| Illinois Central Gulf Railroad GP26 2601 sounthbound in Chicago, Illinois on an unknown day in January 1982, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. It's a cold day in Chicago and there is much to see in this photo. For instance, I assume that the station wagon parked on the embankment (below the yellow Railbox boxcar) belongs to the bridge tender, but the door on the shed on top of the bridge is open, so either he is careless, or the bridge is unattended. I think that might be Ashland Avenue passing below the tracks. The bridge carries the rails over an unnamed canal off the South Branch of the Chicago River. Looking at maps of this era, the unnamed canal appears to end at the north side of the Chicago's Union Stockyards. Thanks to a comment by Phil Gibby, we now know this unnamed canal's nickname is Bubbly Creek. Gases bubbling out of the riverbed from the decomposition of blood and entrails dumped into the river by the local stockyards in the early 20th century gave the creek its name. There are plenty of signalheads at the entrance to the bridge, I count eight, so perhaps the building on top of the bridge was also a dispatch point in earlier days. This is a serious bottleneck to the system, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the Santa Fe also had to drag their Super Chiefs across this bridge. The time is 12:12 PM, or so, if you believe the clock hands below the water tower in the upper left of the frame. I shot the photo, and I did not see the clock hands for 25 years. Was the clock functioning when I shot this photo, I don't know. |