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 20, 2003
First off we have a correction. The facts I had about the L&N approaching the Monon are inaccurate. Bob Wheeler of the Monon Historical Society, forwarded me the corrections, which I will post here.

The L&N did not come knocking on Monon's door. Monon as a bridge carrier for two/thirds of its business and being no longer than it was knew its days as an independent carrier were numbered. The failure of the ICC to approve the Ohio River and Michigan City coal docks and to some extent the failure to acquire control of the CSS&SB sealed Monon’s fate. The Buchman family of New York and their friends had control of the Monon. Monon president Sam Brown was their man and he was told to find a buyer for the Monon while it was still making money and was in a good state of repair with a relatively new locomotive fleet.

Every railroader that I knew thought that the Southern was the logical buyer and that's where Sam made his first pitch. Southern's traffic department opposed the idea for fear of offending friendly rail connections along the Ohio River, although it's President favored the idea. I don't know what their Operating Department thought but the Traffic Dept carried the day.

Next Sam went to the L&N, which was interested in keeping Southern out of Chicago. That and an ownership interest in CWI, K&IT and BRC were his big selling points. L&N bit and the deal was made. It almost came apart however when the ICC approved as a condition of the merger the Milwaukee trackage rights and worse yet allowed Milwaukee to become a tenant of K&IT rather that being forced to pay L&N for what would be its one-third ownership interest. If it had to accept the Milwaukee trackage rights condition L&N wanted that money to help pay the $35,000,000 it was going to pay for the Monon.

L&N balked and Southern, now having come to its senses, said that if L&N backed out of the deal it would make the same offer to the Monon shareholders that L&N had. That was all L&N had to hear and they advised Monon that they would consummate the merger and fight the K&IT issue after the fact. It lost.

The rest is history.

Frank Van Bree, Corporate Secretary and head of the Monon law dept.
while most of this was going on.

My thanks to both Bob and Mr. Van Bree for getting the record straight. And now on with today’s lesson.

As I had mentioned in part one of this lesson, there were several industries along the Monon Sub of the L&N in Hammond and Munster, IN. The L&N contracted with the MoPac to take over the duties of switching them out. The MoPac Hammond Local was created in September of 1981 to handle this work. It was a twice weekly run from Yard Center in Dolton to its namesake city.

The very first day the train operated, they used an L&N GP9 for the power. So from a trackside observer unaware of the closing of South Hammond Yard, it was business as usual on the old Monon. In fact, the first few times the train operated it had an L&N Geep for power. However, they used a MoPac caboose more often than not, so that may or may not have raised a few eyebrows on the uninformed observers.

So now we’ll take a look at the actual operation of the Hammond Local. It was normally called for 0759 each Tuesday and Thursday. A regular crew was assigned to the job. On the other three days of their work week, this job did roustabout work around Yard Center. The train would be gathered up in B Yard, the north end of 8 Yard at Yard Center, coupled to the caboose and air tested.

Yard Center was an open train order office for the CWI. If there were any train orders in effect for northward trains out of Yard Center that would use the CWI, they had to secure a clearance and the orders. If no orders were in effect, the trains were issued nothing; you didn’t even need to obtain a clearance card. You proceeded on signal indication. There was a CWI train order signal located at Yard Center just south of Sibley Boulevard. With no orders in effect you would get a clear (green) order board. If there were orders in effect the signal would be red.

So let’s begin our journey. After the required test of the air brakes was completed, I would call the Yard Center Operator on the radio informing him (or her) that you we were ready to depart. My common line was "We are ready to head to the great white north, over." We get a signal at 145th Street to proceed from the 8 Yard Lead out to the northbound main track, usually. Sometimes they had to run us the reverse and sent you north on the southbound. If this was the case, you had to have a train order in your possession for the CWI that stated "Extra MP (engine number) has right over opposing trains on number one track between Dolton Jct. and 81st Street." It was signed over the initials of the CWI Train Dispatcher. Today to make things simple, we are going north on the northbound (#2) track.

