IC Passenger Yards

(Satellite, today's commuter yard is a small remnant of what the IC had south of their Central Station)

The yards were so extensive that it takes two 1938 aerial photos to cover them.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Carl Venzke posted
Train yards just south of Grant Park, 1949, Chicago
[The buildings east of Indiana Avenue between Roosevelt and 15th Place look new because all of this land used to be IC railyards. The McCormick convention complex is also built on land that used to support intercity passenger service.]

Jim Arvites posted, the exposure has been adjusted but the train is blurry
A 1940's view of the Illinois Central Railroad's passenger, commuter and freight yards in downtown Chicago. Note the IC'S Central Station in upper left corner of picture.
Matt McClure 18th Street footbridge.
Frank Hicks I'll bet this photo was taken from the tower of the RR Donnelly Calumet plant on Cermak
David Daruszka The yard and building to the far right center is the MU yards and shop. The tracks to the left of the shop building are the northbound electric tracks. The southbound tracks would be to the right, out of the picture. The yards and shop buildings are still there.
Val Ginter The biggest thing is the Bradford Gilbert waiting room which was planned for NYC's Grand Central Station, but never built...because of GCT.
[I answered a Proviso Yard request.]

Carl Venzke posted again

Edward Jarolin The photo is by Andreas Feininger, on assignment for LIFE, and was taken in 1941. I have a book of his photos from this job and it includes handful of railroad subjects. CORRECTION: further investigation dates this photo to 1948. Feininger took this one on a later trip to Chicago.

This is one of four photos posted by Jeff Bransky.

Carl Venzke posted
Another LIFE magazine photo from 1948 - Chicago. Can you identify the landmarks and lines in this photo?
Robert Petit Illinois Central yard, to the right is Soldier Field, IC Suburban MU yard in the center, RR Donnelly printing yard to the left.
Edward Jarolin The photo is by Andreas Feininger, on assignment for LIFE, and was taken in 1941. I have a book of his photos from this job and it includes handful of railroad subjects. CORRECTION: further investigation dates this photo to 1948. Feininger took this one on a later trip to Chicago.

Bill Molony posted
Penn Central EMD E7A #4238, departing from Central Station in Chicago with PC train #304, The James Whitcomb Riley, in October of 1970.

Bill Molony posted again
Penn Central EMD E7A #4238, leading PC train #304, The James Whitcomb Riley, on its way to Indianapolis and Cincinnati in September of 1970.
This train was scheduled to depart from Central Station in Chicago at 3:50 PM (C.S.T.) and arrive at Union Terminal in Cincinnati 11:15 PM (E.S.T.).
It was equipped with a baggage car, a reclining seat coach and a dining car.
Dennis DeBruler This Indianapolis-Cincinnati train is a reminder that the Big Four joined the IC at Kankakee to gain access to Chicago.

Mike Porcaro posted
Opened in 1924 as Municipal Grant Park Stadium, it was renamed Soldier Field in 1925. It had seating for as many as 120,000 people and was large enough to hold automobile races. There was a ski jumping contest held there,as well. Over 120,000 attended in 1937 the city high school football Prep Bowl between Austin and Leo. Bears and Chicago Cardinals played against each other there. While Soldier Field hardly resembles what it once looked like, it is still a Chicago gem.
[Some people see Soldier Field, I see an overview of IC Central Station. The platform roof is in the foreground of the yellow rectangle and the waiting room is on the right. We can also see some of the coach yards that were south of the station.]

Bill Molony posted
Illinois Central train #53, the City of Miami, departing from Chicago in January of 1960.
[I did not realize that the mainline cut across their yards like that. Scrolling back up this page, there are photos that show this diagonal, it just never sunk into the grey cells.]

David Daruszka commented on Bill's posting
Improving the image quality shows that it was heavily retouched.

David Daruszka commented on William Dittus' posting

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Illinois Central Randolph Street "Tower"

(Satellite)

Metra

The tower is located "Track level at Millennium (Randolph Street) Station. Far south end of Track One." [David Daruszka comment]

The station is not a building, it is more like a hole in the sidewalk. Property values are too valuable here to waste street level property on commuters.

William Shapotkin posted three photos with the comment:

Before conversion to Dispatcher control, IC (later Metra) Randolph St Station and its approaches were controlled by Randolph Tower. Here are several pix, taken by long-time friend (and co-worker) William McKenzie of old and new Randolph Tower.

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David Daruszka commented on William's posting
The final iteration, two monitors and a squawk box.

This blog had been an interesting learning experience. But it is becoming more and more of a burden:


http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2017/06/illinois-central-randolph-street-tower.html

Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist.

I have no idea how that posting got deleted. If I determine that a posting is bad, I stub it by deleting the contents and adding a link to a better alternative. I deliberately delete the contents instead of the posting to avoid broken links like the above. Since blogspot adds the year and month to the link, I can't fix the 2017/06 link. I have to recreate the posting with a new link.

