Hugging Chicago’s lakefront, the original Illinois Central Railroad mainline was built in 1856 and electrified in 1926. Today, it is one of Metra’s busiest stretches of commuter railroad, with hundreds of daily trains carrying thousands of commuters into the Loop at Millennium Station. South of Roosevelt Road, there are also a few freight trains along the line, six tracks wide at this point. Sunday night, we were lucky enough to find one of those freight trains approaching the 35th St. overpass, under the ever-present Willis Tower, its headlight illuminating the wide right of way of the Mainline of Mid-America. Read the rest of this entry »
Thursday nights are party nights in Rochelle, IL. The ‘bar district’ between the Union Pacific and BNSF mainlines is hopping, or as hopping as it can be in a town of 9000 population in the middle of the cornfields of north central Illinois. This particular Thursday night a month or so ago was no exception, with people coming and going from Tequila’s Lounge, crossing the Union Pacific line, and complaining to the waiting photographers that there were too many trains in town. There are quite a few trains passing through Rochelle, 100+ a day in fact, just one of those was caught in my flashes though, as it crept across S. Washington St. after picking up cars in the giant Global III intermodal terminal west of town. Meanwhile, a few people have stepped out of Tequila’s Lounge to have a cigarette, completely oblivious to yet another train. Read the rest of this entry »
While messing around trying to kill some time in Homewood, IL on Friday night, I was trying some pan shots passing Metra Electric trains shortly after sunset. In this shot, an inbound train for Chicago is slowing for a stop on the Homewood platform, and as you’ll notice, the brake shoes on the lead truck are really heating up the wheel, causing the metal to glow and produce a shower of sparks. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve always loved motion, and attempting to capture it in photos. So after shooting a few late evening skyline shots from the top of one of my favorite parking garages, I took a few minutes to shoot the trains on the Pink Line as they moved through the new-ish Paulina Connector near the United Center on the west side of Chicago. The panning motion gave a neat effect to the photo, blurring the cars speeding by in the opposite direction on Ogden Ave beneath the train. Read the rest of this entry »
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