Joliet, IL: Joliet Arsenal (Elwood and Kankakee Ordnance) Munitions Plant

The oldest image I could find in Google Earth was 12-30-1984. The black lines are today's railroads superimposed on the old image. I kept them because they provide a "landmark" for comparing images of the area.

Google Earth, 12-30-1984

I zoomed in on the upper-left (below) because that obviously is where the buildings that made the ammunition were. The rows of roads south of the buildings would have been storage bunkers. It would be a bunch of little buildings covered with dirt with a minimum space between each building. That was so that if one of them blew up, there would not be a chain reaction to blow up the rest of the stored ammunition. I included quite a bit of land to the east because it looks like they built additional rows of storage bunkers over the years.  I confirmed with a 1939 aerial photo that this whole area was just farmland and trees before WWII.

Google Earth, 12-30-1984

BNSF tore all of the buildings down and built a big intermodal yard to compete with UP's Global 4 yard in the area. I don't know how much BNSF had to clean up the area before it used it because railyards themselves are considered "brownland."

Unfortunately, neither railroad helped widen I-80 to help handle all of the additional truck traffic they dump in the area. When I visit Brandon Road Lock and Dam, I avoid I-80 and IL-53 because I have seen them both at a standstill even when it is not rush hour. At least the stop-and-go traffic of the side streets has some "go." Even as far away as River Road, I saw more container trucks than cars on the road.

Satellite

Some of the land was used to make the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery (gov) because the Chicagoland area did not have a National Cemetery option before that was made.

The southern part was repurposed as the Midewin National Tallgrass Prarie (gov). The fact that it includes the land east to the former Wabash railroad indicates they did use that area for additional storage. In fact, the bunkers are still standing in some places. It looks like they quit covering them with dirt by the end of the war. Note that the buildings are staggered so that the brunt of a blast to the sides will miss the adjacent buildings.

Satellite

The Joliet Army Training Area must be new because there currently is just farmland on the Satellite image.

Forgotten Railways posted
The sheer complexity and size of the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant is mesmerizing. Used in World War II and closed in the 80's, it became a superfund site and eventually the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. The ruins are still viewable on maps and most likely in person as well, although I'm not sure it's the best area to trespass, given it's owned by the government. A small part of the rail line is walkable as the Henslow Trail, which uses the bridge over IL-53, which was the original route of US-66. Lots and lots of history in quite a small area!
Source: USGS 1954 Wilmington 1:62500 map.
http://historicalmaps.arcgis.com/usgs/
Patrick Finn Parts of the old bunker areas are open as part of the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. I've done some exploring out there... lots of old storage bunkers and a WW2 "Bailey Bridge" but I did not come across any traces of the old rail network.
Ted Fisk I too have walked around Midewin and seen many bunkers, but almost no evidence of the railroad. But you might see the herd of bison.

AJ Grigg shared
Michael Buckley Bnsf bought most of it and made the LPC rail yard and they made a National Cemetary on other . I don't know how much the Goverment still ownes yet . To the west end of LPC there were still cement ammo bunkers left yet . I had heard there were 400 miles track at on tile there . Santa Fe switched the north side and IC switched the east dont know if GMO did anything there . We would pick up at Blogett by old rt 66 and empty s on so tk across from Mobile oil .

Patrick Finn commented on the above posting
One of the bunkers

The following two photos and captions are from AbandonedRaillines shared by AJ Grigg

From the Chicago Tribune, "Jan. 20, 1958: A fully-automated shell-filling line designed and built by Mechanics Research Department of American Machine & Foundry Company for the Joliet Arsenal. Key stations along the assembly line were observed on five television monitors by a single-operator seated at a remote console. — Tribune Archive photo / Chicago Tribune, July 29, 2014"

From the Chicago Tribune:"Jan. 24, 1994: An aerial view shows part of the 19,000 acres of the former Joliet Arsenal that eventually became the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie." — Tribune Archive photo / Chicago Tribune, July 29, 2014

Forgotten Railways - Prairie

Richard Mead posted
Internet download...running down the Joliet Arsenal spur, 1969
John George Where is the exact location of this photo Richard Mead?
Richard Mead Alongside the Wabash, south of the junction.
Mark Stoeckel Didn’t realize the “Gary Line” served the arsenal as well as the Alton/GM&O and the Wabash.
Brian Skrabutenas Mark Stoeckel the Gary line also interchange the GM&O Plaines yard in Joliet.
John Petit At one time someone fill the switch points full of concrete for the arsenal lead, was 71 or 72.

