Hi I would like to know just how busy Eola yard is, I might go rail fan there, so where is the best place to go and rail fan in the area? Finally is it a location where I could get yelled at by the BNSF police? Please let me know thank you. And I hope you all had a very happy holiday’s.
The railfans all hang out where McClure Road used to cross the tracks. The crossing is gone, and the “parking lot” has to be approached from the south.
It almost sounds like you want to get yelled at by BNSF police! The easiest way to do that is to go elsewhere away from public streets.
No I am not interested in being yelled at by the BNSF police, I was just wondering where the best place to rail fan around Eola yard is and if it is a location where people have been yelled at by the BNSF police.
Carl’s description of where to park for your Eola yard railfan experience is right on target. The only way you’re likely to get yelled at by BNSF or local/county police is if you venture too far from the “parking lot” Carl describes above. When you turn right (east) from McClure Road into the “parking lot” you will want to park just to the right of the “roadway” which will be about fifty yards back from the tracks. The “parking lot” will easily accomodate twenty or more railfan cars but there is/was a sign just about a hundred yards into the “parking lot” that warms potential tresspassers not to proceed as they are going onto BNSF property beyond…do not go there! Also, you are very likely to get into trouble if you go beyond the “new” barriers that are where the McClure Road crossing used to be or venture within ten or so feet of the tracks. I have seen crews “scold” folks for doing so as the crews get plenty nervous as there are lots of trains and switching movements along that yard lead and nobody wants injuries or worse. The scolding seems to get worse when there are children around (more likely in the warmer weather) with their parents and the parents don’t keep an eye on their children! All that aside, Eola can be a VERY busy spot on the “racetrack” as it was yesterday when I was there. I like to go in the early afternoon…say about 1:15 or so and watch the four Amtrak California trains (#'s 3, 4, 5 and 6) come in and out of Chicago. The first comes in at about 1:45 and the last is westbound through Eola at about 3:30. In between you can and usualluy do see lots of freights in both directions, coal trains galore and tons of switching moves…not to mention the “dinkies” of Metra in both directions (these get extremely frequent after about 4:00 p.m. until about 6:30). Enjoy your experience and if you happen to be out at Eola and see a black 2010 Ford Taurus, come on over and say hello…it will likely be me (on Monday afternoon I met Copc
Sounds good! I haven’t been there in years. The last time I did any trainspotting along the BNSF was when 261 was running.
I, too, have met some of the nicest railfans at Eola.
(I’m wondering whether Metra wishes they’d kept and expanded their station at Eola instead of closing it.)
Carl, where was the Metra station at Eola and when was it closed? Did it exist since the formation of Metra or was it closed before? Thanks.
I have CB&Q and BN suburban timetables that show no passenger stops between Naperville and Aurora with times at Eola shown in parentheses for trains that originated or terminated at Naperville. Based on that data, a passenger stop at Eola has not existed since at least 1968.
I thought I recalled that one existed in the early1970s, and was closed as one of the earliest things RTA did (MILW had one at Spaulding that was closed at about the same time). It may never have been much more than a flag stop (if such things existed in commuter service), I never encountered it in real life, but suspect that it would have been at Eola Road instead of McClure. I was just musing at that because of the way Eola has grown, and how overcrowded both Naperville and Route 59 have become.
I think it was a flag stop at Eola Rd. (now called Old Eola Rd.). I recall driving there in the early 60’s with my Dad to watch one of the Q’s steam locomotives pass.
Hello,
Here’s some information that I found regarding a station at Eola (IL).
http://web.me.com/willvdv/chirailfan/schedule.html
I posted the link to the entire site because it’s an interesting site of old suburban Chicago commuter schedules. It’s a bit hard to read and I had to zoom in to read some of the old station names that I wasn’t familiar with.
If you page-down to the Burlington Route / Burlington Northern, you will find three old schedules for 1938, 1957 and 1971. A flag-stop for Eola is listed on the timetables for 1938 and 1957. There is something - very hard to read - on the schedule for 1971. West something(?) (no passengers)
CC.
@Chris30: Thanks for the link. It’s useful. It says “West Main (no passengers).”
Wow, back when those timetables were published Eola was truly a sleepy little burb with very few homes in the vicinity, but NOW I’ll bet with the lack of sufficient parking at the Route 59 and Aurora stations they could attract quite a few riders from the Eola area, especially if the parking lots were sufficient (there is sufficient land here to build such a lot). Hmmmmm,I wonder if I will be around long enough to see such a thing happen???
Eola has long been a splendid place for railfanning – as a model railroader I particularly like it as a destination after going to the monthly swap meet in Wheaton.
While I certainly see the reasons why they shut down the grade crossing, for photography purposes the railfan location is good for morning shots but by afternoon we used to walk over to the other side – particularly on very sunny days. If they are now preventing even pedestrian crossing that would put a crimp in afternoon photography except on cloudy days.
Quiet times are pretty rare at Eola but when there is one, there used to be industrial trackage that passed through the railfan parking area. You can still make out various gates and bridges to the south.
Dave Nelson
Quite right Dave…the old industrial trackage remnent(s) in our “parking lot” are hard to see if you’re not specifically looking for them, and at the same time easy to “find” if you’re not careful where you drive as more than one of us have ended up with flat tires due to one piece of rail being cut and sticking out of the roadway surface by about two inches at one point. Those of us who are frequent visitors know well of this hazard but I mention it here for those of you who are infrequent visitors. About a year and a half back, someone (BNSF, the City of Aurora or the owners of the freight terminal to the east) resurfaced the “roadway” leading to the freight terminal and for a while this little piece of rail was hidden below the road surface by the new asphalt but eighteen months of truck and car traffic has already worn down the road surface and the little piece of rail is now an issue again.
We have one of our group who frequents Eola yard who also drives a snow plow (I won’t mention his name of employer’s name for his protection) and a few years back he was good enough to come by in the winter and plow out two or three spo