Of all the industry that once made Chicagos far southeast side proud, there is just a handful left. One of the more infamous sources of traffic is petcoke, transferring between BP in Whiting, IN and KCBX, not far from the area pictured here. These trains, moved by Indiana Harbor Belt crews, travel along a whos-who of ancient trackage in the (former) industrial capitol of Chicago. Starting at BP in Whiting, you travel along a joint CN(EJE)/IHB route until you hit the former site of Calumet Tower in East Chicago, IN. A turnout immediately south of the CSX diamonds welcomes you to IHB home rails. Travel 2 miles to the south and you will swing west at Gibson, still on IHB rails. Skip ahead a couple more miles down the IHB and then you have to hop over the CSX, once again, at Calumet Park to access the remnants of the PRRs Bernice Cutoff. I believe somewhere in the crossover process, these trains briefly use former Michigan Central rails as well. Im not quite sure how the layout has changed through this area, but touching the MC is a definite possibility. Now the train has turned north on the PRRs Bernice Cutoff. This happens to be the only remaining portion of the Cutoff that is still used today; no need to connect the former PRR Ft Wayne main with the PRR Logansport main that does not even exist any more. The train once again switches hands roughly in the area of this photo. We are roughly in the middle of Hegewisch Jct, where the Calumet Western joins the Bernice Cutoff. The stay on the Calumet Western is a short one, about a half mile. The last turn is just a block behind me, as the petcoke train then transfers on to the PRRs Calumet River line. Got all that?
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 06:57:50 +0000
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