Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
QUOTE: Originally posted by up829 The Pepperidge Farm bakery between Downers Grove and Westmont gets a couple covered hoppers ~4 times a week. The same local switches the Hines lumber yard in Downers Grove and may do the Gee sidings in Hinsdale & LaGrange as well. The local originates out of Eola usually around 11-12 a.m. and returns 2 - 3 hours later. Some days the loco has been turned, so it probably went to Congress Park, other times it hasn't. Motive power is often a GP38, but sometimes it runs with a GP30 still painted SF blue & yellow. The consist varies from just 2 covered hoppers to the hoppers plus 2-4 lumber flats. I believe I've also ssen a corn syrup tank car and occasionaly a box car or two. On most days, after the morning commuter ru***here's a parade of Eastbound Intermodal traffic. One of the last through is a UP-CSX train, often with UP SD70s. This is followed by a coal train between ~11-11:30 a.m. and the local usually shows up going east after that. There's hourly commuter service in each direction, so the local has to work around that.
QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan The old Nabisco plant (now Post) in Naperville gets serviced by a switch job out of Eola yard daily.
QUOTE: Originally posted by up829 QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan The old Nabisco plant (now Post) in Naperville gets serviced by a switch job out of Eola yard daily. Just west of the Post plant is a large new-car receiving facility with a spur running north-south down the middle. Do you know if that's switched by BNSF out of Eola? I don't get out to Eola often but don't recall seeing auto-racks there, but UP/CNW in West Chicago always has lots of them.
QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR Lumber spur in LaGrange? Can't think of anything on that line between Congress Park and Hinsdale. The transloading facility in what used to be the Amstar sugar plant gets a bunch of corn-syrup tanks and sugar-carrying covered hoppers, but I doubt that the local out of Eola takes care of that.
QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan It is a real site to see the J power come up "the hill" from Eola yard to go south on the J main to Joliet with a loaded coal train and the power pulling for all it is worty to get up the hill. I would suggest anybody who can tell from their scanners that this is about to happen go up and sit at the J crossing at Liberty street (nest traffic light on Eola north of New York street) and wait for the sound (first) then the sight of two or three SD's pulling for all they are worth).
QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan Why is this stretch called the "racetrack"? I'm unfamiliar with the history and would love to know. Well, this line is triple (for the most part, some short stretches actually more) tracked and it is not at all unusual to see two trains barrelling down the track in either direction in what appears to be a "race" of sorts. I have personally been on Metra trains eastbound and have "raced" another Metra train until one or the other slows for a station stop while the other keeps on going as an express train. This happens at times with freights too.
QUOTE: Originally posted by up829 QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan It is a real site to see the J power come up "the hill" from Eola yard to go south on the J main to Joliet with a loaded coal train and the power pulling for all it is worty to get up the hill. I would suggest anybody who can tell from their scanners that this is about to happen go up and sit at the J crossing at Liberty street (nest traffic light on Eola north of New York street) and wait for the sound (first) then the sight of two or three SD's pulling for all they are worth). Does this happen at a fairly regular time? The use of J power may explain another mystery. I've wondered about light engine moves, often 2 or 3 BNSF SD70Mac's, down the racetrack probably to and from Clyde. It sounds like they're bringing the coal train in to Eola, the J takes over, and they're heading to Clyde for service, inspection, or re-assignment?
QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR I believe that the original term (probably from Trains in the Morgan era) was the "Triple-track Raceway." Three tracks, controlled by CTC so that trains can run in either direction on any track, was novel back then. The maximum speed (65), though not spectacular, seemed to be hit and maintained quite regularly. There are long straightaway stretches on this line--if it weren't for some of the "vertical curves" you could see from Berwin clear out to Clarendon Hills! Even now, when the line isn't the busiest stretch of three-track main line in the Chicago area, it has a character that distinguishes it from its counterpart to the north. The name fits!
