Conrail GP15-1 1676 rests between runs at Interlake Steel Corporation's South Chicago Ironmaking Works. Located along the Calumet River's eastern bank, Interlake produced coke and iron at South Chicago. The molten iron was then transported 10 rail miles southwest to suburban Riverdale, where the Basic Oxygen Furnaces and finishing mills were located. The trains originated at South Chicago, then went south on the Calumet River Branch (PRR) to Bernice Jct., where they went around the wye to head northwestward on the PRR Panhandle (PCC&StL) to Riverdale. Later, the trains went south to Calumet Park Tower into the yard located there, then ran around and headed westward on the Indiana Harbor Belt to 'DU' Tower in Dolton, where they used the Panhandle to Riverdale.
The bottle trains still operate, although everything around the unit pictured is now gone. Interlake spun off the steelmaking division to Acme Steel, which went bankrupt in 2001. Its assets were acquired by ISG, which sold them to Arcelor Mittal, which operates the plant in Riverdale today. The blast furnaces at South Chicago were demolished. Today, the molten iron is produced at Indiana Harbor in East Chicago, IN.
