jacksonbarno
Alco Spoken Here
It definitely wasn't the most complex interlocking, in Chicago or otherwise, but I'd wager it was a shoo-in for the busiest. In the late 1930's, roughly 170 passenger and commuter trains of the PRR, IC, ATSF, C&WI, C&EI, Erie, GTW, Wabash, Alton, and Monon passed through every day. On top of that, the C&WI pulled passenger cars for itself, and the Erie, Wabash, GTW, and Monon back through, headed for their coach yards at 31st/39th st. (C&EI), 39th/47th st. (Wabash), and 47th/55th st. (Erie, C&WI, GTW, and Monon). On top of that, all roads ran local freights to access their freight houses near the terminals, and the IC ran freight trains through the interlocking to access their lakefront freight yards. In addition to that, all roads also ran transfer runs to and from their respective freight yards through the interlocking as well, and the C&WI maintained a freight yard at 15th street, which is directly behind the interlocking. Now toss in extras, both freight and passenger, as well as potential second sections of regular passenger trains, light engine movements on many of those roads to access their engine facilities (engines and passenger cars were shuttled separately to the facilities, even though the engine facilities and coach yards were usually located right next to each other), and the process of the C&WI backing trains of its own, the C&EI, Erie, GTW, Wabash, and Monon into the terminal pre-departure from the coach yard, also doubling those light engine moves in the process.
Add it all up, and you get a constant stream of traffic through the interlocking from a variety of roads, of a variety of types, at all hours of the day. Quite frankly, it's absolutely insane, and that's not even considering the traffic increases during WWII!
Add it all up, and you get a constant stream of traffic through the interlocking from a variety of roads, of a variety of types, at all hours of the day. Quite frankly, it's absolutely insane, and that's not even considering the traffic increases during WWII!
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