I checked out railfanning
along Hazel Ave. where I could see action on both the IHB and BNSF/CB&Q. Looking south we have the IHB tracks on our left and the BNSF tracks on the overpass.
This is the view of the IHB from the same location looking north.
2:52 An inbound/eastbound Amtrak. The low passenger cars indicate it should be the Illinois Zephyr or Carl Sandburg,
which go to Quincy, IL. But the time is not right for it to be coming
from Quincy.
I found it difficult to capture the Amtrak and express commuters because the speed limit for passenger trains on the Racetrack (Aurora to Union Station) is 70mph. They blow through that little window of visibility very quickly. Also, I'm surprised how quietly some of the trains run through here. Obviously, there is no crossing gate to give me a heads up that something is coming.
2:52 I need to take two pictures of commuters to record the direction because the engine is always on the outbound (west) side.. It looks like it is on the close (north, M1) track, so it would be outbound since BNSF was operating with normal track usage today (outbound on M1, freights and expresses on M2, and inbound on M3).
3:09 southbound (timecard eastbound) UP. Probably going from
Proviso to
Clearing Yard since it is a mixed (merchandise) freight
I generally take a picture of each locomotive to make sure I get the number.
UP #5998 AC4400CW built 9-10/03
UP #4423 SD70M built 12/00-8/01
An advantage of digital is that you can afford to shoot early and often...
...and with different focal lengths. Since I shoot for web postings where I can digitally zoom in, I use a 18-55mm zoom lens.
Two bays on the hoppers, so it is probably either sand or cement. I'm doing just a sampling of reporting marks to get a feel for what kind of car leasing companies are out there.
CRDX CHICAGO FREIGHT CAR LEASING CO,. [CENTRAL WEST REFRIGERATOR DESPATCH]
MCEX +MIDWEST RAILCAR CORP. (MIDWEST RAILCAR CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP.)
CEFX THE CIT GROUP/CAPITAL FINANCE INC [TRANSPORTATION CORP. OF AMERICA]
This train had more boxcars than is typical for BSNF. I don't know if this is typical for UP because I haven't seen to many of their trains. And mixed freights are rather rare for both because they normally run unit trains, including intermodal, on their mainlines to the west.
DSIX DOWELL SCHLUMBERGER INC.
Taking some close ups of the Fallen Flag NYC because that paint looks new for a railroad that has been gone since the 1970s.
I was careful to stand on the other side of the big power pole to keep it out of the pictures. But looking at the closeups of freight cars, I see I have a problem with its shadow.
The first waffle-side boxcar I have noticed.
Another cut of sand or cement.
AOKX GREENBRIER MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC
SMW ST. MARYS RAILWAY WEST LLC
RailBox has become rather rare. And running with a door open is now very rare.
The
placard on the PROCOR white tanker is
1010: Butadienes and hydrocarbon mixture, stabilized 116P
DBUX THE CIT GROUP/CAPITAL FINANCE INC.
3:12 In this case we can tell from the blowing smoke that it is outbound. It must be an express because otherwise it would be slowing down for the
La Grange station just a little west of here.
I have moved to the
Shawmut Ave crossing. This is looking south with the BNSF overpass in the distance and the power pole I was trying to keep out of the pictures on the right.
Looking north from the crossing. I see there is
a little yard. Is this for interchange traffic with BNSF or does IHB still have some line side industries in the area that it serves? I see there is a cut of tankers and loaded coal cars. I count 25 coal cars. This is a real surprise because I thought coal traffic was now unit trains between a mine and a power station or coke plant. The many coal docks that used to exist for supplying residents and small business with coal to heat their buildings have been gone for decades.
The cut of coal cars was hiding a second cut of tankers.
A combination of two crossovers, a yard turnout, and the turnout for the connector to the BSNF. All of these turnouts have heaters and have been powered for remote dispatching. The turnout for the yard lead that the coal cars are on is also powered and heated. In the background is a cantilevered signal bridge with "darth vader" targets so the signalling has been upgraded for PTC.
Looking south we see the connector track has a little stub spur branching off of it. Note that money was also used to heat and remotely control this turnout.
It would probably be less work for the MoW driver if he could manually control the turnout rather than have to coordinate with a dispatcher. I doubt they use this stub if it is snowing. Judging from the prongs in front of this equipment, this is a tamper to work on non-straight rail such as turnouts and diamonds.
Is the thing on the front bumper of the Lift-All a Hi-Rail attachment?
3:21 westbound Amtrak, locomotive #19
locomotive #46
The Amtrak train has Superliner cars, so it is going to either Oakland or Los Angeles. The Southwest Chief (Los Angeles) and California Zephyr (Oakland) take separate routes in Galesburg, IL.
