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Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: July 11, 2015 07:37PM
Anyone who lived in the vicinity of this line remember it? For those who don't know what I'm talking about, there was a power plant that used to exist at California and Roscoe, that was decommissioned and torn down in 1970. Coal, other materials, and equipment came in from the C&NW Northwest Line at Kimball, crossing a wood trestle, and running on an embankment and over viaducts to the Com Ed property east of Whipple at Elston. A description of it can be found here:
http://www.railwaypreservation.com/northwest_station.htm
I'd love to find out if anyone shot home movies of this operation. The viaducts, embankment, and abutments have all been removed west of Whipple, save for that trestle over Kimball.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2015 07:38PM by Jeff_Weiner.
http://www.railwaypreservation.com/northwest_station.htm
I'd love to find out if anyone shot home movies of this operation. The viaducts, embankment, and abutments have all been removed west of Whipple, save for that trestle over Kimball.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2015 07:38PM by Jeff_Weiner.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
trainutlen
()
Date: July 12, 2015 10:56AM
the electric locomotive is at IRM in Union,m and the railroad crossed California at Addison
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Dunning1
()
Date: July 12, 2015 05:19PM
I went to Gordon Tech in the late 1960's and remember the coal coming In by barge on the river. The barge would be unloaded just south of Addison and the Con Ed train would take it to a pile at Addison and Sacramento. There was a similar short line like that at Cereal and Cavalier which is also gone now.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: July 12, 2015 10:43PM
I remember the track across California, but that was after the generating station was torn down, and I didn't see any third rail, so I assumed it was out-of-service. The maps show a double track crossing on California, so I suppose one track was removed long before the other. I do remember the viaducts being dismantled, so I would think the tracks had been torn out at the same time.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
()
Date: July 12, 2015 11:45PM
Thanks for bringing this up, Jeff. I went by there a lot as a kid (family lived nearby) and I distinctly remember the brick tower on the building at Addison & California being taken down, some time in the mid-80s. In the link you posted, you can see the tower in the photo taken from the trolley bus turnaround.
By the way, near the spur that ran in front of this building, there was a flagpole that looked like it had counterweights on the bottom of it, as though it could rotate. What was the deal with that?
By the way, near the spur that ran in front of this building, there was a flagpole that looked like it had counterweights on the bottom of it, as though it could rotate. What was the deal with that?
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: July 12, 2015 11:55PM
I remember that flagpole. I've seen others like it, and figured it was built that way to allow easy maintenance of the pole. It apparently was removed around the same time as the track.
Did you see much of the railroad in operation as a kid?
Did you see much of the railroad in operation as a kid?
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 13, 2015 11:39AM
yes as one's already mentioned anyone (like me) who went to either Lane Tech or Gordon Tech in the '60s (as the schools were called then) will remember the train hauling coal from the river barges and cross California Ave--one track only existed there--just a couple feet south of Addison (no RR crossing gate), to the big ComEd plant. The track continued west alongside the buildings north face then curved south behind the building. That portion was not electrified (no 3rd rail there) just diesel. I remember the trains running this little route perhaps through 1970 but that's it.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Dunning1
()
Date: July 13, 2015 02:31PM
I think the flagpole was built that way in order to eliminate the cords and pulleys involved with running up the flag. They just tipped it down to take the flag on or off, and then let the counterweight bring the flag back up.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 13, 2015 04:37PM
up through the early '90s at least (maybe later?) ComEd had a customer service office at the front of that old plant building on California Ave, so I could walk in there and pay my monthly bill.
Me and the Mrs. love the IRM @ Union and've seen that old electric locomotive there.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2015 04:39PM by the_mogra.
Me and the Mrs. love the IRM @ Union and've seen that old electric locomotive there.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2015 04:39PM by the_mogra.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: July 13, 2015 05:24PM
It would seem that this site had everything you needed for a power plant: access to a river for both barges and cooling water, plus a nearby railroad connect for equipment, materials, and coal cars. Just one little problem: it was surrounded on three sides by residential neighborhoods. I suspect that was one of many reasons they decommissioned it and tore it down, along with loss of bascule bridges from Belmont south, making coal barges harder to get in. I wonder if they ever thought of converting it to natural gas?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2015 11:53PM by Jeff_Weiner.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2015 11:53PM by Jeff_Weiner.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
()
Date: July 13, 2015 05:28PM
I came across these photos (they are watermark protected but you get the idea).
