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Belt Railway Company of Chicago company history timeline

1851

Washington State RailroadsJul 11, 22 04:19 PMWashington railroads' earliest history began with the Cascade Portage Railway of 1851.

1879

The C&WI's history begins on June 6, 1879 when it was chartered by John B. Brown and a few business partners.

1886

His name was Stickney and he was president of the Chicago & Great Western Railway, whose line reached Chicago in 1886.

1889

The yard was even operated by its own company, the Chicago Union Transfer Railway, incorporated in 1889.

In 1889 he proceeded with the construction of his conception of a clearing house for railroad cars.

1898

In 1898 he laid out a car sorting yard employing the hump gravity principle for the first time on a large scale.

1902

The yard commenced operation on April 1st, 1902, and Mr.

The huge terminal opened in 1902 but, unfortunately, lack of traffic and mistrust among the bigger railroads killed Stickney's plan.

1910

In 1910, the Belt Railway began a study of enlarging its facilities and as a result seven additional railroads-the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste.

1912

The Yard remained in general operation for one month only, but continued to handle some switching business on a small scale until August 1912.

Finally, common sense prevailed and nine additional owners joined the original five in 1912 in what was known as the Belt Operating Agreement.

These twelve railroads leased the Belt Division from the Chicago & Western Indiana starting in 1912.

1924

The Pere Marquette Railway also joined as owner in 1924.

1940

Beginning in the late 1940's it began purchasing diesels from Electro-Motive and American Locomotive to replace its steam fleet (switchers and light road-switchers).

1950

It held this distinction until the PRR's Conway facility was greatly expanded during the 1950's.

1952

-Ray Hurd, The Belt Railway Company of Chicago, Speaking before the Clearing-Cicero Traffic Conference, April 17, 1952

1966

Pinkepank's article from the September, 1966 issue of Trains Magazine entitled "The Belt Railway Of Chicago: A Railroad's Railroad," explained best how it all worked (If you have can find copies both of his articles mentioned here they provide a superb history regarding the BRC!).

1980

By the late 1980's the company was owned by just the Santa Fe, Burlington Northern, Conrail, CSX Transportation, Illinois Central Gulf, Grand Trunk Western, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and Soo Line.

1990

Alas, by 1990 the yard sat dangerously empty.

1993

As Michael Blaszak's article, "Belt Railway Of Chicago: Back From the Brink" from the July, 1993 issue of Trains Magazine notes, new management arrived just in time and the company eventually got back onto its feet.

2014

My images are © 2014-20, and are licensed by CC BY, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Attribution: Dennis DeBruler.

2020

UnknownFebruary 21, 2020 at 3:09 PMalso if you take a look NS first reponders unit is present ReplyDeleteRepliesReply

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