I was out there today railfanning west of town along Route 34. The crossing my son and I were at was next to a signal bridge, there was a sign next to the bridge that had a “62” on it (Mile post 62??). Anyway, we saw a couple of trains, and I got a hand ful of pictures… My question is: What is the radio frequency used by the BNSF west of Aurora? I tried 161.100 and 161.040 and didn’t hear anything… Just curious.
BTW, very friendly people out that way. It’s great being out in the open, and in the country air. I loved it.
Hello, TimChgo9, Somonauk (I think that’s right?[;)]) is a great place railfan. There’s an ice cream shop right next the tracks on the west end. MMMM, black cows and trains.
Anyway, I believe they use 161.160 on the C&I. You’ll know it because they talk alot. Short sidings leads to a lot chatter about meets so they try and do rolling meets.
Somonauk isn’t on the C&I. It is just west of Sandwich on the BNSF Racetrack to Galesburg, Snaggletooth. It also is where in May a reefer on the end of an Amtrak train derailed and was dragged about a mile, tearing up the main and a bunch of signals.
I believe you are confusing it with Shabbona, where the C&I breaks NW toward Rochelle.
There’s another trackside ice cream wonderland in Hinckley, on the outside of the curve on the east side of town.
The C&I line is the single track main line that runs north/northwest from Aurora (begins just past the old Aurora station) and goes up through Rochelle, LaCrosse and on to Minneapolis. The Denver double track main line diverges from the C&I at the same spot and goes out south/southwest through Galesburg and on to Denver and points west (this is the line the Amtrak California trains take from Chicago). The Denver line is dispatched by the BNSF "mainline dispatcher and can be heard on scanner frequency 161.385.
The sign you that said 62 on it is mile post 62 we tie down coal trains their that the CSX, NS or the CN/IC can not handle. I have been lucky at times to get to tie one down their and van to Chicago.
Must have just missed you Tim. We came by around 4 ish on a set of MTY’s. Saw quite a few fans on the way down the Chicago Sub( plus a lot of pretty girls waving at us which was a bonus)
I think it was at Westmont we got videotaped, but most every platform had a picture taker.Was a great day to cruise along with the windows open.
Pretty busy, not sure about totals but a good amount of trains. If you go up to Aurora you will see the C&I stuff along with our “junk” as the east end ds calls it. Plus the dinkies.
I know at 3 pm yesterday in Eola we had a Z train coming in from the C&I, an mty in front of us one in front of him waiting on a welder to fix a frog, three dinkies blasting by,the Chief, an mty behind us,and somewhere in the mix a Vehicle train going out the C&I.Oh yes a yard transfer job in the west yard and the J pulling the coal train I had brought up on the 12th out of the east yard.
Actually, it splits into THREE, to pick a nit. The third ain’t BNSF anymore, so Jim is right.
The third, of course, splits off true south of Montgomery and heads south through Oswego, Yorkville and on to Streator and finally Ottawa. It is an old CB&Q/BNSF line now owned by Illinois Railnet. You might see a couple trains a day, if lucky. Best time to is catch the evening run to West Eola. Depending on traffic, of course, it usually comes in between about 6:45P and 8P. Usual power is three single-digit, smokey units – including a couple of old Camas Prairie locomotives. And usually takes about 1 to 2 hours to turn it around.