METRA Meet At Twilight

METRA locomotive # 153 "City of Waukegan" (also know as the zoo train, loaded with the wretched drunken refuse of a Saturday St Pats Day celebration), pulls extra coaches Westbound. As it leaves Elmhurst it meets the # 159 "Village Of Mount Prospect", Eastbound to the city of Chicago. The sun is setting on a magical day forever seared into our memories as the day where we found a drunk every ten feet. We got off the West bound after spending thirty plus minutes being entertained by loud drunks, passed out drunks, stumbling drunks, mean drunks, friendly drunks, and several really overworked METRA conductors.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• metra
• union
• pacific
• railroad
• west
• line
• elmhurst
• chicago
• illinois
• commuter
• passenger
• train
• drunk

[ipfeldspar]

The conductor I talked to was lamenting how there was never any doubletime and how premium pay was not that frequent. I suspect he was getting straight pay and worked through the weekend and was compensated by getting two weekdays off. The job is 24/7 so they must rotate crews based upon seniority. I was hoping he would get extra money just because of all the problems this weekend had.

[ipfeldspar]

Thank-You! This was the last thing I shot at the end of a very long day. I wish I could tell you that this was planned, and that a lot of effort went into it. The truth is that my car was parked on the other side of the tracks and I got very lucky when I decided to get the shot.

[staintedcards]

prolly meant they got some overtime pay