Midewin Heritage Association posted two photos with the comment: "Stumbled across these photos, thought I'd share."
Bill Molony shared.

1

2

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bill's share
 The land has been reused as the BNSF intermodal yard, Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, and the Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie.
https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/topoexplorer/index.html

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bill's share
On topo maps, the railroad is labeled U S GOVERNMENT. It connected to the Santa Fe on the west side and the Wabash on the east side.
1953 Symerton, 1954 Wilmington, 1954 Channahan and 1953 Elwood Quadrangles @ 1:24,000

Martin O'Connor posted

This topic is obliquely related to the Gary Line, as the route skirted the east side of the arsenal between Peotone and Manhattan. The Milwaukee Road did serve the ordnance plant with a spur from Manhattan. I grew up just SW of this area, and many of my relatives and neighbors worked there for a time, including my dad. I often saw some of the switchers moving across the overpass on my way to and from school in Joliet. I remember them all painted in Army Olive Drab, with Caution Yellow lettering.

Someone on this forum provided a fairly nullcomprehensive roster of Engines operated by the JAAP. http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39591...

A share of an album of 32 photos
Erick Schroeder This place is huge!! I’ve been in there several times for work before they tore down most of it. What an incredible place. It covered 35 square miles!

A Flickr album

Kankakee, IL: Tower KX: CN/IC vs. NS/NYC vs. KB&S/Big Four

(3D Satellite)
NorthAmericanInterlockings:   photo   diagram

KB&S = Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern Railroad

Steve Drassler posted
Just came across this photo of KX Tower in Kankakee, ICRR and NYC RR crossing. The low brick building still stands, watching over the same diamond, the same steel, just different railroad names—CN and NS.
Dennis DeBruler This higher resolution photo shows that the tower controlled traffic for the Big Four as well as the NYC Kankakee Belt.
http://northamericaninterlockings.com/.../kxILichissociet...
Dennis DeBruler This is where the Big Four from Indianapolis connected with the IC for access to the Chicago market.
http://northamericaninterlockings.com/.../kxILdiagram.jpg...

Steve Drassler posted
Charlie DeWeese I worked third trick there in the summer of 1958 or 1959, in the brick building, not the two-story building; it was gone.

Steve Drassler posted
Dick Bidwell shared
Rich Westerman Right behind the cameraman in this photo is the 'wye' interchange track from the NYC. When I worked swing shift pickle clerk I had to walk the wye to confirm deliveries from the NYC and I would stop by for a cuppa with the operator. Can't recall his name now. factoid: somebody once took a shot at me from the east side of the tracks one night. they missed but put a hole in a boxcar full of dogfood from GF. From then on I walked the west side of the wye.
Billy Irvin Rich Westerman I remember my first trip to East St Louis as a student conductor. We were getting ready to climb off the engine and tie the train down, So I naturally flipped my lantern on. The guy I was training with asked what the hell I was doing turning that light on. He told me the locals liked to take pot shots at the lights. I happily set handbrakes in the dark!
Charlie DeWeese When I worked third trick at KX the summer of 1958 or 1959, the office was in the one-story brick building and the tower was gone, except for the foundation as I recall.
Jon Roma I have heard that an employee at "KX" was held up at gunpoint during third trick in the Seventies or Eighties. I think that led to the railroad putting up a locked chain link fence around the brick "tower".
"KX" was closed and the plant converted to remote control in the mid Eighties. Its demise came before the single-tracking project that preceded the closing of the rest of IC's string of towers in central Illinois.

Rob Sutter posted, Facebook resolution
[IC called these track charts Condensed Profiles.]

