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

December 16, 2006
Well, I haven’t done one of these in quite a long time, so I guess I am really overdue. This one will be a twist as it comes from a piece of railroad that I used to operate over in the latter 80’s, the former Chicago Central & Pacific. I hadn’t seen this line west of Broadview, IL since 1987 prior to a couple of weeks ago. Crews from the former IC are recapturing mileage from the former CCP as their crews operate over our line for some 32 miles to reach Markham. We are now allowed to work their line to Freeport, IL for several months per year to equalize the mileage. Sound confusing? It is. In any event, for several months a year one side of the 337/338 pool is our assignment. I marked up on the run and had to requalify on the territory as Federal law requires that Engineers that have not operated over a segment of main track in over a year must requalify on such track. I was given a pilot for the first two round trips during the week of December 11th. I felt comfortable enough to go it solo on the 16th, that is, without a pilot, and so we went. We will chronicle that trip in today’s lesson.

The run today originates at Markham Yard and we will operate via the Chicago Sub and the Freeport Sub to reach that namesake city in Northwestern, IL. The Freeport Subdivision extends from 16th Street Tower in Chicago, located at 16th and Clark Streets. This is where Metra’s Rock Island Sub crosses and connects to the former IC. At 16th Street the Chicago Sub ends and becomes the Freeport Sub. The mileposts also change here as well. The Chicago Sub ends with milepost 1.5 and the Freeport Sub begins with milepost 2.2. Mileage was measured from Central Station when the trackage (and the station) was still in place. Both are long gone but the mileage measurements remain the same. The transition point where the names of these two lines change has itself changed several times during my ten plus years with the IC and CN. There was also at least one change prior to my days with the CCP and IC. At the present time, 16th Street is still the transition point. I hear we are supposed to have a new timetable coming out next month, so we’ll see what happens with that.

Our train today is M33791-16. The M indicates Manifest freight, 337 is the train symbol, and 9 is the region on CN on which the train originates. It used to be for the division but that plan has been adjusted. Trains originating on the Chicago Division and part of the Central Division use 9. The digit 1 is for the regular scheduled section of the train. Had there been a second section of this schedule, this number would be a 2 instead; 33792. An advance section of this train would have this number as a 0; 33790. 337 originates at Markham in part from a connection with train 437 that originates in Champaign. We get a block of cars as well as the power off 437, marry this up to more cars from Markham and go on our merry way.

We are ordered for 1700 hours, 5pm in civilian time for today’s trip. My Conductor will be Jorge Contreras. Everybody calls him George and I call him Georgie, but will spell it the way he does throughout this adventure. Jorgie has been railroading since 2001. We get along quite well and I enjoy working with him, so that makes for a pleasant day and trip. Our power is located in track 11 in F Yard, MF11 in the computer, along with the head end of our train. Today we have two LMS (Locomotive Management Services) C40-8W’s for power, CN is long term leasing these units and they have been assigned to the former IC and issued new numbers. They also have large crooked noodles painted on their car bodies as well. Today we have the IC 2463 and 2456. We call these units the “blue brutes” owing to their paint schemes. They still carry their Conrail/LMS blue paint. Conrail and General Electric, the manufacturer of these units teamed up to formed Locomotive Management Services and operated these units as part of a lease fleet. Conrail operated them for six months per year and CN operated them for six months per year. This created the best of both worlds for both roads as they only operated them during their peak seasons and then only leased them instead of own them, saving money. They were painted in Conrail blue but carried the initials LMS and later LMSX instead of Conrail markings and carried numbers in the 700 series. CN took a long term lease on them, blanked out the LMSX initials, applied their famous “crooked noodle” logo to these units and renumbered them into the 2400 series following their own C40-8CW series. They look like this http://www.trainweb.org/zeniphotos/LMSX709.jpg only now wearing new numbers, the IC initials and the crooked noodle. On some of them the paint applied over the LMSX initials on the front and rear noses has worn off exposing them again too.

We walked from the yard office in A Yard over to F Yard to our power. I inspected the power while Jorgie knocked the handbrakes off the cars we were couple to in 11F. After completing these chores we were ready to go only we couldn’t as train 398 was doubling up his outbound train in front of us. So we patiently waited. The beautiful bride complains about my lack of patience at home and I always explain that it is all removed from me while at work. This is proof. While waiting our turn, Jorgie notices our paperwork is incomplete and notifies the Markham General Yardmaster. He is informed that fresh new paperwork will arrive with his ride to the head end of the train after he completes doubling it up.

