Shooting Pictures in Will County, IL... any busy places?

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I know that crossing (Oakland Avenue). The junction there is known as “Rockdale Junction.” Except the track was taken up a few years ago. I believe parts of it have been “Trail-ized.”

It was a EJE spur that came up from the Rock Island line south of Joliet leaving the RI near the intersection of Larkin and Mound. It circled around the west side in clockwise fashion (where it had some industrial customers), crossed the J mainline just west of the Oakland grade crossing you mention, and ended about a half-mile north at the south end of the Stateville Federal Penetentiary complex. I believe it was used mainly to haul coal for the steam plant in da old daze.

West Bridge Junction, anyone? The only other at-grade crossing in Joliet involving the J is where it crosses the Metra line (nee Rock Island) south of the EJE yard. But I’ve never heard a specific name for that one, located in a neighborhood I’d rather … ahem … avoid.

According to www.ejearchive.com, Rockdale Junction’s name was changed to West Bridge Junction as part of a signal upgrade back in January, 2001. That makes sense since the Rockdale Branch was torn up a few years ago. I know that place where the Metra crosses the EJ&E. Avoid going there, its a very rough area. You could go by the EJ&E yard and get photos, but the area has really gone downhill over the last few years. Turner used to be called Coynes is what I also read on that website. West Bridge Junction probably is the best of all the places since it is on a siding that is used quite frequently, especially since UP and BNSF started running more trains. A item of interest, I highly suggest going out for JSW1. It usually is called form the EJ&E yard at 6AM and usually has a pair of SD38-2s and a caboose, plus occasionally has engines heading to Relco in Minooka on it.

One item I forgot to mention in my last post, the line is double track from the yard to Turner with the exception of the Des Plaines River bridge. That is what causes a lot of trains to stop. Its kind of strange they have a very short segment of single track in the middle of an otherwise all double track segment of track. It creates a bottleneck and sometimes trains sitting on either side of it for hours. That segment of track is known as Bridge Junction, but there is no way of going there without tresspassing. EJ&E is kind to railfans as long as there is no tresspassing involved so do not go there.

Well, I visited the west end of Eola twice last weekend. It was pretty cool. Lot’s of action and some great photos. I saw a few other photographers there, but didn’t really talk to anyone (are we all that anti-social???) I went there last Saturday afternoon, and was there a couple of hours. My son and I had a great time. I will probably be there again, on my next days off… just look for the black Trailblazer,. that’s me.

Tim, you are always welcomed at Eola by all of us fellow foamers. No, we are not anti social and will talk with just about anybody, but respect that some folks want privacy and so if we don’t know you we will leave you alone and assume you want to be left alone until you approach us.

By the way, I am the one in the black Ford Five Hundred with the tan interior.

White SUV here.

quote by TimChgo9:

I was out there on Saturday afternoon around 3:30 - 4:30 and based on your description, I remember seeing you. I was in the dark blue Ford Ranger pickup truck. Usually, I get out of my truck and walk around but I was tired from having to work late until @3am (normal is 10-11pm) that morning. I know, excuses, excuses. Also, when I got there nothing was moving. The dispatcher was complaining about signal/switch issues at E Eola (?) and there were a bunch of parked trains in the area. I don’t think anything moved for the first half-hour I was there. So, sorry if I was a little anti-social. Next time I’m out there I’ll know who are and say hello.

CC

Hey guys,

If it helps… I’m in the middle of redoing the whole EJE site. But I did finish a new version of the system map that I uploaded for people who don’t want to wait for the site to be finished.

http://www.ejearchive.com/temp/

The new map came out pretty good, but they are in the middle of redoing a lot of stuff right now, so it’s not going to be perfectly up to date. CTC is being added to many sections on the West Sub.

The section around bridge 198 is pretty complex, so there’s not really enough room to cover all of them on the map. Starting from West of the bridge, you’ve got numerous named plants between CTC Turner and the east side of the bridge. The plant there is east Bridge Jct.

The area with all the old J cars is Railway Industrial Services. A couple of the first rebuilt J units were painted there before they started sending them to Horicon.

Dave
-The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Archive & Email List -
http://www.ejearchive.com
http://www.dpdproductions.com

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[:)]Okay… my “anti-social” remark was made in jest… didn’t mean to offend anyone…

Chris… I remember that Sunday, I was there, my 13 year old son was with me too, and I remember the dispatcher going on about something with the signals (or was it a stuck switch?? I can’t remember) I was there for about 3 hours I think, until about 5:00 or so. I got some good pictures of the switch moves, but other than that, there wasn’t much mainline traffic.

