To Acme – by bus

Many cold winter mornings at Acme, early on Saturdays, as I’d be deep in documents, hands blackened with coal/coke dust and then…..a peculiar sound. Instinctively, I’d hold my breath, then creep to the window and peer out, like a scared animal ready to defend itself. Only to find – a bus.

CTA bus #71 terminates at a stop labeled ‘112th/Torrence’ in the schedule. It is a U-shaped turnaround, just north of the gate house, and just adjacent to the old Chicago & Western Indiana railroad tracks. I can only imagine how many thousands of riders disembarked here up until 21 years ago, taking the bus to work. I had long wanted to, but when I took a look at the route, I saw that it was not the same bus I’d often see on Baltimore Ave. in Hegewisch (that’s #30). So unfortunately, I’d never really have a practical reason to ride this bus and commute to ‘work’. But if practicality were that critical, I’d find myself somewhere besides the coke plant on my weekends.

I’m always looking for a new adventure so I thought about where I might pick up this bus on my way down to 11236. I noticed 71st Street and thought about the Lakeshore Path, which runs for 18 miles thorough downtown and just past Marquette/67th where it peters out around the South Shore Golf Course. Now this was shaping up!

I could get downtown, then ride the 10 miles from the loop to 71st, and jump on the bus. The South Shore Line could take me back to downtown, and another Metra ride back home after that. Getting from the plant back to Hegewisch would be a hefty walk but there are now Divvy stations at 106th and also at 127th which is quite a reasonable jaunt by foot. So after a teeth gritting week at work, I made it somehow to Friday morning so I could burn one of my nearly infinite vacation days and head out.

I got on the North Central Metra to downtown around 8:30am and was at Union Station less than a half hour later. A brisk walk to LSD came after and I launched my e-bike down the empty Lakeshore Path in a hell of a hurry. I returned the bike at the station at 71st and South Shore Drive, then took a few minutes longer than I should have needed to sort out my bearings before I found Exchange and walked to 73rd. And 10 minutes later my bus arrived.

There weren’t many riders and after about 95th the few passengers were gone. From 106th south, I stood up front looking out the windshield and hardly able to believe I had pulled this off. I made it to the plant by 11am – only about 2 1/2 hours after I left my home.

I wandered into the storehouse to have a snack and glance around. I found a 1993 union agreement. This is an excellent historical document and a great counterpart to the 1986 agreement I have referenced before. The format of this one is different – it is much, much thicker. It is missing about the first 20 pages and the cover has separated from the binding. It is specific to ‘Chicago Plant’ which refers specifically to the coke plant. The 1986 agreement is not site specific. It gives me the wage table for 1993 and 1995 and I will be adding this data to the study of wages at the plant I published some time ago. I have never found a single relic, document or otherwise, in the storehouse which once again goes to show, never stop looking. You never know what you’ll find. Best of all is the backcover which has a close up photograph of the famous ‘HAVE A SAFE WORK DAY’ mural at the furnace plant.

‘The Story of Coke and Coal Chemicals’ is a great read from Koppers, probably written in the early to mid 1960s. I found a copy months ago and scanned it. I had found more and more copies and continued to stash them for a later date. Today was that day and I grabbed the six copies I had waiting for me. I’ll gift these to some unlucky family and friends who have had to listen to my stories of the plant. Maybe this will help them understand more about what this place was like. I think it will, it is written in a very accessible style, devoid of all technical aspects.

I wandered a long while and spent about 90 minutes at the plant. It was satisfying to feel that familiar relaxation wash over me. I was sure I’d see someone on such a warm, perfect day but I seemed to be all alone. I did not enter the coal bunker after some thought just poked around at the wreckage SW of there, in it’s epic heaps of bricks, tires and barrels.

In a day full of smaller journeys, my favorite (the bus ride was a close second) was the walk down Torrence, over the river, and to my Divvy that I enjoyed the most. What a ton of garbage! I’ll admit to having a closer look at a few bits and pieces. This was a good portion of the 16,000 steps I logged in about an 8 hour period.

There are two ways to handle the logistics of a trip like this. You can study the train and bus schedules and set a concrete itinerary. I prefer not to because these are days that I am here to enjoy! Not rush around looking at my watch. So I prefer not to look at all until I decide I’d like to move onto the next stage of the adventure. I did the same when I woke up in the morning. I made coffee and got dressed and packed my bag – and THEN I checked the schedule. After picking up my bike, I rode 4 miles around Hegewisch then eventually got down to Baltimore Foods for a bite to eat. When I got back outside I was ready to head to Mann Park for a relaxing (albeit late) lunch. I decided for some reason at that moment to check the South Shore Line schedule. I saw that I had two options – a train in about 15 minutes (bear in mind I am only about 3 blocks away) or 2 hours. I made the spur of the moment decision to head out.

I sped back on my bike and deposited in the rack at the station and climbed the steps to the platform. At this point my only regret is that due to the still active mask mandates (I have been vaccinated now for about 3 months), I can’t eat my meager sandwich on the train. But then I checked and saw that it was running about 20 minutes late! And the bench there on the elevated platform was the best seat in the house to enjoy my corned beef and watch the SSL tow a freight train toward Hammond.

I caught a 3 mile bike ride to kill time downtown, as part of a slow commute from Millennium Station back to Union. And 8 hours after I left, I was back my neighborhood. And with all the things I saw and did on such a wild adventure I am left with a singular thought – I can’t wait to do it all again. And I shall – soon!