After a prolonged wait at Dolton Jct. for some Chessie System train that was on short time and the bottle train, we get an approach indication on the pot signal at 144th Street (also called Frederica Street) and a clear signal at Dolton Jct. We begin the journey north. We cross the Indiana Harbor Belt and B&OCT at Dolton. The Pennsylvania Railroad, later to become Penn Central and then Conrail, used to cross here but was eliminated to save money on maintenance. The bottle trains that used the PRR’s Panhandle line had to perform a zigzag move to get across here to go to and from Acme Steel in Riverdale. In 1983 this was all simplified when Conrail abandoned the Panhandle route sending the bottle train to an IHB routing between Dolton and CP Cal Park a couple of miles east of Dolton.

After passing Dolton and its 15 MPH speed restriction (later increased to 20 MPH) and the clear order board, we open up the throttle and begin to quickly accelerate the train to the maximum speed of 40 MPH. To the north of Dolton on the east side of the right of way was the old dummy yard where CWI commuter passenger trains were parked overnight. The CWI operated a fleet of commuter trains called dummy trains. They service ceased in 1965. The yard, long disused was still there along with the siding leading to it. However, the switches to access the siding were removed many years prior to today.

We cross the Calumet River on a large bridge between 127th and 130 Streets. Dolton was also an open train order station for the CWI. I don’t recall ever actually picking up any orders there in the 6 ½ years I worked on the MoPac.

The signals on the Dolton Branch are of the searchlight type. They have a single lens with a color wheel inside behind it and in front of the bulb and reflecting mirror. The wheel rotates to the appropriate color when the signal aspect is required to change. They used an unusual numbering method. Number plates on them used an alphanumeric system. The letters DO for Dolton Branch followed by two numbers were used. They had numbers like DO2-5 or DO3-4. The last number was even for northbound signals and odd for southbound signals.

At 130th Street on the west side was the Illinois Central Gulf’s Wildwood Yard. This was the auto unloading facility I spoke of in my piece about getting across Chicago on the IC. This facility would soon be closing, being replaced by a new facility on the MoPac in Chicago Heights. In between Wildwood and the CWI was a section of wetland called a swamp in those days. There were numerous birds and wetland critters to be seen there including numerous muskrats.

Also at 130th Street we begin the ascent to climb up and over the ICG. This hill was (and likely still is) referred to as "Bumtown Hill." We make a curve to the left at the top of the hill and pass directly over the Electric and Chicago Districts of the ICG. A little north of there is the remnants of the CWI’s Kensington passenger station. All that is still visible are the covered stairs and walkway that led from the ground level below up to the station at the top of the hill. There were additional commuter stations located at Sheldon Park, Roseland, North Roseland, Fernwood, Euclid Park and Oakdale on the Dolton Branch.

We begin to curve back to the right and enter the Chicago community of Roseland. If you’ve ever heard of the rock band "Styx," this is from where they hailed. There are several road crossings in Roseland, most of them fairly closely spaced so the whistle is used frequently. I once narrowly missed colliding with a school bus full of kids here one day. It was close enough that I put the train into emergency as I was certain we were going to hit it. The bus had driven around the lowered gates at the crossing. It was a near miss and a very close call to say the least.

I should point out here that the CWI did not use mileposts for locations on its line. Every place was designated by station names and street names. There were no mileposts anywhere on the system. If you had an order with a speed restriction, street names were used. Your order might read "Do not exceed 25 mph between 107th Street and 109th Street on track two." Part of the CWI promotion exam was to list, in order, all of the road crossings.

We work our way north passing various road crossings, cross above I-57, and pass 109th and 107th Street road crossings. It was either 107th or 109th (cannot remember exactly which one now) where a tragic collision took place between a school bus loaded with children and the lite engines of L&N 722’s train.

After taking their train to 37th Street and yarding it, 722’s lite motors were coming back to Yard Center to tie up. The school bus driver disregarded the flashing lights and bells at the crossing as well as the bell and whistle on the engine that was being sounded by the Engineer. The engines rammed the school bus killing several of the kids and injuring several others. Witnesses said the bus driver appeared to be trying to beat the train to the crossing.

