Tuch Santucci's Chicago Sub of the MoPac

Tuch Santucci's Chicago Sub of the MoPac - SCREAMING EAGLES

"Tuch" Santucci's
Chicago Sub of the Missouri Pacific

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A Chicago Subdivision Photo Album (Part 2 of 4)
Written and Photographed by JD "Tuch" Santucci, MPRR Engineer '78-'85

I was fortunate and got to operate all the new power as most of it was delivered to Yard Center and placed into service there.

Favorites for road power were the SD40 series. In the yard the GP15 and MP 15 series and the GP38 series for much of everything else.

I didn't care for the B23/30 series as their ride was extremely rough and would about kill your kidneys, although they did pull well on dry rail.

The U30C's were bastard red-headed step children that were real oddballs and poorly maintained as a result. They seemed to be prone to failure.

The GP50's were pretty good high speed units, but were poor performers on heavy tonnage trains. They tried them on some coal trains with dismal results including burning up main generators and traction motors.

The GP15-1's actually had some remanufactured components. They required a trade in unit towards them. This lowered their purchase price and also offered the MoPac some tax breaks on the price of them as well. I liked them as they were really good units and performed well. Their only drawback was that some of them seemed to have excessive vibration when idling in regular idle.

Click on the thumbnails for a larger image

20) And still another view with the Salem yard office/depot in the view. - All photos © JD Santucci

21) Shot of the Salem fuel tracks in April 1983.

22) View looking north of Salem main line fuel station. Main track is to the right, siding to the left. Salem was the crew change point for train crews.

23) SBW caboose 13866 at 26th Street Yard, Chicago Heights, June 1992.

24) Another view of the 13866.

25) EV Caboose 13647 at 17th Street Yard on CHTT, Chicago Heights.

26) SBW caboose 13793 at Salem, IL April 1983.

27) EV caboose 13649 on display at Beecher, IL (along Chicago Sub) April 1990

28) Another view of the 13866.

29) SBW cabooses 13807 and 13920 on caboose track at Yard Center June 1983. If you look closely, that is a C&EI high cube box car behind them.

30) Looking back at a snow storm while running south on train CH January 1985. A phone pole is barely visible to the right. This was near Glover, IL on the Chicago Sub.

31) A Chicago Pneumatic speed recorder marks the speed at 50 MPH during this same show storm. This type of speedometer used a roll of paper etched by a stylus to record the speed. They were locked with the same type of lock that appears on Coke machines and were sealed with a numbered seal just like on a boxcar. The seal number was written on the beginning of the roll and checked against the seal number whenever the roll was removed. Notice also the amp gauge below the speedo indicates the unit is loading 350 amps. If memory serves correct, this unit was the 3130.

32) GP15-1 1582 sitting in the CHTT Roundhouse in Chicago Heights. April 1981.

33) 37th Street Intermodal Yard looking almost north. The tall, dark building towards the left is Sears Tower. The tall white building is the Amoco Oil Building. The track with the bare tables and the one trailer is three main, the one right in front of it is four main. The two tracks closest are leads to the "hole". Tracks, 39, 40, 42-47 made up the hole where more flats were spotted for loading and unloading trailers and containers. Three and four main from this point north for over half a mile could be loaded and unloaded. This exact spot was 31st Street in Chicago. The signal bridge towards the middle of the photo was ConrailÕs Chicago Line, formerly the Pennsylvania Railroad and today, Norfolk Southern.

34) 26th Street yard office in South Chicago Heights. In its heyday, the Clerk and Yardmaster worked in the offices by the two windows on the far right. The train and engines crews had their quarters at the next two windows and MofW and the Signal Maintainer used the offices towards the left. July 1993.

35) Intermodal facility at Yard Center. Before this facility was built, this was three separate switching yards; 1, 2 and 3 yard. The Bulktainers and flats to the right are part of what is left of 1 Yard. The tall brick structure on the left is the Yard Center offices, once the Chicago Division headquarters. Just above it, the light colored structure is the RIP track. This view is looking north from Sibley Boulevard that spans the entire yard.

36) This is looking south from Sibley Blvd towards 8 and 9 yards at Yard Center. The track the engine us pulling the flats out onto is the southbound. To the left is the northbound, then 8 Yard lead which goes into 16 tracks, 303, 304,1-14 (right to left, 303 and 304 have cars on them and then sarts track 1 and up). To the left of that is track 15,16 (with the cars on it) and 17. To the left of that are tracks 305 through 308 and then all of 9 Yard.

37) The two main tracks are in the middle of this shot looking north. To the right is 8 Yard lead, then 15 and 16, both with cars on them. On the left where the trailers and flats are sitting is the remnants of 1 Yard. Where 8 Yard lead ties into the northbound here is an interlocking called l45th Street which had crossovers between the mains as well. Photos 35-37 were shot April 1990.

38) A garden variety MoPac boxcar captured on Norfolk Southern near Valparaiso, IN 1995.

39) A Mopac high cube auto parts boxcar on the Indiana Harbor Belt in Riverdale, IL at the east end of Blue Island Yard 1994.


		Tuch Santucci's Chicago Subdivision of the Missouri Pacific Background: Chicago Sub Photo Pages: Part 1 l 2 (this page) l 3 l 4 >> Go to Next Page >>


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	All images & text © 2000-2008 JD Santucci / all else © 2008 Screaming Eagles. All Rights Reserved.