I have a freind that is going to Chicago and want to know where are the good railfanning spots.
Any suggestions? He wants to see UP, BNSF, NS, CSX, Metra and Amtrak.
The Lone Geep
Yes, go to tab on this site called "Railroad Reference’ and click on ‘Hots Spots.’ There’s a link on there to ‘Chicago’s Hot Spots.’ Good luck, happy railfanning and stay safe.
Here’s the best website I know of for information on Chicago railfanning:
How many weeks is he staying?[;)]
He’s only there for 5 days.
The Lone Geep
from my personal experience JB tower in west chicago is a nice spot.See if you can get a metra pass too.
stay safe
Joe
What streets is it at? I don’t know Chicago, or interlocking towers either. So can you please also state what streets the locations are. Thanks
The Lone Geep
My favorite spot is the station in Riverside on the BNSF mainline Its pretty easy to find if you have a map and a lot of traffic. Its west of Harlem Ave. and north of Ogden Ave.
If he is going to stay in Chicago,have him try the Holiday Inn Merchandise Mart. It is pricey but I had room 1939 which looks West over the Chicago River. The ex Milwaukee tracks from Union Station come North and do a sharp 90 degree turn to the West. The ex CNW tracks come straight out from the Ogilvie Transportation Center, go over the Milwaukee tracks and shortly thereafter turn to the North West and West through a six track junction! Several times during our stay I saw as many as 6 train movements at once.
JB Tower, as suggested by Joe, is in the suburb of West Chicago, which is 30 miles west (gasp!) of Chicago.
I think that more specific information might be forthcoming if we knew which five days of the week he was coming (a Metra Weekend Pass would be a good investment if he were staying over a weekend), how he plans on getting here, and where he plans on staying once he gets here. Downtown hotel rooms can get pretty pricey when you’re talking four nights.
The websites mentioned already will be helpful in narrowing things down. And some of us can help a bit more when we know a bit more.
This thread has my interest. I have a vacation (2 week block) coming up in May. Now, I may have a committment to St Louis the weekend after my first week off, and I am contemplating taking the train to Chicago (Capitol) and then south. I wouldn’t mind spending a couple days in Chicago…
…so I will be watching this thread…
The southside used to have great action. Blue Island bridges, Barr Yard, Homewood (former IC now CN) were some old favorites of mine.
BNSF, former CB&Q runs straight west and Cicero has Clyde yard, with former small, ICG Hawthorne Yard nearby. Argo- Summit had a busy Indiana Harbor Belt ,and vast Clearing Yard by Midway airport. Corwith Yard was the Santa Fe yard, also not far from Midway. This is manageable proximity.
Further northwest; CNW/UP at the sprawling Proviso Yard. Former Milwaukee Bensenville, and Soo Line was at Franklin Park. 3 huge railyards, but check for what they are doing now.
Don’t bother with outlying loications such as Aurora , West Chicago etc… Too time consuming and the action is much more concentrated closer to the city.
Check for what is current. The Chicago area is quite large. I’ve left out the crossings, it’s been years now. Depending where one travels, an area will yield a group of hotspots.
Well, Mr. GP39 it may have been a long while since you’ve been in the Aurora area but Eola yard is normally very, very busy and we see lots of action virtually all day long here. Have you ever even been to Eola?
the Roosevelt Road brige over the Amtrak/Metra yards during evening rush hour.
Any Metra station between LaVergne (Berwyn) and Route 59 (Naperville) is a great place to watch the BNSF racetrack. A couple notable places on this line are LaVergne, where the racetrack goes under the CN/IC Freeport Sub, and LaGrange, where the racetrack goes over the Indiana Harbor Belt, which is also a fairly busy line. Same thing goes with the UP-W (Geneva Sub) at any station between Elmhurst and Elburn. On both the racetrack and the UP-W, there are over 100 moves a day on a busy day, split between Metra and freight, and Amtrak is also seen on the BNSF with 8 trains a day.