Jon Roma commented on Rob's post

Jon Roma commented on Rob's post

Fort Wayne, IN: Canal Feeder Dam and Robison Amusement Park, 1896-1919

Park: (Satellite, ''the back-half of today’s North Pointe Woods housing addition")
Feeder Dam: (Satellite, it is long gone)

This dam diverted water into the Wabash & Erie feeder canal that joined the main canal in Fort Wayne.

Like Dellwood Park near Chicago, Robison Park was built by an interurban railroad. In this case it was the Fort Wayne Consolidated Railway Company. But what caught my eye is the feeder canal lake that this park reused. Since the park closed in 1919 when the interurban was killed by the automobile and paved roads, it is hard to find the location of the dam. Actually, the dam itself was destroyed by a flood in 1905. The oldest topos and aerials I found were in the 1950s. Fortunately, I found this map because my speculation of where it was based on topo map contour lines was wrong.

Sept. 2020 Update: Bruce Flohr commented on a post:

Dam was in middle of “S” curve (see an arial view) on St Joe River by former site of Swift-Goshorn mill at Paradise Lagoon, just downstream from feeder canal (Summit Point). The earthen dikes are on both sides of the river, if you know where to look. This area is undeveloped floodplain, just east of Northpointe Woods clubhouse. I believe some of that is now private property, but it used to belong to City of Ft Wayne, before that it was the old Kroemer farm. I used to go back there in the seventies. Interesting thing is that area was meant to be the originally proposed site of the Fort’s backup water supply. They had planned to dam the river again in the twenties/thirties, but instead opted for the Cedarville Reservoir further upstream.

OOcities-dam via an archive

A better exposure and description

Canal Society of Indiana posted
Groundbreaking for the Wabash & Erie Canal was begun in Fort Wayne, IN on Feb. 22, 1832. Soon a contract was signed with Valerius Armitage to construct a feeder dam on the St Joseph River 6 1/2 miles north of the city. Construction began in June for the dam that was 230 feet long & 16 1/2 high. Water from the dam pool was fed into the main canal at Rumsey & Wheeler streets in the city. The dam was destroyed by floods in early 1905. See Armitage - Biography at CSI website - indcanal.org Canal Society of Indiana posted The water for all canals is sourced from a river, creek, lake or reservoir. From its source water is fed into the main canal directly or via a feeder canal. Groundbreaking for the Wabash & Erie Canal was begun in Fort Wayne, IN on Feb. 22, 1832. Soon a contract was signed with Valerius Armitage to construct a feeder dam on the St Joseph River 6 1/2 miles north of the city. Construction began in June for the dam that was 230 feet long & 16 1/2 feet high. Water from the dam pool was fed into the main canal at Rumsey & Wheeler streets in the city. The dam was destroyed by floods in early 1905. See Armitage - Biography at CSI website - indcanal.org

FortWayneReader

Becky Osbun commented on a post
Open electric trolley which ran to Robison Park, Fort Wayne 1896-1918. - ACPL Community Album

Noting that river boating proved very successful at Centlivre Park, the trolley company bought what was known as the Swift Farm - a 250-acre spread just north of the old "feeder canal" dam near present-day Shoaff Park. It had been a popular rural picnic spot since Fort Wayne's canal days.
A 230-foot-long dam of heavy timbers and debris had been built there in 1834 to maintain proper water levels in the main channel of the great Wabash & Erie Canal. The 17-foot-deep dam also created a lagoon behind it and deepened the St. Joseph River for boating.
[egen]

Even though the canal (1843-1876) was closed, much of what is now Riverbend Golf Course was still under water when the park was built along the west side of the river. [FortWayneReader] But, like the Wabash & Erie Canal, the park never paid for itself. [OOcities-park; This page has details concerning the dates of the amusement rides and the replacement of the dam that was destroyed in 1905 by a flood. Unfortunately, the nine Allen County Library photos are broken.]

digital.library.in.gov

Robison Park at night, Fort Wayne, Indiana, circa 1911

IndianaAlbum
Dance Pavilion, Robinson Park, Fort Wayne, Indiana, circa 1930

WorthPoint

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted
Year?
Entrance to Robison Park Figure 8 Rollercoaster

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted
Dancing Pavilion  Robison Park

Chicago, IL Depot: GTW Chicago Lawn Depot

(Satellite, the satellite must have caught it after it was torn down in 2017 and before it was back filled with dirt.)

r_bitunjac Flickr

Gabriel Siuty 2y 

Unfortunately , due to a small fire inside of the old Gran Trunk Railway depot during Aug of 2016 the railway finally decided to start demolishing the old railway way depot Aug 8, 9. 10 th of 2017.