At 107th Street we got shot at one evening while coming back from Clearing Yard with a train. There was a factory there and the shooters were on the roof firing at us. It broke several windows and also took out the number boards on the front of the engine. Somehow, none of us were hit or injured. I called and alerted the crew on the tail end and they were on the floor of the cab when it passed this location. The Conductor said he spotted them and their guns on the roof of the building. Somehow, nobody in the factory, which was open and working, saw or heard anything. And the shooters managed to get away.

We roll across 95th Street and up to Oakdale; this is where the Rock Island’s South Chicago Line crossed us at grade. At one time there was a connection between the two lines here, but it had been removed some years ago. Oakdale was controlled by the Operator at 81st street tower. The double track here also split into four tracks. The main line was referred to as the high line and the two tracks that broke off diverging towards the west were referred to as the freight mains. In most cases, trains going to and from Clearing Yard used the freight mains, but not always. There was a shanty of a house here where an old and retired CWI trackman lived. He and his buddies would sit out there during the day when it was nice out and drink beer and wave to the trains every time we went passed.

A giant wreck caused by vandalism one summer Sunday afternoon in 1983 brought huge changes to the CWI. Vandals placed debris strategically in the crossing at Oakdale and northbound train FCZ (Fort Worth-Chicago Expedited) struck it at 30 mph and derailed. Both locomotives and several cars turned over on their sides. The head Brakeman sustained some serious injuries and missed months of work. The derailment wiped out part of the highline and the decision was made not to replace it. Instead, all trains would be operated via the freight mains to 80th Street and north from there to the connection around 78th Street back over to the main tracks.

This trip though, has everything in place the way it was the day I started to work for the MoPac. I slow the train to the 30 MPH maximum speed through the interlocking limits at Oakdale and we head up the highline towards 81st Street. About halfway between these two locations we encounter the CWI Main Line as it joins up along side of us to the immediate east. The route between Dearborn Station and State Line Tower was called the Main Line and the segment of track between 81st Street and Dolton Jct. was known as the Dolton Branch. At 81st Street the lines all come together.

A single track connection was in place between 81st Street and 80th Street. We will diverge to the left and use this connection. We swing over towards 80th Street and pull up to the stop board located on the connection track. 80th Street was manned by a CWI switchtender who operated all the switches there manually. There were several sets of puzzle switches enabling the switchtender here to line you to and from either track in either direction. The switchtender would come out and give you a highball (hand signal to proceed) with a yellow flag or light for northbound trains and green flag or light for southbound trains. This highball was a favorite test for CWI officials. Sometimes they would instruct the switchtender to use the wrong color light or flag and then observe to see what the Engineer on the train involved would do. If he refused to take the improper signal, he or she passed the test. If they acknowledged and took the wrong signal well, it could be trouble. There was a quote used as the best way to remember which color of flag or light was required; the grass is always greener in the south.

We get the highball with a yellow flag and pull across through his plant and stop when we get north of the switches. The switchtender then lines us up to back into the yard here (sight of the infamous roundhouse we shoved through in 1981) and gave us permission to back up. We shove the train into 80th Street Yard and make several moves to get the caboose on the north end of the cut, then run around the train through a clear track and come back against the train coupling onto the south end of it and do a quick air test.. We again get permission to shove out of the yard and I stop when we clear the switches. The switchtender lines us up towards 81st Street and we get the highball to head south. We run up the connection and head towards 81st Street and where we get lined up all the way over the Main Line.

81st Street Tower sits on the east side of the right of way just north of where the Main Line and High Line come together. The building is a wooden structure that, like so may other towers I have been inside over the years, seemed to never have been new. When they constructed it, the place was already ninety years old. It had that classic old oily, moldy and stale smoke smell about the place. 81st Street is also an open order office for southbound trains. The most common orders we received at 81st street were the authorization to operate against the current of traffic. The CWI did not have centralized traffic control (CTC). Instead they had automatic block signal system rules in effect with established current of traffic. Track number one was the southbound and track number two was the northbound. These tracks only had signals in those directions.

