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( Satellite , today's commuter yard is a small remnant of what the IC had south of their Central Station ) The yards were so extensive that it takes two 1938 aerial photos to cover them. 1938 Aerial Phot o from ILHAP 1938 Aerial Phot o from  ILHAP Carl Venzke  posted Train yards just south of Grant Park, 1949, Chicago [The buildings east of Indiana Avenue between Roosevelt and 15th Place look new because all of this land used to be IC railyards. The McCormick convention complex is also built on land that used to support intercity passenger service.] Jim Arvites  posted , the exposure has been adjusted but the train is blurry A 1940's view of the Illinois Central Railroad's passenger, commuter and freight yards in downtown Chicago. Note the IC'S Central Station in upper left corner of picture. Matt McClure  18th Street footbridge. Frank Hicks  I'll bet this photo was taken from the tower of the  RR Donnelly Calumet plant on Cermak David Daruszka  The y...

( Bridge Hunter ; Street View ;  3D Satellite ) CFE = Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern Railroad PFW&C = Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Ken Durkel posted two images with the comment: When news came that the historic Pennsy stone arch bridge in Hobart, Indiana was slated to be replaced this year, I set out to get as many pictures of trains heading across the bridge as I could. Not easy when at most there are three trains a day, and more often than not in the dark. Some days no trains passed. But I did manage to get some of the last handful of trains passing over the 160 year old bridge.  Built in 1858 for the P.F.W.&C. this bridge predated the Civil War. Though in recent decades the trains have been few, and for 8 years no trains crossed, for many decades 50-60 trains or more crossed here every day.  The first picture is a postcard taken I would guess at least 100 years ago showing a westbound crossing the bridge.  The second pic, taken on March 31...

( Bridge Hunter , Historic Bridges ,  3D Satellite ) Built 1907 for the Big Four Railroad, rehabilitated in 1998 [Bridge Hunter] Robert Holton posted A supposedly haunted rail bridge in Avon, Indiana where the wails of track workers entombed in the cement works can be heard above the roar of trains overhead. One of the most reported stories is that an Irish construction worker slipped and fell in a vat of wet cement inside the framework of one of the piers and drowned. Since he was already dead, the railroad company didn't want to waste money to retrieve the body, they left it in the pier and the workers carried on with construction. People now say that at night, you can hear his hammer pounding from when he was trying to get out of the concrete. [Bridge Hunter] This bridge is one of two concrete arch bridges along this stretch of railroad line. The bridge has spalled severely, which has diminished its architectural details. It likely remains structurally intact however due to how ...

(see below for satellite) NorthAmericanInterlockings : see below Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers  (click the marker for the correct information) Pennsy called this junction Indiana Harbor, and IHB called it Fort Wayne because it was Pennsy's Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago route. Note the IHB route was really owned by NYC because it is the northern part of the Kankakee Belt . But it was, and is, operated by IHB. William Shopotkin posted three images with the comment: Here are a couple of pix of the tower Indiana Harbor (East Chicago, IN) -- where the IHB x/o PC (PRR). They were taken by Dr. Robert Breese of the back end of Amtrak's EB BROADWAY LIMITED on July 17, 1974. Also included is a diagram of the interlocking. Sadly, the one-time PRR thru the area is but a memory. Eric Powell   The concrete slab for this tower is still visible, barely, right next to the Cline Avenue bridge going over the IHB. 1 2 3, also  NorthAmericanInterlockings Sat...

( John Haynes Track Diagram , see below for satellite) NorthAmericanInterlockings :  see photo below Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers  (click the marker for the correct information) William Shapotkin posted While I admit the quality leaves a lot to be desired, to-date this is the ONLY image of the Liverpool, IN tower (MC Joliet Cut-off/PRR Xing) -- and darn it if it was not found in a non-NYC or PRR fan magazine. The yellow rectangle highlights a bridge that still remains from the Michigan Central route. The route bent slightly northeast of the junction. Satellite

( Satellite ) NorthAmericanInterlockings :  see below I discovered there is a second "River Junction" in Chicago. But the proper name for that junction is River Branch Junction . William Shapotkin posted You sure as heck would not recognize this location today -- this is "River Junction" (Tower RS). Located at what would otherwise be known the intersection of Bryn Mawr/Kostner Ave in Chicago, this is where the C&NW "Valley Line" (veering off to left) and "Weber Line" (veering off to right) split. View looks north. Roger Wilhelmi   The last time I ran a train here was about '87 or '88. The trees and bushes were encroaching on the right of way quite a bit then. I think the track from Valley south was cut at Skokie in the early '90s?? Whatever the case, this picture has no semblance of familiarity to me whatsoever. Ken Rehor   The Valley Line is a trail.  https://www.traillink.com/trail/valley-line-trail/  I don't see any info ab...

