I was looking through my 1967 CB&Q Annual Report (released May, 1968)and ran
across a very interesting photo on page 4. It shows a "down on" view of
apparently shot from some elevated vantage point of the container operations at
Cicero yard. Being unloaded from a flat car is a Mitsui O.S.K. Lines 20'
container that also has a large "AIWA-SELECTRON" sign attached to the container
ribs. The caption photo says "Container loads of Japanese electronic wares are
unloaded at Cicero yard, on Chicago's western limits."
Here are some interesting observations and a question:
1. The 20' containers are not on 89' container flats. There are two of them
each on GSC flat cars (clearly identified by the wooden deck pattern). Anyone
know what length and whose GSC flat cars would have been modified for twin 20'
container carrying in 1967? Were these actually CB&Q flats?
2. The containers are being unloaded using an old Whiting gantry crane. The
crane is an old rail mounted gantry crane apparently already at Cicero. It is
not a rubber tired gantry crane like you usually think of for containers and
piggyback, and which the Q actually purchased for Cicero in 1965 (a 171,400
pound capacity LeTorneau Series ST-40 pictured on page 18 of the 1965 Annual
Report). The container is being lifted by four cables, one cable hooked at each
top corner of the container, not by some actual container lifting device like
is used today.
3. Does anyone know if these containers were offloaded anywhere else other than
Cicero? e.g. Might they have gone to the Twin Cities for offload there, or was
container traffic pretty much between the west coast and Chicago only?
Hope this gets some lively discussion going!
Tom Mack
Cincinnati, OH
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