We finally get our chance and begin doubling up our train at 645p pulling out, using thoroughfare four track for headroom and coupling to track 12F. A car inspector attaches to our crew as a utility employee when our train is in one piece to hang the end of train device and perform the air test. A dump test is performed to insure we have two way communications with our end of train device. The dump test is completed and then we perform our road test including a leakage check; only 2 psi – well within Federal limits. We receive a highball on the air at 707p and the Markham General Yardmaster gives permission for us to head up thoroughfare 4 from Hazel Crest to Harvey. I meet Jorgie at Harvey at 721p along with the correct paperwork and we are ready to depart. We are given permission from Markham to work our way through the switches at 157th Street and get in position to enter main track 2. We need permission for the Desk 1 Dispatcher as he controls the main tracks. I attempt to contact the Dispatcher for that permission. I should correct this, they don’t call them Dispatchers here anymore, they are now RTC’s; Rail Traffic Controllers. Somebody got paid lots of money to come up with this one and it wasn’t me. Rail Traffic Controller is what they call Dispatchers in Canada, a name they devised in the early 1990’s so that is what we now call them here; they say it is a continuity thing. A Dispatcher by any other name is still a Dispatcher.

Finally after an eighteen minute wait, Desk 1 answers and gives us permission to enter track 2 and proceed north. Jorgie has to operate the electric locks on these switches first before he can line them. In a nutshell, the electric lock is a timing device linked to the signal system that must be operated first. The locking devices with them must unlock before the Conductor or Brakeman can line the switch for our move. This is in addition to the regular locks on the switches. The electric locks feature a timing device that must run down before the route can be lined for our movement. This is a safety feature so that you don’t accidentally line a switch in front of an oncoming train. The electric locks will not unlock if there is a train approaching on that track. Well, they’re not supposed to unlock anyway. After the time runs down and they unlock, Jorgie lines the route and gives me the signal to come ahead. We depart at 749p with 9 loads, 94 empties, 4735 tons and 6118 feet of train including the engines.

I have to proceed at restricted speed as we have entered the main track in between signals. Even though I can see the next signal at 1798 is displaying an advance approach (flashing yellow), I still must operate at restricted speed. To refresh your memories, restricted speed is a speed that will permit stopping within half the range of vision short of all that stuff; train engine railroad obstruction, switch not properly lined, derail on the track, roadway workers, looking out for broken rail and not exceeding 20 MPH. I must maintain this speed until the leading wheels of the movement pass the next signal displaying a more favorable indication than restricting (lunar or flashing red) or restricted proceed (red with a number plate on the signal). And of course, I must be mindful of the fact that I cannot exceed 10 MPH while pulling the entire train through the crossover switches between tracks 4 and 2 at 157th Street.

We pass signal 21798 (2 meaning the signal is on track 2 and 1798 indicates the signal is located at milepost 17.98) and its advance approach and I begin to accelerate from restricted speed. Normal speed here for freight trains is 50 mph. This particular signal tells me I may proceed at normal speed being prepared to stop at the second signal. There will be another signal coming up around milepost 15.5 and then the signal for Kensington after that. This flashing signal tells me that I am mot likely not lined up to proceed at Kensington and must be ready to stop before passing that signal. The location of signal 21798 is also known as Highlawn, there is a street called Highlawn Avenue located west of the railroad hence the name. There are switches that connect between main track 2, thoroughfares 3, 4 and 7 and also a connection to the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. We also pass over the IHB just north of here. I look down at the IHB (and on them too) and observe all sorts of activity. This location is a little east of their Blue Island Yard, so there is frequently something moving here on their line. We pass over CSX on the infamous Riverdale bridges, the ones that burned down a few years ago (http://www.railroad.net/articles/columns/hottimes/hottimes_20030703.php). There was a coal train rolling east on CSX below us as we passed, Just north of here is the “big river bridge” that spans the Little Calumet River, which is actually a big, navigable river that sees lots of barge traffic. I contact Kensington Tower on the radio here to advise him of our approach to him. At this point I have the train speed up to 38 MPH. He responds and moments later, the signal at 15.5 (the location of this signal is called Wildwood) which is now coming into view. I see it is approach (yellow over red) and then it changes to clear (green over red) indicating that Kensington has lined me up to proceed across his place.

I put the engines into the dynamic braking mode to begin slowing my train to comply with the 25 MPH restriction across the plant at Kensington. We roll through Wildwood, the location of crossover switches between both main tracks and thoroughfare tracks 3 and 4 and my speed is dropping rapidly. It’s great to have a lot of empties as they slow down quickly. We roll underneath the former C&WI/MoPac (now UP) overhead (my original railroad stomping grounds) where a train is passing overhead and the signal for Kensington comes into view. If there is no train above, you can usually see the Kensington signals further back, but not tonight. Being that we had a clear signal at Wildwood, I shouldn’t have to worry about the possibility of a stop signal at Kensington. If we had an approach at Wildwood, I would have had the train speed way down as I could not see the signal and would have to be prepared to stop the train should Kensington be displaying a stop signal. Not to worry tonight though.

