Chicago Industrial Switching Operations

[FCIN]

Those of us interested in industrial switching operations or rail lines are always on the lookout for interesting operations, both past and present, so I thought I'd throw out the Chicago area for you to take a look at. There were (and still are) some very interesting operations in Chicago, that include a lot of street running and all sorts of interesting industries.

Take a look at these web sites:

Chicago's Northside Switching Operations is a dandy: http://www.chicagoswitching.com/. Lot's of photos and covers most of the unusual switching operations in Chicago (past and present).

The Lakewood Branch: http://www.mannresearch.com/lakewood/
This one is no longer maintained as the original owner of the site passed away, but it sure has some interesting pages on it. There does seem to be a lot of interest in street running (i.e.; locations on the Monon, etc.), but are some interesting pages to start with:
http://www.mannresearch.com/lakewood/tburke4.html
http://www.mannresearch.com/lakewood/tburke3.html

This one is very interesting - talk about customer service! http://www.mannresearch.com/lakewood/blommer.html

How about running beneath streets and buildings to get to a shipper http://www.mannresearch.com/lakewood/carroll.html

Trains making delivers to the now closed Peerless Confections really interest me http://www.mannresearch.com/lakewood/tburke1.html

There are links to a couple of interesting N scale switching layouts based on Chicago rail operations too:
Tom Burke's North Lakewood Line: http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v6/artic...ticleid=68
Bill Denton's Kingsbury Branch layout: http://www.chicagoswitching.com/v6/artic...ticleid=14

One interesting short line operating currently in Chicago over some of these lines is the Chicago Terminal Railroad (CTM) a division of Iowa Pacific Holdings: http://www.iowapacific.net/chicago-termi...lroad.html. Motive power is furnished by ILSX (Independent Locomotive Services) http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.ph...64&nseq=32 that all have a very attractive maroon/yellow/black paint scheme (and simple to model).You can find quite a bit of information and photos about this operation on the web.

Lot's more information can be found on these two web sites. Not sure I'd want to tackle all the buildings and the street running on an ISL, but it's sure food for thought.