Old CCC&StL along Cuyahoga River, switchtender shanty in view

NG501008

Old CCC&StL along Cuyahoga River, switchtender shanty in view

Infrastructure

This scene shows the former Big Four tracks as they wind along the Cuyahoga River and cross Superior Avenue on their way from Front Street (out of sight in the background, about half a mile north) to a junction with the Cleveland Union Terminal line at Clark Avenue. The Detroit-Superior “High Level” bridge provided the vantage for the picture. The preceding picture was taken about four pole lengths to the right of the point where Lakeside Boulevard viaduct disappears behind the warehouse, on the right above. The aforementioned life bridge carrying the Lakefront tracks across the Cuyahoga is visible beneath the main span of the viaduct, behind the ore vessel, and one of Pennsylvania’s Hulett machines for unloading ore looms beneath the span on the left. Since this picture was made, the Big Four has been reduced to single track over the three miles between Front Street and Clark Avenue, but it still retains its importance as an alternative route through a highly congested section of the Cleveland Terminal. Its principal users are mail shuttles between C.U.T. and East 26th Street, freight pullers between Collinwood, Rockport, and other yards in the terminal, and eastbound freights with stock to be set out at the stockyards, located along the Big Four near West 65th Street. In addition, it is used as an emergency bypass for trans normally operating via the Lakefront when the latter is blocked by passage of ships at the Cuyahoga bridge (this occurs especially during ore season).

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Oct-53

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trackage

245

Lakefront, Cleveland, OH

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