Paul M"s T&P

[RAM]

This has nothing to do with Paul, but seeing his T&P logo reminded me of when I was in boot camp at Great Lakes N T C.  North Shore and CN&W ran right next to the base. This was not yesterday, this was in March and April 1952.  Every week day about 4 pm a two car (open platform) N B train would go by pull by a 4-4-2.  One of the men in our company was a fireman for the T&P.  He said boy I sure would like to be firering that.   I said I don't know, that is a hand fired coal burner. As the train goes by the fireman  is at work put more coal to the fire.  He did not know that they used coal.  Well all of our locomotives burn oil.   I can tell you that that is much nicer than coal.  However today I would be happen to do it.

[ebtnut]

What a difference a decade and a half make!  I was at Great Lakes in the fall/winter of 1967.  The C&NW was using F-units and bi-levels for their commuter service, and the North Shore had been gone for about 4 years.  There were still a few wire support poles over some of the warehouse sidings on the base, but the wire itself had been cut out.  The old North Shore station site was all but gone too.  The EJ&E still had a couple of their massive Baldwin center-cab diesels in service, too. 

[RAM]

Yes I remembered the E.J.&.E. on the other side of the base.  However I couldn't remember the road name.

[r.cprmier]

In fall-winter 1963, I was in tech school, stationed at Chanute AFB, just down the road a bit from you guys, in Rantoul, Ill.  Illinois Central used to go by the base, and they flew!! 
Once, while waiting for a train to Chicago (my first trip to that great city),
I spied way down the track, a light, sort of shimmering.  As I watched, it got brighter, bigger and closer, until I realized it had been attached to one of the E-locomotives-my guess wold have been an E-6 or 7.  At any rate, she flew through Rantoul station like the hammers of hell, I had to hold on to my garrison lid, as well as the column.  At the ripe old age of eighteen, I had never seen anything like that-not on the New Haven, anyway-I grew up on the Old Colony Line...

Rich

[SteamGene]

Out of idle curiosity, did the tracks run PAST the bases or THROUGH the bases.  I had a discussion, years ago with a club member over tracks going THROUGH bases.  He is one of those guys who knows everything, whether he really does or not, and informed me that Quantico Marine Base, Virginia, is the only military base that has tracks going through it.  I reminded him of Ft. Sill, Ok, and may have suggested that Ft. Drum, NY might have been another (there's an abandoned line out on the east range of Drum, but I don't know where it entered and if it left the post.)   So what about Great Lakes and Chanute?  Any others? 
Discount any like Ft. Monroe, Virginia, where the track BEGINS  on post. (Or began - The old C&O MP Zero is over three miles from the nearest track in use.
Gene

[ebtnut]

At Great Lakes there were sort of 2 sides to the base.  The "main base" was next to Lake Michigan and had the admin buildings, classroom buildings, etc.  The recruit training area was on the west side, and the two sides were separated by the C&NW and (at one time) the North Shore.  I don't know if the railroads were actually ON the base, or whether there were civilian property in between.  In the case of Quantico, the RF&P (now CSX) does go right through the middle of the base, and there is an Amtrack station there.  Interesting note--the town of Quantico can only be reached by going through the Marine base or by boat on the Potomac River.

[SteamGene]

I know about the station at Quantico.  In fact, I have a story where the climax occurs at the RF&P station.
It would be interesting to find out if Great Lakes owned the land the C&NW tracks ran on.  At Sill both the highway and the Frisco tracks were on army land.  In fact, for a short period of time, Sill MPs gave tickets to Frisco engineers for speeding.
Gene

[Stephen D. Richards]

Out of idle curiosity, did the tracks run PAST the bases or THROUGH the bases.  I had a discussion, years ago with a club member over tracks going THROUGH bases.  He is one of those guys who knows everything, whether he really does or not, and informed me that Quantico Marine Base, Virginia, is the only military base that has tracks going through it.  I reminded him of Ft. Sill, Ok, and may have suggested that Ft. Drum, NY might have been another (there's an abandoned line out on the east range of Drum, but I don't know where it entered and if it left the post.)   So what about Great Lakes and Chanute?  Any others? 
Discount any like Ft. Monroe, Virginia, where the track BEGINS  on post. (Or began - The old C&O MP Zero is over three miles from the nearest track in use.
Gene

Gene, Maxwell AFB and Gunter Annex still have active lines as does Wright-Patterson.  Carlswell used to but I do believe they are abandoned lines now!  Stephen

[pdlethbridge]

I was at great lakes for boot camp, oct to dec 66 Cold, real cold, and school from jan to april 67. We got socked in with a hugh snowstorm that shut down the base and chicago for a couple of days. I remember riding the push / pulls to Milwaukee and chicago. They seemed to run pretty fast from what I remember. If I'm not mistaken, they had sidings on the base for the recruits coming and going.

[SteamGene]

Stephen,
I don't mean spurs going onto the post or base.  At one time almost every base had some tracks, but these were a branch or a spur.   So, in the case of Maxwell, does CSX or NS trackage run through it, east to west, or does it have a spur from the mainline?
I'm just interested.  I'm not going to reopen a discussion closed some ten years ago.   It wouldn't do any good, anyway.  This guy tried to tell me how to employ 105mm howitzers.   Totally wrong.
Gene

[RAM]

I an sure it was private land, and it was some distance between the two bases.  There was the
main base then a road, than the Northshore shore line route.  I never rode it but wished I had. 
the C&NW two tracks. Than a gap then the two track Northshore.  On the south end of the
training base the northshore had a siding where they could load passengers.  Navy men.  No gals
at that time.  About the middle of the base the Northshore passenger line went over to the C&NW
tracks and the shoreline went under the C&NW.  They had a station there for the main base.  This
C&NW station was about a block away.  If you were being shipped in or out you went on the
C&NW.  The rest of the time I rode the northshore.  The Northshore had a local line that
followed the C&NW into town.  The freight line stayed next to the training base.  They has a yard
and did a lot of switching.  On up the line it joined the mainline.  One evening they were shipping
out a trainload of men from the main base.  This siding came into the base.  They seven or eight
cars.  What I liked was the nice 4-6-2 that they had for power.  I was a real nice locomotive, and
not the run of the mill stuff that they ran all the time.

[ebtnut]

After boot camp at Great Lakes, I had to go back for electronics "A" school.  That was about 6 weeks, so I had some occasional liberty time.  I arranged to visit the Model Railroader offices one day when they were still at 1027 No. 7th St. in Milwaukee.  Rode the bi-levels up to town. Not only did I get shown first class treatment, but Linn Westcott himself took me on a quick driving tour of RR sites around town before dropping me back at the depot.  Met some of the Old Guard, such as Bill Rau,Gil Reid and Gordon Odegard.  Memorable day.

Some friends I made while out there kind of took me under their wing.  One worked part-time at Walthers, so on another occasion I got to visit their old haunt in Milwaukee as well.  Also got a quick visit to the Milwaukee Solvay coke plant, which had electric steeple-cabs doing the in-plant switching.  That was the day it got up to ten below zero!  Wow, almost 40 years ago!