Hello everyone, I would like to introduce myself, My name is Brian Morgan. I am a longtime observer and trainfan which I believe was a birth right since I grew up on the South and Southwest sides of Chicago and have witnessed first hand what many travel from around the globe to see whom are railfans. I grew up in the Shadows of the Pittsburgh Cincinatti Chicago & Saint Louis 59th Street Yard near Lindblom Park near 63rd & Justine so geographically speaking the same distance going east at 63rd & Lowe I would be at what I consider the second greatest railroad racetrack in the City of Chicago the Chicago & Western Indiana with it numerous passenger trains charging in and out of the famed Dearborn Street Station; or I can go West and see the action on the Panhandle route especially at the P.R.R. Roundhouse formerly located at 59th Street & Hamilton Ave, or walk to 63rd Street & Oakley and see the B.& O. varnish such as the Capitol Limited, The Shenandoah, The Ambasador, The Washington Express. But when I was a real good boy my Grandmother would take me were she worked and that was to the Santa Fe Building in Downtown Chicago and to the Dearborn Street Station to see the Warbonnets in action and from time to time she would whipout the old employee pass and we would sometimes ride from Chicago to Joliet or we would go to the passenger coach yards at Cermak near Archer Avenue and take a caboose ride from there to Corwith. I over the years remember those days with fondness myself and my grandmother a stern but yet sweet Swiss german lady whom earned her stripes in life from the time she had to come to America escaping the bombing raids by Zeppelins on London in 1916 where my grandmother worked as a Redcross Aid, helping the returning Tommy's with their needs to her obtaining work work as a Harvey Girl and her first posting in La Juanita, Colorado to her honorable retirement from not just any railroad but to me Thee Railroad, the Great Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. When I was in my early teens my Mom and I moved in with my grandmother to 59th Place & Lawndale Ave after Mom and Dad went their seperate ways, (Thats a personal matter, please don't ask.) and the I encountered what up until that time only a sprinkle but now became the topping on the sundae the Grand Trunk Western, the Crown jewel line the Santa Fe, The Belt Railway of Chicago, The Wabash, and the C.& O. at the Rockwell Yards; but what I did see was the line one full block east of my house the Grand Trunk Western and the Elsdon Yard and nort of the GTW was the Santa Fe Corwith yard. I am in the process of conducting research of a line which I can partially model all the lines I have known as a youth and even a few more that began and terminated from Chicago, and I have come up with modeling the Illinois Northern since it connected with hte various lines of my youth and the others that I did see but only had a brief exposure to such as the C.B.& Q. and the Alton Route, The G.M.& O., The I.C. ( Chicago & Western Illinois.). But mostly I would like to place more exposure to those of my childhood and I concluded the Illinois Northern Railway; but a certain point the various routes of the that operated out of their prospective terminals and this occured at 21st Street and ran within sight of the Illinois Northern just across the Chicago River between Aberdeen Street and Leavitt Avenue. So I would like to know if anyone has a track schematic of the old Santa Fe routing from Dearborn Street Station too Corwith Junction either an old Sanborn Fire Insurance map or official Santa Fe employee timetable chart from the era when Santa Fe Ran passenger services from about the Mid 1960's so I can accurately lay my track correctly and make sure that what I am researching is accurate as well. Now I know this is a pretty tall order to ask for but, hey a roll of the dice and whom knows I either come up snake eyes or boxcars either which way what do I have to lose. I hope I get a :thumbs_up: from someone in webland. Thank you . Brian Morgan.
http://www.atsfry.com/EasternArchive/plans/planrca.htm That will get you from Dearborn to Archer/18th Street... There's a lot of trackage in that short stretch. The drawings are worth getting copies of.
Brian- I believe that many of us enjoy remembering and modeling what we once saw. The memories are usually of pleasant days, or something unusual that sticks in mind. Welcome Aboard! Boxcab E50
Welcome to TrainBoard. Good to have you on board. If memory serves me correctly Santa Fe was the only Western Road that had a direct connection into Chicago. It would be years later before S.P., U.P. and others acquired railroad property directly into the Windy City.
If I'm not mistaken, the S.P. and U.P. never did have direct access to Chicago, until, of course, the U.P. acquired the C&NW. The S.P.'s connection, for passenger trains, was through the CRI&P, and the U.P.'s was through the C&NW.
After the Rio Grande took over the SP did get a direct route into Chicago over the ex GM&O line from St Louis.
Morning Sun has a relatively new book out on the Santa Fe Facilities - main line. There's nice period shots in there of Corwith. Joe McMillan's book on "High Green to Marceline" also has a lot of shots of the Corwith yard. I got out there for a real 'tour' in 1980. I was with a group of renegade railfans on a tour that included being chased out of every railroad yard in the city by railroad police - particularly Amtrak. I was actually a Santa Fe shareholder at the time, and getting pretty sick of being pursued even though were were rampant tresspassing to be honest. When we hit Corwith, I took point, walked everybody right into the yard office, produced my shareholder identification, got a wonderful reception by a VERY attractive receptionist, and a friendly briefing by the yard superintendent on where we could go, and where we couldn't go, to get good photos. Gave us hard hats, and kept an eye on us. Had a wonderful, and relaxed, time looking at the yard. I wouldn't trade those shots for anything, and you couldn't get anything like that today. And people just can't understand why I'm a Santa Fe fan...
