September Sunday Evening Post
In the 1980s, Conrail was operating “hot bottle” trains for Acme Steel using a section of the former Panhandle in Riverdale to Inland Steel’s Indiana Harbor Works plant in East Chicago, Indiana, via connection at Dolton to the IHB. Conrail GP38 #7720 brings one such empty train off the Panhandle onto the IHB in April 1984. Then below, as the train heads east on the IHB, we get a close-up of one of the bottle cars. These cars were filled with molten steel which would be dumped into the next stage of fabrication in Riverdale. The heat could be felt a good distance from the tracks. (Both – Roger Kujawa)
Rails Around Northern Illinois is due for release in October 2026. It is my biggest book ever at 360 pages filled with 1000 all-color photos, 1950-2010. Order yours today!
