Railfan hotspots in a day's drive

[MQT1223]

Oh I forgot about Chesterton... I'm not familiar with Chicago, is their any places around Chicago that are any good? Sounds like a stupid question since it's Chicago but I know nothing about Chicago railfanning areas.

West Chicago, Joliet, Roundout, Rochelle, Roosevelt Ave (if you like hundreds of passenger moves a day), Blue Island, many Metra stops on some of the various Metra lines.. That's just off the top of my head mostly "safe" spots to fan (Blue Island may or may not be decent at this point in terms of being near the tracks).. Joliet has the old platform which is supposed to be fenced and a good spot to fan, West Chicago has public sidewalks near the diamond and such, as do Roundout, and Roosevelt ave, Rochelle of course has the railfan park.

If I were you I would start by just going to Chesterton/ Porter. About a 2 hour drive or so for you, and there are about between 70-100 trains on any given day on the NS/ Amtrak lines (plus maybe some CSX in that area I cant remember the layout exactly). That would be a good start for you since you don't seem to have ever been any of these places or have experience going to these places to railfan. After starting and getting a feel for how you want to fan, then I would recommend taking a bigger trip to like Chicagoland, or one of the NWO hot spots (all of which would be a longer drive)

Yeah I agree. I need the experience first. I have however seen ONE Metra train, when I was in Woodstock, Illinois for a day. What about the BNSF's Racetrack?

[Saturnalia]

Max, you know about Chesterton...aka Porter...right off I-94

[J T]

Yeah, go to Chesterton. Something about 300 trains a day through there. Yeah, that's the place to be!

[Saturnalia]

Yeah, go to Chesterton. Something about 300 trains a day through there. Yeah, that's the place to be!

Well, it is enough to warrant a 3rd main!

[cbehr91]

What about the BNSF's Racetrack?

Just pick a station west of Lavernge. You'll pretty much see everything everywhere. There's also a railfan park at Matteson but all you'll see is CN, Metra and a few Amtrak.

[MP73point4]

Give this a shot. Lots of info on the greater Chicago area including Indiana.
http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/

[trnwatcher]

From Grandville I can make it to Chesterton (Porter) in 2:15 with one stop en route. Other locations close by are:
Wellsboro (CSX/CN)
South Bend (NS/CN)
Gary\North Clark Road (be careful and stay off the tracks)
Dolton IL (CSX\IHB\UP\Amtrak)
Elkhart (NS mainly but you might catch the Grand Elk depending on time of day)
Tower Rd\ NW Valpo IN (NS\CN\CFEW)
Calumet Crossing (CSX\IHB)
Hinsdale IL (BNSF\Metra racetrack) here are sever good locations along this line.
Wheaton IL (UP\Metra) again several nice locations along this line.

Rochelle\Deshler\Fostoria are long 1 day trips. Better done as a over nighter otherwise you'll spend most of the time in the car.

[MQT1223]

Sweet. Man sounds like I got plenty of opportunities.

[justin_gram]

This has helped me, also. Thanks.

From trnwatcher's post about Hinsdale, IL (Which is the along BNSF Racetrack, by the way), a great and fun way to get their is by taking Amtrak Pere Marquette from GR to Union Station Chicago and then hop on the BNSF Metra which takes you right to Hinsdale.

[Fred]

I often take Metra to Hinsdale because besides shooting trains from there a very short walk back east takes you to Highlands which has a nice small stone depot. Also a wooden bridge to stand on to shoot as well so between the 2 stations one has a variety of different angles to shoot from. IF on time, between like 130pm & 330pm both the eastbound & westbound Southwest Chief & California Zephyr pass by. BNSF also provides a wide variety of freight trains as well. Safe area as well.

[Burb8145]

Here's another great resource on the Chicago metropolitan area, includes photos of several major spots taken by webmaster Bill Vandervoort mainly in the mid-1990's so that you can compare them with recent Google Street View images taken anywhere between 2007 and 2014.

http://chicagorailfan.com/watching.html

If you're interested in rapid transit as well, the CTA has posted actual-speed and sped-up cab ride videos of every "L" line on Youtube.

[railohio]

On the BNSF, Downers Grove Main Street has the most and best "stuff" by the tracks: a Starbucks and Caribou with views of the tracks, and a couple good restaurants down the block.

[GTW6401]

My favorite spot on the BNSF is Riverside. Nice area by the depot and not too far into the suburbs.

[justin_gram]

Also, don't go to Downers Grove or any place near by it if you want to hear horns... It's a quiet zone.

Would Downers Grove station or Fairview Avenue station be a better place to see signals? I'm not sure since the recent signal upgrades from searchlights to darth vader color lights.

[Ypsi]

My favorite spot on the BNSF is Riverside. Nice area by the depot and not too far into the suburbs.

That was a nice spot, other then the depot being closed for renovations this summer. Short Metra ride there and back.

[redside20]

I think places like Lima, Ada, Upper Sandusky, and Bucyrus and hell even Crestline just became railfan hotspots overnight...again

[cbehr91]

Every railfan should experience a rush hour on the Racetrack.

[justin_gram]

I'm not 100% sure this fact is correct, but I found this last night while researching about the BNSF Racetrack. It's a newer rule:

"Note** No freight movement shall run on BNSF Racetrack from 6 AM to 9 AM and from 3 PM to 7 PM due to Metra Rush Hour."

So don't go between those times if you want to see ANY freight traffic.

[GTW6401]

You still get freights up until about 4pm usually on the BNSF. A lot of the intermodal traffic out of Cicero gets out on the mainline between 1-3pm. Generally I try to visit places when the light is best for photos, plus its better to shoot Metra in the afternoon, as id rather have the engine leading than the cabcar.

Western Avenue in Chicago is another good spot to find trains on the BNSF. Western is where traffic off the NS is staged for crews or to wait out the rush hour. Ive gotten plenty of photos from here, but the surrounding neighborhood isn't for everyone.

I generally shoot the afternoon Metra rush on the old Milwaukee Road line out of Union Station. Plenty of grade crossings there and a few Amtrak trains are mixed in.

[KC8RBK]

You might check out Waterloo, In. I make it there once a month or so. Its a small town with an Amtrak station so no one seems to be bothered by you waiting around. I've never been questioned by the police there. Even when spending the entire night. There are several crossings spaced through town so the trains are always on the whistle and they don't slow down for the city. I have seen an hour or so break in the action there before but usually you can see a headlight one way or the other anytime of the day or night.