Cool stuff. Be nice if each video had which Metra route the train belonged to for those of us outsiders that don't know that Metra system by it's station stops. Fun to watch.
9:00 The single track to the right is the UP mainline for the Belvidere sub. This track goes right past the Illinois Railway Museum and starts from the UP west line in West Chicago on the Geneva sub. It was proposed that Metra will open a new route to Rockford, IL by 2027. An Article I read mentions a new interlocking connection between the Milwaukee west line and the UP Belvidere sub to be installed between Big Timber and Elgin. You can see the UP Belvidere sub mainline on google maps and follow it down from IRM, thru Elgin and to West Chicago.
Correct. The line unfortunately is barely used and only sees transfer trains or train cars moving to storage somewhere. There is an auto plant in Belvidere that UP works at I believe. I've only seen trains on that line like 3 or 4 times and that's about it. It's going to be cool to have Metra going to Rockford.
Two ex-MILW F40Cs in the yard, Tower A2 and the purr of that MP36PH 👍...think I prefer the Metra safety announcement over the 'See it, Say it, Sort it' we have in UK, definitely a bit softer in its delivery.
Awesome video! I just discovered your channel, and you have some really good content. I especially love your Metra videos, since I am a huge fan of Metra. You just earned yourself a subscriber. Keep up the good work!
This series aren't really from the cab, but from the lower level. You can tell from the height. There's no way Metra would permit a cab perspective (assuming the videographer got permission in the 1st place.) He did get a car with a clean window, at least.
Metra made some actual cab videos of both inbounds and outbounds but they always do mid day runs where they stop at all the stations and there is tons of track work.
Right at the start of the video, off to the right is a section of land between these tracks and a single track. When I was a kid, me and my buddies built extensive jumps, berms, and all kinds of tracks on this land for our BMX bikes, and later dirt bikes since the railroad kept it protected from development. This was all built during the 70's-80's. I went back in 2008 and there were still clear visible signs of our work. There is also a trail that run between the tracks all the way out past Randall Rd to a track we had that is all houses and subdivisions now. It was called "Track & Trail" and all the local kids used it. I lived in Eagle Heights subdivision which is farther off to the right of the Big Timber station past the single track not visible in this video. At 4:25, you can see a fountain on the corner of Kimball St and Route 31. I once tossed a bottle of dish soap poked full of holes into this fountain and created a gigantic bubble drift that completely stopped traffic for a while. Made the newspaper and everything. Lol! It looked like a blizzard in only one spot.
What a cool story. that's amazing how your work was still there decades later. and the dish soap in the fountain must've been very memorable. sounds like you all had fun
I lived on Mill Street right across from that fountain! For some reason or another ever since it was built kids always dumped dishwasher or laundry detergent into that fountain to create a bunch of suds! LMAO
This an am rush hour train so you could get in front car. I’ve ridden it in off hours and car was closed so I couldn’t do that line. You’re fortunate you had a cloudy day otherwise, the sun would be in your face.
Can't agree with you more. I just love seeing Metra trains. I know so much about the railroad its not even funny. I even know every stop on 10 of the 11 lines
The train 🚆 engineer by railroad 🛤 rules and federal regulations must first make the long-long, short-long horn blasts before approaching the grade crossing. The last long blast should sound as the engine is crossing over the roadway. Anytime the front car on a train 🚊 passes over a RR crossing, it must be sounding the horn. The tower gets a computer 🖥 read-out of the engineer’s operation of the control stand, and the engine, of course, has a black box. thanks 🚩
