February 19, 2020 - An outbound and inbound Metra train pass each other at the Jefferson Park Metra Station during the evening rush hour to and from downtown Chicago, Illinois as the golden light of the day begins to fade from the sky.

An outbound and inbound Metra train…

February 19, 2020 – An outbound and inbound Metra train pass each other at the Jefferson Park Metra Station during the evening rush hour to and from downtown Chicago, Illinois as the golden light of the day begins to fade from the sky.

March 1, 2020 - CSX empty grain train V346-27 heads through the south end of the Slaughters, Kentucky with CSXT 8904 (new SD70AH-T4) trailing as it makes its way north on the Henderson Subdivision.

CSX empty grain train V346-27…

March 1, 2020 – CSX empty grain train V346-27 heads through the south end of the Slaughters, Kentucky with CSXT 8904 (new SD70AH-T4) trailing as it makes its way north on the Henderson Subdivision.

February 20, 2020 - A Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line and Green Line trains round curves at Tower 12 as they make their way around the downtown Chicago, Illinois "L". The first "L" (elevated) train (then Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad) was built in 1892, and its inaugural journey took place on June 6, spanning 3.6 miles in 14 minutes.

Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line and…

February 20, 2020 – Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line and Green Line trains round curves at Tower 12 as they make their way around the downtown Chicago, Illinois “L”. The first “L” (elevated) train (then Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad) was built in 1892, and its inaugural journey took place on June 6, spanning 3.6 miles in 14 minutes.

February 22, 2020 - BNSF 6347 leads an east bound autorack train through Blue Island Junction on the Indiana Harbor Belt line at Blue Island, Illinois. From the web: One of the most fascinating rail hotspots anywhere, it's hard to know where to begin a description of it. Let's start by noting that Broadway crosses the entire maze approximately in the middle. Entering from the southeast is the double track CSX main line (owned by subsidiary Baltimore $amp; Ohio Chicago Terminal) coming from Barr Yard. Entering from the south and running alongside CSX for a short distance is the double track Indiana Harbor Belt line from Blue Island Yard. The CSX line then heads directly north into Chicago, while the IHB runs northwest for several miles before heading due north through the western suburbs of Chicago. There is an important crossover between the two lines just south of Broadway. Many CSX trains departing Barr Yard transfer to the IHB at this point, and the northwest line is best thought of as a joint IHB/CSX route (hereafter, the "joint line"). CSX's subsidiary B&OCT actually owns and maintains the track from here to a point a few miles south of LaGrange, Illinois, but IHB dispatches it and is otherwise responsible for its operation. From there north to the line's terminus at Franklin Park, Illinois, IHB owns the line outright. Entering from the south and heading in a northerly direction into Chicago is the double track Canadian National (ex-Grand Trunk Western) mainline, which crosses the joint line just north of Broadway. Entering the junction from the southwest, and about 30 yards west of CN, is a single track line used by Iowa Interstate and once in a great while by CSX and Chicago Rail Link. This line extends north from the junction and feeds into the joint line. Trains using it sometimes back down the joint line to access Barr and Blue Island Yards. Between the CN and IAIS lines is a connector track, providing access to a small yard just south of the junction. If the above were all there was, Blue Island would be a great place for trains. But there's more: at the south end of the plant, the Metra (ex-Rock Island) line crosses over the whole mess (Metra is the Chicago commuter train authority and they own the Rock Island tracks between Chicago and Joliet, Illinois). At the southwest corner of the junction, the IAIS track at the west end climbs up to connect with the Metra line. Roughly 80-90 trains plow through the junction on a typical day, not counting the commuter trains and occasional freights on the overhead line. The joint line sees the most action, but the CSX main is busy as well. A small tower on Broadway in the middle of the junction once housed the crossing gates operator but was closed in 2013. The interlocking tower is at the far north end of the junction across the Calumet Sag Channel and is clearly visible from Broadway. However, it was shut down in June, 2013, and traffic is now handled remotely by CSX dispatchers. All of the tracks at the junction cross the channel on rugged, formidable truss bridges that look like they were built a thousand years ago (and are good for another thousand as well). The bridges on the north and the overhead Rock Island tracks on the south make Blue Island unique among busy junctions here or anywhere else. More information: http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/blueisland.html

BNSF 6347 leads an east bound autorack train…

February 22, 2020 – BNSF 6347 leads an east bound autorack train through Blue Island Junction on the Indiana Harbor Belt line at Blue Island, Illinois.

