I’ve been planning for some time now to take a trip to Rochelle, IL. I need to know how it is up there before I go, so can you give me some pointers?
All I know is that it’s cross roads of BNSF and UP. Are there any special run-throughs? Is foreign power common? Are leasers common? Any special trains come through? Ah, you get the point. Thanks
Every train is special–some are run-throughs.
You may see some foreign power on either railroad.
Leasers have also been seen. Not so much on UP lately.
As I said, all trains are special. There are plenty of them.
Just GO!
(and tell us how you liked it.)
Rochelle is an excellent location for viewing trains: lots of trains, a nice park-like location and the town itself is nice. There’s food, gas and lodging about a mile north of the park on Rt 38. The only negative that I have with Rochelle is that it is very popular and tends to get a little overcrowded on a nice weekend afternoon. After you’ve been at Rochelle for a while, I would suggest exploring other locations on both the UP and BNSF that are near Rochelle.
CC
K, thanks for the heads-up! I have been anxious to go there for a long time and never got a chance to go there. Sounds cool!
The Chicago & North Western Historical Society is planning its annual convention next year (2006), third weekend in May, at Rochelle. Besides visiting the park, I think the 275 or so people who normally attend the 4-day convention are scheduled to ride a Metra train and visit the Illinois Railway Museum in Union as the society did about 7 years ago when it celebrated the 150th anniversary of the C&NW with its convention at St. Charles/West Chicago.
Check out the C&NWHS web site at www.cnwhs.org for more on the society, and don’t forget that trains.com has a Web cam at Rochelle park.
tmd
Pretty interesting! And that’s the time we’re planning on heading out that way (hopefully)! Maybe I’ll run into someone here from the forums!
Rochelle, like any location can be crowded at times and not so crowded at other times. Trains can be frequent or not so close together.
Big advantage there is the local knowledge readily available from those sharing the experience with you.
Dale
I’d be suprised if Rochelle will be crowded when you go now since it’s not that warm.
I hope you don’t plan on going this weekend, it’s suposed to be rainy.
BNSF is good for colorful consists.I live somewhat near Rochelle and I go to Polo(half an hour west of Rochelle) to watch BNSF usually.If I’m planning a special trip I’ll go to Galesburg or Savanna, I got so sick and tired of seeing “sewer engines”(otherwise known as UP’s enngines) and I went to where there is only BNSF.
You should plan a trip to Galesburg sometime, there is nonstop action on the BNSF.Rochelle has its own dry spells but not Galesburg.
Thanks for the heads up joegreen, but living in Ohio in all, I probably won’t make it there until next year around May or so. Galesburg sounds good, do you see the wedgies out there? I’m aching to see them for I missed catching a pair of brand new ones out here on a Powder River Coal. DANG IT!!! Anyways, have any of you thought about the non-stop action Ohioan town Fostoria, where I once caught 16 trains in the busy 4 o clock hour?
Come on down to G town my friend! 134 trains a day going 5 directions. Plus you can stop on Thirwell bridge ( dont do it for too long) and see the yard.Youll see every train that the BNSF can and will run through here.Wedgies ( god thats a good name!) are few and far between here. Them whiny Lacrosse crews get them all the time! but coming off the Chili side you might catch them on a Z train heading for KC or Denver.
As you stay in Galesburg you can come up to the Quad Cities adn see where the best BNSF employees work! Three railroads running there and you can head up to Clinton and catch UP then go 30 back to Rochelle following the Uncle Pete.
Keep us up to date.
Cool! Sounds like an exciting adventure! But like I said before it’ll probably be next year and up to my mom since I’m only 13, pushing 14. We’ll probably spend a few days there. I better stop, i’m getting too anxious meaning I’ll have less and less patience to go there!
It is a great place. On a good day, in 30 minutes their will be 3-5 trains on the BNSF and 3-5 trains on the UP.
BNSF wont have 5 in half an hour,they don’t even have that many in an hour unless there was some kind of back-up somewhere.I used to live on the Aurora Sub and didn’t see that many in an hour.UP could have 5 or more though.
On the Aurora Sub Between Aurora and Plum River you’ll see 20-25+ trains a day.Anywhere from Savanna and west you’ll see about 40 trains a day(all BNSF).The connection at Plum River is the reason for more in Savanna.
So in Rochelle, it sort of sounds like NS in Berea, Ohio here only UP and CSX only BNSF. Hmmm, interesting…althouhg, no doubt I will get tired of the big yellow! LOL
Actually yes to all the above. Have fun.
Actually the big difference between Berea and Rochelle is at Rochelle you are literally in between the two mains instead of sitting on the sideline. At Rochelle your sightlines are not quite as long as Berea but both locations are great. As has been posted in other replies the traffic count in Rochelle will be less than Berea but there are still lots of trains.
So, are you saying that it’s like one of those spots where you have to be ready to turn your camera on right of wya, because you never know when one will burst around the bend, or can you see far enough to have enough time to turn on your camera? Or do you have to listen not look? (I hate places where you have to listen[:(!]!!)
TRAINS GOOOOD, ROCHELLE RAIL PARK GOOOOD TOO, BUT GO ONLY DURING WARM WEATHER, MAY WOULD BE GOOOOD.
Well, the railroad park isn’t exactly on the best side of the diamond for photographs, especially with high afternoon sun. The BNSF line has large telephone poles as well. The area across from the railroad park on the opposite side of the diamond is much better for photography.
Sight distance is limited, with one exception- if you walk over to the grade crossing northeast of the park, you can look east on the UP line for a couple of miles.