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>Milepost numbers as per PRR Western Region ETT #7, 1967-10-29.

The branches south and east of Chicago are a bit enigmatic. Anyone with PRR ETTs earlier than mine please contact me so that this can be clarified.

Sources:

1. South Chicago & Southern R.R. Co. (L42) as of Dec. 31, 1945. In: C... & C... .
2. Pennsylvania Railroad. Pennsylvania System (circa 1923) [Map]. In: Cupper, D, ...
3. Pennsylvania Railroaad. Western Region [employe[e]] Timetable #7. 1967 Oct 29.
4. Rand McNally. Chicago Streets. Copyright indicated without a year being specified; map purchaced circa 1975.

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Englewood Connecting Railway [Englewood Connecting Line]

Starts from a wye at EC on the Fort Wayne main line and proceeds due west. Milepost is 2.5, the distance being counted from 59th St. Yard. The entire branch runs between and parallel to 58th and 59th Sts.

FORD STREET, Chicago, Ill.; M.P. 2.1

Ref 9, Sheet 36, 1950; 2147x1178, 44K, 200 dpi

Crossing of the EC Line with the C&WI.

The original map was very difficult to read in a number of locations. The worst was one I could not at all resolve: the number of the derail on the lowermost track of the C&WI. It looks like 42, but that number is already in use.

There were a number of locations where there was very light tracings on this map. Some are clearly erasures, whereas others may be corrections and thus current in 1950. Rather than try to interpret these, I have created a second map with these items shown in gray.

Finally, can anyone explain the short lines parallel to C&WI trackage? Are these derails?

Street Location: Between 58th and 59th at Wallace. Wallace is between the Dan Ryan and Halsted.

Two additional stations are Green Street at M.P. 1.7 and Winchester Avenue at M.P. 0.3. Presumably 59th Street Yard is M.P. 0.0, but this is not given explicitly. At any rate, the branch ends at this yard in a wye.

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SC&S [Main Line]

This branch, sometimes called the "Bernice Cutoff", is listed in the ETT simply as part of the main line. The entry is found intersperced with the Logansport--Chicago main line page. The South Chicago & Southern begins at COLEHOUR JCT. on the Fort Wayne main line, M.P. 0 for this branch. The timetable direction as listed here is eastward.

HEGEWISCH, WOLF LAKE JCT., Hegewisch, Ill.; M.P. 3.9, 4.3

Ref 9, Sheet 39, 1945; 2196x1260, ...K, ?150/200 dpi

This location was remotely controlled from CALUMET PARK. Junction of the Calumet River Railway [Branch] to the northwest, at Hegewisch. This is followed soon thereafter by WOLF LAKE JCT., where the Hammond Branch veers off to the east.

Street Location: Both locations are in far southeast Chicago, just north of the city of Burnham, between Brainard Rd. and Wolf Lake. HEGEWISCH is at 131st, between Mackinaw and Green Bay. WOLF LAKE JCT. is directly south, at 135th.

BURNHAM, Burnham, Ill.; M.P. 4.6

Ref 9, Sheet 38, 1945; 2196x1260, ...K, ?150/200 dpi

Not much farther to the south of WOLF LAKE JCT., the SC&S crosses CSS&SB, C&WI, and NKP. Note the crossing immediately to the south (down and right) of the tower: this must have been a maintainer's nightmare!

Note that there are two insets showing the SC&S, one in the upper left, the other in the lower right. The inset at lower right contains a minor "typo"; clearly the line should read "A-----A". The 3 lines seen there may represent the Little Calumet River.

(Szwajkart 1976, pp. 164-165)

Street Location: Directly south of the above map, just south of Brainard, at the level of 138th St.

BURNHAM tower burned in the 1970s, as a result of a the ancient coal furnace/stove. It was replaced by the infamous "Burnham Trailer", literally a trailer. Amazingly, it didn't close until around 1995 and inexplicably remained manned around the clock. [Jon Roma]

CALUMET PARK, Calumet Park, Ill., M.P. 5.5

SC&S crosses MC, IHB, and B&OCT.

Street Location: as best as I can tell, this is north of State St., between major streets Burnham Ave. on the east and Torrence Ave. on the west.

CALUMET PARK burned in the 1970s, the fire apparently having been set off by a former operator angry for having been dismissed by the railroad. It was then hand operated for some time, until a hasty CTC installation was put in place, operated by HOHMAN AVE. [Jon Roma]

Ends at BERNICE on the Panhandle main line, M.P. 9.3 for the SC&S.

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Calumet River Branch

Begins at RIVER BRANCH JCT. on the Fort Wayne main line, M.P. 0.0 for this line.

CALUMET WESTERN JCT., M.P. 4.4

There is no map for this junction. Here the Calumet River Branch turns southeast, and another PRR branch [Calumet Western ...] joins. The location is just northwest of the extent of the HEGEWISCH map.

Street Location: south Chicago, north side of 130th St., between Brandon and Burley.

Joins the SC&S Branch at HEGEWISCH, M.P. 4.7.

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Calumet Western Line [Rwy.]

This line starts at the South Chicago drawbridge, possibly the unlabelled track on the RIVER BRANCH JCT map [anyone know for sure?]. It then proceeds southwest and south, remaining west of the Calumet River for most of its journey. [MDB] From a 1963 PRR straight-line diagram, it is of PRR ownership to somewhere near 106TH ST. [Al Buchan]

106TH STREET, Chicago, Ill.; M.P. 4.4

Ref 9, Sheet SK.4, 1946; 2091x1700, 61K, 200 dpi

This location is just northwest of the Rock Island Slip of the Calumet River, which is the one that points northwest from the river. The diagram shows the Wisconsin Steel Co., and notably, there is a Wisconsin Slip on the Calumet River, the next slip south of the Rock Island Slip.