[url=http://viewpictures.co.uk/Search.aspx?search=a%20primarily%20two-story%20brick%20building]ComEd Building 1930[/url]
[url=http://viewpictures.co.uk/Search.aspx?search=a%20primarily%20two-story%20brick%20building]ComEd Building 1930[/url]
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 13, 2015 06:25PM
I don't think the coal-loaded barges would have any problem passing under the bridges, bascule or otherwise, from what I remember seeing (enough clearance). The bascule on Western Ave was replaced with a fixed structure early '70s, wasn't it, and a few years later Belmont bridge followed.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
()
Date: July 14, 2015 01:21PM
I was looking at the 1920s Sanborn Map on the link Jeff posted above and saw something interesting - there's a company called Chicago Stone Conduit just west of the river at Addison and it looked like the second spur line served that factory.
It looks like they made non-metallic electrical conduit. The building is gone in the later map from 1949 but the tracks still show.
It looks like they made non-metallic electrical conduit. The building is gone in the later map from 1949 but the tracks still show.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 14, 2015 01:36PM
makes me wonder in a 1920's (pre-thermoplastics) manufacturing world just what was electrical conduit that's NON-metallic. probably ceramic or a melamine/phenolic type though not home conduit
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2015 01:37PM by the_mogra.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2015 01:37PM by the_mogra.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
222psm
()
Date: July 14, 2015 07:12PM
I remember this railroad very well, I lived near Horner Park. Some time in 79 or 80 was the last time I saw a train crossing California, it was a diesel loco with a single flat car with some type of large piece of equipment, I remember my dad was driving north bound on California and stopped because a flagman was standing on the track. I asked him what he was doing, and he said a train was coming I was excited because I hadn't seen a train there since the early 70's. The crossing was kind of rough it had wood between the tracks and they where rotted out, in the early 80's they fixed the crossing with rubber between the tracks and made it real smooth, I thought the track might go back in service but i never saw a train on it again. My friend and I would ride our bikes in the area and roam the track in the mid 80's, we would follow it to the main line off the Kennedy.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: July 16, 2015 12:32PM
I'll bet they switched to diesel locomotives after California was extended from Roscoe to Addison: can't risk people coming near a third rail!
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 16, 2015 01:12PM
I wonder if the electrified tracks did NOT include the spur that went east to the river branch and never did, it was just the western tracks that had that 'electric diesel'
In the olden 'Hi-Fi' days when brands like Scott, Marantz, Jensen, Fischer, Harmon-Kardon etc. were still in their original made-in-USA incarnations, up to the 1960's, I was told one of those brands factory's was located around there @ Addison & California, but nowadays I can't remember which one it was.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2015 01:13PM by the_mogra.
In the olden 'Hi-Fi' days when brands like Scott, Marantz, Jensen, Fischer, Harmon-Kardon etc. were still in their original made-in-USA incarnations, up to the 1960's, I was told one of those brands factory's was located around there @ Addison & California, but nowadays I can't remember which one it was.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2015 01:13PM by the_mogra.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: July 16, 2015 02:43PM
the_mogra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder if the electrified tracks did NOT include
> the spur that went east to the river branch and
> never did, it was just the western tracks that had
> that 'electric diesel'
>
> In the olden 'Hi-Fi' days when brands like Scott,
> Marantz, Jensen, Fischer, Harmon-Kardon etc. were
> still in their original made-in-USA incarnations,
> up to the 1960's, I was told one of those brands
> factory's was located around there @ Addison &
> California, but nowadays I can't remember which
> one it was.
Well, the site I linked to has a picture of one of the electric locomotives pulling some cars across California, dated 1951:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder if the electrified tracks did NOT include
> the spur that went east to the river branch and
> never did, it was just the western tracks that had
> that 'electric diesel'
>
> In the olden 'Hi-Fi' days when brands like Scott,
> Marantz, Jensen, Fischer, Harmon-Kardon etc. were
> still in their original made-in-USA incarnations,
> up to the 1960's, I was told one of those brands
> factory's was located around there @ Addison &
> California, but nowadays I can't remember which
> one it was.
