DLD Reference: 20150523 Joliet: VeteranS, CN/EJ&E Yard, Rock Island Lift Bridge, Union Depot Railfanning, Brandon Locks, EJ&E Bridge, Romeoville

In 2015, I did several trips to the Joliet area. Since I have a folder per trip, I sometimes have trouble find which folder a particular subject is in. So I'm going to start building these indexes of my Joliet trips.

Several times when I go across the I-355 Veterans Memorial Bridge, I take pictures of what is happening with the industries, canal, and railroads. In this case, while I was going south. Thus the "VeteranS" keyword in the title. The first picture is raw to show what I'm cropping from. For the rest of the photos, I include only the cropped pictures. Since I did crop them, that implies I did a posting with them. But I can't find one. I probably decided these are not good enough for a posting. Since I'm headed south on I-355, these views are looking southeast.

When I go to Joliet, I generally get off on US-6 so that I can stop and checkout what is in the CN/EJ&E yard. The pedestrian cross walk is on the south side so pictures to the south are through a chain-link fence and pictures to the north are over the road railing. I alternated back and forth to capture the movements of a train that was flat switching.

There is a locomotive still in orange EJ&E paint with a J in a green circle, two BN covered hoppers, a RailBox car, and a caboose on the left side of this picture. (There is a close up later on.)

The intermodal yard is on the right.

A switchman in a yellow-green vest has uncoupled the tank car.

I guess I was using the LCD screen so that I could hold the camera higher and try to get more of the yard that is under the bridge.

The tank car has rolled in front of the the BN hoppers.

I also caught a northbound CN train.

I spotted the BN cars and zoomed in as far as my 28-55 lens would go. I wasn't going to walk back to the car for my telephoto since there was some activity in the yard to catch.

And because a 32M camera lets me digitally zoom pretty far. The J-ball engine is on the left, the BN cars in front, the caboose is in the back right and the extended height RailBox is to the left of the caboose.

If you look back at the picture with a switchman, a white covered hopper was next in the cut being classified.

It came to a stop next to the two cars on an adjacent track.

The engines of the CN train have progressed to the north throat of the yard. (At camera resolution)

I walked to the east to get an angle shot of the CN engines so that I can get the numbers later: 5487, 5732, and 2890. The middle one is an example of "weathering."

Note that the through intermodal train is on the track in the foreground.

A sample of the intermodal containers passing through and there is another covered hopper rolling down the classification track. (It is just to the right of the yellow boxcar.)

The time stamp above is 8:32:18 and the time stamp below is 8:34:30. So the hopper came to a rest where it appears and the train has stopped.

So I took another shot to the north to document that there is a lot more left of the intermodal train.

And then moved on to the next part of my plan for the day --- take pictures of the Metra/Rock Island bridge from a green area to gets views of the other side.

The park has a military gun on display.

I'm now at the Union Depot. I tried to get a better shot of the diamonds by leaning over the rail. I still can't do these shots vertically. (I have some tilted shots from dam sites as well.)

Gimp can rotate it, but I would have to crop out too much to make it a rectangle again. I need to remember to try for this shot again.

Notice the old signals are turned. The new signals are further down the track. They are doing serious construction down there because they have three excavators. May 23 was a Saturday. (I always go on the weekend because of parking.)

Note the diamonds have been replaced and the ballast needs more work.

UD Tower and Metra's new platform

Since there were no trains in sight, I went under the Jefferson underpass to document the difference between BNSF/Santa Fe and UP/GM&O construction. The grey on the left is BNSF, the rusty on the right is UP.

Steel has gotten stronger because the obviously older UP tracks use deeper girders...

...than the obviously newer BNSF tracks use. But the girder is old enough that it is rusting already.

Note the new column supports. It looks like UP is getting ready to replace its overpass.

The blue plates are where they fasten the prefabricated diamonds to the regular track.

You normally can't get this close to a diamond. This should be a state-of-art diamond since it is new.

There are murals and signs on the south embankment of the Metra/Rock Island.

Back on the platform, a Metra train arrives (headlights on)...

...and then leaves (red marker lights on).

Still can't do a leaning over a rail shot.

Another view that more ballast work is needed on the installation of the new diamond.