Really looked neat inside , there was a tavern named Traxx during the 90 s and once the wood paneling came down you can see marking on the walls for Grand Trunk Passengers.

Cement stairs were still in tact and lead to the platform .

Near the back a sign G.T.W along with markings B O RR PAMA OHIO, KANOSHA, ENGINE MEN ONLY , Leads to an elevator that goes up past the platform and above the platform to a tower where a large round spotlight faces the South .

There was always a debate over the address but I did find original number to match 3601 W 63 Street above the front original doors looking in from the inside.

Mark Kocol shared
Grew up by Midway Airport in the 70s and 80s, drove past this building (https://www.flickr.com/photos/34126404@N06/15365473263/) hundreds of times. When the Orange Line went in, that was what I believed was the first commuter line through the Chicago Lawn neighborhood. I was wrong, obviously. Stumbled on a YouTube video (https://youtu.be/5Bg98H6a2DA?t=136) showing a commuter train approaching 63rd & Halsted, did some poking around, and found that this station at 63rd & Central Park was part of the GTW commuter line, I believe, just like the video at 63rd/Halsted. According to a Forgotten Chicago URL (https://forgottenchicago.com/forum/read.php?1,13884), this structure replaced the original commuter station that had been on the West side of these tracks, at street level, until sometime in the 1930s. Any history of this commuter line, and this station in particular? Living in the far SW suburbs now and cross the tracks through Glenwood daily - looks like this same line through Chicago Lawn came through Glenwood, too? https://www.chicagorailfan.com/msgtw.html
Chuck Roth Grand Trunk did have commuter service to Valparaiso in the early 1900s it was all over by the early 30s But this station served the inter city trains mainly to Michigan into the early 70s.
Alan Follett Two different stations are shown. The still photo is the Grand Trunk Western’s Chicago Lawn station, around 3600 west on 63rd. The video, however, is farther east, at the Chicago & Western Indiana’s Englewood Station (called “Little Englewood,” to distinguish it from the larger Englewood Union Station used by PRR, NYC, Rock Island, and Nickel Plate).
Ron Hull In the mid 70’s after the passenger trains were gone, the ground floor of this station (63rd and St. Louis in Chicago Lawn) became a railroad themed restaurant. We’d eaten there a few times - it was a nice place with a good menu and really good food. Sorry to have seen it shut down in the 80’s.
Mitch Markovitz Just think. Until 1971 you could catch either the day train (Maple Leaf) or the overnight train (The International) to Toronto, and the evening train to Detroit from this station on the Grand Trunk.
Rotwang Manteuffel I found this out about the GTW line... "Until 1935, this route had commuter service from Chicago to Harvey. And prior to then, some commuter trains went beyond, to Valparaiso. Between Chicago/Dearborn Station and 47th St., trains operated over the Chicago & Western Indiana, which had its own local commuter trains. Intercity trains operated until the formation of Amtrak in 1971, with Chicago Lawn, Valparaiso and South Bend the only surviving stations when passenger service was discontinued." The station had an elevator for baggage and freight.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mark's post
A 2015 street view still shows the building.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mark's post
But a 2018 view shows the building has been replaced with dirt.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Brian A Morgan posted

The former Grand Trunk Western Railroad Passenger Station which used to stand at 3601 West 63rd Street in the Chicagolawn Neighborhood. This was the first stop out of Dearborn Street Station Eastbound and the last stop Westbound heading into Dearborn Street Station. This station hosted the various named passenger trains to and from Canada and Detroit:

The International Limited: (Montreal - Detroit - Chicago)

Inter-City Limited: (Montreal - Detroit - Chicago)

Maple Leaf: ( Chicago- Toronto - Detroit)

John McElroy: Dearborn Station had a habit of flooding (or at least the approach yards did) and we sometimes had to board Canada-bound trains at Chicago Lawn. The railroad provided taxi rides but you had to know where you were going; cab drivers had no idea.
Brian A Morgan: Back in the day. The Grand Trunk Western provided a Funeral Service train that departed Dearborn Street Station and stopped at Chicagolawn as well. The Elevator had a dual purpose as a baggage and mail service as well as lifting caskets. Chicago and Grand trunk Railway funeral trains left daily the Polk Street Depot daily To St. Maria (St. Mary’s), Mt Greenwood Mt Olivet and Mt. Hope cemeteries.

