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A Chicago Subdivision Photo Album (Part
2 of 4)
Written and
Photographed by JD
"Tuch" Santucci,
MPRR Engineer '78-'85
I was fortunate
and got to operate all the new power as most of it was delivered to
Yard Center and placed into service there.
Favorites for
road power were the SD40 series. In the yard the GP15
and MP 15 series and the GP38 series for much of everything
else.
I didn't care
for the B23/30 series as their ride was extremely rough and
would about kill your kidneys, although they did pull well on dry
rail.
The U30C's
were bastard red-headed step children that were real oddballs and
poorly maintained as a result. They seemed to be prone to failure.
The GP50's
were pretty good high speed units, but were poor performers on heavy
tonnage trains. They tried them on some coal trains with dismal results
including burning up main generators and traction motors.
The GP15-1's
actually had some remanufactured components. They required a trade
in unit towards them. This lowered their purchase price and also offered
the MoPac some tax breaks on the price of them as well. I liked them
as they were really good units and performed well. Their only drawback
was that some of them seemed to have excessive vibration when idling
in regular idle.
Click on the thumbnails for a larger image
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20) And still another
view with the Salem yard office/depot in the view.
- All photos © JD Santucci |
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21) Shot of the Salem
fuel tracks in April 1983. |
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22) View looking north
of Salem main line fuel station. Main track is to
the right, siding to the left. Salem was the crew
change point for train crews. |
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23) SBW caboose 13866
at 26th Street Yard, Chicago Heights, June 1992. |
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24) Another view of
the 13866. |
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25) EV Caboose 13647 at 17th Street Yard on CHTT,
Chicago Heights. |
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26) SBW caboose 13793 at Salem, IL April 1983. |
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27) EV caboose 13649
on display at Beecher, IL (along Chicago Sub) April
1990 |
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28) Another view
of the 13866. |
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29) SBW cabooses
13807 and 13920 on caboose track at Yard Center
June 1983. If you look closely, that is a C&EI
high cube box car behind them. |
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30) Looking back at a
snow storm while running south on train CH January 1985.
A phone pole is barely visible to the right. This was
near Glover, IL on the Chicago Sub. |
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31) A Chicago Pneumatic
speed recorder marks the speed at 50 MPH during
this same show storm. This type of speedometer used
a roll of paper etched by a stylus to record the
speed. They were locked with the same type of lock
that appears on Coke machines and were sealed with
a numbered seal just like on a boxcar. The seal
number was written on the beginning of the roll
and checked against the seal number whenever the
roll was removed. Notice also the amp gauge below
the speedo indicates the unit is loading 350 amps.
If memory serves correct, this unit was the 3130.
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32) GP15-1 1582 sitting
in the CHTT Roundhouse in Chicago Heights. April
1981. |
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33) 37th Street Intermodal
Yard looking almost north. The tall, dark building
towards the left is Sears Tower. The tall white
building is the Amoco Oil Building. The track with
the bare tables and the one trailer is three main,
the one right in front of it is four main. The two
tracks closest are leads to the "hole".
Tracks, 39, 40, 42-47 made up the hole where more
flats were spotted for loading and unloading trailers
and containers. Three and four main from this point
north for over half a mile could be loaded and unloaded.
This exact spot was 31st Street in Chicago. The
signal bridge towards the middle of the photo was
ConrailÕs Chicago Line, formerly the Pennsylvania
Railroad and today, Norfolk Southern. |
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34) 26th Street yard
office in South Chicago Heights. In its heyday,
the Clerk and Yardmaster worked in the offices by
the two windows on the far right. The train and
engines crews had their quarters at the next two
windows and MofW and the Signal Maintainer used
the offices towards the left. July 1993. |
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35) Intermodal facility
at Yard Center. Before this facility was built,
this was three separate switching yards; 1, 2 and
3 yard. The Bulktainers and flats to the right are
part of what is left of 1 Yard. The tall brick structure
on the left is the Yard Center offices, once the
Chicago Division headquarters. Just above it, the
light colored structure is the RIP track. This view
is looking north from Sibley Boulevard that spans
the entire yard. |
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36) This is looking
south from Sibley Blvd towards 8 and 9 yards at
Yard Center. The track the engine us pulling the
flats out onto is the southbound. To the left is
the northbound, then 8 Yard lead which goes into
16 tracks, 303, 304,1-14 (right to left, 303 and
304 have cars on them and then sarts track 1 and
up). To the left of that is track 15,16 (with the
cars on it) and 17. To the left of that are tracks
305 through 308 and then all of 9 Yard. |
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37) The two main
tracks are in the middle of this shot looking north.
To the right is 8 Yard lead, then 15 and 16, both
with cars on them. On the left where the trailers
and flats are sitting is the remnants of 1 Yard.
Where 8 Yard lead ties into the northbound here
is an interlocking called l45th Street which had
crossovers between the mains as well. Photos 35-37
were shot April 1990. |
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38) A garden variety
MoPac boxcar captured on Norfolk Southern near Valparaiso,
IN 1995. |
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39) A Mopac high
cube auto parts boxcar on the Indiana Harbor Belt
in Riverdale, IL at the east end of Blue Island
Yard 1994. |
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