We roll through Kensington at 25 MPH. There are crossover switches between all the tracks at Kensington including a connection to the parallel Metra Electric District. The South Shore also crosses and connects here as well. Also at Kensington is the Metra passenger station. The Blue Island Loop train is sitting at the station awaiting the arrival of the main line trains operating between Chicago and University Park. I worked that Blue Island Loop train main times in my days at Metra. During the evening hours this train loops back and froth between Kensington and Blue Island (and all stations in between) on the Blue Island Branch.

Once the tail end of my train has cleared the limits of the Kensington interlocking, I can resume normal speed and do just that. Again, with all those empties and lots of power and I can accelerate quickly once I have the slack out of the train and reach track speed rather quickly.

“And away we go.”

We operate on clear signals (green) most of the way and roll along at 50 MPH. All is good. We meet Amtrak 59 coming south on track one at 826p near 54th Street. After he passes I inform him that he is green on the side (brake indicator lights showing that the brakes on the cars are released and a pair of “red eyes” in the back meaning his two red markers at the rear of his train are illuminated. When he passes our tail end he informs me that we looked good and our marker was working. Upon approaching the curve at milepost 4, I engage the dynamic brake and reduce the speed from 50 to 40, the speed around the curve there. For the tunnel at McCormick Place which starts about milepost 2.7, I reduce my speed to 10 MPH. Again with all those empties in our train, the dynamic brake easily and quickly drops our speed from 40 down to 10 MPH. With certain types of commodities in this train we have to operate through the tunnel at 10 instead of the normal 25 MPH. As we roll through the tunnel, we also climb up and over the Metra Electric District, come out the north end and encounter block signal 2226 (track 2, milepost 2.26) which displays an approach (yellow over red) indication. This signal informs me that I will most likely have a stop signal at 16th Street. From 2226 all the way through the interlocking at 21st Street, track speed is 10 MPH.

The track takes a dip near the signal and then rises and curves hard to the left. We are in the high rent district here; lots of overpriced condos and town homes line the railroad. Even “Hizzoner Junior,” Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley lives around here. I’ll just bet he loves to hear us rolling through; nothing like flanges squealing against the rail head on the curves and then reverberating off all those building along the tracks, and of course the rumble and vibration from the motive power and flat spots on some of the wheels thumping against the rails. Did you know that at certain engine speeds (rpm’s) there is a deep, powerful rumble created that will rattle windows and china in cabinets and can even make some lighter items “walk” across tables? I do. I also know many of the other neighbors love us. Some occasionally tell us we’re number 1. That is what that finger gesture means, right? There is one guy that will pop out onto his terrace and give us the whistle sign, you know, like the one you gave to truckers on the highways when you were kids riding around with the folks on a car trip? Whenever he does, I always comply. The reverberation effect is great amongst all these buildings. I’m surprised his neighbors haven’t hired an assassin to get rid of him.

Now with a longer train like this I use what is referred to as “throttle modulation” to slow and stop my train at 16th Street. This involves adjusting the throttle and using the terrain to slow and stop my train. I have part of the train climbing the grade through the tunnel, the short little dip, the rise and then the curve, actually, three curves total between the block signal and 16th Street to assist me in slowing and stopping the train. I routinely use this to my advantage and stop trains in this manner at 16th Street. As it comes into view, partially obstructed by a building, there is indeed a stop signal at 16th Street. I contact the operator there who informs me that he has a people train to move first on Metra and then he’ll see what it looks like.

A couple of years ago they changed the name of this place to 16th Street from Clark Street. It had been Clark Street for what seems to be ever but all of a sudden the name needed to be changed. For whatever reason they changed it to 16th Street as that is what it was called on Metra. More of that continuity thing I guess. 16th is also the first of what is known as the “Twin Towers.” 21st Street is about half a mile west (timetable north) of here. And the weird part is that 21st Street Tower is not really at 21st Street. Go figure this one out. The operator at 16th Street, after getting the okay from our Desk 1 Dispatcher has to communicate with the Amtrak Lumber Street Operator who now controls the crossing at 21st Street. If he can handle us and our dispatcher tells him he too, can handle us, they will move our train through. There is less than half a mile between the signals governing 16th and 21st Streets, so they will not run a train through until both places can handle us so as not to block one of the crossings.

