Metra, Amtrak (Plus Ph. IV Heritage), BNSF & CSX Action on the 'Racetrack', 09.02.11

A total of 17 trains (2 Amtraks, 5 freights and 10 Metras) pass by the Congress Park and La Grange Road stations on BNSF's Chicago Subdivision 'Racetrack' over the course of about an hour and a half, beginning around 6pm at Congress Park. A couple times, I followed the rarely-used connection tracks from BNSF to the Indiana Harbor Belt main that passes underneath between the two stations, to find no traffic there- this did however, result in interesting angles on the trains.

It would get dry describing all the Metra trains, so here are the (mostly non-Metra) catches that stand out, ordered by video timestamp:

-- 2:45 : Westbound Amtrak train #383, the Illinois Zephyr, consists of P42DC #32 and a uniform set of 5 Horizon cars as it passes Congress Park and meets an inbound Metra in the distance, slowing for its stop at La Grange.

-- 4:13 : The Chicago-bound California Zephyr is running about 3 hours late, led by P42DCs #137, Phase IV Heritage unit #184, and #6 as it passes Congress Park and crosses over to the center main just east.

-- 5:08 : An inbound Metra BNSF Line train is pushed by one of Metra's two Operation Lifesaver units, F40PHM-2 #214, seen from the northern connector track to the IHB.

-- 5:32 : An eastbound BNSF intermodal train is led by a GEVO and an ex-Santa Fe 'warbonnet' Dash-9 as it rolls across the Indiana Harbor Belt.

-- 7:11 : Blowing its horn to alert some, um... wayward pedestrians, an eastbound stack train is led by two SD70MACs, #8985 and 9506, the latter an "executive" unit.

-- 9:15 : The lead unit's headlight off, two Dash-9s bring a manifest west.

-- 10:41 : Three more Dash-9s, the middle unit an ex-ATSF 'warbonnet', pass the manifest with a Chicago-bound stacker.

-- 12:04 : An eastbound CSX run-through grain train was a great catch to round out the evening. Leading is a rather rare one-unit-wonder, CSX AC6000CW #654, which wears the modified YN2 paint scheme. Lots of fallen flag and older CSX hoppers follow.

~Thanks for watching!~

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• BNSF
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe
• ATSF
• warbonnet
• CSX
• Metra
• Amtrak
• Illinois Zephyr
• California Zephyr
• long-distance
• passenger
• commuter
• express
• local
• rush hour
• Congress Park
• La Grange Road
• Chicago
• IL
• freight
• manifest
• mixed
• container
• TOFC
• intermodal
• train
• trains
• rail
• railroad
• railway
• station
• F40PH
• MP36PH-3S
• F40PHM-2
• P42DC
• Heritage unit
• Phase IV
• AMTK 184
• C44-9W
• Dash-9
• GEVO
• AC6000
• AC6000CW
• railfan

[JLJ061]

Hmmmm, I was filming at LaGrange 24 hours later, though a bit wetter then. lol

[sethamtrak]

Nice timing on the flatcars on the manifest so you could get the power of the eastbound intermodal!