Downers Grove, IL: Tower R

Downers Grove used to be the westernmost terminus of commuter trains. (Some commuter trains terminated closer to Chicago.) Pictures of what the tower looked like back in the 1800s is part of a collection of old CB&Q railroad photos. Mike has caught views of the tower since then. It has obvoiusly been rebuilt with a concrete foundation and brick structure.

Michael Matalis, 1975

Casual observer

Until the late 70's or early 80's a tower stood west of Forest Ave in Downers Grove. Nowadays it's just a shadow of itself having been cut down to a stump, but back when Dowers Grove was the end of the line for most commuter trains it held a position of great importance, controlling what had to be a heck of a lot of activity thru the area. I have no idea what it was being used for at the time of this of this photo (1975); the commuter trains had shifted west to Aurora in the early 50's, and I have to guess that the need for an operator followed quickly. Except for some broken windows it was still in fairly good repair when I last saw it, but eventually it was chopped down to less than a single story, and from what I understand, what's left contains only some circuitry. I suspect that even that small portion is on short time what with the removal of the crossovers thru the area and that within a year all that will remain are our memories, and lucky photos like this.

 

Obviously taken when the railroads were a lot more casual about fans being on the property, nowadays where I'm standing would be blatant trespassing. If you feel the need to take a look, what's left can be seen from Warren Ave, and believe me, there isn't much. BTW, the kid standing by the base of the tower is just that, a local kid waiting for the train to go by.

 

Check out the heritage of the motors on this train:

 

Downers Grove IL / Warren Ave

BN e/b piggyback

 

BN 6615 F45*

BN 5704 U33C, ex-GN 2534

 

Ordered as GN 442, delivered as BN 6615

Michael Matalis, 1975  (Album)

Yet another hot merchandise, this was just before coal and intermodal took off. Another nice set up power, looking at this photo I can hear the distinctive sound of those U-boats! Even better, I caught the tower in all its boxy glory. I sure wish that I'd spent the time (and film) to do an up close photo session of the thing, but back then I sort of figured that it would be around forever. Also neglected; detailed shots of the big signal bridge in the area, which while still standing, is now inaccessible in this security conscious world.

 

Downers Grove IL / DG Yard

BN w/b merchandise

 

BN 5374 U30C

BN 5814 U30C

BN 3027 GP40, ex-CBQ 627

BN **** U33C

A photo that captures the searchlight signals west of Forest that had been used for years to control the trains. The 3-track route between Aurora and Union Station is known as the Racetrack and all three tracks can be run in either direction. Because of commuters, freight, and Amtrak trains, this segment sees over 100 trains a day. And when special events like the Stanley Cup parade let out, BNSF runs even more commuters.

Michael Matalis Flickr

By 2012, it had been cut down to just one story and it housed signaling equipment so that this area could be remotely dispatched.

Michael Matalis, 2012

Except for a few sets of points M3 has been totally straight lined. The brick structure stage left is the stump of the tower that used to guard this location.

 

Downers Grove IL / Forest Ave.

No more crossovers on M3

You can see a worker in the upper-right corner of the above photo. He is working on one of the new bridges that is being installed for the PTC signalling. Note that the new tri-color signal heads are turned sideways. I caught the scene in 2014 after they started using the new signals but still had not removed the signaling tower or the old signal bridges.

While I was taking pictures of construction that has been happening west of Forest and south of the tracks, I noticed that M1 (on the right) and M3 were both green. (Normally when there are two outbound greens, it is M2, not M3, that is the second green.) I include this photo here as an "after" picture of the tower and signalling conversion. The tower and its foundation, all of the crossovers, and the old signalling bridge have been removed. If you want to see a sequence of photos and a video documenting why M3, as well as M1, has a green for outbounds, start here. It turns out there is outbound traffic on all three tracks --- a commuter on M1, a rail truck on M2, and an Amtrak on M3. The rail truck has a red indication because it will get off the rail and onto the street at Forest.

Construction 20170711 0037

Update:

Chicago Odyssey 1 Screenshot @ -6:13
[Back when the spur to behind the depot was still intact. Note that the signalling pipeline indicates this switch was controlled from the depot area rather than Tower R.]

Mikael Matalis posted (source)
Forest Ave signal bridge being removed this morning. I caught this by accident, I'd gone over to Belmont Ave and spotted the crane in the distance. Bridge and both supports are down; they are currently working on the big bridge down by the old yard.

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