Chicago Freight Houses

Good map in the middle of the article showing the C&A/GM&O freight station’s initial location. You can also see why it was picked up as mail handling space, as it was very close the Union Station mail tracks.

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I simply had not seen that portion of the site before, so I had missed those diagrams of the old and new freight houses. Thanks for pointing that out.

Rich

You might want to look for Edward DeRouin’s book on Chicago Union Station. The maps aren’t the greatest, but there’s lots of info.

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I just might. I have some books on Chicago passenger stations but a lot more photos of locomotives and passenger cars than text or track diagrams. I wish that the Sanborn maps were easier to navigate so I could more quickly find areas like Union Station.

Rich

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At one time, Monon had a freight house at Dearborn Station until it built a new freight house at its yard in South Hammond, Indiana, right across the state line from Illinois. The REA took over the abandoned freight house at Dearborn Station. The Monon Freight House is the 3-story brick building in the background on the right in the photo that follows.

Rich

Source: Monon Railroad Historical Technical Society, Inc.

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I have never fully understood why Monon moved its freight house operations from Dearborn Station in Chicago to its South Hammond Yard in Indiana, but it did so in 1953. Here are some photos of the South Hammond freight house after L&N acquired the Monon in 1971.

Rich

Source:Flickr

Source: Monon Railroad Historical Technical Society, Inc.

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The Wabash freight houses and team tracks near 47th St off of the C&WI would have terminated most line-haul LCL, with a local handling LCL from there to the smaller freight house near Dearborn. The local would also be used for any interchange LCL. Wabash was the only railroad in the Classic era to operate both east and west out of Chicago.
PRR’s freight house near the 55th St yard was most likely used for interchange LCL, with locals handling transfers to other railroads. Originating or teminating LCL would have gone to Polk St.

Monon’s freight house in Hammond had four tracks. One of them served a warehouse-like extension to the back used for rail-to-truck or truck-to-rail, with truck dock on the street side. Another platform was flanked by two tracks, with a third one reachable via bridge plates. There were also two TOFC loading ramps nearby. MONON Railroad Historical-Technical Society has several photos showing the track layout.

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Speaking of Wabash freight houses, in 1955, the outbound Wabash freight house at Dearborn Station burned down. It was never rebuilt.

Rich

Source: Chicago Tribune

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Here is an aerial map of the area around 47th Street in 1938. You can see 47th Street running horizontally. That’s the C&WI turntable, lower left in the photo. I am trying to locate the Wabash freight house.

That other turntable in the photo sits adjacent to the Rock Island tracks. My guess is that it is part of the New York Central yard.

Rich

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The Wabash freight area, including team tracks, is north of the turntable, across the Grand Trunk Western tracks. The Rock Island turntable is at CRI&P’s 47th Street coach yard, now Metra’s main maintenance facility. At some point after the photo was taken the Rock Island added the “Rocket House” - not sure whether Metra replaced it at some point (Current buildings look too clean to date to the 1930s/40s) or just modernized it. Passenger car shop was also added on the Wentworth Avenue (Dan Ryan Expy) side. NYC’s turntable was at 61st Street, just north of Englewood, on the inside of the curve.

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rcdrye, you are an absolute gold mine of information! Don’t know how you know it all. Care to share your secrets?

OK, so that was the Rock Island turntable and roundhouse at 47th Street, not the NYC. I tracked down the NYC turntable at 61st Street. I will post some old aerial photos a bit later.

Thanks so much, as always.

Rich

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I grew up in Chicago but have not lived there in decades, which is why I can be an expert on all sorts of long-gone things (plus, who is going to contradict me?). I do have a pretty good collection of old books, including the 1970 edition of “Trainwatchers Guide to Chicago”, which helps to ID former owners of yards, buildings and other things.
In recent years I have been subscribing to Shore-Line.org’s “First & Fastest”, a gold mine of photos, maps and stories to help make sense of Chicago railroad history.

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Got a story to tell. When you mentioned “Trainwatcher’s Guide to Chicago”, I Googled it and found that it was authored by John Szwajkart. I thought, Wait a minute, I have that book.

Years ago, I contacted John and bought his DVD, The Santa Fe in Chicago, subtitled A Slide Show of the Santa Fe in the Chicago Area from Dearborn Station to Joliet. A simply awesome slide show.

I started emailing back and forth with him, and he suggested that I buy the book. Around the same time, I bought another book, Chicago & Western Railroad, a history of the C&WI.

Anyhow, I had forgotten all about these books until I read your reply to my post. Thanks for the reminder.

Rich

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The first edition referenced the “Tribune Chicagoland Map” if you remember those. I didn’t get the Train Watchers Map until I got the “Supplement” in 1970.

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Rich You have to keep looking into your book library. If you don’t the treasures there you lose.

David

David, you are so right. Whenever I get a new book or magazine, I have a bad habit of quickly looking through it , setting it aside for the moment , then forgetting all about it. I now have a New Year’s resolution.

Rich

Of course, I couldn’t be without one. Still have one. I will find it.

Rich

Found it in a box in my closet. This map is simply huge when opened all the way up. The detail is amazing. Ever rail line is marked across complete neighborhoods for easy tracing.

Rich

I bet that cost a dollar or two when it came out.

David

Got a question about the connection at Dolton where the C&EI joined the C&WI. There was (and still is) a huge yard at 147th Street, but I see no evidence of a turntable or roundhouse. So, were these functions performed at the 51st Street yard in Chicago?

Rich