Make no mistake, for some of us local railfans in general, and Chicago rail history in particular, the loss of Deval tower is tough. For those unfamiliar, it was an important location in its CNW heyday, as it funneled over 100 trains a day from three routes through a three-way crossing, with the lion's share of the passenger traffic running on the triple-track Harvard sub, supplemented by plenty of freight traffic on CNW's double track "new line" (known today as UP's Milwaukee sub), and the single track Soo line (known today as CN's Waukesha sub). Ownership of the tower changed in 1995 when CNW was absorbed into UP, then the tower was damaged by fire in 2005, and decommissioned, with operations moving to CY tower located about 100 yards east of Metra's Clybourn station. It has been said that UP had already been planning to close Deval and remote the operation elsewhere (perhaps to Omaha) as had been done with Mayfair several years earlier; when its operations had also been moved to CY tower, but I could never confirm that.
Deval tower, like so many other parts of rail history, is just another victim of progress. I don't know whether that's good or bad, I'll leave that question open for greater minds to ponder. But to me, Deval isn't dead. Not at all. Like the many other departed artifacts of yesteryear, it will live on forever in pictures, from the internet to private, unpublished collections, and in memories for those of us old enough to have them. Whatever your railfanning preference is, please make note items of historical significance that are still with us, and would be of some importance to you for preservation, whether through pictures, paintings, or printed journals. Because the sad, cautionary tale of Deval's unexpected demolition simply reinforces the fact that nothing is forever, and everything can't be preserved...
--Dorian--