To get authorization to run against this established current of traffic, the CWI Dispatcher would issue train order reading something like this, "Extra MP 1627 south has right over opposing trains between 81st Street and Dolton Jct. The Operators at Yard Center and 81st Street as well as the crew on the train involved were issued the order. This order requires the Yard Center Operator to hold all northbound trains at Yard Center until we are clear of the southbound. Normally, operating against the current was used to get around track gangs or trains dead on the hours of service. On the CWI, trains operating against the current of traffic were restricted to yard speed. The normal speed with the current of traffic was 40 MPH.

Yard speed was defined as not to exceed one half the range of vision but not exceeding 20 MPH unless the main track is known to be clear by block signal. What this means is that I can run up to, but not exceeding 20 MPH, but must be able to stop within half the distance of visibility that I have. If I could see ahead of me for say thirty car lengths, I had to be able to get my train stopped within 15 car lengths which is half the distance that I can see. This day there would be no wrong main movements and we head south on track one at normal speed.

After we swing to the east and away from the Dolton Branch, we pass over, and then come up along side the Belt Railway of Chicago double track main line. The Belt is on the north side of the Main Line through here. This line runs from South Chicago and by Hayford at the east end of Clearing Yard and onto Cragin where it ends at the connection to the Soo Line’s former Milwaukee Road. A connection at Hayford allows trains to either enter Clearing Yard or to bypass it.

The Main Line is running in a roughly southeast/northwest configuration right now. Most of the block signals along this portion of the route are the color position light variety, the same type the B&O was famous for using. At 87th Street we pass the north end of the Belt’s 87th Street Yard. This yard is used for interchanging and storing cars, particularly coal trains en route to KCBX, the rail to water transfer facility in South Chicago as well as the Chicago Short Line and Chicago, South Shore and South Bend. I delivered loaded and pulled empty coal train out of this yard numerous times.

Moving on down the road a bit, just south of 87th Street Yard we pass over I-94, the Dan Ryan Expressway, commonly and affectionately referred to as the "Mad Ryan 500." I believe no explanation is necessary for that name. The Rock Island South Chicago Line (the one we crossed at Oakdale on the Dolton Branch) comes up along side us to the right and parallels to Pullman Jct. The Rock had succumbed to its financial hardships and discontinued operating in March of 1980. The LaSalle & Bureau County Railroad (the folks involved in the missing and repainted Penn Central boxcar caper in the 70’s) took over the Rock’s operations on the South Chicago Line. They would go on to change the name of their Chicago operations to Chicago Rail Link and eventually cease their original line in Western Illinois. But for now, it was the LS&BC in Chicago.

We arrive at Pullman Jct. some 3.3 miles south of 81st Street, and stop at the stop boards. As at 80th Street, all trains must stop first and only proceed when receiving a specific signal depending upon which rail line you were operating. The Norfolk & Western’s Calumet Yard was immediately south of Pullman Jct. and they had connections to the three other railroads using a route across all of them to affect these them. The CWI Special Instructions covered who had to have what type of signal to proceed through Pullman Jct. There were tilting target signals, gyro lights and even gates used to regulate the traffic through here.

A green gyro light authorized a CWI move over the Rock Island. A yellow gyro light authorized movements across the Rock. A tilting target signal was used to govern movements across the CWI/N&W portion of the crossing. If the tilting target arm was in a vertical position, movements were authorized on the CWI. If the target was in the horizontal position, CWI movements had to wait. There was also a red gyro light and if it was illuminated and revolving all movements were to stop.

There was also a gate and I just cannot recall exactly how it was used. For some reason I seem to want to remember it was used across the N&W.

After stopping at the stop board, we get all the proper signals from Pullman. A couple of shots on the whistle and we proceed south through the plant. The Operator receives his instructions from the CWI Dispatcher for movements to and from this line. He also works with the Belt Dispatcher with regards to movements on their railroad and the N&W Operator at Cummins Drawbridge timetable east of Calumet Yard for movements involving their line. I was never sure who they worked with in regards to the Rock. Pullman was also an open order office for the CWI and you could receive train orders here as required. And there were times that we did.