Amtrak train arriving. Note the people on the new Amtrak platform. And the need for more ballast work.

Still arriving: 10:35:46

10:36:28 At the "depot." I have taken pictures of the "Amshack" on other trips.

10:36:54 Moved the train because the platform is short.

10:39:12 Here comes a northbound (timecard east) train.

10:41:08 Still loading.

Oh neat, the northbound has Fallen Flags, and it is a mixed freight. I seldom see mixed freights on the transcon.

And it is going to skunk the Amtrak train.

Note the railing because it is no longer a train station. More than once we had to do the public service of asking people which train they were expecting and explain how to get to the Amshack or Metra station. There is no signage explaining how to get to the replacements.

I try to take pictures of all of the cars in a freight train. I used to carefully count the type of each kind of car.

But the mixed is going to get skunked by plain old pumpkins and intermodal train.

Closeups so I can get the numbers if I want to look up what type of locomotives they are.

Recording that this train has lots of pigs instead of stacks.

I noticed there was a caboose on the end of the mixed freight so I wasted a lot of electrons in the hope that I could get something of it.

My uncle, Doug Weitzman, is in town which is why I'm at Union Depot.

This is a crop of the above that I posted on Facebook.

10:44:54 The Amtrak is departing.

This 3-pack was the only stacks in that train.

10:50:00 EOT

11:51:34 About an hour later, another intermodal comes through.

This one has stacks.

I made a short video to catch the sound of the banging of the diamonds and to get a feel for the speed: https://youtu.be/mnkqzz9l6us

https://youtu.be/aggm7O5rRRk

Wasn't worth uploading because it was redundant. It did document the end of the train a little after what I assume is its start time: 11:56:14

This is the view after the intermodal cleared the area.

Note there are a couple of Metras with old engines parked on the connector track.

11:56:56 A eastbound Amtrak is coming.

11:57:28 But an intermodal is going to skunk it.

https://youtu.be/jy0LxtuGMSs

A screenshot from the last frame since You Tube replaces it with more videos to watch. Four tains in one frame: intermodal in front, Amtrak on the left, new Metra at platform, and old Metra on connector track.

The stacks turn to pigs.

The pigs let me see the Metra loading passengers.

Wasn't worth uploading because it was redundant.

And then containers on plain old flatcars!? Did BNSF run out of deep-well cars?

The intermodal has passed so we have a clear view of the passenger activity. Notice the old Metra on the connector track has left.

12:01:08 And another Amtrak arrives.

A catch of the hodgepodge of stuff at the end of the last intermodal.

This is getting close to camera resolution.

Amtrak loading

Metra departing. Lots of smoke, must not be a Tier 4 engine. But this should be just turbolag, and it should clean up when the train reaches track speed.

I guess I'm noting the clouds that are beginning to come in.

Things got slow at UD, so, as a favor to Doug and his friends, I left to check out what was happening at the dam because we all know that as soon as you leave a place, the trains will come. Sure enough, at the Patterson Road crossing, an intermodal came by on the BNSF tracks.

A train is parked on the UP overpass of Brandon Road.

Oh joy, the drawbridge was up, so that means there is some action at the lock.

First, a shot back at the dam. I believe we had been having lots of rain and that this is a heavy flow.

I'm headed to the access road on the left to turn around and park on the other shoulder.

I walked to the bridge and first took a shot downstream to catch the two power plants.

The bridge was up for a while as the tow backed out of the lock. It is a big tow and it has left its front part in the lock. This rear part is backing downstream so that the bridge can go back down while the front part is locked through. The bridge is up a long time because they have to untie the tow.

It looks like they are going to do some repair work because they have stockpiled some materials.

https://youtu.be/Pg8aGwalnvM At the end they locked the bridge and let traffic flow a lot faster than many drawbridges that I have watched. Some bridges spend almost as much time locking as it took to lower the leaf. Maybe he could do a fast lock because he had already lowered the leaf over the barge that did not have covers.

Since they needed to refill the lock to get the first part of the tow through, I took a lunch break.

But first, if you watched the video you would have heard a train whistle. So I walked east to get closer to the BNSF tracks (crossing gates) and the UP tracks (overpass).

