The junctions listed below don't warrant separate pages, but may
still be of interest to some people.
Van Loon is four miles north of Griffith and about six miles south of Pine Junction. Located just off Cline Avenue in the west end of Gary, Indiana, the junction is in the shadow of I-80/94, which passes overhead. If you're bothered by the constant din of passing cars and trucks, this is not the place for you. Otherwise, exit the expressway at Cline Avenue (Rte. 912) and head south on Cline to Ridge Road. Turn left and proceed to Colfax St. Turn left on Colfax and head north about 2 miles. You'll cross some railroad tracks (an interchange yard for the two railroads that cross here). Turn left at the first street past the tracks. Follow the road until it ends at a blocked crossing. Park there and follow the tracks about 100 yards to the junction.
Norfolk Southern's ex-NKP main line crosses the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern ("The J" to most folks), one of the Chicago area's terminal roads. The J is double track and travels north-south at this point, while NS is single track and travels in a northwesterly direction toward Calumet Yard in southeast Chicago. Until it was torn down several years ago, a tower stood in the southwest quadrant. Traffic through here is moderate; expect maybe 25 trains a day on NS and perhaps a dozen or so on the J. A connector track in the northeast quadrant permits EJ&E transfers to access the yard along the NS main. On most weekdays, there is interchange traffic between the two roads. There is another connection in the southeast quadrant, but it is not visible from the junction.
There aren't any trespass signs at the junction, but both the J and NS police can be tough on blatant trespassers, so it's a good idea not to get too close to the tracks. Although there are some dangerous areas in Gary, the neighborhood around Van Loon is reasonably safe.
Listed below from north to south are four junctions on the double track Kankakee Line (formerly, the "Danville Secondary"). The first two are in East Chicago, the others in Hammond. All are south of CP 502 (Indiana Harbor), where the line begins, and are located along Kennedy Avenue. The Indiana Harbor Belt operates the track from CP 502 to Osborn. South of Osborn it is owned and operated by NS. In the old days this route was known as the "Egyptian Line" because it extended to Cairo and the area known as "Little Egypt" in southern Illinois. The segment from CP 502 to Danville, Illinois, was officially known as the Chicago, Indiana & Southern and was controlled by New York Central. Nowadays, the line terminates at Schneider, Indiana, where it connects with Norfolk Southern's ex-Conrail, ex-NYC Kankakee Belt. From Schneider to Danville, the track remains but most of it is out of service.
From Chicago, take I-90 (the Dan Ryan Expressway, the Chicago Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road) to Exit 5 in Hammond. Head south on Calumet Avenue one mile to Chicago Avenue (Indiana Rte. 312). Turn left and proceed about two miles to Kennedy Avenue. Calumet Junction is a block past Kennedy. The other three are strung out along Kennedy to the south. Alternatively, you can approach from the south by taking I-80/I-94 to the Kennedy exit and then heading north to Osborn.
The junction is in the confusingly laid out city of East Chicago, Indiana; don't try to explore the area without a map. The name also causes confusion. This crossing is sometimes mistaken for Calumet Park Junction in Illinois.
The north-south Kankakee Line here is crossed by CSX's ex-B&OCT double track main line, which parallels Chicago Avenue. Just north of the junction is IHB's Michigan Avenue Yard, which serves the mills and factories along Lake Michigan. Entering the junction from the southeast is the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern's Whiting Branch. The track crosses CSX and IHB, runs along the west side of Michigan Avenue Yard and then heads north to the industrial area near the lake. IHB has trackage rights on the Whiting Branch north of the yard.
The CSX line is by far the busiest with over 50 trains a day. Besides IHB transfers, the Kankakee Line also features road trains of NS and Canadian Pacific. A typical day on the Kankakee sees 20 to 25 trains, about equally divided between transfers and road trains. The EJ&E branch sees only occasional traffic. The tower is in the southeast quadrant and is still active, but IHB has indicated its intention to close it. So far, however, no closing date has been announced.
The area is not posted but the tower operator will keep his eye on you, so stand clear of the tracks and switches. The junction is located just north of Chicago Avenue and just east of Kennedy Avenue. The southwest quadrant area is accessible from Chicago Avenue, and offers some nice photo opportunities in the afternoon. Calumet is a nice spot for trains, but while the neighborhood is not dangerous, a little caution is still advisable.
