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With Chicago being the railtown it is, and was, you can be sure it has more than it's fair share of towers to control all of those trains. Even with all of the consolidation and mergers that have taken place over the years, a great majority of them are still around to put into your pictures.
Additional info:
http://position-light.blogspot.com/2015/01/bonus-photos-amtrak-harrison-st-tower.html
http://northamericaninterlockings.com/illinois_9.html
http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2016/05/rock-islands-blue-island-tower.html
http://www.flickriver.com/groups/1080817@N23/pool/interesting/ for a bunch of pictures in and around Blue Island
Acknowledgements:
Denver Todd for doing most of the legwork!
Mark Vogel
Jersey Mike
Dan Manners
Zol87
Bill Edgar
Joe McMillan
Mark Hindsdale
Steven Brown/RRpicturearchives.net
Google Maps and Streetview
Aerial shots were taken from www.bing.com/maps.
None for now.....
Harrison St Tower
GPS Coordinates: 41.873243, -87.637849
http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2016/03/harrison-street-tower-controls-south.html (good as of 2024)
This tower was surrounded by the post office around 1995 when it was built, about 4 years before the tower was decommissioned.
Most pictures courtesy Jersey Mike.
Polk St Tower
GPS Coordinates: 41.87233, -87.63245
The tower was at the south end of the station throat on the north side of Polk St. It is no longer with us :-(
https://www.flickr.com/photos/joemcmillan118/25410177043
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4916247
Comment for the above picture: This was about the time the F 40's were being delivered, and were replacing the enerable(aging!!) fleet of E's-even an E 6!!-and FP7's, and perhaps a few RS 3's on the trains to Blue Island and Joliet. I'm sure the commuters appreciated the improved reliability compared to Rock's rolling museum pieces, but you could not beat their fleet from a railfan's perspective.
16th St Tower
GPS Coordinates: 41.860450, -87.630942
This tower is located at what is known as the 16th St Crossing.
Most of the action here is Metra running on the N/S Rock Island line to the right of the tower. Those trains operate out of the LaSalle St station.
Entrance is off of S. Clark Street.
Blue Island Tower
Because Blue Island is such a "complicated" place, with 3 towers, 6 bridges, wads of signals, 3 yards, and 5+ METRA stations, we have given it it's own page.
Nuttin so far.
Disclaimers:
New format 10/26/23: Please check out my disclaimer page for my standard dribble and contact info here
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NEW 12/01/2013, DEC02/2013, FEB02/2024
Last Modified 02-Feb-2024