Well, the site I linked to has a picture of one of the electric locomotives pulling some cars across California, dated 1951:
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Dunning1
()
Date: July 16, 2015 02:56PM
Don't know if this will help, but at one time both Scott and Jensen were located in Chicago. Peter L. Jensen founded Magnavox with Edwin Pridham in 1914, and later sold his interest and founded Jensen Radio Manufacturing in 1925, and he moved it to Chicago in 1927. He resigned in 1943, and founded Jensen Industries. I think Marantz and Fisher were in the New York City area, and some sources show Scott as being located in Massachusetts. I read that McIntosh was also in upstate New York, but I have an early RCA Victor LP, probably from around 1948 or 49, that has a label on it from McIntosh Labs somewhere up in the Rogers Park area. I'll look more into this and post if I can find out more.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 16, 2015 03:55PM
that's the CE electric locomotive, and that maybe how Califonia Ave appeared circa '51 (before Gorden Tech H.S. was built), or it could be crossing some other street west of the plant
ye olde hi-fi Chicago street addresses I've found:
ADMIRAL - 3800 W. Cortland
SCOTT - 4541 N. Ravenswood
ZENITH - 6001 W. Dickens
MOTOROLA - 4545 W. Augusta
my (late) sister worked at the Augusta Motorola plant just prior to them going to the 'burbs (1972?). then when Playskool moved-in I worked there
maybe it was Jensen near California & Addison (some bldg. just northwest of the intersection), my friend Peter J. told me he worked thereby
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2015 03:56PM by the_mogra.
ye olde hi-fi Chicago street addresses I've found:
ADMIRAL - 3800 W. Cortland
SCOTT - 4541 N. Ravenswood
ZENITH - 6001 W. Dickens
MOTOROLA - 4545 W. Augusta
my (late) sister worked at the Augusta Motorola plant just prior to them going to the 'burbs (1972?). then when Playskool moved-in I worked there
maybe it was Jensen near California & Addison (some bldg. just northwest of the intersection), my friend Peter J. told me he worked thereby
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2015 03:56PM by the_mogra.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Dunning1
()
Date: July 16, 2015 04:19PM
I have subsequently found out Jensen was located at 6601 S. Lorel in the Clearing Industrial District.
Could you possibly be thinking of Williams Electronics, which was on California and Roscoe, where they built all of the pinball machines?
Could you possibly be thinking of Williams Electronics, which was on California and Roscoe, where they built all of the pinball machines?
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 16, 2015 05:56PM
well it looks like right location but wrong company
Williams there and Bally when they were a couple blocks away on Belmont Ave really enjoyed a business heyday 1970's - 1980's. I always viewed them as competitive but perhaps they weren't exactly
When Bally moved their old Belmont bldg. went to a limousine coach mfgr before it got torn down
Williams there and Bally when they were a couple blocks away on Belmont Ave really enjoyed a business heyday 1970's - 1980's. I always viewed them as competitive but perhaps they weren't exactly
When Bally moved their old Belmont bldg. went to a limousine coach mfgr before it got torn down
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Dunning1
()
Date: July 16, 2015 07:05PM
I think Williams and Bally are in fact the same company today, and the parent company is Scientific Games or something similar, still located at 3401 N. California. The limousine builder was Lehman-Petersen, and they were there for quite a few years. I believe they later became Moloney Coachbuilders before moving out to the suburbs.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
thimmaker
()
Date: July 16, 2015 09:26PM
Jeff_Weiner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone who lived in the vicinity of this line
> remember it? For those who don't know what I'm
> talking about, there was a power plant that used
> to exist at California and Roscoe, that was
> decommissioned and torn down in 1970. Coal, other
> materials, and equipment came in from the C&NW
> Northwest Line at Kimball, crossing a wood
> trestle, and running on an embankment and over
> viaducts to the Com Ed property east of Whipple at
> Elston. A description of it can be found here:
>
> http://www.railwaypreservation.com/northwest_stati
> on.htm
>
> I'd love to find out if anyone shot home movies of
> this operation. The viaducts, embankment, and
> abutments have all been removed west of Whipple,
> save for that trestle over Kimball.