Our wait at 16th Street was short, from 839 to 850p awaiting a westbound Metra to pass. He rolled through with engine 406 in the lead and six cars. When we began rolling again, we met train 336 coming east and about to change directions at 16th Street to go south. The directions also change at 16th Street. Chicago Sub number two track becomes Freeport Sub number one and changes from a north-south configuration to one of east-west. Likewise with Chicago Sub track one and Freeport Sub track two. Until recently, Freeport track one was called track three and two was called track four. Why? Because they can. The trackage through here has been so many different names over the years that one needs a scorecard to keep track. After the ICG sold off the Iowa Division west of the Belt Crossing near Hawthorne Yard in late 1985, the Freeport Sub became the Bridgeport Sub between 21st Street and Belt Tower. In the latter 90’s, the Chicago Sub was extended up to Bridgeport. A year or so later they moved it back to Cermak. Then it was moved back to Clark Street and the Bridgeport Sub was renamed the Freeport Sub. Then about a year and a half or so ago, Freeport Sub tracks one and two were renamed three and four between 16th Street and Broadview. And of course recently, three and four were renamed one and two between 16th Street and Bridgeport. Confused? You need a bucket of White Out to keep up with the changes.

We roll through 16th Street, around the curve, down the hill, around another curve and to the signal at 21st Street. There is quite the inferior signal arrangement here. It is a low mount or dwarf type signal mounted on a short post. You cannot see the signal until you are about four or five hundred feet away from it. There is a signal governing the approach to it after you depart 16th Street, signal W2.5, but it only displays approach or restricted proceed (red with a number plate on the signal). Even if you have the signal at 21st, you will only get an approach at W2.5, so you must have your train under control in case there is a stop signal at 21st, and sometimes there is.

The city of Chicago acquired the former Chicago & Western Indiana right of way that was nestled in between the IC and the south branch of the Chicago River several years ago and built a park on the land. There is a name for it of which I don’t know but we all call it “Chinatown” Park as that Chicago community is directly south of the tracks here. Hizzoner Jr. then began whining about all the trains that pass through here daily and how they “trap people in the park whenever they pass through. We rarely stop on the crossing here, generally just pass through at low speeds. I guess that what you get when you build a park across from a railroad and have only one way in or out and make it at ground level instead of building a pedestrian bridge.

We have an approach at 21st, cross the Amtrak line and start back up hill and around a curve towards Cermak. Cermak Road passes under the railroad near here hence the name. It is also the location of a set of crossovers between the Freeport Sub tracks and also the connection to the short section of the Joliet Sub that ties into the Amtrak line at 21st Street. At one time the Joliet Sub paralleled the Freeport Sub between 21st and Bridgeport. In 1996 this was changed as the Cermak plant was built and the old GM&O northbound main was removed between the two points and the old southbound was downgraded into a running track (now called the Bridgeport Storage Track). With all of this came very small signals sitting on the ground and difficult, if not impossible to see at times.

Coming east the signals are difficult to see even at night. In the daylight they can be impossible to ascertain. I have had to stop the train, the Conductor has had to get out and shield the signal from the sun and look directly into it to make out the aspect it is displaying. Years of complaining have been fruitless, so now we are “governed accordingly” to make certain we don’t accidentally pass a stop signal without permission.

We have an approach diverging (yellow over yellow) on the signal at Cermak indicating that we will be crossing over at Bridgeport. We refer to the two yellow lights on this signal as “double yolkers.” Heading towards Bridgeport the CTA Orange line is directly to the south of us and Bridgeport Yard to the north. Bridgeport Yard is used for storage and industry support. Normally jobs out of Glenn and Hawthorne Yards use this yard for interchanging cars and to store cars for industries around this area. In my days at Metra we used to joke that CTA stood for “Can’t Transport Anything.” At Bridgeport we have a diverging clear (red over red over green) indicating we are actually turning out from Freeport number one to Freeport number three. If it was clear, green over red over red, it would indicated we were going “straight” and onto the Joliet Sub track one. Red over green over red, diverging clear, would indicate we are crossing over to Joliet Sub track two. Red over red over yellow means we are either crossing over to track three or four and the next signal (Ash Street) will likely be a stop (red) indication. Confused?

At Bridgeport the south end of Bridgeport storage track connects as does the Bridgeport Yard lead. The Joliet Sub reappears and breaks off heading roughly southwest towards Brighton Park, Glenn Yard and eventually Joliet. We roll around the bend here just west of the bridge and the Santa Fe Storage Track breaks off to the south. This is the old Santa Fe westbound track that is now disconnected from its namesake railroad. The IC obtained this track in the 90’s when Amtrak rerouted off the Santa Fe for BN rails between Chicago and Galesburg, IL. This trackage became surplus and the IC grabbed it between Bridgeport and Ash Street and made it a storage track. The old eastbound track was removed between these two points.

