Jack Delano was able to record some nice aerial views of several of the yards that he visited in the Chicago area. These first two images were taken in December of 1942, and are looking generally to the east. A roadway bridge can be seen in the distance crossing over the entire yard. I believe this is the Mannheim Road bridge, which still exists.

Note the storage lockers at bottom left. This is the location where the employees have their Victory Garden. Also note the line of steamers sitting on the ready track at left, having been serviced at the coaling stage (to be seen in the next photo).

Panning a bit to the left, the view below was apparently captured on a different day as the snowfall is considerably heavier. Note the coaling tower in the distance. Delano spent considerable time in that area recording the locomotives as they were serviced. And we’ve seen several of those images here, here and here.

I’m speculating that these aerial views were made by climbing the various yard light towers, one of which can be seen in front of the coaling tower. This gentleman went the extra mile to get the image he wanted!

The image below was taken in April of 1943. The snow is gone, but with the large amount of condensate in the stack exhaust, it’s likely still chilly. Judging by the shadows, I believe we’re looking west now. The Mannheim Road bridge is again visible in the distance.