Located alongside Kennedy Avenue, Grasselli is about a mile south of Calumet. Here, the Kankakee Line is crossed by an EJ&E branch line running roughly northeast to southwest. The line originates about three miles to the east at Cavanaugh Junction where it departs the J's main line. At Shearson--just east of Grasselli--the J's Whiting Branch joins it. A connector at Shearson runs between the two lines forming a wye arrangement. An abandoned route belonging to the IHB once ran through this area south of and parallel to the Cavanaugh line and connected with the Kankakee line at Grasselli. The line was torn up east of here in the 1980s, but still exists for about a mile to the west. A couple of industrial spurs also connect with the Kankakee here and see fairly frequent use.
Grasselli tower (see photo at right) was closed by IHB in November, 2007. In its last days, it was open only during daylight hours on weekdays. Grasselli is now remotely controlled by IHB's East Dispatcher (Shearson, however, is controlled by J dispatchers). By far the most interesting aspect of the old Grasselli interlocking were the manually operated rods that worked the signals and switches. They are now gone, and the tower has been donated to the Hoosier Valley Rail Museum in North Judson, Indiana.
Just over a mile south of Grasselli, Gibson is located along Kennedy Avenue at 161st Street. The Kankakee Line here crosses the east-west Indiana Harbor Belt main line on which CSX has trackage rights. At Ivanhoe, about three miles to the east, the ex-NYC, ex-Michigan Central "Porter Branch," acquired by CSX in the Conrail breakup, crosses the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern main line, as does a little-used IHB branch from Gary (for more on Ivanhoe, see the description below). Between Ivanhoe and Gibson, the two lines converge and become the IHB east-west main line. West of Gibson the Michigan Central tracks, which at one time paralleled the IHB, are mostly gone.
The bulk of the traffic here is on the northern leg of the Kankakee Line and the western leg of the IHB main. Connector tracks are located in the northwest and southeast quadrants of the junction, and a third, little-used connector is in the northeast quadrant. The IHB's headquarters building and shops are located here just south of the crossing. The shops area includes a still-active roundhouse and turntable built in 1906. Only a third of the stalls are used to service locomotives; the rest have been converted into offices and storage sites. There are trespass signs at the shops, and you should stay clear of the area. The IHB's Gibson Yard is directly west of the shops area, and handles auto rack traffic.
Access is the chief problem with this junction. The parking lot at the headquarters building is devoid of trespass signs and affords a view of the junction from about 50 yards. However, you might be questioned by suspicious IHB security officers if you spend any amount of time there. Perhaps the best course is to use the Kennedy Avenue viaduct that crosses the IHB line from Ivanhoe. It provides a nice bird's eye view of the crossing and the trackage surrounding it.
Located about a half mile south of Gibson, Osborn is just west of Kennedy Avenue and just north of 169th Street. Norfolk Southern's ex-NKP main line crosses the Kankakee Line here. NS runs about 25 trains a day on the NKP, and a few use a connector in the northeast quadrant to access the Kankakee route. Traffic on the latter is much less, perhaps eight or ten trains. A few of these are BNSF trains which use the Kankakee as a Chicago bypass. UP coal trains occasionally use the line as well. There is a small yard along the NS main just west of the junction, and connector tracks in the northwest and southwest quadrants feed yard movements onto the Kankakee Line. Access to the junction is good, but most trains seen here on the NS main can also be seen at State Line, Hohman or Van Loon. And at Calumet Junction, traffic on the Kankakee Line is heavier .
Located on the far east side of Gary, the Miller area features an overhead crossing of CSX's ex-B&O double track main by the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend commuter line. Miller thus is a relatively busy place with traffic especially heavy during weekday rush hours. Of particular interest is a connection between the two roads in the northwest quadrant (visible at the far right in the photo). Some South Shore freights use this track to back down to CSX. While occasionally cars are left on the track for CSX to pick up, at least one train accesses the CSX main and uses trackage rights to reach Barr Yard in Riverdale, Illinois. This train operates nearly every day and can usually be seen in the early afternoon. Otherwise, the South Shore is mostly passenger service and midday trains operate in roughly one and a half hour intervals in each direction (two hours on weekends). Traffic on CSX is the same as what would be seen at places like Pine, Willow Creek and Wellsboro--about 50 or so trains per day.
