I’m headed for an overnight trip to Galesburg in a couple weeks for some railfanning action and this will be my first time. I’m pretty aware of the hot spots from my research but I was curious as to what train frequency looks like at Peck Park since I will be basing much of my activity there. Any idea about how many trains per hour to expect? Also, are there any facilities at Peck Park itself (shelter, bathrooms, etc)? I’m really looking forward to it and any information would be appreciated. Thanks!
Peck Park is pretty good. Usually 4 trains an hour is the norm these days. But they are doing some work like building the third main on the Mendota Sub from Galesburg. Rumored to go all the way to Wataga. I was just there this weekend it wasn’t all that busy though. It was pretty dead compared to what it usually is. every line was dead. Of course the Chilli Sub was shut down in Galesburg for awhile after couple dogs got hit right at Peck Park. Couldn’t find one of the two dogs and the one was in the middle of the tracks alive but was put down due to its injuries. I was one of many people including children to witness it. So sad. So sorry for the owners since I had something like this happen to my family few years ago when my sister’s dog got killed by a car. So that did slow it down for awhile. Also they did cut the brush down along the Barstow Sub there at Peck Park so that it an improvement if you take pictures or videos. Still not the greatest places for pictures though.
I was just there last month & the anyplace along the old ATSF route will get U good shots besides Peck Park. There is also a lot of action at the train station with no hassling whatsoever
Most of the intermodal/Container trains ply the old ATSF route thru town & that is where U will catch the UPRR trains using there trackage rights on the BNSF[:)]
there is a road that crosses over the yard on a bridge. Was there two years ago, bridge was 4 lanes wide two for traffic and two wide shoulder lanes, spent twelve hours there over 2 days with no harassment. hump yard on one side, storage tracks, refueling, maintenance on the other side. you should have a great time.
I was just down there on this past Saturday too and I thought it was fairly busy. As I usually do in Galesburg, I monitor yard control (160.875) and the Chili Sub (160.380) and move around town looking for good consists and locations. Sure I don’t see every train, but I still photographed more than 25 movements–and saw about that same number that I didn’t photograph. That also included an afternoon run out to Media Trestle about 25 miles west of town on the old ATSF, so all movements on all the ex-BN lines were missed for about 3 hours.
A sample of what I thought worthy of sharing is up on flickr:
You folk are sure nice to have taken the time to respond, but the OP has stated that this is his FIRST trip to Galesburg so I doubt if he will have any idea where Peck’s Park is located, nor which is the old ATSF line. (My first thought when I read “Chilli Sub” was to wonder if it came with crackers and whether it would be too sloppy to eat while sitting in my car.)
I realize that a 1st time visitor could stop and ask directions to some of these landmarks, but I have found that I am as likely to get the answer of “I don’t know.” as to get the equally useless answer of, “Well… Go down the street, oh… 6 or 8 blocks and turn toward the old school where the Dairy Queen burned to the ground about 6 years ago and go a few blocks more, it should be off to the left someplace…or is it on the right? Well… Maybe you should turn where the office building used to have the green awnings?” (That is not a direct quote to a queery I made once, but it is pretty close!)
As for considering a different city… Why? What does it offer that is better? Is it a larger city with more train tracks that might be difficult to understand which is which? Or is it so small one could not miss the only grade crossing in town?
A little more EXPLICIT detail would greatly releave the 1st time visitor of the need to wander around and wonder if they are looking at a busy line or are going to miss most of the reason for the trip.
Thank you for your response but I know exactly where Peck Park and most of the landmarks are in Galesburg. Even though I’ve never been there, it doesn’t take me long to study a Google map and figure it out. My hotel is right off I-74 a few blocks east from Peck Park and the Amtrak station isn’t much further. I know all the subdivisions and where they come in and out of Galesburg. I was just more curious about facilities and train frequency than anything. I know that the “Chili Sub” is the Chillicothe Sub because I live about 6 miles away from it near Chicago and I just railfanned it on Saturday.
Thanks for the info everyone! It is really appreciated. Looking forward to coming down!
Yeah, Scott, you may know Galesburg, IL enough to know what they were refering to, but I have been there several times and I have no idea what they were talking about. And there have been 116 views of this thread (so far) and I’d bet there are those in that count that looked because they wanted to learn, too.
