Working rail roads and their tracks.

[5030]

Thornton Quarry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Material Service quarry. Thornton, IL. I've heard they can see this from space. It's huge. I lived nearby.

That is it and like I said, I look straight ahead when crossing it. Didn't know it was 450 feet deep. I for sure will keep looking straight ahead now...

 

[bcp]

You could be right. When I cross that bridge, I look straight ahead. I'm scared of heights, always have been.

No glass bottom airliners for you!

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

Thornton Quarry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Material Service quarry. Thornton, IL. I've heard they can see this from space. It's huge. I lived nearby.

Well that's interesting. Shortly into that WIKI article on the Thornton Quarry on 294, it mentions the McCook quarry by the EMD place we were talking about:

"As part of the Chicago Deep Tunnel project, both Thornton Quarry and McCook Quarry will serve as reservoirs to reduce the backflow of stormwater and sewage from Chicago area rivers into Lake Michigan"

I noticed in the picture of McCook that I posted there appears to be an underground ramp in the middle. And here's an article about that...

McCook quarry shifts to underground mining - Riverside Brookfield Landmark

Hanson Material Service, the company that runs one of two limestone quarries just south of the village of Brookfield, sent a letter to residents of the village living in close proximity on April 16 describing a change in operations and announcing a six-day-per-week underground blasting schedule.

www.rblandmark.com

 

[MossRoad]

That is it and like I said, I look straight ahead when crossing it. Didn't know it was 450 feet deep. I for sure will keep looking straight ahead now...

My kid rented a larger U-Haul a few weeks back to move her from Pittsburgh to her new location. I volunteered to drive it. YIKES! I never thought about how much higher it puts you up in the air and how much further you can see over the edge of high bridges! YIKES!

And how it gives you the feeling that you're much closer to the edge of the bridge even though you're the same distance as you are in a car. YIKES!

And then I got to thinking, that tiny concrete wall isn't going to do diddly to stop this or any other truck from going over. It's just decoration!!!

YIKES!!!

 

[MossRoad]

My kid rented a larger U-Haul a few weeks back to move her from Pittsburgh to her new location. I volunteered to drive it. YIKES! I never thought about how much higher it puts you up in the air and how much further you can see over the edge of high bridges! YIKES!

And how it gives you the feeling that you're much closer to the edge of the bridge even though you're the same distance as you are in a car. YIKES!

And then I got to thinking, that tiny concrete wall isn't going to do diddly to stop this or any other truck from going over. It's just decoration!!!

YIKES!!!

On a related RR topic note, I have a favorite RR bridge on that drive that I like to look at as we make the drive back and forth. I got a really good look at it from the truck on that trip, and never realized there was a dam and locks on the river below it. And a boat accessible state park island, with houseboats docked.

 

[MossRoad]

If you look at the Thornton Quarry from Google Earth, to the west is the Canadian National yard (used to be Grand Trunk & Western). There's still a turntable there.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[gstrom99]

I took this pic today. Electric freight. Iowa Traction. Still serving industry in/around Mason City, Iowa. About 10.4 miles of trackage.

Iowa Traction Railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BravoXray]

Thornton Quarry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Material Service quarry. Thornton, IL. I've heard they can see this from space. It's huge. I lived nearby.

Been there many times. In the 70s we hauled crushed limestone out of MS to Reith and Riley in Elkhart for use in asphalt. Even went way down on the quarry a couple of times to get rip-rap(big chunks) used for erosion control.
The loader operators there were some of the best, could load you within a few hundred pounds of your payload limit. All the trucks that went in there had number decals on their front bumper that told your empty weight. e.g. 243 for 24,300#.
Erie Stone has a big quarry in Huntington, IN. Not nearly as big as MS in Thornton though. You always loaded down in the hole, and the road to the top was a pretty good grade for and old 238 Detroit in and F2000D International tractor, 1st or 2nd gear was as high as it would pull.
Hauled a lot of stone out of there to the concrete batch plant set up in Warsaw for the concrete on the last stretch of US30 to be completed.

 

[MossRoad]

Keeping with the RR theme, here's an old Monon car full of stone that sits outside of a quarry south of Francesville, IN.