Sweet catch Donald! Do you think that could have been part of the Chicago Rail Link?
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You did get a Rock Island local freight. The Rock leased a couple of these CWP&S switch engines during the early 70's. They spent most of their time working pretty close to the Chicago area. The CWP&S itself was a switching road in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago that primarily served the big International Harvester plant there.
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Nice Picture! Look at the condition of the track in the right hand corner. Is that a main line? The poor conditions of the Railroads during that time period really shows.
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Looking closely at the tracks, it appears that the track running up in the photo has cut the upper two tracks running from left to right with no gaps. Also, it appears that these tracks show heat coloration as if they had been cut with a torch. These two tracks don't show any recent wear, so I wonder if they are abandoned? The closest track shows wear, but the crossing is out of the picture so you can see if it is the same way or not. All in all, an interesting set of diamonds.
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I will leave the track issue to the track experts. Close inspection leads me to strongly believe that the lower headlight lens is a "dirty" red light, which would only activate if the locomotive's engineer put his train into emergency brake application. The Illinois Central and other Chicago Area Railroads favored these lights. When meeting another train on adjoining tracks, and viewing a red light burning, indicated an emergency stop. The emergency stop could include derailed equipment, possibly fouling the track that your train is on. Requiring your train to stop as soon as possible, until it's determined to be safe to pass the train that went into Emergency. The Caterpillar Tractor, was probably built in Peoria, Illinois.
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