Brighton Park Junction

Word has it that Brighton park is being interlocked, negating the need for Metra HC trains to stop to proceed. I assume this means the semaphores are finito as well? And any word if the semaphores are going to IRM or somewhere equally as caring? These signals are really a piece of railroading history in IRM's backyard and I'd hate to see them wind up at General Iron or in somebody's basement for thirty years. The nice thing is, a couple of semaphores are much lower maintenance than a large locomotive that needs to be kept running or even in a fresh coat of paint.

Not only do I also hope that the semaphores are preserved, I'd like to see the manually operated levers and other machinery inside the switchtender's cabin be saved as well; I hope none of the critical components of this historic crossing are lost to history.

(And BTW, with the physical connections between the intersecting predecessor railroads removed years ago, Brighton Park is actually a crossing, not a junction...)

Perhaps the Illinois Railway Museum in Union would be interested. History is being made with the closing of this place.

I read somewhere, can't remember where, that the whole interlocking (signals and everything will be going to a museum. However the museum's name was not disclosed, and the transfer of assets was a purchase, NOT a donation. IRM has a lot going on right now (financially) so while it would be neat to see the whole setup up there, it may not have been them who purchased it. The semaphores would be great to see up in Union, but te ten diamonds .. I think they have plans for a track setup over by the new carbarn which would require the use of one, but that's a lot of diamonds leftover...

TRAINS Magazine

New signals at Chicago's Brighton Park junction to be cut in this weekend

CHICAGO

July 3, 2007

Brighton Park junction, also known as Panhandle Crossing for a Pennsylvania Railroad predecessor, will finally emerge from the era of manually controlled signals this weekend when remotely controlled signals are cut in. One result of the cutover is a required detour for Amtrak trains.

The famous junction, northwest of the intersection of Western Avenue and
Archer Avenue in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood, is a major crossing
point, hosting trains of four Class I freight railroads, plus Amtrak's
Chicago-St. Louis trains and Metra's Heritage Corridor commuter trains.
North-south parallel lines of CSX and Norfolk Southern cross Canadian
National's former Illinois Central (earlier, the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio), on
which the passenger trains operate. BNSF trains run through the crossing on
trackage rights.

It is one of the few major junctions in the U.S., and likely the busiest -
it sees about 80 trains a day - where trains are directed by a switch tender
and manually operated semaphore-style signals that he or she controls. All
trains are required to stop at the junction before proceeding. This weekend,
that will change as the semaphores will come down and the junction will be
controlled remotely by Norfolk Southern dispatchers at Ashland Avenue Yard,
nearby to the southeast. When cleared through the crossings, trains no
longer will have to stop before proceeding.

During the weekend, Amtrak trains through Brighton Park - all Lincoln
Service trains, plus the Texas Eagle (Metra's service here runs only on
weekdays) - will detour between Chicago and Joliet, Ill., via Metra's Rock
Island District, the former Rock Island main line. Using southbounds as the
example, this will be accomplished by making like the City of New Orleans,
Illini, and Saluki by backing out of Chicago Union Station on the BNSF to
Union Avenue. From there, they will proceed forward on the St. Charles Air
Line to 16th Street, where a staffed interlocking tower still controls the
crossing of the Rock Island and a southwest quadrant connection allows
direct access southbound onto the Metra line. In the southern extremes of
Chicago, the detouring Amtrak trains will keep to the Rock Island District's
main line, normally used by only a few weekday rush-hour Metra trains,
rather than the suburban line. At Joliet, the Amtrak detours will use
Metra's connection track to the Heritage Corridor route (today Union
Pacific, ex-GM&O) to the south; they will then back up into Joliet Union
Depot for their station stop. Northbound trains will do the same, in reverse
sequence, of course. The Metra connection track is used every weekday by
Heritage Service trains, which lay over in the Rock Island District's Joliet
storage yard.

Amtrak and Metra were able to "practice" this detour on June 16-17 when Belt
Railway of Chicago was doing signaling upgrades at the Lemoyne and Nerska
junctions in Chicago, where BRC's main line crosses the CN (Amtrak/Heritage)
and BNSF Transcon main lines, closing the BNSF and CN for portions of that
weekend.

I saw the new signals from CTA's orange line this weekend - Lots of 'em, and very tall, compared to the somewhat shorter semaphores. The semaphores were still installed as of sunday 7/1.

I saw the new signals from CTA's orange line this weekend - Lots of 'em, and very tall, compared to the somewhat shorter semaphores. The semaphores were still installed as of sunday 7/1.

Has anyone seen the new interlocking under traffic? I'd be interested to hear how smoothly it's working.

Doesn't appear to have benifitted Amtrak very much. Lincoln Service Trains are still arriving 25-45mins or more late into CHI.

Amtrak trains are usually already late from downstate delays, not usually from delays around Chicago.