I work as a carman here and I’ll tell you it’s something, and the amount of fallen flag cars or oddball cars that come through here is nuts. I’ve seen anything from 1960’s ATSF gons, to 1970’s ICG cars, and I love it
Worked for a company that built switch panel track for the Belt. Drove a flatbed trailer that would extend to 76ft, bringing track sections in the yard where they were replacing the switch panel track.Love the trains!!!😊
At 10:53, you can see some of the USDA’s scale test cars. I guess this is where they store them. Tons of cool railcars flowing through that yard. Nice video.
What a neat video! One of your best. It prompted me to google info about it, and I found a great article from Trains mag 2016 that explained how it all works. It even helped me understand why I was seeing, at video speed, cars slowing down on the down grade! Great work!
Great footage. I used to work nearby on third shift and that eerie screeching sound was constant. I haven't been there in quite a few years but I recall that area had a unique smell to it. Maybe from all the old buildings, some of which had train tracks running through them.
I was hoping you'd catch my train coming in. I love the Belt for it's remaining vestiges of a bygone era. About 24 years ago the power house was still standing south of the diesel shop. The clerks use to give you paperwork out of the office south of the diesel shop till they moved a few years ago. The North thoroughfare used to run through the district. They still had engineers back then. And conductor Mr. Cook would regularly bring Belt transfer trains to our yard. A bygone era.
Thanks for the great info. I'll reach out if I'm able to make it back up to the area to record and maybe you can let me know what time you'll be arriving.
the west bound being smaller makes sense seeing how the east is more settled and more compact distance wise with more yards than the west, westbound pulls will be longer and not need to sorted as much!
a very interesting video like all of your well researched and filmed efforts. I wonder why CSX ‘s Bedford park yard is so close to the Belt yard do you think at one point they were one property? You’ll notice that intermodal cars aren’t going through the yard as railroads that have connected transcontinental service hand off the entire train often with the power left on it to continue to run on the partner railway, they want fast truck like service so they can’t stop and waste time when they’re trying to keep or get business away from the trucks
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. As for the CSX facility, my guess is it was an expansion of an existing RR property. This entire area is all light to mid industrial, so I'm guessing the railroads were able to acquire more property as they needed it.
You were apparently standing on the Cicero overpass and yes, that part of the yard ends at Harlem three miles away with major rails coming in from the north and west. The yard extends east to the Norfolk yard at Western nearly four miles away. There are several rail ins and outs into and out of that series of yards, and had you gone south on interstate 55 to La Grange road and gone north to O'Hare you could h done the same over the CPKC yard. And yes, if it crosses the USA east to West or south to north, especially if it needs a rail interchange, it almost certainly comes through Chicago.
@@nkyrailfan I'm not sure what you are looking for, even with the loss of the New York Central and what it owned, plus steel and the stock yards, Chicago still has as much rail as some states.
My brother-now deceased 2018-worked at the USDA Master Scale Depot on that site. It was a two man shop. Over the years, several USDA employees at that site suffered permanent hearing damage from the screeching sound. My brother always wore orange colored foam earplugs while he was on that site. 👍 😇
That's very cool your brother worked at the scale Depot. I can't imagine how loud the screeching is inside the yard. I'm hundreds of feet away and it's loud.
Small, but productive railyard. To see one on a grand scale, check out the Bailey Railyard in North Platte, NE, which is the largest railyard in the world.
@ 5:30 You give voice credit for the photo to "Formula one" but have "Formulanone" written on screen Being a F1 fan that I am, I'm going to catch such things...
Good catch. I went back and listened and double checked the spelling of whom to credit and I misspoke in the video. It is "Formulanone." I copied and pasted it from the website, but must have misread it while creating the video. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Hi there! I work for Chicago's PBS station, WTTW Channel 11. We're developing a story about Chicago's railroad infrastructure, and if you're open to it, we would love to incorporate some of your footage in the program! Please let me know, as we're on a deadline. If you're interested, I'll follow up with my contact info. Thanks!
@@nkyrailfan Terrific, thanks! And the raws could be helpful also. It looks like RU-vid is not allowing me to put my contact info in the comments. Do you have an easy way to reach you?
It’s not that busy anymore. The current president is more concerned with cutting jobs than actually switching cars. This place is literally the worst ran railroad company out there!