The Unloading Facility Had Approximately Several Tracks In The Northern Section Of The Small Branch Line Which Is Currently Still Operational (The Line Not The Unloading Facility) Which The Facility Was Removed In 2006 Or Something Like That And Relocated To The Logistics Park Chicago In Elwood, If You Look Up The Branch Line In Naperville Right Past The Route 59 Metra On Google Earth And Use The Clock Button On The Top Of The Screen To Zoom Back Some Years You Can See The Unloading Facility And Now It Is Abandoned And On Google Earth Now It Looked Like Nothing Was There Although In The South Section Of The Branch You Can See 3 Pieces Of Track Side By Side On A Road Which Is All That Is Left Of It. Now They Only Serve A Kraft Foods, A Lumber Yard And A Grain Company Or Something And Possibly A Warehouse Although I Am Not Sure If They Still Use Rail Service Anymore
Clyde is still there (in Cicero), but is used primarily as an inter-modal yard. They also use the old arr/dep tracks for staging run-through's. The last time I was in Clyde ( I used to drive, hauled containers) the hump was still active, but the bowl was pruned down to a handful of tracks. from what I understand, it only classified local traffic (and the occasional through train that needed a rearrangement before proceeding), no road traffic originated or terminated there, except for inter-modals. Cosco yd., adjacent to Global I on Western Ave. was also still very much in use. Most of the traffic from Cosco was local traffic. their is a small network of former Q branch lines going south from Cosco. I think Cosco picked up some of the old ATSF local work after the merger, as they had branches in close proximity near Kedzie or California Ave's, IIRC.
I stopped driving about 8 years, Im sure much has changed since then.
Near the "Naperville auto" Yd. that served the auto distribution place and the Nabisco plant, their was also a plastics company right on Rt 59 near the bridge. it only recived a couple cars a day, but since their was no storage facility, it always has 8-10 cars hanging around on the lead, as well as a half dozen sitting in the yard tracks (would make for some interesting switching on a modal railroad, as cars would have to be spotted properly, oldest first, to keep down demurage charges). on the opposite end of the yard, BNSF also served a Wherhuaser (sic) Distribution facility (near Rt 34) in recent years.It opened up shortly after the lumber dist. near the Naperville station (in town, not rt 59) closed.
I worked for a couple years for a roofing dist across the tracks from the Naperville auto yard, and the old asphalt plant, the roofing distributor I worked for, and a small machine shop all had rail spurs buried in the weeds. They obviously got cut from the main many moons before any time I can remember ( I grew up in Aurora). In between rt. 59 and the J bridge, there is a company on the south side (put in abt 10 years ago, maybe) that has a rail spur running into the warehouse. What it does, i don't know. I'm not sure if they ever even received any shipments, never seen a local stop there.
The hump at Clyde has been leveled and it appears to serve strictly as an intermodal facility.
snagletooth Near the "Naperville auto" Yd. that served the auto distribution place and the Nabisco plant, their was also a plastics company right on Rt 59 near the bridge. it only recived a couple cars a day, but since their was no storage facility, it always has 8-10 cars hanging around on the lead, as well as a half dozen sitting in the yard tracks (would make for some interesting switching on a modal railroad, as cars would have to be spotted properly, oldest first, to keep down demurage charges). on the opposite end of the yard, BNSF also served a Wherhuaser (sic) Distribution facility (near Rt 34) in recent years.It opened up shortly after the lumber dist. near the Naperville station (in town, not rt 59) closed. I worked for a couple years for a roofing dist across the tracks from the Naperville auto yard, and the old asphalt plant, the roofing distributor I worked for, and a small machine shop all had rail spurs buried in the weeds. They obviously got cut from the main many moons before any time I can remember ( I grew up in Aurora). In between rt. 59 and the J bridge, there is a company on the south side (put in abt 10 years ago, maybe) that has a rail spur running into the warehouse. What it does, i don't know. I'm not sure if they ever even received any shipments, never seen a local stop there.
Snagletooth, the facility you're talking about on the south side is an International Paper plant built between 1993 and 1998. Google Earth does show that they have had several box cars, but I'm guessing they keep the cars indoors and only receive what fits inside as I don't see any switcher or car mover on their track. The March 2003 imagry shows three box cars on their spur. In 2018, they repaved the driveway that crosses the tracks, and maintained the rails, so it must still be used.
As for businesses on the north side, C.H. Hanson used to have a rail spur connected to the mainline, but that looks like it was removed in early-to-min 2008. The 84 lumber yard still gets rail shipments it looks like. That Weyerhaeuser lumber distributor was open from 1998 until late 2015, but has been vacant ever since.
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