Ben & Charlie -
Sorry for this late response to your 11/13 post but I did want to make a
comment. In 1943 my parents purchased their first home (a real Sears,
Roebuck & Co. catalog home built in 1929) at 1416 Warren Avenue in Downers
Grove, directly across the street from the "Q's" suburban yard. They told me
in later years, after I showed up, that the RR used to spot strings of empty
stock cars on the two tracks in the lower yard from spring to fall for a
period of about a week. Seems the residents of DG knew a good source of
fertilizer for their "Victory Gardens", as the stock cars were "plucked
clean. Even though there were rows of trees growing on the south side of
Warren Ave. but north of the north track, I recall seeing cars spotted on
these tracks. Can't say when this practice stopped, but in the mid to late
50s a lot of orange painted MOW cars were parked in the lower yard. Around
1957 or 1958 a cement unloading facility was built on the south lower yard
track to handle cement in C2 covered hoppers for the construction of the
East-West Tollway. These cars were brought in by both the East End
Wayfreight and the Congo. Bill Barber (list member), who is a lot older than
I, lived up the street on Seeley Ave. and he might be able to recall/add-to
this operation.
Bob Campbell
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