In my opinion, that is a good place (Eola) to shoot pictures. Some decent angles, and the lighting is good. It’s almost as good as LaVergne (Berwyn) on the west end of Clyde. I am checking the weather to see what the Fri-Mon weather is going to be (I love my 4 days off) I just may be back out there. I shot this picture last Sunday, and converted it to black and white… click the link.

http://www.fotofight.com/images/members/3369/contest/52160807.jpg

I entered it in a contest, and finished 27th of 53 with a score of 6.100 … which is an improvement, over my last contest photo. … no matter, it’s all a learning experience.

So, if I am out at Eola again… I will say hi to y’all, maybe I’ll bring some refreshments in my cooler as an icebreaker… [:)]

Speaking of Relco in Minooka, the last time I was down there the Mark Twain Zephyr was in their yard, hidden between two rows of other rolling stock. Aerial photos seem to confirm this (Google Earth).

I know it is for sale. Rumor says it is for sale by the DEA – confiscated as being purchased with illegal drug proceeds. The previous owner, according to the rumor, bought it and gutted the interior to turn it into a rolling drughouse. And that’s how she sits today. Anyone else know anything more about this?

PZ

I sure hope somebody or some group comes forward and saves the MTZ for posterity!

If this isn’t the MTZ in the storage yard, what else could it be? I don’t know how old this aerial view (Google Earth) is. But I’ve noticed some sector photos are at least over four years old, based on recent construction that is absent. Click on the photo to enlarge the view.

Info about it being for sale is at:

http://railmerchants.net/mt-zephyr.htm

PZ

I don’t know, Poppa, but it looks likea Zephyr to me…

I wonder what they want for it??[?][:-,]

As far as the age of the photos, some of them are 2 years old, or less.

As long as we’re talking Will County, let me invite you (and everyone else here) to the next meeting of Blackhawk Chapter of the NRHS. Our program, on Friday, November 4, will feature the railroads of Joliet and the surrounding area in the 1960s and 1970s taken by Joe Petric of Morris, Illinois. Joe’s father (if I remember correctly) worked for the GM&O and that gave Joe access to places and equipment that were not normally seen and are now long gone.

The Blackhawk Chapter holds regular meetings from September through June at 7:30 PM on the first Friday of the month in the Gladys Fox Museum (also known as the “Old Congregational Church”) on the southwest corner of 9th Street (Illinois Route 7) and Washington Street in the historic downtown district of Lockport, Illinois. Doors open at 7 PM and there is plenty of free parking on Washington Street. If there is no wake scheduled, parking is also available in the lot of the adjacent Goodale Memorial Chapel.

For more information, or if you just want to look at the pictures, go to our chapter website at blackhawk.artsalive.org

Hope to see you.

Mike Riha
Blackhawk Chapter NRHS

I noticed there is a former IMRL switcher that seems to work that yard. There is also a former Elcon Geep sitting there. Bridge 198 can sure cause some big back ups. I’ve seen UP trains wait for clearance for hours. Has anyone else noticed there seems to have been more UP autorack trains within the last week or so on EJ&E. Is UP detouring trains around the Geneva Sub trackwork or are they just using EJ&E more frequently.

Quote by EJE18:

Could be due to general congestion on the Geneva Sub and/or congestion on the IHB. Also, I have seen eastbound UP auto trains that use the “J” in the late afternoon just before the daily Metra rush (no crossovers/stops at Bellwood/CP Hill).

CC

They’ve been exiting and entering the EJ&E at Eola for at least a month now. There’s been a definite increase in UP trains – my perception – and I’m seeing a lot more autorack trains with BNSF power doing the same thing. Empties going east, loads going west.

PZ

Quote by PZ:

The UP trains enter/exit at W. Chicago. The UP auto trains go to/from Gibson Yard and the coal trains go to/from a lot of places. The BNSF auto & stack trains on the “J” are going to/from the new Loigistics Park near Joliet to/from Eola.

CC

Went to the EJ&E for about a half hour and saw 2 trains, both with EJ&E SD38-2s. Sounded nice throttling up with nice sounding leslie horns blaring. There is nothing like seeing a EJ&E train!