From the web: One of the most fascinating rail hotspots anywhere, it’s hard to know where to begin a description of it. Let’s start by noting that Broadway crosses the entire maze approximately in the middle. Entering from the southeast is the do… See More

February 22, 2020 - Metra engine 418 crosses over the CSX Elsdon Subdivision as it heads along the Metra Joliet Sub District at Blue Island, Illinois. I spent a good part of the morning and afternoon here at Blue Harbor today and ever caught a single train on the Elsdon Subdivision, but some days are like that!

Metra engine 418 crosses over…

February 22, 2020 – Metra engine 418 crosses over the CSX Elsdon Subdivision as it heads along the Metra Joliet Sub District at Blue Island, Illinois. I spent a good part of the morning and afternoon here at Blue Island today and ever caught a single train on the Elsdon Subdivision, but some days are like that!

February 20, 2020 - Two CTA Track Inspectors work their way along the maze of tracks at the intersection of the L at Tower 18 in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The safety of rail traffic everywhere falls on the maintenance of way crews as they inspect the miles of tracks in all kinds of weather!

Two Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Track Inspectors…

February 20, 2020 – Two Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Track Inspectors work their way along the maze of tracks at the intersection of the L at Tower 18 in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The safety of rail traffic everywhere falls on the maintenance of way crews as they inspect the miles of tracks in all kinds of weather!

February 24, 2020 - Northbound BNSF 5208 pulls out onto the Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL) main after a three way meet between a southbound loaded coal, the afternoon local and its load of military containers at the PAL Yard in Princeton, Kentucky.

Northbound BNSF 5208 pulls…

February 24, 2020 – Northbound BNSF 5208 pulls out onto the Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL) main after a three way meet between a southbound loaded coal, the afternoon local and its load of military containers at the PAL Yard in Princeton, Kentucky.

February 20, 2020 - Metra's Milwaukee Road heritage Unit 405 waits to depart from Union Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois. According to a Metra January 25, 2019 press release: The Milwaukee Road locomotive is the second locomotive to be painted in heritage colors after an earlier one painted in a color scheme of the old Rock Island Line. The locomotives have been recently rebuilt and getting a new coat of paint – either in the regular Metra scheme or in heritage colors.

Metra’s Milwaukee Road heritage Unit 405…

February 20, 2020 – Metra’s Milwaukee Road heritage Unit 405 waits to depart from Union Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

According to a Metra January 25, 2019 press release: The Milwaukee Road locomotive is the second locomotive to be painted in heritage colors after an earlier one painted in a color scheme of the old Rock Island Line. The locomotives have been recently rebuilt and getting a new coat of paint – either in the regular Metra scheme or in heritage colors.

February 20, 2020 - The engineer on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Loop Train 403 keeps a watchful eye on the track ahead as he navigates his train around a curve as he makes his seemingly never ending loop through the canyons of downtown Chicago, Illinois.

The engineer on Chicago Transit Authority…

February 20, 2020 – The engineer on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Loop Train 403 keeps a watchful eye on the track ahead as he navigates his train around a curve as he makes his seemingly never ending loop through the canyons of downtown Chicago, Illinois.

February 22, 2020 - Indiana Harbor Belt 2920 backs into the Blue Island Rail Yard at Riverdale, IL as IHB 2160 works it's own job during a cold winters morning as IHB caboose 54 sits waiting to be the shoving platform on its next assignment. According to the IHB Website: The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad is the largest switch carrier in the U.S. with 54 miles of mainline track (24 miles of which is double main track) and 266 miles of additional yard and siding track. The IHB provides a wide variety of services, including industrial switching with 160 customers, generating 170,000 carloads of business annually. The IHB interchanges daily with 16 other rail carriers in Chicago. A growing fleet of approximately 1,400 freight cars is geared predominately to the steel industry. The industrial traffic base includes 4 of the 5 largest steel producers in the U.S. and a large aluminum processor, oil refineries, corn millers, grain elevators, chemical plants, warehouses, lumber transloading, and bulk transfer operations. IHB's industrial traffic consists of 38% primary metals, 12% chemicals & petroleum products, 11% food products, 8% scrap iron, 7% coal & coke, 6% whole grain, as well as a variety of other products including lumber, paper, and aggregates. The IHB also operates as an intermediate switch carrier between the 12 trunk-line railroads for traffic interchanged between them in Chicago, generating an additional 475,000 revenue cars. The IHB main line circles Chicago from near O'Hare to Northwest Indiana and roughly parallels Interstate 294 (Tri-state Expressway) and I-80/94. Its primary yard, Blue Island (a 44 class track hump yard) at Riverdale, IL lies in about the center of the railroad. Other major yards includes Gibson (in Hammond, IN) which only classifies cars of new autos and Michigan Avenue Yard (in East Chicago) which serves the extensive steel plants which accounts for IHB's primary business. From East Chicago, the IHB operates east for an additional 16 miles on trackage rights to access Burns Harbor, IN and Portage, IN, which includes Indiana's International Port.