On the north side is the former IMX facility. IMX was the Intermodal Exchange, IC’s intermodal yard in Chicago. In the mid 90’s the IC leased this facility to the Southern Pacific. The IC had built and opened the Moyers Intermodal Terminal (MIT) at Markham making IMX redundant. SP operated trains in and out of this facility using the Belt Railway of Chicago and later Chicago Rail Link under contract to switch the facility. UP took over SP and after several years of rumors, closed IMX. During this time period CN sold UP the facility. UP has now sold it to developers and the intent is to build housing and shopping here. Another ideal location to live; railroads and highways right next to you with all that noise, but there is a river on the north side so I guess that will justify overly priced housing.

“If you build it they will come;” no matter how bad the location.

Rolling around the bend at the west end of IMX we encounter Ash Street. This is the crossing of Norfolk Southern’s former Conrail/Penn Central/New York Central subsidiary Chicago River & Indiana/Chicago Junction line and the parallel CSX former B&OCT. At one time the former Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle line crossed here as well but the line was severed just north of here and the diamonds removed a few years ago. As it would happen, Wisconsin Central leased the remaining portion of the line north from Conrail and formed a paper company called the Wisconsin Central Chicago Link. You have probably spotted the WCCL initials on some of their boxcars; that is what it stands for. As Ash Street comes into view at about 913p a stop signal is displayed and there is cross traffic. Before I even have to attempt to stop the cross traffic clears up the plant, the signal changes to a clear signal and we proceed without stopping. Just west of Ash Street on the north side of the railroad is Ameropan, a distributor of petroleum products and also a CN customer. This place used to have llamas on the property, several of them. They used to roam freely around the place and were used to keep rats and other rodents out. The llamas were there for years and seemed to have no issues with rail crews and truckers operating in and out of the facility. Word is that the City of Chicago took exception after all these years and ordered them out. They allow strip joints and adult book stores which are a form of wildlife but no llamas; can’t have genuine wildlife residing in the city except at Lincoln Park Zoo; might give the place a bad name.

A curve to the left, another to the right, traversing the Chicago River on a large drawbridge that hasn’t opened in years, one more curve and then it is the IN. IN stands for Illinois Northern. The IN was a Santa Fe subsidiary, primarily an industrial line that served industries including the infamous Cook Count Jail which is nearby. The legendary BB King once performed there and a live recorded album was released of this performance way back in 1971. And over the years many of the “guests” of the Cook County Board President have easily “walked away” from the place too. In the daytime you can see the jail from Ash Street. Cook County Jail; thousands of guests at the expense of county taxpayers, all wrongly convicted of course.

“My lawyer f#@*ed me.”

Today the IN is operated by a short line, Illinois RailNet, I believe. Since BNSF sold this line off a few years ago I have not observed any traffic move across the plant here, but at some point there is something rolling across. The crossing is an automatic interlocking actuated by the approaching trains. With train lengths of over 2700 feet you have to hold up at the IN instead of right at the Belt crossing as only about 2700 feet of train will fit in between the signal and the road crossing at Crawford (Pulaksi) Avenue.

We get held at the IN from 921 until 958p for some congestion at Hawthorne. We finally get called down and head to Hawthorne arriving about 1000p. Just east of Hawthorne is the Belt Railway of Chicago crossing. In my CCP days there was a tower here. The Operator was an IC employee. He controlled the crossing and the crossover switches between the main tracks here, the east yard lead switch, the switch for the east wye that connected to the BRC and the “dump” switch. There is a lead that used to reach into the Western Electric Hawthorne Works plant here and also a landfill, in those days called a dump. The lead is still there, for several years during the independent CCP days there was an intermodal yard located on the former Western Electric plant grounds and a connection to the Manufacturer’s Junction Railroad. The connection is still there as well as a new one with the BNSF but the intermodal facility is long gone. The IC, looking to cut costs, closed the tower in the late 80’s, removed most of the power controlled switches and relinquished control of the place to the BRC Dispatcher. So now when we use the trackage through here we are at the mercy of the Belt North Dispatcher and we routinely get hammered for cross traffic. And when do get to move we generally have to stop and line several or all the switches by hand. They call this progress.

During the latter days of the CCP a new bridge was constructed over Cicero Avenue that shortened the east yard lead. Since the CN/IC merger, a new wye has been built in the southwest quadrant and another set of crossovers were added between the mains. But none of the switches have been powered up, so all trains pretty much have to stop and operate the switches here by hand because inevitably, at least one of them will always be lined against your move. In coming across the Belt, we also change radio channels from one (72-72) to seven (43-43).

