RailRoadFan.com

MDH wrote:

cnw8835 wrote: The current plan for 272/273 is for the crew that comes out of Savanna on the 272 to turn back out of Bensenville right away on the 273. Lately, 272 is departing Savanna between 0630 and 0730, getting to B-ville around 1100 or 1200. 273 then is "supposed" to be out of Bensenville between 1300 and 1400. In practice the last couple weeks, 273 has ended up being recrewed at B-ville and not departing until around 1700 several times.

Thanks for the update!

Michael

Things are changing again. The 272/273 turn crew is no more. For the past couple weeks 273 has been called at Bensenville around 1000ish and heading west between 1200 and 1300. 272 has been called at Savanna at about 1400. Now word has it that Huron-Bensenville trains 276/277 that ran across Wisconsin will now be running across the Chicago Sub with symbols 470/471. No call times on those yet. In addition, 272/273 will now be running to the BRC instead of terminating/originating at Bensenville. No word yet if their call times will remain the same.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/basicbill/ This guy usually keeps an "up-to-date" on things including the ICE Chicago sub as well as other busy mains, check out his flickr!

cnw8835 wrote: Things are changing again. The 272/273 turn crew is no more. For the past couple weeks 273 has been called at Bensenville around 1000ish and heading west between 1200 and 1300. 272 has been called at Savanna at about 1400. Now word has it that Huron-Bensenville trains 276/277 that ran across Wisconsin will now be running across the Chicago Sub with symbols 470/471. No call times on those yet. In addition, 272/273 will now be running to the BRC instead of terminating/originating at Bensenville. No word yet if their call times will remain the same.

Can anyone update what operations are like these days on the Chicago Sub?

Thanks,
Michael

272/273 seem to meet on the Chicago Sub at midday. I've seen them meet at both Genoa and Davis Jct. on trips this spring. That means there's a late morning eastbound and an early afternoon westbound to chase.

Things have been somewhat screwed up lately due to the minor flooding going on along the Mississippi especially around the Quad Cities. 272 still normally leaves Savanna eastward anywhere from 6am to 10am. More often than not they do at least a small amount of work at Davis Junction. 273 is out of Bensenville anywhere from 10am to 2 or 3pm again with the possibility of having some work along the line, more often than not at Davis Junction. 470 still normally runs in the night but a few times lately it runs east somewhere near the 272 (possibly a consequence of the flooding in Iowa). 471 is a reliable westbound in the evening, passing B-17 at the west end of Bensenville often right about 7:30pm.
Ethanol trains seem to be running more frequently of late. From my observations and reading other people's reports, an eastbound ethanol will run just in front of or shortly behind 272 4 or 5 days a week. Westbound empties seem to be random but frequent.
B66 still comes down from Rockford to Davis Jct on weekdays, normally arriving in DJ between 10am and noon.

Thanks for the updates guys! Go figure, I spent Saturday out there and the 272 got hung up for various reasons not leaving Savanna until almost noon. I'll post some pictures of that when I get a chance.

Thanks,
Michael

[quote="cnw8835"]Ethanol trains seem to be running more frequently of late. From my observations and reading other people's reports, an eastbound ethanol will run just in front of or shortly behind 272 4 or 5 days a week. Westbound empties seem to be random but frequent.

The ethanol train (642) seems to be the ethanol train running on a scheduled time. The others like 633 634 636 640 641 run at anytime.

272/273 have been renamed 472/473