There is a PRR type signal bridge on the Metra line heading west out of the loop, just north of the Water Market District. The tracks are street level, not the elevated ex CNW route a block or two north. I believe, but may be incorrect that this is the ex Milwaukee Road route to downtown.
Anyway, does anyone know why there is are PRR position light signals, mounted on a signal bridge spanning three tracks at this location? Seems a bit odd for this line to have a PRR signal.
Is it possible this was the entry to downtown for one of the PRR routes? Could this have been the Panhandle route into Union Station? If so, why those signals over three tracks, which included Milwaukee Road route?
The signal in question is just east of the ADM flour mill, around 1200 west.
You are correct in that is the trackage by was used by the Milwaukee Road. It is now owned by Metra which runs the former Milwaukee Road commuter lines. That track is also used by Amtrak’s Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha Service and the Empire Builder.
I don’t know the extent, but all of Chicago Union Station trackage was once governed by the PRR position light signals. During my brief stint with The Milwaukee Road I had to attend a training session and get signed off on the PRR signals before I could mark up. I don’t know for sure, but they may have still been in use on the north side of the station (which was the side used by the Milwaukee) until the rebuilding of the interlocking plant which was finished just a couple of years ago.
You’re also correct about that being the route the Panhandle would have taken originally. They paralleled the CNW Rockwell Sub to Western Avenue, then headed in. I haven’t looked at the signals along there lately, but definitely can remember pointing out and explaining the position lights to my daughters.
I believe the grain elevator (formerly Eckhart Grain) near Ogden Avenue on this line is still serviced by a NS crew.
The flour mill had a BN covered hopper with wheat being pushed around by a rather strange looking trackmobile. I asked permission for a photo and was politely told no and very politely escorted off of the property. First time this has happened, but I certainly understand it.
The siding lead into the mill had some of the nastiest looking rail I have ever seen. Not only was the rail chewed up, but the ballast pretty much gone (mud) and the tracks very uneven. At what point does a railroad refuse to deliver cars based on these kind of conditions.
On an unrelated note, what is the shortline that operates out of the former CNW line at North Avenue Yard? I noticed an engine there yesterday. It was marked “Chicago _______” I couldnt make out the name, due to the unit being tagged with spray paint.
The new road operating on the North Side is the Chicago Terminal RR. It operates some former MILW industrial leads on the North Side using an ex-Algoma Central SW8 leased from Independent Locomotive Service (ILSX).