Anybody 'Been There/Done That'?

[dabug]

To me, the Nickel Plate Road had one of the more interesting entrances into Chicago for its passenger trains of any railroad.  On an embankment, the NKP first pulled up parallel to the IC mainline around 83^rd St.  Shortly the NKP crossed over the IC on a bridge from the east side to the west side.  Then the line dropped down to approximately the same grade level as the still parallel IC, so it could pass under the PRR/NYC mainlines around 75^th St. (also known as Grand Crossing), and then made a left-hand curve to head upgrade for a connection with the NYC main.  From there NKP trains used the NYC to serve Englewood and LaSalle St. Station.

One of the "sweet mysteries of life" to me is why this fascinating trackage area is so poorly represented in the railfan press.  I can't recall ever seeing any pictures of NKP trains utilizing this roller-coaster line in any railfan publication.  Nor have I ever found pictures of this area on the internet. 

How ‘bout it?  Anyone out there remember seeing NKP passenger trains traversing this area, maybe seen from an IC train?  Or know of published photos anywhere?  Any such info is appreciated; thanks!

[Lost World]

No, I haven't seen any pics taken in this area, which is really not surprising.  Most photographers shooting passenger power in the Chicago area were either concentrating on the stations downtown or Englewood Union Station, and thus an important piece of railroad history in that area is now forgotten.  Not having been around during the steam age I don't have the benefit of memory, only what I've found in books over my lifetime.  So it struck me as odd when several years ago I bought a book called Rails Across the Land by Kenody Charlton, who took a lot of photos in the late 40's and early 50's.  He was very young at the time and not the best photographer, but he snapped some interesting pictures around the country, particularly in the Chicago area.  His is the only book I own that has pics taken at "little" Englewood station, served by the Wabash and Erie, among others.  I never even knew there was another Englewood station until I read that book. 

[jimrice4449]

Until our family moved farther south at about the end of WWII, Grand Crossing was my all time favorite train watching spot(and I've spent many many hours at Englewood, Tehachapi, and Cajon).   We lived around 79th and Stoney Island and my favorite recreational outing consisted of telling my mom I was off to the playgound (poor woman thought I meant the one run by the City of Chicago, not the one provided by NYC, PRR and IC).   On a summer week day during WWII you could spend almost the entire day there and have a moving train in sight most of the time.   The most facinating Nickle Plate operation was their sending an 0-8-0 switcher light into La Salle St Depot to bring an empty arrived train back to Calumet Yard complete w/ one of those pretty little smoke deflector equiped Hudsons.

[daveklepper]

Why do you say "little?"   Weren't they heavier than an NYC J-1a or J-3a 4-6-4?

[daveklepper]

Why did you write "little"?   Weren't NKP's 4-6-4"s heavier than NYC's?

[PBenham]

No, quite the opposite. Nickel Plate's hudsons were among the lightest of their type. Only CNs, Maine Central's or NdeMs may have been lighter. Bridge restrictions made these engines hudsons instead of large/high end pacifics. C&O, C&NW (Omaha Road) and PRR (K5s) had (Along with some others) heavier pacifics.

[arkansasrailfan]

Maybe nobody was able to get a picture of it, or nobody had ever heard of it, until you mentioned it.