The IHB is the largest beltline railroad in the United States.  It stretches forty miles from the NW suburbs of Chicago, IL, to Gary, IN, and has three major yards: the Michigan Avenue yard in East Chicago, IN, serving the steel industry; the Gibson Yard in Hammond, IN, switching auto racks exclusively; and the heart of the IHB, the Blue Island Hump Yard in Riverdale, IL, with 44 tracks where 1700 cars per day are humped.

Sixty percent of the IHB’s business consists of service to local customers in NW Indiana and Chicago, with half of that being steel-related.  The other 40% is serving to connect other railroads.

The first 50 minutes of this video is dedicated to the IHB, leaving very little time for the Belt Railway of Chicago.  Since the IHB is the largest beltline railway in the U.S., it is appropriate that so much of this video involved the telling of their story.

This is a very good video for anyone interested in the operation of a beltline railway.  Yours truly will never understand why so many RR videos are produced without maps, and this one falls into that category.  It would have been nice to see where we were at any given time in relation to Downtown Chicago and in relation to other locations covered in this video.

In summary, this is a very good in-depth look at the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad that could have been even better with the use of maps.