In January of 1943 Jack Delano made his way to the Calumet Park stockyards in Calumet City, Illinois. There he found workers busily loading stock cars that day. In the photograph below steers are being loaded into a Missouri Pacific car. It seems that one of the beasts is wise to what’s going on, and has decided she isn’t going to have any part of it!
And here is a group of sheep being loaded into the upper deck of a Burlington stock car. They all appear to be compliant, even giving the worker wide berth.
These stockyards are operated by the Indiana Harbor Belt railroad.
In May of 1943 Jack Delano made a brief visit to a Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad yard (presumably) in Chicago. While there he recorded some of the switching operations of a crew. Their power was this EMC Winton powered NW1 (relatively rare – only 27 were built). Note the headlight with a visor, and the steam locomotive style bell.
Looks like a couple of “suits” from the front office are observing the crew (or perhaps the locomotive) on this overcast day.
We’ve seen several photographs of the women that had taken jobs with the railroad during World War II. The Chicago and North Western had many ladies employed as engine wipers at their yard in Clinton, Iowa. Part of the locomotive service included a washing and wipe down, a very labor intensive job handled by this crew.
It’s lunch time and the women are having their meal and getting a bit of rest in their “lounge” area. In the high resolution photograph, it’s easy to see the grit, grease and grime on these lady’s hands, indications of their hard labor. The table is filled with lunch boxes, Thermos bottles and Mason jars. In the days before plastic wrap and Tupperware containers, wax paper served well to protect a sandwich. We’ve seen a couple of these ladies before; Mrs. Marcella Hart (the lady with the red bandana) and Mrs. Viola Sievers (third from left on the far row) climbing up on a steamer to do their job. Also identified in this image is Mrs. Elibia Siematter at right (in foreground).
In September of 1940 Jack Delano was traveling through the state of Pennsylvania. That afternoon while passing through the DuBois area, he spied a railroad tower, and decided to pay a visit. The operator there was a Mr. T. J. Long, and he graciously allowed Mr. Delano to photograph his interlocking facility. The railroad(s) served weren’t mentioned with the photograph, but I’ll speculate that this was protecting a junction of the Baltimore and Ohio and Pennsylvania railroads.
Mr. Long was also the president of the Tri-County Farmers Co-op Market in DuBois.
There isn’t much better than a turntable and roundhouse that speaks of steam railroading! In November of 1942 Jack Delano climbed up onto the roof of the Illinois Central’s roundhouse in Chicago. There he captured this overall view of the pit and part of the huge structure. Note the track workers doing repairs to one of the tracks. And the message on the turntable’s bridge is rather unique.
We’ve seen a couple other images recorded at this facility. A year ago we saw this view showing one of the road’s 2-10-0 steamers easing off the table as she headed toward her stall. And two and a half years ago we witnessed a switcher taking a spin on the table.
In November of 1942 Jack Delano spent some time at the Illinois Central freight yard in Chicago. During this visit he observed this worker beneath a freight car on a repair track that was undergoing running gear repairs. The car has been raised to facilitate rolling it’s truck out for replacement. I suspect this operation would be handled a bit differently in today’s workplace!
When Jack Delano traveled through Bensenville, Illinois in April of 1943, he stopped to observe the goings on at the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (the Milwaukee Road). He stopped near the roundhouse to observe this worker washing down one of their steamers just in from it’s run. This class L2b Mikado was built by Baldwin, a member of a group of 100 built in 1922-23. Apparently some roads were conscience of their image, even with their freight locomotives in those days.
Yesterday I drove over to Hammond, Louisiana to spend the day with friends gathered near the Amtrak depot on the Canadian National line. Late in the afternoon we witnessed the CN’s train M301 as it was leaving the Hammond sub (the line between Baton Rouge and Hammond) to now run north on the McComb sub (the line between New Orleans and Chicago).
Heading up the train were a couple of Kansas City Southern units, the 4097 (SD70ACe) and the 5006 (ET44AC). They were being trailed by CN/IC #2720 (C44-9W). The consist consisted of a long string of loaded autoracks, some boxcars, and the usual assortment of chemical hoppers and tank cars.
I did enjoy the rumble and the ground shaking as these large units eased by on this curve.
In June of 1940 Jack Delano was traveling through Maryland, heading down U.S. Highway No. 1. This railroad crossing in the small community of Muirkirk caught his eye, so he documented it. The railroad is the Baltimore and Ohio, and those semaphore signals caught my eye, so I thought I’d share the image with you.
Note also the telegraph poles at right with six cross-arms supporting the telegraph lines.
Operating a steam locomotive can be a labor intensive thing, with almost always something to do for both the engineer and the fireman. Jack Delano spied this engineer as he was oiling around his charge before starting out on the day’s run. It’s likely that the fireman is busy tending the fire and making sure everything is in working order at his post.
It’s May of 1943 and we’re in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad’s Clyde yard in Cicero, Illinois.
This Chicago and North Western locomotive is having its thirst quenched as the fireman fills its water tank. We’re at the coaling tower in the Proviso yard near Chicago on a cold day in December of 1942. The tender has been filled with coal, and the locomotive’s sand dome is full. This stop at the water penstock completes the fuel and water replenishment. Next comes a thorough greasing of the valve gear and other moving parts, and she’ll be ready for the days labor.
Last week we viewed a Jack Delano photograph of a string of reefers at a potato grading station near Belcross, North Carolina. In his travels Mr. Delano also recorded these workers loading a freight car in Elizabeth City, North Carolina with sacks of potatoes. It’s July of 1940, and that’s a lot of potatoes to load on a hot day! Note the interesting truck. It appears to be a short tractor-trailer arrangement. I like the slide out timber in the rear serving as a step up to the trailer deck.
But there’s more . . . the cars looked familiar to me. Turns out I had posted another view of similar cars back in 2019. I had speculated at the time that the “reefers” in that photograph looked like ventilated boxcars. I notice in this photograph that the truss-rod car in the foreground has “ventilator” stenciled on it’s side. The roof hatches also appear to me to be a lot thinner than the typical insulated hatches on an iced refrigerator car. I had also speculated at the time that perhaps tobacco was being loaded into the cars in the background. Looking again at that image, I think it more likely that it was indeed sacks of potatoes. I’m going to call that mystery solved! 🙂
While on the subject of potatoes, I have posted a couple other Jack Delano images with this theme. While in Caribou, Maine he had recorded this image of a line of trucks loaded with potatoes in wooden barrels. I also posted a view of the depot in Caribou. In the background is a string of cars being loaded with potatoes. Below is a photograph of one of those cars, a wooden outside braced car. This Bangor and Aroostook car appears to be in excellent condition. Note also the interesting warehouse behind the car. It’s amazing the detail put into a mere warehouse! Mr. Delano recorded this view in October of 1940.
