbound intermodal train. This misunderstanding lead to a head on collision between the two trains which resulted in several deaths.

Markham Yard was opened for business on April 1st, 1926 and named for a former IC president. At one time Markham boasted two hump yards, the south hump on the west side and the north hump on the east side. Cars coming in from the south going north were pulled into A Yard at Homewood where they were humped in to the north hump’s B Yard and then pulled down into C Yard at Harvey for northbound departure. Southbound trains entered Markham at Harvey pulling into D Yard; the cars were shoved over the south hump into E Yard and pulled down in F Yard for departure south.

The way the yard was laid out, A Yard was parallel to F Yard, B Yard parallel to E Yard and C Yard parallel to D Yard. The RIP Track was located in between the two hump yards. Woodcrest sits on far east side of A Yard. A clean out yard was located in between F and A Yards, which was later used for the transloading of steel between trucks and railcars.

There was a General Yardmaster in charge of the entire show. He coordinated moves with the Harvey and E Yard Yardmasters as well as the Train Director that was located at Homewood. The Train Director controlled the switches and signals at Homewood, 15.5 and 95th Street and coordinated moves on the main tracks in conjunction with the Train Dispatcher.

The south hump was closed in July of 1989 and the north hump was closed in October of 1990. All classification work was then performed by switching the cars into the bottom end of the E Yard using the flat switching method. With this change occurred some disastrous results. In one of the very first days of the new method of operation a cut of steel coils rolled back out of a track plowing directly into a trio of switchers turning one of them completely sideways and another over on its side.

Today B Yard and part of C Yard are Moyers Intermodal Terminal, MIT. E Yard and D Yard are now Gateway Intermodal Terminal. The lion’s share of classification work is done in A Yard by flat switching. Some classification work is also done in F Yard as necessary.

Only the General remains to run the show today. The RIP track is still in place and Lewis Rail, a rail welding plant is located immediately to the east of the RIP. The clean out yard is also long gone.

Today we will not enter the yard at Harvey but instead are instructed to take the train to Homewood. Normally under these circumstances, we take all or part of our train south of the plant at Homewood and back into the yard. We just keep right on rolling at Harvey without having to stop.

On our way to Homewood we pass a clear signal at 12057 and then an approach signal at 12211. This signal governs our approach to the control point at Homewood. The approach signal tells me I must be prepared to stop before passing the signal at Homewood. On our way to Homewood we pass the Hazel Crest (milepost 22.2) and Calumet (milepost 22.7) Metra stations.

As we come into Homewood we encounter several railroad landmarks, the path, the Amtrak station and the Metra station. The path is just that, a path from the two mains and two thoroughfare tracks through a little wooded section to F Yard and access to the Homewood shanty. Trains are often instructed to "stop at the path". This little path is located at milepost 23.2. At 23.37 is the very north end of the Amtrak station platform, which sits between tracks one and two. The Metra station platform begins at 23.5.

Just north of the Amtrak platform on track two at 22.35 is the high car detector. While it doesn’t look like much it is carries vital importance. No cars higher than seventeen feet can operate north of 15.5 on any track except thoroughfare four. And no cars in excess of seventeen feet can operate north of 95th Street on any track. This detector uses a beam of light. Should the beam be broken, the detector reads this as a high car and a signal is displayed on a signal bridge at 21.30. The detector for track one is located at 22.88.

The north end of the Homewood plant is located at milepost 23.61. We arrived there at 1038 getting a diverging clear (red over red over green) signal which tells me we will cross over from track one to track three. I pull the train south through the plant slowing to drop off the Conductor at the south end of the plant. I encounter an approach signal at 32418 (an exception to the signal numbering scheme) and proceed to pull the entire train south of the plant as instructed by the Markham General Yardmaster. Conductor Voss counts me down and gives me the instructions on when to stop once the tail end of the train is clear of the plant. He will then guide me back into the yard when we get the instructions and signal to proceed.

At Homewood, we get a third main track back. This track extends some 9200 feet between Homewood and Vollmer Road. There used to be four main tracks here but what once was track two came out in 1989 and is now a road for company vehicles. Track three and four were then designated as tracks two and three respectively.

There is a little crossing just south of the signal bridge at the south end of the Homewood plant called Hines. There used to be a Hines Lumber store here and a switch came off track three and went into their yard where loads of lumber were routinely spotted for unloading. The place has since closed and the tracks removed and a park put in where the store and lot once stood. We now have a road here with a little crossing to allow company vehicles access to the right of way. Even though Hines has been gone for years, the spot is still called that, Hines. Remember, I’ve always said that old habits die hard on the railroad.

In pulling my entire train south of Homewood, I pass a northbound train stopped at Hines with no crew on board. The IC 1014 was in the lead. I also passed the Flossmoor Metra station at milepost 24.9 and stopped about five cars north of the signal at Vollmer Road, which is about milepost 26.

After all of our efforts, we finally get the train shoved into the yard in several different tracks at 1220.

So this little journey took three hours, twenty-eight minutes just to get from Hawthorne to Homewood and then another hour and twenty-two minutes to get the train yarded. But we made it, did it safely, without any mishaps and in compliance with all the rules. As I always say at the end of each trip, nothing got wrecked, nobody got hurt and best of all, nobody got fired.

And so it goes.