‘History’ Archives

Life at Southtown: Railroad Shop Kinks

By JOHN ANDERSON Kinks are not just twisted things, or the name of a British Invasion rock group from the 1960s. Over a century ago in the railcar maintenance world, a kink was workshop slang for an ingenious solution to a difficult problem, a hack, if you will.The former Milwaukee Road Southtown Yards, a giant, state-of-the-art train maintenance center that was located just east of Hiawatha Avenue and north of E Lake Street, likely implemented some of the best kinks of the time. Interior of an early 20th Century machine shop. Photo Credit: J. Fred Williamson Ltd. Among other facilities, Southtown Yards had a large machine shop. Steampunk fans might easily imagine how it looked at the turn of the 20th century. Machines were driven by a system of line shafts, belts, and pulleys. A line shaft was a rod that spun through power from a motor located in the powerhouse. Line shafts running from the powerhouse were buried underground enroute to the shop; inside, they were hung from [...]