They have parking along this road because of the fishermen. Once again their fishing license fees builds infrastructure that makes it easier to access bridges and dams.

Zooming in, I see the UP coal (ballast?) train is parked and the BNSF train is westbound and number 7164.

Just the long hoods of both engines, cant see a number.

Number 7893.

It is a vehicle train.

We see the second part of the tow waiting downstream for its turn to go through the lock.

You won't see any pictures of the first part going up and out because I have not figured out how to get authorized by the commander.

While looking for some food in an industrial area, I found this. There is more info in a posting.

After grabbing a sandwich and drink, I headed back to the dam by going south on Larkin Ave.

As I crossed the bridge, the tow was basically as I had left it.

I went down the access road to get another view of the tow.

I grabbed my canvas chair and ate lunch by the lock.

1:42:38 This is the start of letting the water out.

While trying to figure out if I have already posted this video, I found a flow study video. I deleted this one because it was rather redundant.

Another westbound BNSF train, engine number 7577.

7997

?825

5825

5277

4984

4545

number covered by trees

the number was 7960

4533

Empty deep well

1:43pm Empty deep wells,

https://youtu.be/6nRG_Vdc5FM Notcie the water in the whole canal has become turbulent.

1:45pm Train is gone. That trains must have been an equipment repositioning. I don't think you need 9 engines to pull a bunch of empties!

Now an eastbound BNSF intermodal train. I didn't take a lot of pictures of it because I wanted to get back to the lock action.

I deleted this one also because of the redundancy

redundant, did not upload

https://youtu.be/wUJGIYfN7t0, a tractor pulling a 32-row corn planter

2:02:12pm Another eastbound BNSF train is interrupting my lock watching. 6677

4379

It is a vehicle train.

2:03:46 Looks like the lock is getting empty. The water is not flowing very fast.

2:04:18 The end of the vehicle train.

2:15:22 The gates opened. I didn't get a video because I was on the other side of a rather busy road.

https://youtu.be/WlwsO6_42nM the bridge going up

https://youtu.be/v-V9merFeu8 The towboat passing by

https://youtu.be/mFGauYRjzas the gates closing

On my way home the US-6+52 drawbridge was going up. This was taken while I was waiting at a stop sign to turn right onto the road.

I pulled into a parking lot to take pictures.

The camera would not take more than a second of video. I think I was low on battery. Video hogs the battery because you have to use the LCD screen. I was in a race to get to the bridge before the towboat did. I was afraid I would loose that race so a grabbed a shot in a gap of a security fence.

I went back to the Union Depot area to look for my uncle, starting with the Amtrak platform. And I arrived just in time for a westbound train.

While it set there loading, I walked south along Mayor Art Schultz Drive to catch the construction activity.

Since it had the double-high cars, this is probably the one that goes to Texas. It had to stop twice. Once to load the front cars and then again to load the rear cars. This Street View was taken in 2013 before they closed the street and made it pedestrian only.

Framed by the supports for the connector track.

Framed by the Rock Island overpass

The train is moving again.

Most people don't bother to take the east side of the UD Tower.

I discovered the head end of a trail to the old Joliet Iron Works ruins. But doing that trail was for another day. July 2, 2016 to be exact.

I turned on Bluff Street to see what was happening with the BNSF Bridge over I&M Canal and...

...the CN/EJ&E Bridge over Des Plaines and...

...the Ruby Street Bridge over Des Plaines.

The railfan curse of a neat train (the Warbonet paint scheme engine) but too much vegetation to catch it.

The trees skunked the engine number in both pictures.

An oil train on the CN/EJ&E overpass.

I also generally park at the trailhead for Centennial Trail and check out the action by the 135th Street Bridge.

A tow with a variable height pilot house was heading upstream. So I took pictures of it as I continued to (briskly) walk up the bridge until I got above the canal.

I noticed that they were doing quite a bit of construction at the CITGO refinery. I won't zoom in because I learned in the 1970s, long before 9/11, that some are paranoid about pictures.

My reason for stopping hear is that I had read that NRG was going to quit burning coal at this power plant. The were going to shut down the older, smaller units and convert a big one to gas. The conversion will halve their labor force because they don't need the workers that handle the coal. I was expecting to take pictures of an empty pile.