Simply spectacular. Great atmospheric photo of a railroad that is often hard to find photos of.
100% Agree...I've commented on the Photo of the Day many times and really wanted to with this one but I held off deliberatly hoping someone would jump on it.
It is a spectacular and haunting photo.
Can you imagine the richness, depth, diversity and importance of Chicago railroading during these many years.
Not sure but maybe there is another locomotive in the upper centre right by the light. Maybe another yet dead ahead on the next track over to the right, either that or a signal.
Well steam is gone, the C&EI is gone, private passenger service is gone, as is the mail and express that was so important. I'm sure the tower is gone, sure hope that line is still there.
Of course we are all grateful for O.Winston Link but this night photo really captures so much and ranks right up there.
I spent a considerable amount of time in Chicago over an 8 year period of time, '88-'96 and as great as the railfanning opportunities were I knew it paled to those days in many ways.
The technical effort required with that equipment, too...
The line is still in place and plenty busy. Though the place is pronounced Dalton, it is actually Dolton.
Amtrak's Cardinal and Hoosier state go through there on their way into town. The C&EI's own track ended there, entering the Chicago and Western Indiana for the trip to Dearborn. Lines crossing were/are B&OCT(CSX) and Indiana Harbor Belt. Until around 1980 the PRR's Panhandle crosed the IHB nearby.
https://archive.org/stream/preliminaryhisto00samp#page/n0/mode/2up
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