December 20, 2015
All - This undated image may or may not be of a Material Service Corp.
operation in the greater Chicago area, but it shows a typical gravel pit
steam locomotive prior to, my guess, World War Two:
A well worn gravel pit 0-6-0 is kicking a gon load
of ballast at some forgotten interchange. The slide valve switcher had
probably started its life on the railroad being interchanged to, but had later
been cascaded down to the pits due to obsolescence. Gravel pit railroads always
fascinated me. Best Regards - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
In a message dated 12/20/2015 1:36:57 P.M. Central Standard Time,
CBQ@yahoogroups.com writes:
Material Services was a Col. Henry Crown outfit. They would supply the
Rock Island with ballast, and from what I've heard it was an inferior material
for that. But, in an effort to appease their largest bond holder and most
vocal critic, the RI continued to buy it.
Jeff
Sent from my iPhone
Leo,
I believe the operation that you are talking about belonged to Material
Service Corp. My late father apparently had some interest in this line and
photographed it on two occasions. This link to one album on my Picasa web
page provides the photos that he took at that time. https://picasaweb.google.com/109517272707102411928/MaterialService02? I
do not know exactly when he took the photos, but I believe that it was in
the 1970s. I tried to find a map of the Material Service system, but have
been unsuccessful. Somewhere, I did find that apparently, MS had two
operations in the area. One was closer to Joliet and the other is this one
near Plainfield. As I recall, at one time, you could see glimpses of the RR
from I-55 close to where IL 126 exits. The last six photos in the album
pertain to another site. I believe it was a coal fired power plant near
Joliet, but an not certain. I have no idea what my dad’s interest in this
line was, but he was a model railroader and my have used the photos for a
presentation to an NMRA group. If you have more questions, please feel free
to contact me off list at clipperw@gmail.com
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
Fri
Dec 18, 2015 5:50 pm (PST) . Posted by:
Today
I was in Plainfield and Lockport, IL on business. As I have many times
over the years,I noticed clear signs of former rail Spurs to the now
flooded pits along Rte 126,Renwick road and Rte 30. Clearly these pits
were served by the "J". The 1945 and '56 "J" employee TT's show a station
.75 miles east of Plainfield named Gravel Pit with capacity of 119 cars.
This would place the station southeast of Plainfield. There are, to this
day, clear signs of of a North/ South spur crossing Renwick road just east
of Rte 30. There are numerous signs of Spurs on both sides of rte 126 east
of Plainfield of more Spurs. Neither Dorins or Eagans recent books
on the "J" mention this area. I have not been able to find Sanborn maps
or a Will county plat map showing these Spurs. My gut says these were
dug to supply Chicago gravel for cement,etc but would love to have more
information about who operated the pits,when,where did the gravel
go,etc,etc,etc. Thanks to anyone in advance who can help. Pictures
would be just about priceless ! You Q guys bear with me as I am
hoping som regional historian on "our" group can also add onsite. My guess
is these "J" pits date to the same time period as the Q Spurs at
Montgomery and Sugar Grove,Hazelhurst,etc. Please feel free to
add Qutlx1@aol.com to any
responses. Thanks, Leo Phillipp
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Posted by: LZadnichek@aol.com
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