Abandoned Trains near Chicago 

I really hope they get restored and put in a museum

4:12 Just a word of warning, if anyone hasn't seen that video, do not go looking for it. I made that mistake and I promise you it's not worth it.

Yes the downers grove incident is the first thing people think about with these things. The locomotive involved is in poor condition too

I have seen abandoned cars before, and near where I live there is an airliner graveyard. It's sad to see beautiful old trains and planes abandoned, rusting away. But it's good to see exciting new trains running, and watch America's passenger rail system slowly bootstrapping itself back into existence. Thank you, Thom for covering the fallen fleet as respectfully as you cover the new trains!

I just went to the new york central railroad museum in Elkhart, Indiana, and it had a NYC locomotive just like the abandoned one you ahd in your video. You should definitely go check it out!

Wow, who knew an abandoned train by O'Hare had such interesting history! Seeing a MARC locomotive in Burlington Northern colors is wild! Bensenville is named after a village called Bensen in the Sudwalde municipality of Lower Saxony in Germany, but it used to be called Tioga. A cool thing that the NYC Subway has done in the past when it's time to retire rolling stock is turning them into reefs! From 2001 to 2010, the MTA repurposed Redbird and Brightliner subway cars by submerging them into the ocean off states such as New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina. The nooks and crannies provide an ideal habitat for fish, mussels, shrimp, crabs and lobsters! The Redbird Reef off of Delaware for example has 714 Redbirds! The program saved the MTA $30 million in disposal costs and helping rebuild the environment. By the time the subway reefing project officially ended on Earth Day 2010, 2,580 subway cars were placed in sites along the coast!

It’s fascinating to me that you were able to find that complete history of this locomotive’s operators from start to retirement. Very cool topic.

There are abandoned pullman gallery cars sitting in the Arizona desert

FYI Bensenville is where the Chicago Outfit killed the Spilotro brothers in 1986 and then buried them in a corn field in Indiana. (See the movie Casino)

If only you could get into the Western Avenue Yard to make a video about the only two remaining F40C’s.

This loco really likes the number 9. 😊. It’s a great number

Those E9s were awesome. When I'd start out in the early AM in Aurora, bound for Chicago, they'd be lined up by the dozens waiting to handle the morning commute. It was a green and white sea of bull-nosed behemoths. Then they all gathered again just outside Union Station for the evening commute back out. The EMD E9 A remains my favorite train engine of all time.

I don’t want watch the video of the Downers Grove accident. I believe that it will be a bit too gruesome for my liking

I have seen abandoned wagons and locomotives but they have a high scrap value so if they aren't sold for scrap thieves will steal the metal.

Your videos are always so informative and interesting. Thanks for posting. SR

VRE & MARC had bought old gallery cars from Chicago Metra. VRE has since sold back to Chicago as VRE has bought new gallery cars and MARC has also has gotten rid of those old gallery cars

There was more videos on it, basically the prime mover has been removed. Would be nice to put it affixed to a plinth or something cosmetically restored.

There's a lot of classic trains at the Illinois Railroad Museum in Union, Illinois. You should check that place out.

Getting sad seeing a train in such a state.

The 2 instances I know of for abandoned trains are the old amtrak e8 along the NEC a bit north of Philadelphia (I believe) and the old budd spv-2000s outside of Wilmington. Sadly both have been moved out of sight. Not sure where they are now but given their state, I believe they no longer exist. You would pass them while riding a train.

I appreciate you giving the actual history of BN 9907 instead of repeating the falsehood about it being 9912 due to that damn shock video. It's bewildering how the internet is a thing where you can fact check the build date and history of a locomotive but one spoopy BS video makes everyone belief this locomotive is haunted. Madness.

They should give them to me :3 I can be trusted with locomotives :3

Wow! I didnt think you would make a video on this, but I'm glad you did! I've always seen this train but never checked it out! Thanks for the history on the engine. Great video 👍👍

One time my dad and I snuck in to one of those abandoned Metra cars somewhere else in that area. I think it was outside of another warehouse and luckily no one else noticed and we got away with it. We only went up the first few steps and never went by the windows or on the upper level at all.

So cool!!!! What a find. Particularly surprised that the gallery cars didn’t find another life!

Great video! Interesting to see those locomotives and cars with so many history!

9912 was donated to a museum and is a decent shape but is in the process of restoration

Cool video 😊

Question is: Can you get there with the 233 bus? ;-)

if i had the money i would go restorig as many trains and machines as possible

I’m surprised the village never asked for them to be removed do the vandalism especially with one of the cars was set on fire.

Its really sad to see pieces of railroad history just rotting away from our very eyes, I'm hoping that a museum or a tourist railroad gets them, but unfortunately getting these passenger cars and locomotive there is not that easy, it will probably require having to contact a museum/tourist railroad ( Illinois Railway Museum, Steam Railroading Institute, National Museum of Transportation, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, Mid Continent Railway Museum, etc) and also to top of that they just don't have much money lying around, which will require them to get money from via donations to help save them

👍video!

Well said Thom.

tiny house streetcars are super cool... I'd live in one

0:08 Hang on, that's a Duewag tram in the background! How did that get there!?

Firsto

Been to that area several times. Sister's ex inlaws lived there too. Great place for planespotting. Well said about the respect for property and trespassing laws.

Dang, I knew some people had hard feelings against gallery cars, but that's just brutal!

Wow so cool

Very cool!

Great video sir!

It's a shame that the fox valley trolly museum or the Illinois railway museum can't take the loco and restore it

One of those trains struck a lady and it was caught on film in 1990 (I think it’s loco 9912)

If I had the money, space, and time I would definitely restore them and donate them to a railroad museum like IRM.

2:47 B R I A N

If you ride the Metra Milwaukee district north line from lake forest to libertyville immediately after the WSOR branches off from the CPKC main line you will see a long stretch of abandoned gallery cars similar to the ones in the video.

I really enjoyed this awesome video, but it made me kind of sad to see this abandoned and neglected engine. You can tell It used to be awesome. I Hope someone somehow can save it and restore it. That would be awesome!!!

Can you please pin me? I am a huge fan of trains.

Da first train have a disturbing story search train girl

Thom you ever make it over to the illinois railway museum?

I rode on that model of passenger car so many times. When the 606, park/bike trail made from a converted right of way, opened I looked into the amount of abandoned rail right of way in Chicago and there is miles of it. A lot of it is very hard to reach, behind fences etc. I've been told by people who are more agile that there is abandoned rail stock on some of it as well but I am not able to verify that.

So what can you just like... take them home?

It makes my heart soar to see someone give some love to these venerable hunks of iron

So sad to see!

I'm not a big train guy, BUT I do enjoy "stalking" old train lines to see where they used to serve businesses.

Would make for a pretty cool house.

E9s are common for metro north in the 1990s too

Locomotives/ not traines.

Thom in a car. I don't know.

Iowa Pacific, before 2021 bankruptcy, had their E9 locos and passenger cars in that area.

Great catch, thanks for the review.

There is a Burlington northern train at the Illinois railway museum that is number 9908. I never rode that one, but it is restored. It originally had the original Burlington northern livery, but today, it has a black and white striped livery. I liked it better with the original livery, despite me not seeing it in the original livery.

Jeez, I saw that BN E9A while ago, that thing is getting worse and worse by the minute

I wonder why they restored 9908

Thanks

Took a minute but i actually found it on a map. Maybe ill cruise up there someday

Can the diesel locomotive can pull the abandoned train?

i love the vido as always thom

Rip 9907

This train hit a woman

A piece of history and a great video!

Thom, I love your vids!

jus been here

Did you go down Green street? The railyard is a sight