The shanty at Pullman Jct. was located on the east side of the CWI and south of the Rock. As with 80th Street, it was a single level building and perhaps a 14X14 sized structure. It was wooden with clapboard type siding. And like so many other CWI structures, it received a coat of green paint in 1981. Apparently there must’ve been a run on green paint as prior to this most of the wooden CWI structures were white. All of a sudden one day they began to paint everything green.

We roll past the east side of N&W’s Calumet Yard which is just south of Pullman Jct. This yard is a beehive of activity with numerous jobs working here and trains going in and out. It is the old Nickel Plate Road facility. Today Calumet is the N&W’s main freight classification terminal in Chicago. There is also an automobile facility located at the north end of the yard as well.

More information on Pullman Jct and South Deering can be found at http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/burnham.html. Just scroll down to each section.

We get south of Calumet Yard and veer off towards the southeast and head into South Deering. A large coke plant is located on the west side of the tracks at Torrence Avenue. We cross Torrence and again swing due south. A small interchange yard is located at 115th Street. Coal trains were interchanged here to the Chicago Short Line who in turn, took them into the Coke Plant located west of the railroad just across Torrence Avenue. By this point in time though, MoPac crews were no longer handling this move. We now interchange them to the Belt at 87th Street and they handle all the forwarding.

Wisconsin Steel is also located in South Deering. This plant was abruptly shut down around 1980 without any warning to the employees there. A large complex, Wisconsin Steel was an integrated mill that manufactured iron and made it into steel. Thousands of men and women were literally thrown out into the street with nothing. It is a rather long and involved story tied into the parent company of the plant, International Harvester. IH was having financial difficulties and called in a loan they had out to the steel company. I am acquainted with several men who lost their jobs and pensions over all of these business dealings.

The mill owned the Chicago, West Pullman & Southern Railroad. The CWP handled the switching within the mill as well as other industrial work. Most of their employees were likewise, thrown out into the streets. I am also acquainted with several of these guys having worked with them later at the IHB.

A little ways south of South Deering is Irondale. There is a yard there used for industry support of nearby manufacturing plants and grain elevators. This facility is operated by the Chicago & Northwestern. Prior to their shutting down; this was a Rock Island yard. The Belt and Indiana Harbor Belt both interchanged cars to and from this yard. The IHB also handled some industry work here. In my IHB days I came over here on various occasions to work them.

From South Deering through Irondale and over to Hegewisch, we’re running directly parallel to Torrence Avenue. We come up to the High Bridge that spans the Calumet River. This bridge is a vertical lift bridge that when not in use for rail traffic is always kept in the raised position. Being that rail traffic is now pretty sparse on the line, a Bridge tender is only called out when trains will run.

The Yard Center Operator would inform the C&WI Dispatcher of the train’s operation well in advance of actually giving a crew mark-up. The old high bridge across from the Ford Torrence Avenue Assembly Plant would need to be lowered so that the local could get across. A Bridge Tender would need to be called out to perform these duties. The only trains regularly operating on this stretch of the CWI were the twice weekly local, a few N&W yard moves, coal trains operated by the Belt between Pullman Jct. and Burnham and Indiana Harbor Belt. The IHB trains came off their Calumet Western Industrial Track just south of the bridge enroute to Irondale Yard just north of the bridge. The CWI did not keep a full time Bridge Tender on duty. When no trains were planned to operate, the bridge was elevated and left in the up position so that marine traffic could flow unimpeded.

On more than one occasion we got stopped at the High Bridge. There was either marine traffic or the Bridge tender was off to lunch. We would just have to sit and wait until he returned after lunch was finished.

Just south of the High Bridge is Ford Motor Company’s Chicago Assembly Plant. Over the years many different models of Ford and Mercury cars have been built here. For many years, the LTD was built here. The Taurus and Sable line took over production here in the 80’s. N&W handles all the switching of the plant.

South of the plant is the intersection of Torrence Avenue and 130th Street. We cross 130th and then duck underneath the South Shore Line and make a left turn and head east (compass). The N&W mains come up along side of us to the south here. South of the N&W is a large Ford marshalling yard. Finished autos from the plant are driven here and parked awaiting disposition. Some are loaded onto trucks for regional distribution while others are loaded onto rail cars for long distance moves. N&W handles all of this work as well.

