I’ll be travelling to upstate Illinois after Thanksgiving in an effort to amass some file footage for my show [8D]. Really, I just want to shoot a lot of video for my own collection and to share with you guys. Get real, right?
While I’m there, I’d like to go to Rochelle Park and the Illinois Railroad Museum as well as any place along the “racetracks” in and out of Chicago. I’d like to gather as much video of BNSF and UP train movements as I can in three to four days.
I’m looking for anyone who’d be willing to accompany me during my outings. Perhaps you can direct me to some spots that I would not otherwise find on my own. Maybe you’d like to be in my show as an assistant producer?[(-D]
Or maybe not. But either way, I’ll need a guide to minimize wasted miles driven while I’m there. I figure that if somebody else has plans to be there for the same purpose, why not tag with them.
Basically I what I’m looking for are your typical double-stack intermodal, tofc, grain and coal trains but what I can’t leave without are boxcars and road-railers. If I can get all of them, all the better.
Ted, if you map out your route well you should be able to easily get several spots along the BNSF Racetrack (don’t forget to include Eola yard), Rochelle, several UP spots along the old C&NW east of Rochelle and the IRM in two action packed days on a weekend.
Ted, if you happen to hit Rochelle on one of their “off” days, I’d recommend getting on Interstate-39 (south) for the half-hour trip to Mendota. Mendota is on the BNSF Northern Transcon (exx-CB&Q main line), the route having been moved there from the old ATSF main about two years ago. Lots of BNSF movement.
A guy from Florida shooting video in northern Illinois after Thanksgiving? Unless we’re experiencing some “global warming” days, this might be a short film - a commercial if you will. Northern Illinois in late November isn’t exactly the “tourist” season. It’s usually overcast, cold, raining, and windy. So, try to bring some sunshine and warmer Florida weather with you.
Yes Chris, that’s the plan. I’m not afraid of cold weather and I don’t want much foliage in my shots. I’d prefer snow shots but this is the only time I’ll have for several months to take vacation. Maybe, there’ll be some on the ground when I’m there.
BTW, is that fall foliage I see on some trees on the Rochelle webcam? Can’t really tell due to the glare from the sun. I find the image quality better during the winter months when there’s little direct sunlight.
there will be more traffic in nov than the other months of year so thats good. old coal towers at nelson and dekalb il. make good pix. if you have binoclars can see intermodal yard west of town off bridge over 4 tracks. good pix from off bridge too. mendota il to south 30 miles has 8 amtrak trains daily and 30 frts a day and ho layout of mendota when there were 3 rrs. rochelle also had milwaukee rr through years ago. dress warm…
I have always felt that train pictures in snow bettercapture the true feeling of the grit and grime of industry moving forward.Some Photographers seem to take pictures of pretty, scenic areas that just happento have a train in them. I see it theb other way,.
I owe Ted a good video location in the Rochelle area after busting his chops about people from Florida not liking cold weather. Bush Grove Rd. is a couple of miles west of the railroad park. The road now ends at the UP tracks directly accross from the middle of the new UP Global III Yard. (The road used to go through before the yard was built.) There’s good parking, you can get up to track level, signals in both directions, UP mailine traffic, UP G3 yard traffic and if you turn around you can also see BNSF trains northwest of Rochelle across some open fields. I was looking for some pics of area. I couldn’t find any good ones. A Google map link is provided below for a general overview of the area that I’m refering to. When you look at the map, please note that you can also continue west on Rt. 38 to work your way to Ashton which is the west end the Global III yard.
IRM would be closed at that time. I don’t know why they don’t do a event for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Maybe it could happen some day, as they are doing a event for Halloween this year for the first time. Rochelle isn’t the greatest place for photos in the world, but it is still worth a visit. If you get lucky, you could catch the two remaining unpatched CNWs or the heritage engine. The three of them seem to ping-pong around the ex-CNW lines, sometimes all together in a trio, plus every current specially painted UP engine or heritage engine, including the Olympic engines and the United Way SD40-2 have been through there at least once, and the power desk at Proviso is known to put two or three specially painted engines on the same train. Also, you should check out the De Kalb coaling tower about 15 miles east of Rochelle. You mentioned the racetrack also, some good places for that line are the LaVergne Metra station in Berwyn, which is at the west end of Clyde Yard, and also where the line ducks under the old IC Iowa Division. Any Metra station from LaVergne to Route 59 has a good view of the line, plus the west end of Eola Yard is also a nice spot, and one of the more popular places on the line. The places I go to the most on the line are Eola, Brookfield, Westmont, and Downers Grove, but LaGrange Road is also a nice spot. Stone Avenue in LaGrange is also nice, but the ticket agent at the station isn’t the nicest.