Ahead of the locomotive is a small 3-track yard and a couple spurs for sorting and delivering coal cars for the UW power plant. The Milwaukee Road used to have a massive yard and engine servicing facility here, adjacent to its W. Washington Avenue depot, and the Illinois Central branch from Freeport, IL crossed the MILW at grade to get to the IC yard. Construction of the Kohl Center and other UW buildings finally doomed the railyards after being passed from short line to short line from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. |