Chicago yards, primarily Clearing

[MP173]

While running today, I was thinking of origin/destinations patterns of the CN trains running thru my town.  CN has a pair of Glenn Yard - Toronto trains 390/391.  I was thinking of these trains and what traffic would run on those trains.  CN runs trains to both BNSF and UP daily, so who else would they interchange with?

Probably carriers such as ICE, WSOR, Belt Railway of Chicago, and others in Chicago.  Which led to this thought process.  It used to be that 25 years ago (Carl help me out on this) when there were 20 or more carriers in Chciago that transfers would be run betweeen the yards.  Now that all those carriers are gone (Conrail, NW, B&O, C&O, L&N, GTW, Rock, Milw, Soo, CNW, et al) and are consolidated, it should make for easier traffic flows of manifest freight.

What role does Clearing Yard play in Chicago railroading?  Do all of the 6 class 1's run trains into and out of Clearing for interchange with the regionals and for local deliveries?  Do the class 1's use Clearing for building trains for either their own routes or for interchange to other class 1's?

It is a HUGE yard and fascinating, as it is easy to see from Cicero Ave or parts of Bedford Park.

Is it busier, or slower than in the past?  Future trends?

Thanks,

 

ed

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Clearing is still a major operation and it isn't unusual to see hump cuts being pushed in both directions at the same time over the bi-directional hump.  It may not be quite as busy as it was in the 1960's and 1970's (but it's close) but it is a vast improvement over the early 1990's, when it was virtually shut down.

All six of the Class 1's share ownership of BRC and they all make use of Clearing to various degrees.  IC&E and WSOR also use Clearing as their Chicago terminal.  I would guess that a sizable percentage of the carload traffic interchanged at Chicago goes through Clearing.

[MP173]

Paul:

I do know that CN runs trains to BNSF and UP...

392/393 and from Proviso

394/395 to and from BNSF

398/399 to UP via old IC mainline down to Kinmundy.

Also, there are several autoracks that go to UP.  I dont think CN has a Clearing Yard train, not sure tho.  I was wondering if the 390/391 out of Glenn Yard handles the Clearing cars based on a transfer run between the two yards.

Do you know how much BRC does in local deliveries...how many locals they run?

ed

[ndbprr]

Since GTW is part of CN that isn't an interchange any more but IHB is as well as NS and CSX.  A lot of CN freight comes into Woodcrest in Homewood and then goes out on transfers from there

[CShaveRR]

Back in the 1970s, C&NW used to get transfers from BRC, IHB, PC, B&O, C&O, EL, and GTW.  Not all of these came to Proviso directly--C&O and EL brought their trains to Wood Street, where Proviso transfer crews picked them up and brought them in (my second job on the railroad was on one of those transfers).  GTW went to 40th Street.  Run-through trains (road trains coming directly to Proviso or Wood Street from an outlying point) were still pretty much in the future (Penn Central ran a train from Elkhart to Proviso as long as I can remember).

Nowadays, we have trains from North Platte directly to CSXT, NS, and BRC, plus those auto trains that interchange with CN at Griffith. 

UP depends on BRC to handle its business to railroads such as WSOR, BNSF, and other smaller lines around here, as well as making up some of the blocks for CSX and NS.  I don't see the manifest that UP runs to Clearing (MNPCH); were I to look at a consist I could better see what's in it.  Our yard makes up classifications for CN (WC), CN (three other classifications), CP (1), IHB (1), BRC (1), NS (3), and CSX (5).

Proviso gets transfer runs from BRC (YCHPR--uses UP power), NS (a couple of road trains), CSX (a road train and a transfer), CN (ditto, plus a transfer from the old WC), CP, and IHB.  In addition, both NS and CSXT run trains that bypass Proviso completely, for classification at North Platte.

None of this takes into account the coal trains we interchange with nearly every railroad in town, or those auto trains or the weekly Perishable train that goes to Selkirk via CSX (breathe easy, SJ--no fresh asparagus this week!).

