On the east side of Joliet around the turn of the century, and in the heyday of railroads, there were four rail yards within one mile of each other.
The Elgin Joliet & Eastern, The Michigan Central, The Illinois, Iowa & Minnesota and The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. Today there's one left, the EJ&E, (now CN) the rest are long gone and Ironically two of them became junk yards. The Rock Island yard, (one of the
junk yards) still has some of the remnants left if you look close, like the sanding towers, the original engine house, and a rail or two. like this section from 1913
All those shots of interesting railroad details, what you see trackside, up close and personal! Excludes shots going into my other albums: "Engine Details," "Signal Details," and "Switchstand Shots."