Hi just joined your forum today. I live in UK close to the preserve Great Central Railway. I visit the USA quite often. I would welcome knowledge of good railfan spots to watch trains accessible from public transport. Locations in Chicago, Denver, New York, LA especially.
Kind Regards fom the UK
A couple of my favourites:
Fullerton (BNSF, LA area, reachable on Metrolink and Amtrak) - nice area, sunshine, palm trees, cafe with outdoor tables on the platform, lots of trains - what more could you want ?
La Grange (BNSF, Chicago area, reachable on Metra) - the IHB main line also crosses under BNSF within walking distance. Nice area, and it’s even got a Borders bookstore coffee shop with a panoramic view of the tracks…plus several other nice spots along the same BNSF line. There are other places around Chicago easily accessible by commuter train services - it just depends on which railroad etc you are interested in.
Tony
2 areas come to mind around chicago.Elmhurst and Downers Grove.Both are Metra stops and have places to sit and watch the trains go by.
stay safe
Joe
Chicago has many places using Metra. On weekends Metra has a $ 5 all weekend pass which will give you a lot of flexability. I personally recommend Hinsdale and Wheaton Illinois. They are both on Metra routes. You will get to see both freight and passenger trains; Amtrak does come through Hinsdale but not Wheaton. Both communities are safe and well policed. If you are willing or able to rent a car then go to Rochelle Illinois to the railroad park. Well worth the trip out. Needless to say much of the USA is lacking in the level of public transit the UK is used to. Here most railfans use their cars or trucks to trainwatch.
Thanks for the ideas guys they were really helpful. I have a soft spot for Chicago I have spent a lot of time there but not managed to watch trains often, Other than a few early sessions on the bridge above Lake Street Tower watching the morning rush hour Metras.
Amen to all of the Chicago-area locations recommended so far. You have the distinct advantage in Chicago of being able to catch a Metra train to spots that feature your favorite railroad, whatever it may be (practically). If you have something in particular you’re interested in, let us know, and we should be able to find a good spot to which you can take a commuter train, sit for a few hours, grab a bite to eat perhaps, then return to Chicago.
About 23-miles west of downtown Chicago is the leafy suburb of Elmhurst, Ill. Directly south of the Elmhurst train station, is The 100 South Chop House. This restaurant has outdoor tables that are no more than 75-ft. away from the Union Pacific Railroad West Coast mainline. Weekday evenings the parade of commuter trains, doublestacks, mixed-merchandise, coal buckets, and occasional track maintenance work trains is astounding. The food is very good and a little pricey, but the entertainment may be unmatched in greater Chicagoland.
Time permitting, don’t forget to visit what I think is the nation’s largest train museum: The Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Ill. Weekends are the best time to go because they’ll have more equipment out and running.
If you want to experience the 2000+ mile route of the Chicago-to-Seattle, Wash. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, check out the extremely large HO-scale layout on display inside The Museum of Science and Industry. The Museum can be reached easily from downtown Chicago by means of the Metra Electric suburban service.
Thanks again to all who have forwarded ideas. Looking forward to testing some of the locations. This forum is great I’ve been a member for less than a week and already I feel part of the action.
Ref the Museum of Science and Industry, in Chicago, I know it well. One of the finest museums in the world. I did some research last year relating to the exhibited British built locomotive ‘Mississippi’ which featured in a lecture I gave to the friends of my local museum relating to the early days of railways on both sides of the Atlantic.
Kind regards
Tony.
Mine is the Willingdon Junction in Burnaby B.C. in Canada. On a good day railfans will see a lot of CN trains hauling all kinds of loads, the daily BNSF freight, VIA and Amtrak. This is where I got to be a train fan as my grandmother when she was alive lived within a good stones throw from here.
If you can get to the Dayton’s Bluff area in St. Paul, Minnesota, you’ll see CP, BNSF, UP, AMTK as well as Minnesota Commercial and Twin Cities & Western on a good day. The best spot along Warner Rd. has been closed-off to railfans, but maybe the US Post Office on the old St. Paul Depot grounds might let you sit in their parking lot which affords a very decent view of the action. If you ask real politely they might permit you to take a chair and watch from there.
Thanks to Doc and WIARS suggestions. interested to read how Doc became a railfan. I have just helped compile this for my local newspaper about how I started. (for Train Spotter read railfan - we nearly talk the same language).
Loughborough is in the county of Leicestershire in the English East Midlands approx 100 miles north of London and 15 miles south of Nottingham:
It was May 1959 and the platform at Loughborough Midland Station was full of noisy exited children. The occasion was a Roseberry Junior School outing to London. For one young ‘rosebud’ it was a day that would kick off a life-long love of railways. At that time most trains were hauled by steam locomotives and for the young spotter Loughborough was an Aladdin’s cave with the former Midland Main line to London St Pancras being crossed by the younger former Great Central route to London Marylebone. The Midland was graced by named locomotives of the Royal Scot, Patriot and Jubilee Classes later joined by new Standard ‘Britannia’ class. Over ‘the top’ as the Great Central was known were locomotives, mainly of former London North Eastern origin. The B1 ‘Antelopes’, V2 ‘Green Arrows’ and the delightful ‘L2’ tanks were firm favorites.
In these pre-motorway days there were endless freight trains. The Standard 9Fs on the top with their ‘windcutter’ coal and ore trains and the wartime ex LMS Stanier 8Fs on the Midland with similar loadings. Every so often there were surprises, a ‘Wheezer’ a relic from the old London North Western Railway leaking steam and crawling a mixed freight to the West Midlands, A streamlined Bullied Pacific ‘Spamcan’ with its resplendid green coaches on a Southampton v Forest football special or the rarest of them all a Scottish ‘Clan’ on the Carlisle to Leicester freight.