Train 411 is making a move and then he departs for Broadview where he will leave CN rails through a long connection for the Indiana Harbor Belt. After making our set out and pick up I perform the air test. We have two psi of leakage, again well within the rules. While performing the air test Jorgie copied a track warrant. Track warrant number 4424; check box two; proceed from MP 16 to East Junction on main track. Okay at 2348 hours, Dispatcher DRP.

We depart at 1152p with 47 loads, 90 empties, 9244 tons and 8245 feet of train. We are instructed to use main track four between the west end of Hawthorne and the end of double track at Broadview. We are operating against the current of traffic as track four is signaled for eastward moves and we of course, are moving westward. No signals and we are operating within yard limits which require that operating at restricted speed in such cases. If we were operating on track three instead and had signals more favorable than approach the normal speed would be 25 MPH to Broadview. In departing we met 338 at Berwyn, just west of the yard. The spring switch at the end of the double track at Broadview was lined against us and we had to stop at the stop signal protecting it. Jorgie lined the switch for our move and the signal changed from stop to approach. This delay was from 1215 to 1220.

On the move again we pass the switch and enter the single main track. About that point the next block signal; 15.1 drops from clear to restricted proceed (red with a number plate). This requires us to operate at restricted speed until the leading wheels pass the next signal with a more favorable indication. Yard limits end at milepost 16, but with the restricted speed indication I must continue to operate at restricted speed to the first signal I encounter with a more favorable indication. Being that this signal dropped for what seems to be no reason, we must be mindful of the things that go bump in the night. There are any of a number of things which will cause this signal too drop; cars rolled out somewhere, somebody managed to cut off a lock and tamper with a switch, a rail may have broken or this could be a test. It was my first trip solo after getting requalified on this line and a test is certainly not out of the picture. So it is restricted speed all the way being on the lookout for all that stuff and watching for a possible red flag or fusee of a restricted speed test.

While proceeding at restricted speed we enter into the “No Whistle Zone” that begins at milepost 19.3 and ends at milepost 31.3. This is a very touchy subject for me; I am dead set against such zones unless there all of the hardware is in place to truly prevent motorists from getting around lowered gates. There are some crossings within this zone that don’t really prevent motorists from getting around the gates at all, but we can’t whistle them just the same. Politics. Operating at the reduced speed, we approach the road crossings at a slower rate of speed. At several crossings in the quiet zone motorists not opting to wait, drove around the gates in front of us. When this occurs, a dangerous situation is now present. The motorist is obviously unaware of my approach and decides to risk their life and possibly those of passengers in the car with them. This situation allows me to sound the whistle. And I whistle freely when a dangerous situation like this occurs.

At South Addison, about milepost 20.3, a clear signal is encountered. This particular signal is an absolute signal (no number plate) so if it was displaying a stop signal, a stop would be required before passing it and permission from the Dispatcher would be necessary to proceed past it. A little luck was with us tonight as it was clear instead of stop. Once the lead wheels on my lead locomotive pass that signal, I can now resume normal speed. Normal speed is 40 MPH between Broadview and milepost 24.

A light rain had begun to fall around Elmhurst. With a pair of GE’s for power, they began to slip and slide on the wet rail as I started to accelerate the train. This will make for an interesting trip.

“We bring good things to light.”

There is a temporary speed restriction of 25 MPH over the road crossing at milepost 23.4, so I cannot go for maximum speed right away. When the tail end of the train clears this restriction I begin to accelerate the train. In between the wheels slipping I do gain speed. Once the entire train is past milepost 24 I can then make the attempt to reach the track speed of 50 MPH.

“Slip sliding away.”

The rain intensified a bit and then let up, quitting completely by the time we passed through Carol Stream, IL. Then we hit the fog. Not that heavy thick stuff, just a light, wispy sort. It was enough to make the rail wet and wreak havoc on the power causing some wheel slip. As the train speed slowly increased the wheel slip began to subside a bit.

We roll through Munger, the site of a passing siding and also the connection with the EJ&E. Trains 348 and 349 operate via “the J” between Leighton and Munger and use the Freeport Sub between Munger and Hawthorne.

The Munger detector is west of here, located at milepost 38.1. It gives the “No defects” message along with an axle count of 564 and a temperature of 50°. One detector down, one to go.

The route begins an ascending grade west of Munger and with the light fog and wet rail, this should be fun and it is. By the time we reach Plato Center, around milepost 47, we are down to 16 mph. Healthy grade, wet rail, GE power, it doesn’t get any better than this. There was a siding at Plato Center during my days with the CCP, but it was removed sometime after 1988.