The northwest quadrant is a large open area and is readily accessible. While much of it is railroad property, it is not posted and it's possible to stand well back from the CSX tracks and still observe the action. To get here, take U.S. Rte. 12 to South Lake Street (the South Shore's Miller station is at the intersection). Head north on Lake and turn right on the first street after the South Shore tracks (Sixth Place). The crossing is about three blocks. The surrounding neighborhood is reasonably safe, but a little caution is not a bad idea.
Although not a junction, this station is a fairly popular train watching site. Located just south of Lake Michigan on Norfolk Southern's ex-Conrail Chicago Line, most Amtrak trains to Michigan and the east coast stop here. Extensive freight action can be seen as well, although the action is a little heavier at Indiana Harbor and Pine Junction. In back of the station are CSX's ex-B&OCT passenger line (now all freight) and terminal road Elgin, Joliet & Eastern's lakefront branch. Traffic on both lines, however, is very light.
To get here from downtown Chicago, take the Dan Ryan Expressway, then the Chicago Skyway (both I-90) to the Indianapolis Boulevard exit. Head southeast on Indianapolis about a mile to Calumet Avenue. There's a stoplight at the intersection, and a large factory will be on your left. Turn left on Calumet, proceed a few blocks and cross the NS tracks. The station is just to your right.
From I-80/I-94, exit at Calumet Avenue and head north till the street ends at the NS tracks--about nine miles.
The NS tracks were once the Pennsylvania main line. The New York Central main paralleled the Pennsy just to the north, but was taken up by Penn Central in the 1970s. The station and parking lot now occupy the NYC area. An old Central mile marker has been preserved and stands at the west end of the station. About a half mile east of the station, the NS tracks shift from the Pennsy to the NYC ROW.
Like Hammond-Whiting, there's no junction here but this is an increasingly popular train watching site. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend's Ogden Dunes station is located along U.S. Rte. 12 about three miles east of Miller and roughly a mile and a half west of Burns Harbor. The station serves not only the upscale beachfront community of Ogden Dunes but the much larger town of Portage to the south. In 2004, the South Shore completed a replacement of the old catenary supports in this area, and the result is an impressive-looking piece of electric railroading. What makes this place worthwhile is the parallel Norfolk Southern ex-CR, ex-NYC Chicago Line, located less than 30 yards north of the South Shore boarding platform. With the 60 or more trains a day on NS and the South Shore's passenger and freight traffic, there's plenty of action here. The same trains can also be seen at Burns Harbor (see the Willow Creek page for more information), however the latter sometimes features movements on the yard leads in that area as well as an occasional South Shore freight local serving some nearby industries.
A good view of the NS tracks may be had from the parking spaces behind the boarding platform. Since you're south of NS, photographs are easy and the waist-high chainlink fence at the NS-South Shore property line should not be a hindrance. If you wish to shoot South Shore trains from the south side (as in the photo), cross the tracks only at the road crossing. Caution is advised since there's not much room between the tracks and the highway. The three closely-spaced locations of Miller, Ogden Dunes and Burns Harbor provide a nice way of exploring South Shore operations, with action on the busy NS and CSX lines as a bonus.
Listed below are some junctions of historical interest. Only the most
dedicated of junction junkies would find a visit worthwhile nowadays.
TOLLESTON. Here, the Pennsylvania Railroad's Fort Wayne main line crossed New York Central's ex-Michigan Central main line to Detroit. An Indiana Harbor Belt line parallels the MC here on an elevation and crosses over the Pennsy. The Wabash line to Toledo also parallels MC from the east and curves northwest at the junction to parallel the Pennsy. Once one of the busiest junctions around, it now sees very little traffic. In 1976, the PRR and MC lines became the property of Conrail, who promptly downgraded both. In fact, for much of the 1990's PRR was out of service. The MC line became CR's "Porter Branch" and handled about a dozen or so trains a day. Both lines are now secondary routes of CSX--who restored the Pennsy to service--and each sees only modest traffic. However, westbound Pennsy trains use a connector in the southwest quadrant to access the Porter Branch. West of the junction, the Pennsy has never been used despite the restoration and has gone back to weeds. The overhead IHB line is basically out of service; the Wabash line (now NS) is just a long industrial spur and is abandoned east of Gary. In 2004, the Pennsy line from here east to Crestline, Ohio, was leased to Rail America and the new operation is known as the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern. For more on it, see the Wayne / Spriggsboro page. Tolleston is on Gary's west side at Grant Street and 10th Avenue. The surrounding neighborhood is not as dangerous as it once was, but caution is still the rule of the day.