3:23
3:23 inbound commuter. I can tell it is inbound because of the smoke. It is probably a local that is pushing hard because it is still accelerating from its stop at the La Grange station.
3:26 BNSF #6824 ES44C4 built 9-11/11
BNSF #6996 ES44C4 built 2-6/12
BNSF #8179 ES44C4 built 1-11/14
BNSF #5519 C44-9W built 8/04
BNSF #3968 ET44C4 (Tier 4) built 2015 Since this is Tier 4, the paint job should be fresh. When the sun comes out, this dark (north) side of trains looks really dark. So being on the dark side and having a small window to catch the action makes this a bad place for real BNSF railfans. But it is good for me to collect data on when and what type of trains are running on the tracks.
Five locomotives pulling an intermodal. That means that it must be a hot intermodal and that it will spend part of its trip on someone else's track. I read that four locomotives are needed and the fifth is a spare in case one breaks down on the foreign road. They are not going to jeopardize the delivery schedule of a hot intermodal just because a locomotive quit working. This is one reason they charge a premium for the service. Another reason would be that they make all other trains wait in sidings for it to pass. Fortunately, BNSF has two tracks so neither Amtrak or hot intermodal trains need to yield to the other. I have ridden an Amtrak train to Denver where we were moved to the left track so that we could pass a freight that was going in the same direction.
It is domestic 53' containers instead of international 40' containers. We don't see many international containers on the former CB&Q, they are on the former Santa Fe.
We still see piggyback cars.
The CB&Q trains typically are not packed as tightly as the Santa Fe intermodals. Well-packed intermodal trains improves the
aerodynamics and reduces fuel consumption.
3:28
3:40 I got two pictures so that I know it is a westbound commuter.
3:40 It could have been an express. They blow through here real fast.
3:44 northbound (timecard westbound) UP
#8872 SD70AH built 1-7/14
#5005 SD70M built 8-12/02
#5016 SD70M built 8-12/02
More sand or cement. Looking in this direction with uniform height cars, it looks like IHB had to dig down under the overpass in order to get clearance for double stacks and trilevel autoracks.
So it is not just banks that own freight cars. Halliburton would indicate not only that it is sand, but that it is fraking sand.
HWCX HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC. [HALLIBURTON OIL WELL CEMENTING CO.]
AOKX GREENBRIER MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC
You don't see a company's name on GATX leased tank cars very often anymore
I went back to the eastbound UP and looked at the springs of some of the sand cars. They were compressed. These are uncompressed. So they are running loaded to the east and empties back west.
The brown ones are CMHX --- CMHX CARMATH INC.
Lots of sand today.
3:47
We don't see too many cantrails in the sky because planes around here are landing at ether O'Hare or Midway.
3:57 eastbound intermodal
BNSF #7138 ES44C4 built 3-9/13
BNSF #386x ET44C4 (Tier 4) built 2015
It has some international 40' containers
4:00
4:01:50 smoke indicates westbound. This commuter almost skunked the end of the intermodal train.
4:02:00 Given the engine was pulling hard enough to emit smoke and that the smoke was blowing back, I'd say this was an express. Locals would be just generating power for the cars because they are slowing down for the train station just west of here.
After 4:00, BNSF should run just commuters until 7:00, which is boring, so I headed east along the tracks looking for depots of which to take pictures. To my surprise, I found some freight cars. So I stopped and took some pictures. See
Congress Park Yard for more info.
I saw
a neat old bulding.
So I turned north on Maple Avenue so that I could take some more pictures of it.
I deliberately zoomed out and included too much foreground so that I could avoid tilting the camera backwards. If I were to use it in a regular blog post, I would crop the bottom off. (I would also rotate this one counter-clockwise a little.) This trick of too much foreground for tall objects is a cheap, easy way to reduce the
Keystone Effect since I can easily crop pictures with Microsoft's Paint.
I did not notice the clouds "radiating" from the water tower top until after I uploaded the pictures.
I took this picture to catch the "train" cars in the playground. I guess I went with a wide angle shot to record the location of the play ground as just north of the "neat building."
As I approach
Brookfield Station, an eastbound commuter is pulling in.
4:18
It was in the station long enough that I could get parked and get out to grab some pictures.
4:19
A view of the intersection where four different streets meet.
Zoo stop. Note the zebra stripes on the handrail. There are paintings of animals on the pillars of the pavilion, but they would always be on the dark side. It would take some work to get them exposed properly.
4:36 As I arrive at
Harlerm Avenue, a train is unloading
4:37 If I were to use this photo, I'd crop the bottom off to get rid of my shadow.
4:51 I noticed a headlight in the distance to the West.
4:52 It is getting closer.
4:53 It is on the middle track, so it was an inbound return since this is the outbound rush hour.
4:53 After I crossed the tracks at Harlem to go back to the van, I stopped because an inbound local arrived...
4:53 ...and left.