I lived on Addison near Kimball and walked to Lane Tech every day past the old Edison tracks at California. Graduated in 1951. The aerial photo from 1938 shows a great view of the tracks heading west from the river, then bending south and again west as far as the old wooden viaduct on Kimball. That vacant prairie between Kimball and Kedzie, and Addison to the tracks was brought up in a post regarding the field at Kimball and Addison. The coal hills on the south of that prairie were our sledding hills in the winter and the prairie was our summer playground. Walked those tracks from the coal hills toward California ave. many times to as far as we could get, the gates.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone who lived in the vicinity of this line
> remember it? For those who don't know what I'm
> talking about, there was a power plant that used
> to exist at California and Roscoe, that was
> decommissioned and torn down in 1970. Coal, other
> materials, and equipment came in from the C&NW
> Northwest Line at Kimball, crossing a wood
> trestle, and running on an embankment and over
> viaducts to the Com Ed property east of Whipple at
> Elston. A description of it can be found here:
>
> http://www.railwaypreservation.com/northwest_stati
> on.htm
>
> I'd love to find out if anyone shot home movies of
> this operation. The viaducts, embankment, and
> abutments have all been removed west of Whipple,
> save for that trestle over Kimball.
I lived on Addison near Kimball and walked to Lane Tech every day past the old Edison tracks at California. Graduated in 1951. The aerial photo from 1938 shows a great view of the tracks heading west from the river, then bending south and again west as far as the old wooden viaduct on Kimball. That vacant prairie between Kimball and Kedzie, and Addison to the tracks was brought up in a post regarding the field at Kimball and Addison. The coal hills on the south of that prairie were our sledding hills in the winter and the prairie was our summer playground. Walked those tracks from the coal hills toward California ave. many times to as far as we could get, the gates.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 17, 2015 11:54AM
Moloney is the company name I remember there on Belmont ave (after Bally relocated).
In addition to those 5 old hi-fi manufacturers I'd named there's a 6th one (that may've been the one once near Addison & California) I just recalled--KENWOOD. But right now I can't pinpoint a thing about them.
Although I went to Lane Tech H.S. in the '60s I didn't live nearby; like so many I took the Addison bus and I remember they used to arrive in droves. After school if I felt like it I could ride the Addison bus all the way downtown, since it used to turn onto Lake Shore Dr.
I lived 4 miles away (from LTHS) and on a particularly nice day with nothing pressing I'd walk those 4 miles home, zig-zagging across neighborhoods, stopping at the mom & pop type stores of the time along the way. One of my better memories if very simple.
In addition to those 5 old hi-fi manufacturers I'd named there's a 6th one (that may've been the one once near Addison & California) I just recalled--KENWOOD. But right now I can't pinpoint a thing about them.
Although I went to Lane Tech H.S. in the '60s I didn't live nearby; like so many I took the Addison bus and I remember they used to arrive in droves. After school if I felt like it I could ride the Addison bus all the way downtown, since it used to turn onto Lake Shore Dr.
I lived 4 miles away (from LTHS) and on a particularly nice day with nothing pressing I'd walk those 4 miles home, zig-zagging across neighborhoods, stopping at the mom & pop type stores of the time along the way. One of my better memories if very simple.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
rjmachon
()
Date: July 19, 2015 04:37PM
Bally Manufacturing Corp was in Bensenville on Irving Park Road and O'Leary Drive until 1990 when they sold the building and moved out. Bally, which manufactures pinball and slot machines at the site, is moving its manufacturing operations to Las Vegas.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2015 04:42PM by rjmachon.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2015 04:42PM by rjmachon.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
the_mogra
()
Date: July 19, 2015 05:45PM
I remember the original Bally factory in the 2600 west block of Belmont (building now gone) having been inside in back the '70s, and when the '80s came their logo appeared atop one of the tall office buildings alongside the Kennedy Xpwy west of Cumberland that I'd often drive by, they having moved.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
()
Date: July 19, 2015 10:02PM
the_mogra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember the original Bally factory in the 2600
> west block of Belmont (building now gone) having
> been inside in back the '70s, and when the '80s
> came their logo appeared atop one of the tall
> office buildings alongside the Kennedy Xpwy west
> of Cumberland that I'd often drive by, they having
> moved.
My cousins lived on Melrose at Washtenaw and I always wondered what happened to the cool 'juggling' figure on the Belmont facility building entrance.
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember the original Bally factory in the 2600
> west block of Belmont (building now gone) having
> been inside in back the '70s, and when the '80s
> came their logo appeared atop one of the tall
> office buildings alongside the Kennedy Xpwy west
> of Cumberland that I'd often drive by, they having
> moved.
My cousins lived on Melrose at Washtenaw and I always wondered what happened to the cool 'juggling' figure on the Belmont facility building entrance.
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: January 08, 2016 02:38AM
Back to top...
Re: Commonwealth Edison Electric Railroad
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: January 09, 2016 02:01PM
[b]btt[/b]
