Just train pictures and train stories

Now this is a rarity: two Dash 8's together. The one on the left belongs to the State of California, and the one on the right belongs to Amtrak in general.

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This locomotive I've seen sitting around Chicago Union Station while backing out on the Illini. Always cool to see one in person.

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I also saw one of these at Chicago Union Station-- pretty sure it's this one here.

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sonocativo said:
There are really old bridges here too, all made of timber. My wife freaks out going under them. You have to stop at a sign and its under the bridge, so she will blow through it, I stop and she gets mad so I sit there...lol But it does look like it might fall any day
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Speaking of falling bridges-- Union Pacific recently replaced a bridge with a more permanent one after the collapse on 7/4/2012. That happened up north, but they're still working in that area, as the road surface sustained considerable damage, and needs major repairs. They're supposed to be done by Sept. 2014. I'll have the website soon.


Mark

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These pictures show what the transformation for Metra Electric cars have gone through since the 1970's:

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These cars from the 1970's.

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These are the cars they are using today.
 
i going on Virgin to Liverpool next week if i could post pic i would have followed bots instructions how to do it but i just can't do it...
Virgin trains are swanky and comfortable...traveling greater anglia first which most uncomfortable.
i took my daughter on 'greater anglia' space so tight she dislocated knee cap when she moved,they pulled emergency cord and chugged back to station,i gather we upset whole of that network for the day
 
caz12 not sure on this?

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This is the Metra yard where they keep the cars and some locomotives. Now, I dunno where they keep them all at, but certainly not here-- not enough space. The Amtrak yard is beyond the Metra yard, and closer to CUS.

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This is the Amtrak yard, and in the background, the white building, Chicago Union Station, and to the right, Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower.

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Chicago Union Station has more than 40 tracks that covers two separate buildings-- the one here and the other at Madison and Canal. That building serves trains going north and west. This here serves trains going south, east, and west.
 
This is LaSalle Street Station, located on Van Buren Street, near several landmarks. This station serves only one line-- the Rock Island District line to Joliet, IL. Now, there are two lines that go to Joliet, but the Rock Island serves Joliet Union Station more than the other one does-- that line only has 3 trains a day, and as I learned, it's because the CN tracks aren't stable enough to have trains running daily. Interesting, I thought. If people wanted to get to Joliet from Chicago on a daily basis, this line is your best bet.

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When I go on home visits, I get off at this station-- Effingham, IL. Now, a little info about this area-- there are multiple tracks that go through here. In this picture, you can see two of them, but there are two more in the background off to the left. The Saluki, Illini, and City of New Orleans only stops here. The other tracks are freight trains only.

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This is Millenium Street Station. This station is the only one that is underground, and there's a reason for that. You see, the Metra Electric and South Shore Line run on cable wires with high voltage, and those wires are on lower ground, and not anywhere dangerous. I visited this station only once-- in 2009, and I must say-- it was neat.

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This is the Howard Red, Yellow, and Purple Line Terminal. This station serves quite a few people, and multiple buses, two of which are from downtown Chicago, and four CTA buses from out west (Mainly Skokie), and two Pace buses from the Cumberland Blue Line station and from the Skokie Courthouse. Now, if a person were to ride the CTA trains, it is inadvisable to have your electronics out and about, as there is a high chance you may get robbed, especially on the Red Line, and at night. This is why I stopped taking the Red Line and taking the Metra or the #22 Clark bus.

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This is the 95th/Dan Ryan Red Line stop. This stop preludes entrance to Oak Lawn, IL, and as you can clearly see, is right smack in the middle of a very busy expressway. This stop will be undergoing major renovations at some point within the next 12-18 months, and will cost more than $200 million.

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This is the Jefferson Park Terminal. This is one of the few places where all three transportation methods come to stop-- Metra, CTA, and Pace. The CTA's Blue Line is on the ground, while the Metra's Union Pacific Northwest line is on the top, and that station has three tracks, as mentioned previously. Most of the UPNW does. Anyways, multiple CTA buses from a large area meet here-- too many to name.

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This is the train museum in my former hometown of Flora, IL. The building it's in used to be a train depot way back then, until it stopped being one. Now they've restored the building, and made it a train museum. Beautiful, and totally worth a visit.

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ChicagoBlue2 said:
This is the train museum in my former hometown of Flora, IL. The building it's in used to be a train depot way back then, until it stopped being one. Now they've restored the building, and made it a train museum. Beautiful, and totally worth a visit.

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I took my son to train museum in York fascinating..They had replicer of the Rocket ...must been very uncomfortable travel in one..we only went mile up track we had stand up and all the steam and bits of fire embers got all over us. safety measures were on it but in those days you been taking life in hands..
if you like trains and ever come to uk then that place you must go to
 
Video I made of a coal train back when I lived in Wales:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLmglHCxKwc

Cwmbargoed is an opencast coal mine and two to four times a day you've have one of these trains going up from Cardiff, right through my local station in Caerphilly and past my house to Ystrad Mynach where the line to the mine would branch off from the main Rhymney line.

One day I went to visit the signal box (I worked on the railway) and on my way back went back through the very low pedestrian underpass that let you get from the street to the station itself. The mine branch ran across this underpass so when I emerged on the other side I looked back to see a huge train like the one above just sitting there where there hadn't been one a moment earlier!
 
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