| By: | Gary Everhart |
| Dates: | 8/16/2011 - 8/16/2011 |
| Album Info: | While on the Amtrak/Metra station, these four sets of Burlington Northern Santa Fe freights came rolling through, along with the periodic Metra and Amtrak trains to add to the general confusion! According to Bill Gustason's excellent Chicago Rail Junctions website, "Four north-south tracks cross a single east-west track at the station, which is located in the junction's northwest quadrant. The two north-south tracks nearest the station are BNSF's ex-ATSF main line to the west coast. The other two are the ex-Gulf Mobile & Ohio main line to Springfield, Illinois and St. Louis. The tracks are now the property of Union Pacific (who inherited them from Southern Pacific), but just north of here ownership shifts to Canadian National (inherited from Illinois Central). The east-west track is the ex-Rock Island route. It is now owned by Metra, the Chicago area commuter train authority, from Chicago to Joliet. From Joliet to Bureau, Illinois, the line belongs to CSX, and west of Bureau it is the property of Iowa Interstate. An occasional CSX or IAIS freight can be seen on this line, but most of the traffic consists of Metra bilevel commuter trains. Weekdays, they run hourly in each direction except of course during rush hours when the frequency is greater. " |