[Poppa_Zit]

What role does Clearing Yard play in Chicago railroading?

ed

Ed --

I wrote this last September, but I hope this historical perspective explains how it got there:

The history of the Clearing Yard is interesting and is found in a fascinating story of a practical railroad dreamer who lived in the days of empire builders. His name was Alpheus Beede Stickney, and was a lawyer-turned-railroad magnate. Stickney was president of the Chicago & Great Western Railway, whose line reached Chicago in 1886.

He conceived an enormous clearing yard for the ever increasing flow of freight which he foresaw for Chicago when its distribution facilities had been exploited. His first thought was location and his first requirement was a site outside the city where the burden of taxation could not eat away the economical advantages of his clearing yard.

In 1889 he proceeded with the construction of his conception of a clearing house for railroad cars. This was a four track circle, a mile in diameter, into which he proposed to have the railroads feed their freight trains at different intervals, dropping off cars destined for other railroads into radial tracks and shunting those for industries upon tangent spurs.

After much thought, Stickney decided upon the clever name "Clearing Yard" and thus gave the name Clearing to the industrial district which was to be its ultimate successor. This circle ran from 55th Street on the north to 79th Street on the south and from Harlem Avenue on the west to Cicero Avenue on the east.

The plan was found to be impractical and never reached a tryout stage. So Stickney passed out of the picture and his circle went back to nature. You can see a faint outline of the circle in the middle of these 1938 U.S. Government aerial survey photos. The land which is now Chicago Midway Airport is at the upper right. In addition to the runways, there also was a golf course (Laramie Country Club) on the site. The curved street at the far left is Harlem Avenue; the street on the far right is Cicero Avenue.

And here it is today:

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=41.767888~-87.770551&style=h&lvl=15

Then for years, 4,000 acres lay idle, but not forgotten. H.H. Porter, another of the empire builders, a railroad president and banker, picked up where Stickney left off. In 1898 he laid out a car sorting yard employing the hump gravity principle for the first time on a large scale.

The yard commenced operation on April 1st, 1902, and Mr. Porter invited the railroads to come and use it. Despite his position as chairman of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, he was unable to convince his fellow railroaders of its practicability or to agree to its cooperative use. The Yard remained in general operation for one month only, but continued to handle some switching business on a small scale until August 1912. In order to fit into Belt Railway plans of terminal operation, it was necessary to tear out, salvage, rebuild and enlarge. It took the years 1913, 1914 and part of 1915 to do it.

Source information from: Belt RY of Chicago

[MP173]

Carl:

I am curious about the CN trains you build.  I know CN runs the 392 out of Proviso.  Are the others for the former IC lines?  Do the auto rack trains get worked at Proviso?  My understanding is that those trains go straight thru...or get built at Gibson Yard in Hammond. 

My past life was working in the LTL trucking business and I found that fascinating, building loads for terminals and then peddle loads.   The manifest freights are very similar to LTL trucking.  The yard operations in Chicago seem interesting.  I have the CORA map on one wall in my office...another wall has a 36 x48 US railroad map.  Looking at the CORA map and trying to figure out how stuff moves around is quite entertaining.

One more question.  How is routing of cars handled?  I would assume that if you have a car from Clinton, Iowa to lets, say....Fort Wayne, Indiana (NS delivery) there would be a local train pickup the car in Clinton and block it with other cars for Proviso.  Either a Clinton - Proviso train would take it or (probably) another manifest train would pickup the Proviso block.  Now...this is where it would seem to get a bit more difficult.  At Proviso that car for Ft Wayne would be classified for NS, but does it get classified for a specific NS train (or block) or does it then go to an NS yard (such as Elkhart or Calumet...or perhaps even Clearing)? 

You see, knowing  a bit about NS operations, all three could be possibilities.  I doubt if UP builds a train for NS's ex NKP line to Ft Wayne and beyond...doubt if the volume is there.  Do they send that car and others to Calumet?  That would go on a transfer.  Or Elkhart?  You see, Elkhart runs a daily train to Ft Wayne.  It is a roundabout train, but still there is a daily train.  Or even Clearing Yard would be a possibility. 

