Early last December I was presented with an oppurtunity to take a supplimentary trip to Chicago and since it involved a rare (for me) weekday hotel stay I finally had a chance to get some video of a METRA Aurora Line express run. Like the LIRR and NJT, METRA now runs a zoned express service on its popular Aurora Line. The outermost zone starts ( Read more... )

So this year's Chicagoland Layover featured a visit to the Tower B-12 museum in Franklin Park, IL. Now when I say "visit" I mean visiting the site because I wasn't able to determine which group was responsible for running the preserved Tower B-12 let alone determine its hours.

Tower B-12 is on the former Milwaukee Road West Line where it meets ( Read more... )

Well it is intermission time in my third annual cross country Amtrak trip featuring Train 4, the Southwest Chief. This year the target of my Chicago layover was JB Tower in West Chicago where the EJE Main Line crosses the Three Track former CNW "UP West" main line at grade. However one must still eat and see old friends in the Windy Apple, not to ( Read more... )

Well its time for halftime in my second cross country trip and this time around I did not try to make a same day connection between the Zephyr and the Capitol Limited, even thought it turned out we could have made the connection. Still, it wasn't a big deal because my friend had booked a room using some Holiday Inn rewards points and that resulted ( Read more... )

METRA's Western Avenue Complex is sort of the Wayne Junction of the METRA system, to replace one obscure reference with another. Located about 3 miles west of downtown it is the primary storage and maintenance facility for the CNW and Milwaukee Districts. Peak trains terminating at either Union Station North or the CNW Station will deadhead back ( Read more... )

Well for those of you who dislike America's great rail freight transportation network I have arrived at the City of Chicago, home of the world famous L. In the two days I was to spend in the Windy Apple I had plans to head down to the Museum of Science and Industry to check out the U-505 (the tour turned out to be a bit of a letdown). Later I had ( Read more... )

In the penultimate installment of photos covering my 2009 trip to Chicago I took a little loop trip using the CTA Blue Line to connect with the METRA Milwaukee North line at Mayfaire. I had previously taken a loop trip involving the Green Line and UP West Line at Oak Park and was anxious to try the same with a train that would head into Union ( Read more... )

So in Part One of my 2009 Chicago Trip I covered the trip on Amtrak's Capitol Limited from Washington to the Windy Apple. Now in Part Two I take some time to explore the city with a special railfan excursion on the Metra Electric line to 115th St - Kensington.

Kensington is not just a station, but an important interlocking on the Metra-Electric ( Read more... )