( Turnout Satellite ; Divergence Satellite ) PFW&C = Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Robert Daly posted two photos that include the tower with the comment: PRR and NYC bridges over the Calumet River, Feb 18 1974, looking northwest. Tower controlling the PRR bridge was known as River Branch. Shortly after the PC merger in 1968 the NYC bridge was closed and put in the raised position, where it remains to this day. The PRR bridge continued in service through Conrail and now NS. B&O had a parallel bascule bridge to the right, which was rammed and partially destroyed by a lake boat some time in the 1980s. 1 2 RailfanGuides In a 1938 aerial photo, the tower is lost in the shadow of a grain elevator.

( New Tower Flickr ;  Satellite  According to Global Earth images: In 2000, the tower was east of the billboard. In 2002, there was just a concrete slab.) NorthAmericanInterlockings :   new tower  (old tower photos are below) Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers  (click the marker for more information) Great Western Junction was another name for this junction. William Shapotkin posted two photos with the comment: Great Western Junction -- located at Beloit Ave in Forest Park, IL, is where the CGW mainline began (trains operated over the B&OCT east of that point). Here are two pix of that tower BEFORE construction of the Congress (now Eisenhower) Expressway obliterated everything. 1. This view (looking west) shows an E/B CA&E train x/o the B&OCT. The CGW branches off to the left -- the B&OCT (WC) to the right. 2. This view (looking east) shows a W/B CA&E train arriving Des Plaines Ave station. The tower is at left. De...

1897, Public Domain The corporate origin of the CGW was the Chicago, St. Charles & Mississippi River that was formed in 1835 [ ClassicStreamliners ], 1850 [ American-Rail ] or 1852 [ St. Charles Air Line ]. Since the SCAL would be a direct competitor to the G&CU, the G&CU bought it in 1854 and stopped construction. SCAL did lay 9 miles of track and graded the land to St. Charles, IL before the work was stopped. Also in 1854, the SCAL rights were sold to Minnesota & North Western (M&NW). But they did not start building until 30 years later when the St. Paul businessman A. B. Stickney assumed control.He was an experienced railroad man, and he quickly built a line south of St. Paul to Dubuque, IA. (A lot of railroad projects stalled in 1850s because the iron rails had to be imported from England . By the 1880s, America could roll a lot of steel rail.) Stickney realized he would need a connection to the Chicago market to be viable. In 1886 he started construction from ...

( Bridge Hunter , 3D Satellite ) I don't normally do yet another steel tied-arch bridge, but when you get a view as unique as this, I went for it. This is "reverse railfan." Specifically, it is a photo from a train instead of a train. And at the bottom is some photos of the cantilever truss that it replaced. William A. Shaffer posted The Jefferson Barracks Bridge at St. Louis, MO (Shot through the window of Amtrak #22 en route to St. Louis) (Photo by William A. Shaffer) By Service Depicted: Other ServiceCamera Operator: SSGT PAUL GRIFFIN - ID:DFST9500065 , Public Domain, Link Roads and farmland in St. Louis area are hard hit by floodwaters. Location: SAINT LOUIS, ILLINOIS (IL) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA) 1993 Westbound bridge built 1984; eastbound bridge built 1990, The navigation channel span is 910'. Missouri State Archives from Flickr The eastbound span of the Jefferson Barracks (I-255) bridge was opened in December 1990, not 1986. It was opened right around the...

Because any remaining old style signals are going to soon be replaced to implement Positive Train Control, some railfans are taking pictures of the signals instead of trains. B&O and Pennsy were the two railroads that had their own unique design of signal heads. I have already covered Pennsy's yellow light positional design . This is looking south along the former B&O branch line (Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton) in Deshler, OH . The tracks just on the other side of the depot is the former B&O mainline to Chicago. Both of these routes are now CSX. 20151101 5338,cropped I cropped the above picture to make it a little easier to see that the horizontal red lights really are lit up. Also, you can see in the lower left corner that the signal head for southbound traffic on the southeast quadrant has a stop aspect. I stepped to the side for the closeup because I was trying to reduce the effect of the sun that was still rather high in the sky. What I inadvertently did was dem...