It is unclear which of the tracks at the right end of the diagram is PRR. The middle one of the 5 is labelled BRC, the one immediately north as Calumet Western Rwy. Tracks specifically labelled "PRR" lead only to the latter track as well as to the unlabelled track, 2nd from the bottom. The lowest track may be BRC, seeing as it only connects to BRC's main track in the area. The "yard tracks" are of uncertain ownership. Anyone with additional information is asked to write me.

Street Location: Southeastern Chicago, north of 106th, east of Torrence, west of Commercial and Muskegon.

The line continues south, now jointly owned by PRR, CRI&P, and IHB [Al Buchan]. C&WI either parallels or joins for a while at 112th St., then at the level of 123rd the Calumet Western turns southeast, crossing the Calumet River, and joins with the Calumet River Branch (see immediately above) at CALUMET WESTERN JCT.

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Hammond Branch

Starts WOLF LAKE JCT. on the SC&S (Bernice Cutoff). Proceeds east, crossing the Indiana state line (and the IHB???), then turns south. "Hammond Branch" is taken from the HEGEWISCH map, but it appears per the 1967 PRR ETT that this branch was renamed to be part of the Calumet Western Line.

STATE LINE, ?, Ind.-Ill.; M.P. ?

Ref ?, Sheet ?42, 1948; 1303x772, ...K, ?150/200 dpi

A horrendously complicated interlocking, but not one typically mentioned as having a Pennsy presence. A north-south IHB line, spitting distance from the state line, crosses SC&S, B&OCT, Erie, and NKP. The latter 2 roads are making their approach into Chicago, whereas B&OCT heads west from here to its major Chicago yard, Barr Yard. [MDB] Note that from here east, the line is joint with the B&OCT, with each railroad owning one of the 2 tracks. STATE LINE appears to be on a "stub end" of the Hammond Branch, according to a C&C map. [Al Buchan]

(Szwajkart 1976, pp. 166-167; SC&S not represented on that map.)

HAMMOND JCT., Hammond, Ind.; M.P. ?

Ref 9, Sheet SK.3, 1946; 2090x1670, 46K, 200 dpi

Joining of the stub end from STATE LINE into the Hammond Branch. Note that this blueprint labels the branch the Hammond-Wolf Branch. The CSS&SB is crossed in the process.

Street Location: In Hammond, Indiana, off Calumet Ave. (U.S. 41), north of Chicago Ave. (Gostlin St., noted on the map, is contiguous with Brainard Ave. in the city of Chicago.)

CALUMET, Calumet [?Hammond], Ind.; M.P. ?

Ref ?, Sheet ?41, 1945; 2163x1272, ...K, ?150/200 dpi

The SC&S east-west line crosses an NYC branch, the EJ&E, and the NYC north-south main line to Danville and Cairo, Ill. Right of Way No. 1 (see below) joins the east-west SC&S line just west of here. [MDB, Jon Roma, Richard Wallis]

CLARKE JCT., Clarke Jct. [?East Chicago; ?Gary], Ind., M.P. ?

The branch crosses the Fort Wayne main line, has a junction with the Wabash, and continues to east to Pine Jct.

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Right of Way No. 1

This line, essentially a long industrial track, begins at the Fort Wayne main at approximately the location of INDIANA HARBOR interlocking. However, a perusal of that map and its neighbor, INDIANA HARBOR CANAL, does not help identify the exact location, as the track appears to be unmarked. It proceeds to the southwest. A relatively new expressway in this area, Indiana 912, appears to have either used the PRR right of way, or to be very near it.

RIGHT OF WAY NO. 1, East Chicago, Ind., M.P. ?

Ref 9, Sheet SK.2, 1946; 2100x1660, 53K, 200 dpi

Here the line crosses the IHB, Canal St., the EJ&E, and another IHB line. It then turns south and proceeds to the SL&IC (SC&S), joining at a wye.

Street Location: at Canal St., southeast of the Indiana Harbor Canal, and northwest of Michigan. The IHB (shown on the map) runs parallel to Canal.

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Right of Way No. 3

RIGHT OF WAY NO. 3, East Chicago, Ind., M.P. ?

Ref 9, Sheet SK.1, 1946; 2097x1664, 51K, 200 dpi

Here another freight spur crosses IHB, EJ&E, and Standard Oil Co. trackage. Note the unusual orientation of this map. This location appears to be just northwest of the junction of Canal and Riley Rd., and thus a short distance northwest of the previous map.

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The 1923 system map in Dan Cupper's book shows another line from South Chicago, west, north, and west, crossing the Panhandle main, then north, ending at "Cragin", just SW of Mayfair and Evanston. This system map shows other main lines as well. From comparison with a modern Chicago street map, Mayfair appears to be right alongside the present-day junction of I-90 and I-94, where C&NW and MILW main lines come together; "Cragin" would appear to be the location where the north-south BRC line (that also forms Cicero's eastern border) joins into the east-west MILW line through Pacific Jct; by streets, just N of North and E of Cicero. The rest of the BRC fits, and the crossing of the Panhandle appears to be at BELT CROSSING.

Legend

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Mark D. Bej
bejm@eeg.ccf.org
+1 216-444-0119

1999.08.31