I just spent 9 days on Jury Duty so every morning before Court I went the Joliet Union Station to take photos for about an hour . The Court house is across the street from the station so I took advantage of my time . This is most Train watching I have done in years . Here are several of the photos I took .
Oh and swo you know the verdict was not guilty .
Ain’t Will County jury duty fun! I did it a couple of months ago.
Joliet is one of my favorite places to go shooting pictures. I haven’t been there during the morning hours in about a year. I need to get back down there one of these days before winter sets in.
Great photos, there is plenty of activity down there, if you get there at the right time of day. Nice job on the IAIS train as well. Of all the time I spent at Joliet, I only have one photo of the IAIS movements through there.
…A nice bunch of “raw railroad” scenes…Enjoyed them.
Can’t enlarge the smaller ones…
I was going to say, where there’s a Will (county) there’s a way! How lucky can you get?
Twenty-five or more years ago, I had to do jury duty in DuPage County. The courts were still in the old building in Wheaton, which is roughly as close to the tracks as the one in Will County. More than half of the five-mile bike trek along the Illinois Prairie Path was adjacent to the CNW main line. Unfortunately, I didn’t see many freights, because I was traveling at the same time as the Fleet (rush-hour scoots).
DuPage’s county offices are still near the tracks, outside of Wheaton, but I’m not sure it would be as easy to watch trains from that campus. There’s a good overhead bridge not too far away, though (just ask Tim!).
Oh–we convicted our defendant.
Nice catch on the Iowa Interstate and Florida East Coast 107 trailing on that manifest!
Are there any problems from Police, etc. when taking pictures at Joliet Union Station? I visit my daughter in Bolingbrook several times a year and have thought about going to Joliet. Any good locations for train watching around Bolingbrook you know about?
What a coincidence–I have a daughter in Bolingbrook, too! But when I go there to visit, the lure of the grandchildren kind of keeps me there (with Grandma).
The only railroad to hit Bolingbrook is industrial trackage off BNSF. If Joliet should turn out to be too inconvenient for you, just cross over the river and visit either Lemont or Lockport. You’ll get the ex-AT&SF Transcon and the ex-GM&O main line (now used mostly by Amtrak for its service to St. Louis) in both places, but they never get closer than about a block or two from each other.
As for Joliet Union Station, there used to be a police office right in the building (maybe there still is). I’ve not heard of them bothering photographers who stay on the platforms; I suspect that they’re pretty used to them.
They still do have a police office right inside the station, and they can care less as long as you stay on the platforms and don’t do anything stupid. Sometimes they don’t like people hanging around UD Tower or between the two BNSF tracks on the center platform., so I’d stay on the main platform area. On the Metra side stay on the platform also, do not venture to the other side of the Metra track, it is Metra property and they don’t take kindly to it. Lockport and Lemont are also good locations, and Bolingbrook isn’t too far from the Naperville, Lisle or Downers Grove stations on the racetrack.
Never had a problem with the police .
Nice pix and such variety! Thank you. - al