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Chicago, April 1943. "General view of part of the South Water Street Illinois Central Railroad freight terminal." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.
I like the particularly bright blue flags in place to protect carmen.
At least some of those tracks were there into the 1970s and early 1980s. I remember seeing strings of Illinois Central Gulf boxcars parked there, visible from the Outer Drive.
My father was in that freight house around 1950, when he was with New York Central. He recalled the flooring was of hardwood blocks with the end grain facing up.
He also recalled being there with a survey crew on another occasion when it was cold out, and his crew had to go to a nearby switch shanty to warm up. There was some guy in there, probably fresh from the old country, who smelled like he ate nothing but raw onions and garlic. He and his coworkers lingered there just long enough to get warm and RAN out of there!
They are so dirty! Obviously the smog at times was unbelievable from the trains.
[Soot. - Dave]
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