The track levels out a bit and by the time we reach the passing siding at Burlington the train is back up to track speed of 50 MPH.

There is a big sweeping right hand curve between milepost 58 and 59 that allows for a good look back at the train. Nothing appears to be sparking or burning, which is always a good thing. We are back on ascending grade now as we approach the hamlet of Genoa, IL. A lumber yard is located there, with the switch for it near milepost 61, that gets regular rail service but they have no request for a switch this evening and we simply roll through town tonight.

Onward we pass the passing siding at Colvin Park and head on west towards the defective equipment detector at Irene about milepost 71.5. Once upon a time, there was a siding at Irene but was removed during the ICG years.

“IC Railroad, equipment defect detector, mile 7-1 point 5, no defects, length of train, 8-1-8-9, speed 4-8, axle count, 5-6-4, temperature 4-3, think safety, detector out.”

We drop on down towards Perryville, once the sight of an elevator that received rail service. In my CCP days, I caught an extra local job out of Freeport one day and we spotted this place, but that won’t occur today or likely again in the future. I don’t know if the place is even in business anymore, but if it is, they don’t load grain into covered hoppers anymore. We start up ascending grade again towards Rockford. As we near Rockford we drop down into the Rock River Valley. This is a fairly significant descending grade. By now we have run away from the fog and have dry rail which makes life and railroading much easier.

I begin to bunch of the slack of the train with the dynamic brakes to reduce our speed to the required 25 MPH through the city limits of Rockford. There are no less than fifteen road crossings here and the residents of this community don’t seem to believe that it is necessary to stop for the lowered gates. So it seems that at almost every crossing you’ll have some yahoo playing Russian roulette using their motor vehicle instead of a revolver. And this evening was no exception. I’d like to have a crisp new $20 for every idiot that drives around the gates in front of my approaching train; I could quickly become a millionaire.

Buckbee Siding is located at the east end of town with the east switch near milepost 83.6. This siding is dotted with road crossings so meets here would tend to be a bit of a pain. The Iowa, Chicago and Eastern, Illinois Railnet crossing is located in Rockford near the bridge where we cross the Rock River. This crossing was once the Milwaukee Road (later Soo Line, CP then later, I&M Rail Link) and BN. The Rock River is traversed via a long bridge on a curve. There are no walkways on this bridge, plenty of warning and no trespassing signs posted yet the neighbors all seem to know better and use it as their personal pedestrian walkway. Over the years there have been many mishaps through here. Fortunately there were none this week.

The grade becomes ascending once again after crossing the river as we begin climbing back out of the river valley. At the west end of Rockford by the small yard there was once Case Siding. This siding was removed sometime after 1988. Like Plato Center, it too was a rather short siding only 3727 feet. Plato Center was 3058 feet. We pass the old Rockford passenger depot and also the former sight of the Rockford Operator. At one time trains received train orders here. Talk is that Amtrak would like to initiate passenger service between Chicago and Freeport and possibly Dubuque again. As recently as the early 1980’s Amtrak ran the Blackhawk passenger trains on this line between Chicago and Dubuque but the ICG did everything they could to discourage them including putting heavy coal and grain trains out in front of the passenger trains to slow them down and run off patronage. It worked and these trains were discontinued well before they sold the line off to the CCP.

We reach higher ground west of Rockford and level out accelerating to track speed. Alworth is passed at milepost 94.5. There isn’t much here, a track for spotting tank cars for unloading agricultural chemicals and another for unloading fertilizer and seed. There is a sign to remind us to change radio channels from seven back to one at this point and we do so.

The passing siding of Seward is the next point of interest. This is the longest siding on the subdivision, 7175 feet long. It is also home to a large elevator. This elevator employs a former C&NW GP7, the 4120 as the power for shunting and loading grain hoppers around their facility.

We roll on into the city of Freeport, population 26,500. This town hasn’t grown much since I was there last in 1987; its population then was around 26,000. Freeport is the sight of the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates, and little else. There is a large tire plant there, formerly Kelly-Springfield and now called Titan Tire that is a customer of CN. We deliver carloads of carbon blacks and rubber pellets to the plant. Don’t know if we still do, but we used to get boxcar loads of tires out of the plant as well.