CLARKE. Located four miles northwest of Tolleston and a mile west of Pine, the Pennsy's Fort Wayne main line crossed the B&OCT main line here. In addition, the Wabash's Toledo line that parallels the Pennsy from Tolleston feeds into the B&OCT; Wabash trains then used trackage rights west of here to State Line Crossing. All three lines are still here, PRR and B&OCT are now CSX and the Wabash belongs to NS. However, the Pennsy is out of service and the Wabash is now just a short industrial branch into Gary. The junction is virtually inaccessible and Pine is a much better place for observing the busy B&OCT.
CAVANAUGH. An all EJ&E junction, Cavanaugh is about a mile and a half southwest of Pine and three miles north of Van Loon. A branch from East Chicago (the same one that passes through Grasselli) here feeds into the J's main line, which runs north-south at this point. Traffic is sparse, and like Clarke access is difficult. The best view of it can be obtained from an entrance ramp to the Indiana Toll Road.
IVANHOE. Located a mile south of Cavanaugh and two miles north of Van Loon, the J's main line is here crossed by the former NYC/MC Detroit main line--now CSX's Porter Branch--and also by a little-used IHB branch (the same one that runs through Tolleston). Just west of here, the Porter Branch joins the IHB track and becomes the Harbor's main line to Dolton and Blue Island Yard. Access is difficult, traffic is relatively light and the nearby neighborhood is dicey.
HAYS. Located in Highland, Indiana, just west of Kennedy Avenue, CN's ex-GTW main line is crossed by Norfolk Southern's Kankakee Line. This is still a relatively busy place with about 40 trains a day. But it is difficult to access and there are much better places to view both lines.
MAYNARD/AIR LINE. West of Highland is the twin suburb of Munster. Here, just west of Calumet Avenue is a triangle of junctions that must have been a fascinating place back in the old days. The north-south Monon Route crossed the Grand Trunk, and just to the north it crossed the Pennsylavania's Panhandle main line at "Airline Junction." A block or two east of these sites, the Panhandle then crossed GTW (the location was "Maynard" in the Pennsy timetable). Traffic through here was heavy, and close coordination among tower operators was needed.
Unfortunately, things are much different now. One of the Panhandle tracks still remains but is out of service. The Monon track is also out of service north of the GTW. Instead of heading north into Hammond, CSX Monon trains coming from the south transfer to GTW (now CN) and use trackage rights to Thornton Junction. Aside from its historical importance, there is no reason to visit here nowadays. It should be noted, though, that an effort is underway by local communities and the area transportaion agency to fund a revival of the Monon track to the north. The idea is for commuter trains coming from Hammond to feed into GTW here and then run to Valparaiso, Indiana.
HARTSDALE. Located south of Highland in the suburb of Schererville, Hartsdale is an unusual location that was once quite busy. The east-west EJ&E main line is here paralleled by an ex-New York Central, ex-Michigan Central branch line that once ran to Joliet, Illinois. It is now abandoned to the east but still exists west of here to Chicago Heights. A few blocks west of Kennedy Avenue, both lines were crossed by the Pennsy's Panhandle main line, and all three of them were bridged by NYC's overhead Kankakee Line. The Panhandle is now gone except for a short stretch used by the J and Norfolk Southern (present owner of the Kankakee and MC tracks) to service local industries. The MC branch sees very little traffic, and the J and the Kankakee Line are better viewed elsewhere.
DYER. South of Munster is the suburb of Dyer, Indiana, where CSX's ex-Monon route crosses both the EJ&E main line and the MC branch coming west from Hartsdale. Traffic has declined since the Monon's heyday; the line now sees perhaps eight to ten trains a day. Traffic is also moderate on the J and almost non-existent on the MC branch. The junction can be accessed by a road running along the south side of the EJ&E tracks.
ST. JOHN. Located south of Schererville in the far-south suburb of Saint John, the junction is on 93rd Street just east of US Rte. 41. Here, CSX's ex-Monon line from Lafayette, Indiana, crosses Norfolk Southern's Kankakee Line. Access is hampered by a chainlink fence and traffic is light--about 15-18 trains a day.