It was a bit after 1 PM on a sunny December 19th, comfortably above freezing, the most recent snowfall all but gone. Rob and I left Calumet Photo with his new Nikon digital marvel in hand. Both of us had appointments late in the afternoon, but there was time for a few first photos, time to expose the new camera to the real world. What to shoot?
View the slideshow here!
On his own, Rob probably would have headed for the cement plant across the river. He deferred to his father-in-law, however, and I suggested that, seeing that it was Tuesday, CPR’s C&E job might be somewhere nearby. He agreed to hunt it down. We left the parking lot, turned north onto Cherry St., and there – little more than a block away – was the bright headlight of MP15AC No. 1447. The crew, conductor Larry Bartosz and engineer Ken Paulsen, had brought their big red machine down to the south end of the Goose Island spur to deliver a couple of center-beam flatcar loads of British Columbia lumber to Big Bay Lumber Co., next door neighbor to Calumet Camera. I guess you could say the neighborhood is changing.
It turns out the railroad is, too. CPR makes its last run on this former Milwaukee Road industrial branch, originally the Chicago & Evanston RR (built c.1884) on December 28. Larry said that the big red machine that Ken was piloting has been a big hit with the young ladies and their children further north along the route. He said the kids never paid much attention to the black & brown bandits they used to drag down here. It’s nice to think CP red might be outshining Thomas on the streets of Chicago. And, it’s good to see a train making new friends for railroading.
After December 28, it will be the new Chicago Terminal Railroad* (a pleasant resonance with Chicago railroad history!) that brings the freight onto the C&E. Larry said he heard that the new short line has an SW1200 newly painted and ready to go. I sure hope it gets smiles from the kids the way that big red EMD does.
Thanks to Larry and Ken and, also, to railfan Mel Finzer (who once did a little piloting of his own) for sharing some railroading with Rob and me. Good times on Goose Island, guys!
Eric Ellison
* Chicago Terminal Railroad is an operational entity of non-carrier holding company Iowa Pacific Holdings LLC, which in turn also controls Permian Basin Railways Inc. Permian Basin controls four other Class III short lines – the West Texas & Lubbock Ry., the Austin & Northwestern RR., the Arizona & Eastern Ry., and the San Luis & Rio Grande RR.