We come into town and pass the former sight of East Junction, milepost 113.5. The Amboy District used to break off around here and head south. The Amboy District, known affectionately as the “Gruber Line” was the original IC line to southern Illinois back in the 1850’s when it was thought Freeport would become what Chicago is today, the largest city with the most commerce in Illinois. The Amboy District was mostly abandoned in 1985 although a few small segments of it survive in central Illinois, but not around Freeport. When the group led by Jack Haley acquired the Iowa Division from the ICG in December 1985 to form the CCP, they wanted to purchase the Amboy District as well. The ICG recognized the fact that such a purchase would give the CPP some alternatives to the ICG in Chicago; they refused to sell the line opting for abandonment instead. Today, this location is simply a block signal with the number 113.5 and now the approach to the current East Junction. The old Freeport passenger station is located at milepost 114.4. Today it is owned by a non-rail entity and used for other purposes than rail although the passenger platform and its roof still remain intact.

Freeport was once the sight of a respectable sized rail yard as well known as Wallace Yard. The IC had a pretty strong presence here at one time as recently as the early 1980’s. There was also a line to Wisconsin that connected here, although I cannot recall exactly where it came it now. The ICG sold that line off in the early 80’s to an outfit called the Chicago, Madison & Northern who failed. Later it was the Central Wisconsin and still later Wisconsin & Calumet (WICT) called the “Wicket.” The Wicket used to have a fair amount of interchange traffic here at one time well into CCP days. This line was pretty much dried up after the WICT gained direct access into Chicago via the Metra Milwaukee North line and the Belt Railway of Chicago. In CCP days Wallace Yard saw its fortunes ebb, flow and ebb again. Initially the yard was downgraded with just a couple of locals working out of here and one road job, the Freeport-Hawthorne turn, trains 25 and 24 which later became 50 and 51. All the through trains eliminated the crew change at Freeport operating with one crew (sic) between Waterloo and Hawthorne. Most of the jobs at Freeport were eliminated and the employees there had to relocate to the likes of Waterloo, Hawthorne, Dubuque or other terminals on the CCP. The Amboy District was gone and the jobs that once operated in and out of Freeport in conjunction with that line were also gone.

For a time, the CCP moved most of the switching performed at Hawthorne back to Freeport then later, back again to Hawthorne forcing the Hawthorne employees to have to relocate several times as well. Go figure; let’s make the employees lives miserable and then wonder why morale sucks.

Today, Wallace Yard has been renamed to Freeport Yard. The old office building and headquarters is gone, the crew dormitory for crews coming into Freeport from out west and from the Amboy District is gone and most of the yard itself is gone. There is only an eight track yard and one job based there, the Monday-Saturday Freeport Local. There is a new office; a one level building far smaller than what was once there. And even East Junction has moved. Now it is located at milepost 115.1. There is the siding between East and West Junction and the eight track yard off to the north of it. The yard office is across the street from the yard on the south side.

We pass a clear signal at East Jct at 331a marking our arrival at Freeport and heading down the main. The outbound crew won’t be on duty for another two hours. Our set out of 13 cars is made into track three and we couple onto and pull down the pick up of 26 cars to the west end of the yard. Owing to the length of our train, we cannot make the pick up for the outbound crew and leave it secured there with the engines. The cab arrives and takes us first to the office to tie up at 450a and then to the hotel to book our rest.

The hotel in which we stay is quite nice and probably one of the better ones I’ve stayed in over the course of my career. It seems to be way too nice for a town like Freeport. Several locals I’ve met in Freeport tend to agree with me.

Having not seen the line in nearly twenty years there have been changes. The track is in much better shape for the most part. Much of it had 10 and 25 MPH restrictions back then owing to the poor track conditions from years of neglect by the ICG. Two sidings removed, some business run off, some routed away, most of the grain trains routed away, radio talker detectors, Freeport Yard a shell of what it once was and track warrant control replacing the train order system. Many of the signals have been replaced and some of them relocated as well. Track speed on much of the line has increased from 40 to 50. Also, Tabular General Bulletin Orders (TGBO) have replaced the old General Order system. I can recall getting a general order back in 86 or 87 and having no less than forty-three speed restrictions on the entire line between Waterloo and Chicago. This trip I had only one speed restriction on the TGBO. Time marches on and change is constant.

Another trip completed to my liking; nothing got wrecked, nobody got hurt and best of all, nobody got fired.

At this time the beautiful bride, the wonderful baby and I would like to extend the greetings of the Holiday season to you and yours; Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and a safe, prosperous and happy new year to all of you all. This year I get to live like the “civilians;” I have both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. I’ll get to enjoy baby’s first Christmas. We’re visiting my parents for Christmas Eve and the father and mother of the beautiful bride on Christmas Day and of course, Midnight mass as well.

And so it goes.

Tuch

Hot Times on the High Iron and the HTOTHI initials, ©2005 by JD Santucci.