Now, in my long windedness, I am finally getting to the end.  I can "see" several possibilities.  Based on my LTL experiences, manual routings would allow the operations folks to build trailers based on what freight was available that day.  What about for the UP and others?  Do they have flexibility in building the trains or does protocall say "Fort Wayne (NS) via (fill in the blank)? 

 

Thanks a lot.

 

ed

ed

[CShaveRR]

Carl:

I am curious about the CN trains you build.  I know CN runs the 392 out of Proviso.  Are the others for the former IC lines?  Do the auto rack trains get worked at Proviso?  My understanding is that those trains go straight thru...or get built at Gibson Yard in Hammond. 

We build one train for the CN and a transfer run for the old WC  The train to the CN contains three blocks:  a Chicago block (includes all former IC traffic, plus stuff for the old GTW short of Battle Creek), a Battle Creek block, and a Toronto block.  AFAIK, all we do is take it to Blue Island; what CN does from there would be interesting.  CN, by the way, is notorious for giving us bad blocking information and then refusing their cars because we haven't blocked them properly.  (At least that's how it looks to this observer who knows the location of a lot of these places!)

We do have a couple of auto trains per day that go past Proviso (thankfully!) and directly to Gibson.  There used to be a train called ADVGF (Autos, Denver to Griffith).  I don't think that runs any more, but I'm sure we deliver at least a trainload of auto racks from somewhere directly to the CN at Griffith.  It might come from the C&EI side.

One more question.  How is routing of cars handled?  I would assume that if you have a car from Clinton, Iowa to lets, say....Fort Wayne, Indiana (NS delivery) there would be a local train pickup the car in Clinton and block it with other cars for Proviso.  Either a Clinton - Proviso train would take it or (probably) another manifest train would pickup the Proviso block.  Now...this is where it would seem to get a bit more difficult.  At Proviso that car for Ft Wayne would be classified for NS, but does it get classified for a specific NS train (or block) or does it then go to an NS yard (such as Elkhart or Calumet...or perhaps even Clearing)? 

Your car would be handled by Clinton yard crews and put into Train MCLPR.  When it got to Proviso we'd hump it into the Calumet track, most likely.  I'm sure that something is built for Fort Wayne by NS there, which would make a lot more sense than sending it via Elkhart or cutting the BRC in on it.

You see, knowing a bit about NS operations, all three could be possibilities.  I doubt if UP builds a train for NS's ex NKP line to Ft Wayne and beyond...doubt if the volume is there.  Do they send that car and others to Calumet?  That would go on a transfer.  Or Elkhart?  You see, Elkhart runs a daily train to Ft Wayne.  It is a roundabout train, but still there is a daily train.  Or even Clearing Yard would be a possibility.

Now, in my long windedness, I am finally getting to the end.  I can "see" several possibilities.  Based on my LTL experiences, manual routings would allow the operations folks to build trailers based on what freight was available that day.  What about for the UP and others?  Do they have flexibility in building the trains or does protocall say "Fort Wayne (NS) via (fill in the blank)? 

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong (I hope!), but I suspect that NS (or other connecting lines) call the shots on routings beyond Chicago, and we do their bidding.  I don't think that "what's available" applies in our case--I doubt that I've ever seen cars left behind because there weren't enough in a block to bother about.

 

[MP173]

Carl:

Great answer.  Thanks for the info.  The CN train makes sense.  I often hear that train 392 is coming at Blue Island. That would be the transfer point.  I can check my CN records to see what auto trains come and go to UP. 

Regarding the NS, you commented "hump it into the Calumet track" which I assume there is a Calumet Yard transfer which operates from Proviso to Calumet Yard.  Then it would no doubt be put on NS train 177 (used to be my favorite) which carries a block for Ft Wayne and a block for Cincinnati. 

Getting back to the CN...you say they are notorious for giving poor blocking instructions and then refusing the train.  Is there an ongoing "routing guide" that applies, or does UP give CN advance notice of the cars for the next day's train and ask for blocking instructions? 

Finally (for how), how does a railroad "refuse" a train?  Is the train "offered" by communication such as manifest? or does "refuse" mean the train goes to Blue Island and then CN says "no thanks".  It would be a difficult move to return to Proviso at that point.

