February 20, 2020 – Chicago Transit Authority Pink Line train 308 heads toward the loop in downtown Chicago, Illinois as the late afternoon light plays on the building behind it.
February 20, 2020 – Chicago Transit Authority Pink Line train 308 heads toward the loop in downtown Chicago, Illinois as the late afternoon light plays on the building behind it.
February 20, 2020 – The head car on a Pink Line set “Floating Museum” #5052, makes its way through the downtown loop on the “L” in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
According to the Floating Museum Website: The Floating Museum partnered with the Chicago Transit Authority and Chicago Park District to transform the Green Line into a moving cultural destination, activating several parks along the south and west ends of the line between July 2019 – September 2019.
Cultural Transit Assembly serves both to celebrate the cultural work being done in these neighborhoods as well as to strengthen the ties between these spaces. This project is also an opportunity for Floating Museum to continue to foster collaborations between local, municipal, and community based organizations with larger city institutions.
Floating Museum developed site-specific exhibitions that highlighted local histories with complimentary public programs including live musical performances, panel discussions, neighborhood walking tours, film screenings, and more.
Cultural Transit Assembly happened up and down the CTA Green Line and included Founders which is a mobile monument and collaboration between Floating Museum, Chris Pappan and Monica Rickert-Bolter.
For more information visit: https://floatingmuseum.org/Transit
February 20, 2020 – A northbound Metra train crosses the 21st Street Lift Bridge over the old Pennsylvania RR Drawbridge 463, as it heads north to Union Station in downtown Chicago at dusk. This lift bridge is one of only a few still in operation in Chicago, Illinois.
According to Patrick McBriarty, a former business person and consultant who over a decade ago discovered a new focus and fascinati… See More
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.
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 21, 2020 – Chicago Transit Authority train 904 heads toward the Howard Street Station in Chicago, Illinois on a sunny cold day.
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 Island today and ever caught a single train on the Elsdon Subdivision, but some days are like that!
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 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.
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 – A Metra Express train passes another Metra local as they approach the Gladstone Park station on the UP-NW Line as they head northwest out of Chicago, Illinois at dusk.
January 30, 2020 – Canadian National (CN) A432, passes CN A408, as it heads south at at Effingham, Illinois on CN’s Champaign Subdivision.
January 30, 2020 – Indiana Railroad (INRD) 3803 and 3806 power the Palestine Utility train 1 (PAUT-1), as it makes a dropoff and pickup at the Rain Carbon Inc. plant behind the Marathon Refinery in Robinson, Illinois on the INRD Indianapolis Subdivision.
January 30, 2020 – Canadian National (CN) A408, led by ex-Illinois Central 1005, makes it’s way through the yard, toward the Pike Avenue Overpass, as it prepares to do drop off and pickups at Effingham, Illinois before continuing it’s trip south on CN’s Champaign Subdivision. Behind IC 1005 was IC 1027, GECX 2037 demo unit headed for repaint to CN colors, CN 5780 and CN 3106.
January 30, 2020 – Indiana Railroad (INRD) 3803 and 3806 power Palestine Utility train 1 (PAUT-1), as it passes through granaries at Palestine, Illinois, on it’s way north back to INRD’s Palestine Yard, after doing its work at the Marathon Refinery in Robinson, Illinois on the INRD Indianapolis Subdivision.
According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Rail Road (reporting mark INRD) is a United States Class II railroad, originally operating over former Illinois Central Railroad trackage from Newton, Illinois, to Indianapolis, Indiana, a distance of 155 miles (249 km).
This line, now known as the Indiana Rail Road’s Indianapolis Subdivision, comprises most of the former IC line from Indianapolis to Effingham, Illinois; Illinois Central successor Canadian National Railway retains the portion from Newton to Effingham. INRD also owns a former Milwaukee Road line from Terre Haute, Indiana, to Burns City, Indiana (site of the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center), with trackage rights extending to Chicago, Illinois.
INRD serves Louisville, Kentucky, and the Port of Indiana on the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana, through a haulage agreement with the Louisville & Indiana Railroad (LIRC).
September 8, 2019 – CTA Blue Line train 209 to Forest Park approaches the Damen Station as it heads toward downtown Chicago, Illinois.
September 9, 2019 – Union Pacific 5375 leads stack train as it pulls westbound from UPs Global Three yard, on the Geneva Subdivision at Rochelle, Illinois.
September 9, 2019 – Burlington Junction Railway 1517 works a string of refrigerated reefers at the Americold plant in Rochelle, Illinois on the City of Rochelle Railroad.
According to Wikipedia: “The Burlington Junction Railway (reporting mark BJRY) is a Class III short line railroad which was chartered in 1985. Originally operating on the southernmost 3 miles (4.8 km) of the former Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway mainline in Burlington, Iowa after abandonment by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, it provides short freight hauling, switching operations, locomotive repair, and transloading services, the latter currently handling over 3,000 carloads a year. Typical commodity types transported include chemicals and fertilizer.”
The BJRY operation in Rochelle is more sophisticated than most. First of all, the track is owned by the City of Rochelle Railroad. Second of all, it interchanges with UP as well as BNSF. It has enough track capacity to handle unit trains. It does not provide intermodal service because UP has its Global Three intermodal yard on the other side of town.
September 8, 2019 – CTA UIC-Halsted Blue Line train 108 passes a line of Maintenance of Way equipment as it heads into its next stop at Jefferson Park station in Chicago, Illinois.