Chicago Commercial Ave, IL 1515
Commercial Avenue Yard is located on Chicago's South Side, at the end of the Belt Railway of Chicago's (BRC) main line. Despite its size, the map has highly complex operations, with four railroads directly serving industries on the map, and several more running transfers to and from the BRC. The map also includes the Chicago Rail Link's (CRL) Irondale Yard on the west side of the Calumet River, and Norfolk Southern's (NS) Calumet River Industrial Track (also served by the Indiana Harbor Belt) on the east side.
Layout
Commercial Ave Yard (BRC) is located on the left (north) side of the map, with the BRC serving Holcim and ELG Metals. 100th St Yard sees little use since the closure of the KCBX North Terminal. The BRC mainline passes through the map, joining the NS Chicago Line just beyond Exit 1, and sees a large variety of runthrough traffic.
The CRL has a long string of industrial yard trackage, cobbled together from various railroads, extending from left to right across the map. The CRL and BRC appear to interchange via the Erie Siding (storing 3100ft of cars), accessed via a reverse move from CRL trackage. All CRL trains enter and exit via Exit 3.
The Calumet River Industrial Track is located on the top (eastern) half of the map, connecting to the NS Chicago Line at exit 6 (note the connection to BRC exit 1 on the same map), and continuing towards Hegewisch/Burnham via Exit 7. Industries along the line are served by both NS (out of Calumet Yard) and IHB (from the Burnham direction). The small 110th St Yard is used for all local switching.
Operations
The BRC transfers all traffic between their Clearing Yard and Commercial Avenue. The BRC serves very little industry, but interchanges with many railroads from Commercial Ave. CRL interchange occurs at the Erie Siding. Chicago South Shore (CSS) runs transfers to and from Commercial Avenue (carrying mostly inbound/outbound traffic from the CSS), and NS interchanges local traffic from Calumet Yard (long-distance traffic runs directly to and from Clearing).
The CRL serves a variety of local industries from Irondale and transfers most outbound traffic to the BRC. Locals run to 97th Street Yard (local industries and NS interchange), and Burr Oak Yard (local industries, and IAIS/IHB interchange).
NS runs a local from Calumet Yard (exits 4/5) to the Calumet River Industrial Track, as well as transfers to/from Commercial Ave.
The IHB also runs a local to to the Calumet River Industrial Track.
The KCBX terminal receives unit trains of coal, coke, and petcoke from a variety of railroads, arriving via both the BRC and IHB - the choice of routing is very variable.