Indiana Harbor Belt 2920 backs…

February 22, 2020 – Indiana Harbor Belt 2920 backs into the Blue Island Rail Yard at Riverdale, IL as IHB 2160 works it’s own job during a cold winters morning as IHB caboose 54 sits waiting to be the shoving platform on its next assignment.

According to the IHB Website: The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad is the largest switch carrier in the U.S. with 54 miles of mainline track (24 miles of which i… See More

February 20, 2020 - Metra 179 pulls train #919 southbound commuter train out of downtown Chicago, Illinois past the Amtrak facility as it approaches the 18th street overpass, as dusk falls over the city, on its way to Joliet, Illinois on the Metra Heritage Corridor.

Metra 179 pulls train #919 southbound…

February 20, 2020 – Metra 179 pulls train #919 southbound commuter train out of downtown Chicago, Illinois past the Amtrak facility as it approaches the 18th street overpass, as dusk falls over the city, on its way to Joliet, Illinois on the Metra Heritage Corridor.

February 17, 2020 - CSXT 884 leads, CSXT 391 (Spirit of Dante), 3030, 124, 829 and one other unidentified unit, lead CSX Q025-17 (Bedford Park, IL - Jacksonville, FL) as it passes the curve leading to the Romney CP at Nortonville, Ky as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision with its hot intermodal train.

CSXT 884 leads, CSXT 391 (Spirit of Dante)…

February 17, 2020 – CSXT 884 leads, CSXT 391 (Spirit of Dante), 3030, 124, 829 and one other unidentified unit, lead CSX Q025-17 (Bedford Park, IL – Jacksonville, FL) as it passes the curve leading to the Romney CP at Nortonville, Ky as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision with its hot intermodal train.

February 8, 2020 - The engineer from Paducah, Ky, on BNSF 6353, steps down from a northbound empty coal train, at Caneyville, Kentucky as he and the conductor prepare to turn the train over to a Louisville Crew for the rest of the trip to Louisville on the Paducah and Louisville Railway.

Paducah & Louisville Crew Change At Caneyville, Ky

February 8, 2020 – The engineer from Paducah, Ky, on BNSF 6353, steps down from a northbound empty coal train, at Caneyville, Kentucky as he and the conductor prepare to turn the train over to a Louisville Crew for the rest of the trip to Louisville on the Paducah and Louisville Railway.

February 8, 2020 - BNSF 6353 & CN 2126 lead a northbound empty coal train, 7,400ft (135 car), with BNSF 5997 as the trailing DPU. Here it makes it's way north through the valley approaching Caneyville, Kentucky where it will meet up with a fresh crew to take the train on to Louisville.

BNSF 6353 & CN 2126 lead a northbound empty coal…

February 8, 2020 – BNSF 6353 & CN 2126 lead a northbound empty coal train, 7,400ft (135 car), with BNSF 5997 as the trailing DPU. Here it makes it’s way north through the valley approaching Caneyville, Kentucky where it will meet up with a fresh crew to take the train on to Louisville.

February 7, 2020 - Loaded Grain train, CSX Q503-06, being led by CSXT 754, pulls past the south end of Kelly siding, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision at Kelly, Ky.

Loaded Grain train, CSX Q503-06 at Kelly, Ky

February 7, 2020 – Loaded Grain train, CSX Q503-06, being led by CSXT 754, pulls past the south end of Kelly siding, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision at Kelly, Ky.