Another Big Hook Picture

Bob Albertson sends us another fascinating picture of a C&NW big hook at work, this time at West Chicago:

Here's another picture of a C&NW big hook in action.  This picture was taken by Terry Bodine's father in 1952 on the wye near the stock yards in West Chicago. One guy working the hook and 11 supervising on the ground.

4-8-4 # 3035 went on the ground and hook 6359 is re-railing it.  Terry told me the big 4-8-4's were just too big for the wye and derailed with some frequency.

(Terry grew up in West Chicago, worked at the stockyards there, and provided much of the information in the 2019 (issue 260) R&W article on the West Chicago Stockyards.)

Bob Albertson