I think traffic may have slowed down from that 4 a hour as when I was there I did not see that type of volume.
I met some fans who had come in from WISC & they to were awfully disappointed with volume. In fact in the 2 hours I left Peck Park to go to lunch & go to the train station they saw no trains there at all during the time I was not there. The fellows from Wisc left shortly after my return to try Rochelle [:(]
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Peck Park is pretty good. Usually 4 trains an hour is the norm these days. But they are doing some work like building the third main on the Mendota Sub from Galesburg. Rumored to go all the way to Wataga. I was just there this weekend it wasn’t all that busy though. It was pretty dead compared to what it usually is. every line was dead. Of course the Chilli Sub was shut down in Galesburg for awhile after couple dogs got hit right at Peck Park. Couldn’t find one of the two dogs and the one was in the middle of the tracks alive but was put down due to its injuries. I was one of many people including children to witness it. So sad. So sorry for the owners since I had something like this happen to my family few years ago when my sister’s dog got killed by a car. So that did slow it down for awhile. Also they did cut the brush down along the Barstow Sub there at Peck Park so that it an improvement if you take pictures or videos. Still not the greatest places for pictures though.
Starting NE of the city you have the Mendota Sub coming in from Chicago. The ex-BN, nee CBQ route is the double track main that hosts all the Amtrak trains, coal loads and empties along with manifest trains like the BRCGAL (Clearing Yard, BRC to Galesbug), CHCGAL (Cicero to Galesburg) and BRCKCK (Belt Railway to Kansas City) and their counterparts. The use 161.385out to Wataga or so and then switch over to Yard Control on 160.875 (as all the ex-BN lines do). Coming down into town, westbound trains will sometimes be told to hold up at Skelley’s. There used to be a Skelley’s Truck Stop out along HWY 40 (Lincoln Street) at the HWY 9 xing. It is the grade crossing just east of the I-74 overpass. Coming down into Galesburg proper, the ex-Santa Fe double track Chili Sub ducks underneath right where the Barstow Sub joins in at Peck Park. The BN junction of the Mendota and Barstow Subs is called B-plant, it is located just north of the Main Street crossing and has an overhead signal bridge with searchlight signals that you can easily shoot from a public crossing of westbounds off the Mendota or eastbounds off the Barstow.
The Barstow Sub is on 161.415. It is single track coming down the 96 miles from Savanna, IL. It mainly sees manifest trains like the NTWGAL, NTWKCK (Northtown to Kansas City) and others. It also sees the ore trains out of northern Minnesota. They are ones like KEEBIR (Birmingham, AL), KEEMAD (Madison, IL). Eastbound (compass southward) trains are sometimes held up on the north side of Galesburg at Walsh Street–they’ll tell them to hold up at Fremont Street–about seven blocks north of Peck Park/B-Plant.
So these two lines funnel down past the Amtrak depot. At the west end of the depot you have the two Quincy Mains splitting off and heading southward down past Galesburg Yard. Continuing right around the corner a couple of blocks and you have the Peoria Wye
Glad that I could assist. I hate it to when visiting a new place for the first time and hearing places spoken of on the radio and I’ve got no darn idea where that spot is. Most of those spots in Galesburg are actual place names with signs, but Skelley’s, Munsons, the Coach Yard Wye and Henderson Street are just names that have been in use for years.
I hope that no one was planning on going to Galesburg over this coming weekend, October 1-3 though. The BNSF will be doing some more major bridge work on the Mississippi River span at Burlington, IA and will have the line closed for a time. I don’t know if it will be a solid three-day shutdown, but Amtrak’s California Zephyr will be detouring over the Union Pacific’s ex-C&NW Omaha-Chicago route. So I would have to figure it will cut down on the number of coal trains and other traffic on the Ottumwa and Mendota Subs especially.
The Amtrk museum just east of Amtrk depot is good as any spot in town. Not only will one see the BN side mainliners but the yd trim jobs will pull by to shove a newly built train from the bowl trks to the eparture yd.
I am in Galesburg now and I got down here around 7PM. It has been a relentless non-stop parade of trains since I got here. It was dark out already but I checked out several spots already including Peck Park, the Amtrak station and the bridge over the yard and got some good night video. There is no shortage of trains in this town. That is for sure. I will be here all day tomorrow and I’m looking forward to a big day of rail action.
