I was following the CTA Purple line north from downtown and saw and odd building at the intersection of Emerson and Green Bay St. (Google Maps address: 1220 emerson st, Evanston, il)
It looks like an old roundhouse. I might just be a result of the street configuration or vice versa.
Any ideas?
Note - on Maps.Live.com, the aerial shows an empty lot and birds eye shows something under construction.
The Google aerial sure looks a lot like an old roundhouse.
Unfortunately, it’s not an old roundhouse. Rather, it’s a newly (within the past ~2 years) constructed condo building. But I agree the Google aerial view is cool and sure looks like it could have been a roundhouse!
The rail line that is running along Green Bay Road at that point is the Metra UP-N line. C&NW used to have another line that split off from that line at Simpson St and went towards the southwest…it also included a wye that started at Foster St. The line continued southwest (straight as an arrow, for the most part) and then met up with the Metra UP-NW line at Mayfair crossing.
The trackage through Evanston down to the intersection of Touhy+St.Louis in Lincolnwood/Skokie was removed at least roughly 20 years ago, but south of there was retained in order to serve an industrial park right there in Lincolnwood/Skokie. However, most of these industries have shut down and UP appears to be in the process of removing what remains of the line.
Thx much for the reply - mystery solved.
I was looking at the Metra Waukegan station and I noted that there is still a turntable there. No roundhouse, but the table remains. I wonder how often that gets used.
Thx again,
Just to the south of that turntable lie the ruined remnants of a roundhouse from another line.