US Steel Supply also has a facility on the south side of the N&W here that is switched by the N&W, EJ&E and B&OCT. In later years I would come over here while with the EJ&E and work this facility.

The South Shore had dropped to ground level and now parallels the CWI on the north side. The South Shore’s Hegewisch passenger station is located on the north side of their tracks almost right across from US Steel Supply.

Just east of Hegewisch is Burham. Conrail’s South Chicago & Southern (SC&S) line crosses the N&W, CWI and South Shore at grade. The bottle trains to and from Acme’s 110th Street Furnace Plant ply this route back and forth between 110th Street and the Riverdale plant. There was a tower located here but it burned down in 1977, a fire that was ruled arson. Today a modular trailer is used for the tower.

More information about Burnham can be found at http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/burnham.html

Just west of Burnham is the road of the same name and also the connection to the west end of the South Shore’s Burnham Yard. Coal trains from Belt jobs transferring them from 87th Street used this connection. Prior to their handling them, MoPac crews brought them over from 81st Street after running around them up there.

At the east end of Burnham Yard the CWI turns to the right and heads southeast to State Line Tower. State Line was one of the busiest interlockings in the Chicago Terminal. The CWI proper ended here. The western end of the joint Erie Lackawanna/ Chesapeake & Ohio connected to the CWI here. The Monon and after the merger, L&N also connected here at the north end of the single track known as the Monon and later L&N Track. The B&OCT connected to the CWI here and also crossed and connected to the Nickel Plate Road. The NKP crossed the CWI and also the Indiana Harbor Belt’s Roby Branch. The IHB was a north/south line through here that crossed everybody. The South Shore crossed the IHB as well passing north of the tower while most of the other trackage was on the south side of the tower. The IHB connected to everybody at State Line.

The westernmost end of the IHB’s East Chicago Belt branch also connected to their Roby branch here at State Line as well. This line extends east all the way to Graselli Tower in East Chicago where it connects to the IHB’s portion of the Kankakee Line.

The Wabash also operated through State Line coming off the B&OCT entering CWI rails for the trip to 81st Street and points north and west from there. After the N&W took over the Wabash and NKP in 1964, some Wabash trains began to operate in and out of Calumet Yard using the former NKP rails. Other Wabash trains continued to use the CWI. Both the NKP and Wabash took the N&W name in 1964 as part of the transaction.

State Line used to be staffed by two employees around the clock, a Leverman and an Operator. The Operator was in charge handling the copying train orders, hooping them up to the affected trains and working with all the Dispatchers of the railroads involved with State Line. The Leverman handled the actual operation of the switches and signals in the plant as instructed by the Operator. State Line was an open train order office for all northward trains on the CWI.

The tower itself was a brick and wooden sided building. Like all the other CWI buildings, the wooden portion was painted green. The first time I was inside this tower in 1981, I commented to CWI Superintendent Andy Anderson how this place could have never been new. It seemed to be rather rickety even though much of the structure was brick. The tower was also very long in length to accommodate all the working levers that controlled the switches, derails and signals within this massive and complex plant. There were still instructions posted for running timers as authorized by the NKP in 1952.

By this date though, there was only an Operator here that controlled the entire plant. With the Erie Lackawanna and C&O long gone through here, the former Wabash trains rerouted to the former NKP and L&N Monon trains also routed away, there was far less work to be performed.

Take a look at more information and diagrams of State Line at http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/stateline.html

We have the line up here and proceed from the CWI southbound to the L&N track. The L&N track is actually owned by the CWI and extends from State Line to South Hammond. It is shown in the L&N timetables but CWI rules are in effect.

With this we come to the end of part 2. In part 3 we will ride the Monon from State Line to Air Line Jct. in Munster and work the industries along the way. I’ll also share some stories of incidents and episodes that took place when I worked the job. We’ll also discuss the changes that have taken place along the CWI since my runs across the line began in 1981.

I have enclosed links to Bill Gustason's Chicago Area Rail Junctions site again. Bill has some great diagrams to help you all make sense of this.

And so it goes.