Remember, I am an old LTL freight guy..."refusal" meant something a bit easier to execute when you were dealing with a couple pallets of printed material.

ed

[CShaveRR]

Getting back to the CN...you say they are notorious for giving poor blocking instructions and then refusing the train.  Is there an ongoing "routing guide" that applies, or does UP give CN advance notice of the cars for the next day's train and ask for blocking instructions?

 

I don't know the mechanics--all I see are the instructions, which often have us sending cars that should be going to the IC to the WC instead (as an example), or cars for the same destination to two or more of the CN blocks.  It's been brought up at our meetings already, and I don't think anyone in Omaha does this.

Finally (for how), how does a railroad "refuse" a train?  Is the train "offered" by communication such as manifest? or does "refuse" mean the train goes to Blue Island and then CN says "no thanks".  It would be a difficult move to return to Proviso at that point.

Again, I don't know the mechanics--I see entire tracks full of cars showing that they had been offered in interchange.  That fact alone (that I see "offered" cars sitting in the yard) suggests that they were not accepted (they never get out of the yard--I doubt that cars like this would get onto the IHB, let alone over to Blue Island).  As long as I've been there, I've never seen this for/from anyone but CN.

[jeffhergert]

Carl:

I am curious about the CN trains you build.  I know CN runs the 392 out of Proviso.  Are the others for the former IC lines?  Do the auto rack trains get worked at Proviso?  My understanding is that those trains go straight thru...or get built at Gibson Yard in Hammond. 

We build one train for the CN and a transfer run for the old WC  The train to the CN contains three blocks:  a Chicago block (includes all former IC traffic, plus stuff for the old GTW short of Battle Creek), a Battle Creek block, and a Toronto block.  AFAIK, all we do is take it to Blue Island; what CN does from there would be interesting.  CN, by the way, is notorious for giving us bad blocking information and then refusing their cars because we haven't blocked them properly.  (At least that's how it looks to this observer who knows the location of a lot of these places!)

We do have a couple of auto trains per day that go past Proviso (thankfully!) and directly to Gibson.  There used to be a train called ADVGF (Autos, Denver to Griffith).  I don't think that runs any more, but I'm sure we deliver at least a trainload of auto racks from somewhere directly to the CN at Griffith.  It might come from the C&EI side.

One more question.  How is routing of cars handled?  I would assume that if you have a car from Clinton, Iowa to lets, say....Fort Wayne, Indiana (NS delivery) there would be a local train pickup the car in Clinton and block it with other cars for Proviso.  Either a Clinton - Proviso train would take it or (probably) another manifest train would pickup the Proviso block.  Now...this is where it would seem to get a bit more difficult.  At Proviso that car for Ft Wayne would be classified for NS, but does it get classified for a specific NS train (or block) or does it then go to an NS yard (such as Elkhart or Calumet...or perhaps even Clearing)? 

Your car would be handled by Clinton yard crews and put into Train MCLPR.  When it got to Proviso we'd hump it into the Calumet track, most likely.  I'm sure that something is built for Fort Wayne by NS there, which would make a lot more sense than sending it via Elkhart or cutting the BRC in on it.

You see, knowing a bit about NS operations, all three could be possibilities.  I doubt if UP builds a train for NS's ex NKP line to Ft Wayne and beyond...doubt if the volume is there.  Do they send that car and others to Calumet?  That would go on a transfer.  Or Elkhart?  You see, Elkhart runs a daily train to Ft Wayne.  It is a roundabout train, but still there is a daily train.  Or even Clearing Yard would be a possibility.

Now, in my long windedness, I am finally getting to the end.  I can "see" several possibilities.  Based on my LTL experiences, manual routings would allow the operations folks to build trailers based on what freight was available that day.  What about for the UP and others?  Do they have flexibility in building the trains or does protocall say "Fort Wayne (NS) via (fill in the blank)? 

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong (I hope!), but I suspect that NS (or other connecting lines) call the shots on routings beyond Chicago, and we do their bidding.  I don't think that "what's available" applies in our case--I doubt that I've ever seen cars left behind because there weren't enough in a block to bother about.

 

  The ADVGFR still runs.

  Jeff