Another idea is to take a Metra train to Joliet Union Station, where the Metra Rock Island Line crosses over the BNSF ex-Santa Fe southern transcon route and the UP ex-GM&O Chicag-St. Louis mainline. The BNSF sees over 50 trains a day, sometimes reaching 75 a day on a good day. The UP sees 10 Amtrak trains a day, and 6 Metra trains on weekdays. Until recently, the UP had been pretty much devoid of any freight traffic other than coal trains going to a nearby power plant. However, last summer UP opened up their new Global 4 intermodal terminal which lies just south of the station. The UP now sees 6-10 intermodal trains a day along with the coal trains.
Suburban Chicago is cheaper for rooms than is the Loop. Some offer weekend rates that are about half of the weekday rates; check online. See if they are close to a Metra station. A Metra weekend pass is the best investment a railfan can make.
I like Wheaton and Hinsdale for trainwatching. There is lots of action, you can find a place to park, safe and close to food; fast and otherwise. If you have time, take a ride out to Joliet Union Station from La Salle Street on Metra. Not everybody’s cup of tea; but one very interesting trainride. Joliet is also a great place to watch trains
Lisle station, on the BNSF racetrack is another nice stop. Spent 10 minutes there last June. One Metra, one coal, one stack, and one general freight. Joy!
For the same reasons Aricat likes Wheaton and Hinsdale, I prefer Elmhurst and LaGrange. You’ll see the same trains on UP and BNSF, respectively, the action, parking and food are there, and both of these towns also have hobby shops within a block of the tracks. In addition, as has already been mentioned, it’s a walk of maybe three or four blocks from the LaGrange Road station to the IHB tracks, which still handle a good variety of trains.
Time spent in Joliet will seldom be boring! (For railfans, anyway–folks in the penitentiary might tell you otherwise. Fortunately, law-abiding railfans have little to fear in the area around the station.)
We still have to learn how your friend’s coming to Chicagoland. It makes a lot of difference in the places we suggest, or where we suggest that he stay. Offhand, I can’t think of any hotels in the suburbs that are appropriately adjacent to Metra tracks, unfortunately.
Never needed it…ever. I was close to the city and was happy at the locations, that I mentioned,and some others. But, if that’s what you enjoy, Great!
He’s there already. He has all the other arrangements taken care of. He just wants to know about good railfanning spots.
The Lone Geep
Joliet Union Station: You Could See Each Railroad On A Routine Basis Which Joliet Would Be Located Less Than 35 Mile From Downtown Which Here Would Be A Train Amount:
Most Action You Would See Around 8:00 A.M. To 1:00 P.M.
UP: Around Elwood (Located Less Than A Mile From Joliet) Would Be The Famous UP Elwood (Joliet) Intermodal Terminal Which You Could See Around Seven UP Intermodal Between 8:00 A.M. To 1:00 P.M. And You Could See One UP Coal Train Head From The CN Joliet Train Yard Head To A Coal Plant Around Elwood And Back And You Could See A Southern Pacific Which Would Be Rare Come From The Coal Plant Which This Would Be Seen Once A While.
BNSF: You Would See Intermodal And Intermodal And Intermodal And Intermodal And Intermodal And Intermodal And Intermodal And One Local Train (General Merchandise) Which You Could See Close To Around One Hundred Train On A Routine Basis Between 8:00 A.M. To 1:00 P.M.
NS: Some NS Train Would Come To And From The UP Elwood Intermodal Terminal Which You Could SeeAround Three Between 8:00 A.M. To 1:00 P.M.
CSX: You Could See One CSX General Merchandise Train From Rock Dale To Blue Island Around Joliet Union Station Which I Am Not Sure About The Time Which This Train Would Travel On A One Track Which Would Cross The Joliet Diamond.
Metra: More Than One An Hour Which Between 8:00 A.M. To 1:00 P.M. You Could See Seventeen I Believe.
Amtrak: Between 8:00 A.M. To 1:00 P.M. You Could See Four Amtrak: Both Lincoln Service And Both Texas Bird Train.
Other:
Iowa Interstate Railroad: A Railroad Which Would Travel One Train On The CSX/Metra Track Around Some Time Which I Am Unsure About.
A Weekend Would Be The Best Time Which Do Not Be Sad If You Could Not Go On A Weekend Because Each Day You Could See Hundreds Of Trains With An Awesome Platform To Face The 4 Main Track Which Here Are The Main Track:
Main 1 And Main 2: BNSF
Main 3: Union Pacific And More
Main 4: CN