History of the Chicago 47th St. Yard

[LocalRailHistory]

Hi, everyone,

I'm really interested in the history of the Chicago 47th Street intermodal yard. It's currently owned and operated by Norfolk Southern, but it has connections to Conrail, Metra and other operators. Do you have any thoughts about how to go about researching its history? I'm interested in how it evolved, and would certainly enjoy seeing photographs. 

If you're interested, here's a link to the current yard information page: http://www.nscorp.com/nscintermodal/Intermodal/System_Info/Terminals/chicago_47.html

Thank you for your help!

[greyhounds]

47th street was originally the circus ramp Chicago intermodal terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad.   They operated their "Truc-Train" services to/from there.

So you might want to check out history on the Pennsylvania.  They have a historical society.  

http://www.prrths.com/

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The rail geography in that area can be a bit confusing.  Trailer Train also has a running repair facility of sorts adjacent to the yard in the area that was the former coach yard operated by CWI for its five owners (Erie, Monon, GTW, Wabash, C&EI) who operated into Dearborn Station.

[rcdrye]

PRRs TrucTrain facility was part of the PRR's 55th St yard.  NS acquired its interest in the 47th st. property with the Wabash.  47th St is the former C&WI coach yard that served all of the Dearborn Station railroads except AT&SF (C&WI, Monon, Wabash, C&EI, GTW, Erie).   The two yard areas have kind of expanded into each other over the years.

[D.Carleton]

I thought 47th Street was Wabash, 55th Street Pennsy and 51st Street C&WI. The 51st and 55th Street yards have basically become one and NS is looking to expand it south.

[blue streak 1]

D.Carleton

I thought 47th Street was Wabash, 55th Street Pennsy and 51st Street C&WI. The 51st and 55th Street yards have basically become one and NS is looking to expand it south.

Riding thru that area last month it was apparent that the divisions of these yards have become very murky.  NS was certainly doing a lot of work. A couple of roadway underpasses were the only way to even guess the divisions.

[LocalRailHistory]

Thank you, everyone. this is all very helpful.

As D.Carleton says, the yard is so developed over the years that the differentiation in physical plant is difficult to understand, so these leads are great.