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CN/IC Bridges over Galena River in Galena, IL

(Swing Bridge Hunter, 1914 Heel-Trunnion Bridge Hunter, Girder Bridge Hunter, Satellite)

The fact that the Galena River used to be navigable is a reminder that Galena was an important river town back when Chicago was still mostly swampland. Looking for CN/IC in Galena also reminds me that Galena was the northern terminus of the original IC charter line and that Chicago was the terminus of a "branch."

Bob Krueger posted two photos with the comment:

I do not know if it was this group or another group based on the ICRR, but some time back someone was looking for some photos of the Illinois Central RR lift span bridge over the Galena River in Galena, Illinois. Here is a construction shot as well as a photo of the bridge which I stumbled upon on the internet and can't find it back to give any credit due. You know how that goes.... Anyway, the bridge was constructed in 1914 and was known as the Jackknife bridge, because that is the way it opened up when steamboats would pass through. Depending on who you talk to, that bridge only opened up for river use one or two times. Cost of bridge was almost $69,000. It opened on August 3, 1914 and was used until 1978, when a train derailment damaged the bridge beyond repair. If anyone knows the source of these photos, please post. I, in no way, want to take credit. Thank you. Bob Krueger

Dave Kroeger Wiped out in a derailment in 1978 iirc
Dan E. Brodigan Yes it was & Engineer was H.G. Christensen.

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1947 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
The shadow shows the superstructure.

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CB&Q+NC&StL+IC Bridge over Ohio River at Metropolis, IL

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, Satellite)

Note the far (Kentucky side) span is longer. At the time, it was a record long 720' simple span. The other four spans are "just" 551'.

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sternwheel-part4 has a couple of photos of the bridge. That page also has seven facts including: "At 708 feet the bridge contains the longest pin-connected simple through truss span in the world."

Birds-Eye View

David Honan

David Honan

20171230 9402c, east elevation taken from the I-24 Bridge
(I still haven't figured out why my bridge pictures are typically so hazy.)

First of nine photos in C Hanchey's Illinois Flickr Album, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC)

I have noticed that when you take I-57 to Kentucky you pass under a BN overpass in the southern part of the state. This surprised me when I first saw it because the motto of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy was "Everywhere West." Not South. Like the Milwaukee Road, CB&Q wanted their own access to coal in the Ohio River valley. In fact, James J. Hill, who aquired control the of CB&Q in 1901 could use the coal for his other railroads --- Great Northern and Northern Pacific.

So, in 1904 Burlington acquired a 122 mile line from Concord, IL to Centralia, IL. In 1905 the CB&Q began pushing towards Metropolis to link up with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad (NC&StL) in Paducah. CB&Q reached Metropolis in 1910. The Paducah & Illinois Railroad (P&I) was formed of a partnership between CB&Q and NC&StL to build a mile long bridge over the Ohio and 15 miles of track to connect the 2 Railroads. [Part 1]

Burlington specified a double track bridge that would support Cooper E90 live loading. This showed significant foresight because E90 (90,000 pounds per axle (Army)) is a strong bridge by even today's standards. [Part 2, ConnDOT, WiscDOT]  The trusses and approach bents support two tracks, but the approach plate girder spans currently support just one track. As I have come to expect with long train bridges, trains travel slowly over this bridge.

A complicating factor at the Metropolis site was that bedrock was approximately 230 feet below low water level. This depth prohibited founding the piers on the bedrock, instead the piers are founded on a thick quartz sand layer at approximately 75 feet below low water level. Founding the piers on a substrate that could allow them to settle over time prohibited many bridge designs. CB&Q Chose to build a Simple Truss Bridge designed and built using Silicon Steel instead of the normal High Carbon Steel and specifying an even stronger nickel steel for certain members of the bridge allowing the bridge to be made lighter. [Part 2]

C Hanchey Illinois Flickr Album has nine photos starting with an overview.

See last paragraph of IC Railroad Scrapbook.

Lots of info in this posting's comments

The rivermen were allowed to specify the placement of the piers. They specified a 700' navigation span [part10] When they learned that the engineers designed a span over 700', the rivermen decided: "By having the main span 720 feet in width, a steamboat with a large tow will be able to pass under the bridge at any angle. With lights on the piers at night the span will be sufficient width to enable the pilots to judge his distance and pass under the bridge." [part12]

John Stigall commented on a posting
Bridge + sunset - what could be better?

If you have seen one of the 551' spans, you have seen them all.

It is hard to catch how much bigger the 720' span is from the Illinois side. This does catch the unique "stepped" design of the piers. The lower part is probably thicker to resist ice and flood waters.

Kenneth James White posted
Another giant spanning the Ohio River: The Metropolis Bridge at Cario Illinois.
[The bridge is at Metropolis, not Cario. The step in the piers make it easy to determine that the water level was higher when this photo was taken.]

Even the approach is rather massive.

Bob Kinstrey posted several photos with the comment: "Crossing the Ohio River a few miles south of I 24 at Paducah KY. Also some of the approach bridges on IL side. There is another RR bridge of the same design several miles north of I 24."

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(Facebooked1, Facebooked2. Facebooked3)

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