Hey everyone I was in chicago last night on a trip and I went over the metra yard and shops. And I also think the amtrak yard where there house the the cars and other things to. It was the coolest thing ever although it was dark so I did not get to see much. But I did see a metra car in the shop getting worked on. I also got to see the Subways and EL trains to last night. It was like so cool to see subway trains running down the middle of the freeway almost the same speed. I was going on the freeway and man those trains are pretty much packed to the gills same thing with the metra train. I saw coming from downtown but I’m not sure which line it was when. I saw it OH well that’s it for now.
matt and i will heading for chicago in 2 weeks.i can hardly wait.
stay safe
Joe
You didn’t mention it but I’ll bet the weather was pretty cool too.
Mark
For those of you not familiar with the “flavor” of the Chicago area, a lot of the neighborhoods surrounding the railroads and yards are high-crime areas, especially in the city west of Downtown and the south side of Chicago and some southern suburbs.
We natives know where railfanning is not safe and therefore avoid those areas even though they may appear to offer some great viewing.
To stay safe, as Joe always implores, just make double-sure you know where you’re going, especially after dark. Neighborhoods can change in a matter of blocks. If you’re not 100 percent sure, stay away.
There are plenty of areas where you can watch trains and not be in harm’s way.
This is the best free guide you can find – print out a copy before you go. There are many pages and a lot of details.
PZ
thanks for the tip and we have a tour guide lined up for our trip.he defineately knows where and where not to go.
stay safe
joe
Yea that’s one thing I did forget to mention that it was really cold last night the temp was right around 1 or 2 degrees with a wind chill of like 10or15 below zero but anywho it was really cool to see this kinda stuff while kinda closeup.
I might be interested in hiring your guide, Joe–I never seem to have the luck when I go out train-watching! [;)] Maybe we should drop in on Eola.
PZ, I noticed that your time and temp stick says Cicero now, and not Eola. Why would I ever want to go to Cicero? By the way, it says zero as I write this; my own bug says 5 below right now.
Poppa_Zit, that Chicago-area trainwatcher’s guide is magnificent! Thank you for providing a link to it in your posting above.
Allen Smalling
If I may quote someone whose name escapes me right now, “If you go down there, you better best beware of a man named Leroy Brown.”
Jim Croce, I do believe - one of my favorite artists.
[#ditto] And those are ares are getting fewer and fewer. If you aren’t getting [censored] with by unsavory locals, you got gun toting “Barning Fifes” running around. I can’t even go to my mother’s home town of Sugar Grove with out being throughly checked out by the whole police department (all two of them), and still being ask to leave. Railfanning is getting to be a dangerous hobby.