Railfanning Franklin Park/B-12 & Bensenville/B-17, 14.02.11: Metra, CP, Soo, UP, NREX, IC&E

Today started with an overcast sky and not many trains in Franklin Park, IL, but traffic (and the weather) quickly improved, especially as the day went on and I moved over to Tower B-17 in Bensenville. Train descriptions follow:

Train 1:
A six-car outbound Metra train departs Franklin Park, revealing the end of a train heading for the Belt Railway of Chicago to the east.

Train 2:
Canadian Pacific Railway SD40-2 #5964 and ex-Soo Line GP38-2 #4423 have pulled out of Bensenville Yard and alongside Platform 3 at the Franklin Park station, awaiting a clear signal to proceed across CN at B-12.

Train 3:
An inbound Metra train arrives with just four cars. As it departs, listen for the door-closing announcement- sounds like the "announcer" has been on helium! F40PH #109, the "Village of Robbins" is the power. The light CP/Soo power then departs.

Train 4:
Having come from Canadian coalfields, CP ES44AC #8857 and AC4400CW #9739 (with the eye-pleasing gold beaver crest) power a coal drag eastward.

Train 5:
Metra F40PH #122, the "Village of Deerfield", powers a 6-car, Elgin-bound commuter to, then away from Franklin Park.

Train 6:
Metra MP36PH-3S #427 is eastbound with 5 bilevels toward Chicago.

Train 7:
Canadian Pacific ES44ACs #8821 and 8714 roar westbound with a manifest.

Train 6:
Now at the control point the Indiana Harbor Belt calls "Edgington", (this is IHB's northernmost point where it feeds into the CP/Metra main) an unbelievably long CP combined intermodal/mixed freight train heads west toward Bensenville Yard. Interesting power here- AC4400CW #8550 with the newer CP livery leads the pack, with CEFX AC4400CW #1020, CP Dash-9 #9502 (still in its CP Rail paint, and sporting a special logo commemorating CP's support of the RCMP Musical Ride), and AC4400CW #8654, all working their guts out to pull this massive train.

Train 7:
An outbound (toward Elgin) Metra is powered by F40PH #103 as it arrives at Franklin Park. I boarded this train and alighted at the next station- Bensenville.

Train 8:
Now at the Bensenville station, we see Union Pacific power gaining some headroom in order to reverse and proceed further into Bensenville Yard. The units are UP SD90/43MAC #8203 and SD70M #4206.

Train 9:
With a rather sick-sounding horn on the cab-car, the same train seen as an outbound earlier, with F40PH #122, is now inbound as it passes Tower B-17.

Train 10:
Metra MP36PH-3S #424 leads 7 bilevels west through the interlocking.

Train 11:
Iowa, Chicago & Eastern SD40-2 #6446, the "City of McGregor" and NREX (National Railway Equipment) SD40-2 #7370 (an ex-Missouri Pacific unit) lead a mixed freight westward on the CP/Metra main toward Elgin and ultimately, Iowa, increasing in speed as it departs the yard.

Train 12:
Canadian Pacific SD40-2s #5787 (in newer CP Rail paint) and #6007 (in the older livery) lead an eastbound autorack/manifest train into Bensenville Yard, with some interesting railcars (and graffiti!) in tow.

~Thanks for watching~!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• CP
• Canadian Pacific
• Soo Line
• Soo
• Milwaukee Road
• ICE
• IC&E
• Iowa Chicago & Eastern
• NREX
• NRE
• National Railway Equipment
• CEFX
• lease unit
• UP
• Union Pacific
• Metra
• METX
• passenger
• commuter
• bilevel
• Chicago
• Bensenville
• Franklin Park
• Tower
• B-12
• B-17
• interlocking
• junction
• BRC
• IHB
• CN
• F40PH
• SD70M
• SD90
• SD9043MAC
• ES44AC
• GEVO
• AC4400CW
• SD40-2
• GP38-2
• diesel
• yard
• switching
• freight
• manifest
• coal drag
• intermodal
• stack
• train
• railroad
• railway
• railfanning
• Chicao
• IL

[177987auprr1]

Nice. Which side gets more action? The east side or west side of the Bensenville yard?

[Nachtwolf1]

@177987auprr1 The east side (Franklin Park) is much busier.

[METX611]

Nice!

[CVandergriff2008]

Nice video.

[02081912Frabas]

Very nice railfanning. kind regards from NLtoUSA

[sethamtrak]

I'm going to franklin park on friday!