Two comments by Brian Morgan on a post:

1

2

Paul Hieber posted
As a railfan kid I always wondered about this building. 63rd? and Central Park Avenue, down the Grand Trunk line. Looks like a train station. And I think it's gone now.

Mitch Markovitz

It was a passenger station. Chicago Lawn on the Grand Trunk. Three trains a day before Amtrak in 1971 Two to Toronto, one to Detroit.

Ron Hull

After it ceased being a passenger station the space was leased to railroad - themed restaurant. It was a nice place with good food, having eaten there a few times. Obviously long gone.

Rick Burn

The book Lost City discusses the local Catholic Church rode football specials to Notre Dame from this station.

John McElroy

Once when the yards south of Dearborn Station were flooded we passengers were sent in taxis to this station to board the overnight Toronto train on the Grand Trunk, which I seem to remember was called the "International Limited". The main purpose of my trip was to visit Expo67 in Montreal with a stop in Toronto to ride the streetcars. CN/GT still ran a good passenger operation even at that late date (summer, 1967).

Kevin McKinney

I worked in the Grand Trunk’s Passenger Department 1967-1970 while in college. Summers at the City Ticket Office at 105 W. Adams; the rest of the year as Station Agent at East Lansing. GTW operated three good trains daily in and out of Chicago serving Michigan and Canada.

John McElroy

GT was one of the last railroads (Santa Fe was another) to maintain a city ticket office in expensive ground floor space. I bought my ticket there in June, 1967.

Al Krasauskas posted
Vintage photographic streetview of the first Grand Trunk RR's Chicago Lawn Railroad Depot/Station building that once stood on the east side of the street level Grand Truck railroad tracks (South Central Park Avenue), at West 63rd Street. View is looking south, towards the 63rd Street railroad crossing. The Grand Trunk Railroad's Elsdon locomotive and maintenance yard was established less than a mile north of this location in 1880. Safe to assume this depot building was built in 1880 or just the year before as Grand Trunk RR had opened a large commuter rail service connecting multiple southwest side neighborhood stops with downtown Chicago, on their railroad line. Undated photo but with early automobiles visible in this photo, safe to say this was taken sometime in the 1920s. This RR Depot Station building was demolished in 1928 and was replaced with a new, 2-story railroad depot building. This was due to the railroad company's tracks needed to comply with city of Chicago ordinances requiring the railroads to raise their tracks above street level. The 2nd Grand Trunk railroad depot building was completed and opened for service next to the newly built railroad viaduct, in 1929 (demolished in 2017). Image found on ebay.
John Foote: Al Krasauskas Chicago Lawn land was mostly exempt from the 1890's City "raise your right-of-way" rules, because farmland, industrial land, freight terminals, and rail yards were exempt. However, as that land was subdivided for residential use in the '20s, Grand Trunk RR finally had to do what other in-city rail cos. had done in the 1890s-1910: raise their track and build new stations. Tracks were raised to forestall pedestrian deaths at rail crossings, which had grown to 3k/yr in '93 & '94.
Ray Vanderhulst Jr.: John Foote By the time the tracks reached 71st street they were back at ground level.
George Paruch shared
Barbara Steven shared
That's a REALLY OLD view of my old neighborhood in Chicago!! Those viaducts were built at Central Park Ave. (3600W) from 58th St. to Marquette Rd. (67th St.) in 1929, according to the inscription on each of them.

Al commented on his post
The second Grand Trunk Railroad depot/station building was completed and opened for service next to the newly built railroad viaduct and elevated tracks, in 1929. This depot building was demolished in 2017. Photo shows how this depot building looked before it was sold or rented out to become a local bar.

Richard Fiedler commented on Al's post