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Re: [CBQ] Question regarding oil tanks at the old Downers Grove commuter

To: CBQ@groups.io, William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Question regarding oil tanks at the old Downers Grove commuter yard.
From: "Doug Ramsay" <drramsay@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2022 11:22:53 -0700 (PDT)
Cc: Leo Phillipp <leophillipp@aol.com>
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Leo & Bill,
Thank you. this is a lot of great info in my quest of learning more about the 
CB&Q and the suburban area.
Doug Ramsay 

> On 10/09/2022 1:18 PM William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>  
> Doug, 
> 
> Hines Lumber, definitely, mostly box cars and bulkhead flat cars carrying 
> lumber and other building products. The Hines Lumber facility included a 
> large building with a rounded roof. In the ‘60s, cars were usually spotted on 
> the east end of the building. From the east end, the switcher locomotive was 
> usually placed on the east end of the cars to be spotted. Then they would 
> move down the grade to street level and make a reverse movement west up a 
> slight incline into the Hines lead. Cars were also spotted on one or both of 
> the street level stub tracks that were located approximately between Seeley 
> Ave. and Montgomery Ave. These were used as house tracks so that local 
> businesses could receive carload shipments and unload them at that point. 
> During the mid ‘50s, those tracks were used to supply material for East - 
> West or Eisenhower tollway. For a period of time, these was a cement facility 
> set up there. 
> 
> As for the track south of the oil storage facilities, as I said in my earlier 
> reply, to the best of my knowledge, no rail delivery of oil products was made 
> there during the late ‘50s and ‘60s. A car may have occasionally been spotted 
> there, but I don’t think it was for the oil company. In my time, the track 
> was fairly overgrown with weeds. I do recall a day when the East End NW2 
> switcher derailed on the switch for the stub track. It was enlightening to 
> watch the crew and track people rerail the locomotive with wood blocks. In my 
> experience, the East End way freight used the former DG commuter yard for a 
> staging location. They also used the trackage between between Forest and Main 
> Street on the south side of the main line for staging. Depending on your time 
> frame, they switched cars into Lord Lumber Co. on the southwest side of 
> Forest Ave, and the Q Main Line. There was a track that went from the 
> turntable area (where the microwave tower is now) behind Zolingers and the 
> Dicke Tool Co. all the way to Forest Ave. Occasionally, a car was set off 
> along that track for the Lord Lumber coal yard, when people still had coal 
> furnaces, as my parents did until 1977. When it came time for lunch, the East 
> End crew frequently spotted their locomotive at the end of that track 
> adjacent to Forest Ave. and walked to the Round the Clock Snack Time 
> restaurant across from the Tivoli Theater. If they didn’t spot their 
> locomotive there, they would spot it in the yard tracks between Forest and 
> Main St.on the south side of the main line, west of the depot.
> 
> As I said, the East End way freight would use the DG yards as a staging 
> location. They would go east to Pepperidge Farm, east of Fairview Ave. to 
> drop off or pick up cars and they would also go to Keller Heart, west of 
> Fairview Ave, to set out or pick up cars. Before they moved to a location 
> west of Belmont Road, the East End way freight would also set out cars at the 
> Schafer Bearing plant on the south side of the main line, just easy of 
> Washington St. That building is now the DG city hall. The stub track to 
> Schafer Bearing was accessed from the house track that ran around the south 
> side of the depot. There was a turnout just east of the depot. When Schafer 
> Bearing moved west of Belmont Road, the way freight also provided service 
> there. 
> 
> Bill Barber
> 
> > On Oct 9, 2022, at 2:22 PM, Douglas Ramsay <drramsay@comcast.net> wrote:
> > 
> > Thank you, Leo and Bill,
> > 
> > after not finding info on the tanks at the historical society museum 
> > collection, I was thinking maybe CB&Q related and possibly a spot for me to 
> > use my railroad owned tank cars on the layout that I am planning out. The 
> > Great Northern had a small tank farm not far from where I live over in 
> > Everett (WA) in which I have seen photos of with GN tank cars sitting 
> > alongside. It is still an interesting possible lineside customer for me to 
> > spot cars at.
> > Question for Leo, since I know you are very knowledgeable of this area. 
> > Would say this industry along with the Hines Lumber yard just to the west, 
> > have been worked by the East End way freight?
> > 
> > Doug Ramsay 
> > 
> > 
> >> On 10/09/2022 9:00 AM William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Doug,
> >> 
> >> I grew about two blocks from those oil tanks on Seeley Ave. having moved 
> >> there with my parents in 1946 and lived there until 1966 when I graduated 
> >> from college. I often walked the rail yard and right of way to town. There 
> >> were actually two oil distributors adjacent to each other at that 
> >> location. One had their storage tanks mounted horizontally (see the photo 
> >> of 2844 in the Flickr collection) and the other vertically (see the photo 
> >> of 2858 in Flickr). My recollection is that the west set of tanks belonged 
> >> to Cities Service (much later Citgo) while the east tanks were Standard 
> >> Oil. The stub track, adjacent to the tanks on the south side, as Leo 
> >> stated, was for tank car supply to both distributors. However, I don’t 
> >> ever recall seeing a tank car on that track. By the 1950s and ‘60s, the 
> >> supply of oil was being provided by highway trucks. Smaller single frame 
> >> trucks were used to distribute the oil locally. Each set of tanks had a 
> >> pump house and a small office area. The track, tanks and yard were 
> >> elevated in that area above street level. On the north side of the tanks, 
> >> the distribution area was lower at street level along Warren Ave. The 
> >> railroad had a lower yard in that area that included a couple of tracks. 
> >> Going west from the lower yard was another track that went into Hines 
> >> Lumber Co. As I recall, that track continued  through Hines and rejoined 
> >> the upper yard lead somewhat west of Hines. Just east of the oil 
> >> distribution facilities was an older two story house adjacent to the 
> >> street. I was told that at one time, it was the home of the roundhouse 
> >> foreman when there was a roundhouse immediately south of the home. The 
> >> roundhouse was torn down in the 1930s and the last of three DG turntables 
> >> was removed in the late 1950s or early 1960s. 
> >> 
> >> My good friend, Bob Campbell may be able to add more details or 
> >> corrections to my recollections of the area. He lived with his parents on 
> >> Warren Ave. between Montgomery Avenue and Seeley Avenue from 1946 to about 
> >> 1963. He is also among the last people to hire onto the Q as a fireman in 
> >> 1969. 
> >> 
> >> Bill Barber
> >> Gravois Mills, MO
> >> 
> >> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


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