4:53 I saw the headlight of another train far to the west and decided to wait for it.
4:55 And soon one is coming from the East.
4:55 It is still far to the West.
An express blows through...
...town on M1.
It occurred to me to take a picture to check for loose spikes. The tie just past the new black one has a loose spike.
4:59 Another outbound is coming, but I really don't remember why I took this picture.
4:59 That inbound is also still coming. This is also a textbook example of why you should not take a picture while facing a low sun. Fortunately, the headlight shines through when you zoom in.
A better exposure when I keep the sun out of the frame. It is getting closer. Below I digitally zoom in.
I can see three signal bridges in this view. What surprises me is that the track is not level. And we see another Metra locomotive blowing dark smoke.
 |
| At camera resolution |
5:00 The outbound is getting closer.
Both trains will blow by the station.
I'm soon going to get a "meet" shot.
Taking pictures early and often.
Both locomotives are significant "smokers."
5:02 And both trains become "dots."
5:03 But then I spotted an outbound headlight on M2. So it will also be an express.
So four commuters came through after I had crossed the tracks to go back to my car.
5:12 I then moved on to the next station that I could find, which was Berwyn.
The Willis/Sears tower (and shadows) make it easy to determine that I'm looking East.
5:14 I had to wait only a couple of minutes before the first commuter arrived.
Another express that smoked, literally, through town.
It went through town faster than I could get in position for some decent shots. If you go back and look at the earlier Berwyn shots, you can see the commuter in the background. I was focused on the depot rather than the tracks since I have never been here before. That is why this commuter caught me by surprise.
5:16 I took this picture because in the background is a train on the CN/IC overpass.
Zooming in to better see the CN/IC train.
 |
| Zooming in on the above |
5:17 I have crossed the tracks to go back to my car but another outbound is coming.
Since it is an express on M2, I wait for it since it won't be a long wait.
5:17
Framing the town with the signal bridge and lamp post.
5:19 Lining that "framing" shot up was a long enough wait that another train is on its way. This time an inbound return. I ran back down to the platform to shoot the train.
These next two photos make me appreciate that I normally get level shots.
5:20
Traffic is on the move again. At least Harlem does not get tied up like Main Street in Downers Grove does during rush hour because in Downers most of the outbound trains stop. And it takes a while for the big crowds to get off.
5:20 The train is just a dot.
The eagle on top of the
Berwyn State Bank building caught my eye.
5:23 If I had waited a few more minutes at Berwyn, I would have got yet another outbound.
5:24 I did pull into a parking spot on Stanley Avenue to grab an inbound.
[lavergne label used in
Clyde Yard]
5:26 Then I parked at
LaVergne and got on the platform in time for this outbound, #205. I was more concerned with getting to the crossing so that I could get to the sunny side platform and didn't take any more pictures of this commuter.
5:30 Four minutes later there is another outbound.
I took another shot zoomed in (28-55), and I ended up with a shot where the train has an almost uniform "glow" (glare).
5:31 If you go back to the "5:16 zoomed" shot, you will see the CN train has not moved. I wonder why CN hasn't built a connection yet to the EJ&E it bought so that it can avoid going into Chicago like they planned. At least they don't have to worry about commuter traffic on this former-IC route to the west.
5:32 A track glint shot including crossovers? Actually, there is an inbound headlight on M3. I take these "the train is a dot" shots to get a time stamp rather than for the view. Unfortunately, the details panel in Windows file explorer does not include the seconds. And I'm too lazy to pop-up the properties panel for this general record.
Basically killing time and doing a resolution test. Can this be read when zoomed in? Yes.
5:33 The inbound comes....
...and goes.
I just got reminded that Lavergne is near the western throat of
Clyde Yard.
So I walk that way to get better views of the yard.
It occurred to me to frame the yard with the train.
6:36 Then I got skunked by another commuter :-)
5:37 But it too shall pass.
There is another commuter setting in the yard. Since it is on a curve, you can see more than just the headlight.
But my interest was to get to Ridgeland to cross the tracks to get more of the yard.
5:39 I might have taken a wide-angle on principle. But it appears to be just a waste of electrons.
5:40 Then I hear that outbound commuter roar to life
#112
5:41
5:43 And here comes another.
#198
I'm in the auto shop parking lot waking closer to Clyde Yard.
5:43
5:44 Note the yellow bar in the lower-left corner. I'm at the edge of BNSF property. My shutter then refuses to fire because of low battery. I have RTFM (Read The Fine Manual) more than once, but I have not been able to figure out how to override it for a few more shots. In this case it did not matter, because I would have taken several shots of basically the same scene if I did have more battery. And the real purpose of this trip that was close to home was to run out the batter so that I could do a full recharge. Plus I was running out of power. And obviously I was running out of sun on this mid October day.
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