Haven’t been by the Tribune yard in a few months, but there are a lot of newsprint boxcars there usually with a UP geep shuffling them around. I also see many CN newsprint cars in the North Avenue Yard while driving up the Kennedy; the only place I can think of that would use them is the Trib. I also used to see a few tankers sitting on the spurs south of the Trib yard. I assumed they were used for ink. Not sure about the current status.
The Wichita Eagle still receives its newsprint via rail. Three trks serve the plant on the east side of downtown. Trackage is former BN which is now worked from the former SF North Wichita yd job YWIC201M-F. This is one industry which must be worked when a switch request is asked for–no exceptions.
Greyhounds, where did the Chicago Tribune unload paper from lakeboats? I remember when the paper was actually printed in Tribune Tower but the tower is bit north of and not exactly situated right on the Chicago River. Was there something in between where a newer building and the open plaza exist now?
The Sun-Times was still getting rail delivery until their printing was shifted to their new plant. I’ve not been by the new plant so cannot address that but I’d be surprised if they don’t still use rail. That same rail spur that serviced the old building where Trump Tower stands now (just north of the river, running under the Apparel Center and Merchandise Mart) used to service the Chicago Tribune and continued all the way out onto Navy Pier. (That’s how the Freedom Train was displayed on the pier in 1975.)
Tribune tower is one half block north of the river. Don’t know but they could have used Lower Wacker Drive.
Would that have been within the service area of Chicago’s “freight subway” ? (Wild guess - I have no idea . . . [:-^] )
- Paul North.
A lot of newsprint moves southbound on the St. Lawrence Subdivision in Upstate NY from points in Canada to areas of the United States in Canadian National 50’ boxcars. Has been a staple on this route for many years and accounts for much of the boxcar traffic on this line.
You’re close. The Trib had its own freight subway that shared tunnels with the Tunnel Company in the vicinity of Tribune Tower. The tracks were operated as gantlets (on 2’ gauge each) for part ot the length of the Tribune’s operation.
Gonna go buy a lottery ticket today, I suppose . . . [swg]
Link to an interactive map of “Chicago’s Freight Tunnels, circa 1930”:
(use the tools at the lower right to zoom in or magnify and ‘pan’ to move the ‘window’/ viewport to the portion of the map you want to see closer, etc.)
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3718.html
- Paul North.
The Dallas Morning News’ plant on West Plano Parkway just east of Coit Road has two rail sidings. It’s been a while since I have been by there but I don’t think I’ve ever passed that location when there weren’t several newsprint cars from various roads spotted there.
That map is interesting; it even shows that the freight railroad served Union Station (I did not think to look at the other stations, but I expect that it served them, too).
as to how the chicago trib got its newsprint in rolls from the unloading warehouse to the printing plant: as a 4th or 5th grader i went on a school tour of the trib. printing plant which as noted was in the trib. tower or just south of it, pretty near the north riverbank. the warehouse was on the south bank, and the connection was an under-river tunnel, with rolls of paper moving thru on 4-wheel skeleton dollies running on 18" - 24" gage tracks! there was an extensive network of this trackage throughout the plant, with lots of switches and turntables - utterly fascinating to me. this would have been sometime in 1942 or 43 - a VERY long time ago.
I would be surprised to learn that the New Orleans Times Picayune no longer takes delivery of newsprint by CN. I believe their plant. which is located on a spur off of the track used by inbound Amtrak trains enroute to the NOUPT, is more accessable by rail than by road.
duplicate
What I can tell you is that they were unloaded on the north bank of the Chicago River between Lake Shore Drive and Columbus Drive. IIRC, just east of the newsprint unloading facility was a salt pile where the City of Chicago received road salt via lakeboat. That came in on self-unloading freighters.
The Nashville Tennessean Newspaper got two cars of newsprint on their siding sometime today.
George
It looks like the Canadian and Southern U.S. newspapers are still receiving a great deal of newsprint by rail.
Here in Michigan it looks as though people will have to switch to electronic paper displays getting information from the internet to get “newpapers” in a few years, as the printing level is less and less.
Andrew