Beautiful, with an outside frame pilot truck! I got curious about the building in the north view with the south side that was entirely blue, earlier and then, suddenly one day, there was scaffolding and the blue was disappearing. I then found out it was the Cassidy tire building and googled it and found this interesting article about why it was moved when the C&NW built the new terminal (our subject of these railcams). https://www.npr.org/local/309/2019/...ire-building-s-unusual-escape-from-demolition Included is a photo of the terminal in early construction. It appears the building is being saved from demolition, after all. Doug
I'm reading The 5:10 To Suburbia by Olmstead and McMillan (c. 1975) this morning and found that in in 1975, the C&NW operated 57 locomotives in commuter service, 21 F-7s and 36 Es. The Candall Cabs are included in the E count. I knew that some Es were sourced from the UP, but I learned in the book that four Es were purchased from the KCS in early 1970. One of the KCS Es (the 5032B) was later scrapped in April 1972 following a wreck in March 1971 at Lake Geneva, WI. Ends up that a vandal set some freight power in motion at Crystal Lake, which ran north nearly 30 miles where it violently collided with a standing commuter train at Lake Geneva, WI headed by the 5032B. http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/wrk_lake_geneva0.jpg I SO regret not riding to Lake Geneva when service was still available, but I was just a teen and didn't think of these things. It was a lengthy rural branchline in every regard. [Not my picture]
Flash flood warnings shortly before 9:00PM to the terminal for the Rockwell and Geneva subs. And now, at about 9:15 PM, the sixth car from the bumping post on track one has an air leak. Doug
I always wanted a stub end passenger terminal on an N Scale model railroad, but that's unlikely to happen at this stage of my life. That, along with an around-the-walls layout from mine to tidewater. Coal breakers, Lehigh River Gorge with the CNJ and LV side by side, canal remnants, car dumper and all.
Wandering around Chicago during my trips to the All Nation Hobby Shop in the late 50's and early 60's I did get up to the CNW station.
I love the pictures in the shed. Thinking about the different generations of people having passed through there. I didn't know there were bi-level cars that early. Doug
I would love to have an around-the-walls layout, too. I have even envisioned cutting my present layout in half, lengthwise, to make two, two foot by right foot parts, to start. I could even leave a good part of the track in place. At my age and reduced physical abilities, though, I'm not so sure I could manage it. And, wouldn't you know it, I now live where I have the room. Doug
The first batch of 16 were built in 1955, then came 32 more in '56 and many more came in the early '60s. I may have seen an old photo of bi-levels interspersed with older cars behind steam, but I may be mistaken.
I have seen photos of cars intermixed as well, but I believe it was behind an EMD E-unit. Sent from my SM-S901U1 using Tapatalk
Crossing the MILW main at Watertown, WI, 1948. MILW station as seen is gone today, but the nearby C&NW station survives, at least it was there and looking in good repair in 1987 when I last saw it.
I actually think both steam and E-units make sense ... I worked at a hobby shop overlooking the CNW line in Mount Prospect, and the owner was a life-long resident. He saw (and others confirmed) CNW run steam on some commuter trains really late, like 50s or 60s. I think he was born around '55, so he wouldn't have seen anything before then. Sent from my SM-S901U1 using Tapatalk
One thing I remember seeing as a kid in the mid-to-late '60s were single level Club Lounge/Tavern cars on some commuter trains. Patrick Dorin's Chicago & North Western Power (c. 1972) has some shots of these, including one on Train 639 which went all the way to Crystal Lake and up the branch to Lake Geneva. I didn't own a camera then, so never got shots of my own. The other thing Dorin's book shows are double-headed Fs on some long commuter trains. I remember seeing this only a very few times and it was SO cool.
Wow, look at all those rail joiners on that track in the foreground! I guess it's true the Milwaukee was really "frugal". "Hey, that two foot piece of rail has plenty of life left in 'er. Use it!." Doug
The left most joint bars look to be insulated joint bars. That being said, why they did the rail joints they way they did I have no explanation for.
Union Pacific OCS arrived Sunday night (08/27/23). Here's some screen captures of it backing in. Such a beautiful train.
