Eighty Six Forty Six

Chicago & North Western 8646, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

The Chicago and North Western was a midwestern rail icon, known for it's distinctive yellow and green locomotives and "400" series of passenger trains. This is particularly true around the Chicago area, which was the road's hub-after all, people still call Ogilvie Transportation Center "North Western Station", despite the fact that the distinctive station was demolished in the 80's.

Quite a few old CNW railcars are still running around the Union Pacific system, eighteen years after the two companies merged and the North Western's name phased out. There are even a few yellow and green locomotives in use, but only two still carry their original numbers and CNW logos. This is one of them, captured at rest at the LaFox Metra station.

DeKalb

Coal Tower, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

The long-disused Chicago and North Western coal tower in DeKalb, Illinois. This tower straddles what was CNW's main line from Chicago to Omaha. It's still a major route for the Union Pacific today, although coal fired freights and streamliners no longer stop here to fill up.

The North Western

The North Western, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A former Chicago and North Western EMD GP-7R, originally delivered to the Rock Island, and dating from 1952. The GP-series of locomotives was originally designed to be a jack-of-all-trades sort of engine, capable of pulling freight or passengers, or doing some yard work as needed. General Purpose, as the designation goes, similar to a certain long-running off road vehicle. One wonders why nobody calls these "Jeeps" too!

I'm told that this particular example, which resides at the Illinois Railway Museum, was originally purchased for parts for the Museum's other GP-7 (the first one delivered, in fact!), but was discovered to be in good running shape. So the decision was to put it to use, and I've seen it pulling passenger coaches as well as moving stuff around the yards. I;m told that there is a plan afoot to restore it to it's original Rock Island livery.

North Western

North Western, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Bi-level gallery cars first started to appear in the 1950's on Chicago's commuter lines. A double decker design, they featured an open space between both sides of the upper level, allowing conductors to collect tickets from the lower level. It's a pretty efficient design, and one that is still in use on Metra today.

This is a former Chicago and North Western car, and was made by the St. Louis Car company in 1955.