busiest freight route into chicago

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lakeshoredave
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busiest freight route into chicago

Unread post by lakeshoredave »

currently what is the busiest freight route into chicago?

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

Unread post by CSX_CO »

I don't have concrete figures but I would guess that the former CNW would probably be one of the busiest. BNSF freight gets split between the former cb&q Mendota sub, C&I, and ATSF.

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Last edited by CSX_CO on Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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It's gotta either be the UP Geneva Sub or the NS Chicago Line, especially with the oil traffic boom.

And it's Mendota. :wink:

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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thanks for the information

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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lakeshoredave wrote:currently what is the busiest freight route into chicago?
cbehr91 wrote:It's gotta either be the UP Geneva Sub or the NS Chicago Line, especially with the oil traffic boom.

And it's Mendota. :wink:
I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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Matt Short Line H wrote: I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
That means absolutely nothing. I've spent stretches of time on the NYC where I would see nothing for anywhere from 1-3 hours, and times where they run non-stop. Same goes for the BNSF, every freight line has its dead times.
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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Matt Short Line H wrote:
lakeshoredave wrote:currently what is the busiest freight route into chicago?
cbehr91 wrote:It's gotta either be the UP Geneva Sub or the NS Chicago Line, especially with the oil traffic boom.

And it's Mendota. :wink:
I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
Small sample sizes are small.

Must have been a weekend. You should have seen at least some Metra.

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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Matt Short Line H wrote:I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
As busy as Rochelle is, I've seen stretches of up to a couple hours without a (moving) train in sight. Time of day/week has a lot to do with the lulls between trains, especially on the west side of Chicago. For example, I noticed Rochelle was particularly dead (both lines) during the weekday afternoon rush hour, but when the commuter traffic dies down (presumably), the freight traffic starts to move again. I've seen the same thing happen on the NS Chicago line, as far as afternoon lulls go. When you start spending periods of several hours trackside, on a regular basis, you'll get a much better feel for how busy a line is, especially if nothing is affecting traffic (such as the maintenance work windows that are apparently affecting parts of the Chicago line this summer).

For the OP, I would hazard a guess that the UP line from Global 3 is the busiest, but that's based on personal observation of that line (as opposed to some of the other contenders for the title).
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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I got to spend 30 minutes in downtown Wheaton on UP's mainline....8 trains in 30 minutes....yes, I'll still vote for this mainline as the busiest....

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

Unread post by Notch 8 »

With close to or over 100 trains daily, the Norfolk Southern ex-New York Central mainline is by far the busiest freight line in the Chicago Area...

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

Unread post by CSX_CO »

Notch 8 wrote:With close to or over 100 trains daily, the Norfolk Southern ex-New York Central mainline is by far the busiest freight line in the Chicago Area...
NS and CSX are about the same with about 70 to 85 trains a day up there. Unless you're counting AMTRAK moves there is no way it's near 100 freight moves. OP was asking about freight moves.

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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SteveHiuzenga wrote:I got to spend 30 minutes in downtown Wheaton on UP's mainline....8 trains in 30 minutes....yes, I'll still vote for this mainline as the busiest....
Frankly, I don't know which is busiest, but I live a few minutes away from both the BNSF and UP lines (and close to the CN ex-EJE) and I've seen periods of train after train and also hours of no traffic on all three. The CN probably has the least traffic of the three, but I'm not sure it counts in the OP's criteria. Just an observation...

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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GreatLakesRailfan wrote:
Matt Short Line H wrote:I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
As busy as Rochelle is, I've seen stretches of up to a couple hours without a (moving) train in sight. Time of day/week has a lot to do with the lulls between trains, especially on the west side of Chicago. For example, I noticed Rochelle was particularly dead (both lines) during the weekday afternoon rush hour, but when the commuter traffic dies down (presumably), the freight traffic starts to move again. I've seen the same thing happen on the NS Chicago line, as far as afternoon lulls go. When you start spending periods of several hours trackside, on a regular basis, you'll get a much better feel for how busy a line is, especially if nothing is affecting traffic (such as the maintenance work windows that are apparently affecting parts of the Chicago line this summer).

For the OP, I would hazard a guess that the UP line from Global 3 is the busiest, but that's based on personal observation of that line (as opposed to some of the other contenders for the title).
GreatLakesRailfan wrote:
Matt Short Line H wrote:I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
As busy as Rochelle is, I've seen stretches of up to a couple hours without a (moving) train in sight. Time of day/week has a lot to do with the lulls between trains, especially on the west side of Chicago. For example, I noticed Rochelle was particularly dead (both lines) during the weekday afternoon rush hour, but when the commuter traffic dies down (presumably), the freight traffic starts to move again. I've seen the same thing happen on the NS Chicago line, as far as afternoon lulls go. When you start spending periods of several hours trackside, on a regular basis, you'll get a much better feel for how busy a line is, especially if nothing is affecting traffic (such as the maintenance work windows that are apparently affecting parts of the Chicago line this summer).

For the OP, I would hazard a guess that the UP line from Global 3 is the busiest, but that's based on personal observation of that line (as opposed to some of the other contenders for the title).
cbehr91 wrote:
Matt Short Line H wrote:
lakeshoredave wrote:currently what is the busiest freight route into chicago?
cbehr91 wrote:It's gotta either be the UP Geneva Sub or the NS Chicago Line, especially with the oil traffic boom.

And it's Mendota. :wink:
I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
Small sample sizes are small.

Must have been a weekend. You should have seen at least some Metra.
Y@ wrote:
Matt Short Line H wrote: I do believe it's NS Chicago line as when i went to the BNSF Racetrack nothing came through for a good hour.
That means absolutely nothing. I've spent stretches of time on the NYC where I would see nothing for anywhere from 1-3 hours, and times where they run non-stop. Same goes for the BNSF, every freight line has its dead times.
When it was a dead hour no Metra, No BNSF, no nothing. For a hour i waited and nothing. Signals were good and this was at 12:30 in the afternoon. I mean come on.
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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Matt Short Line H wrote: When it was a dead hour no Metra, No BNSF, no nothing. For a hour i waited and nothing. Signals were good and this was at 12:30 in the afternoon. I mean come on.
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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GreatLakesRailfan wrote:
Matt Short Line H wrote: When it was a dead hour no Metra, No BNSF, no nothing. For a hour i waited and nothing. Signals were good and this was at 12:30 in the afternoon. I mean come on.
Do you mind if I ask where you were waiting?
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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Matt Short Line H wrote:
GreatLakesRailfan wrote:
Matt Short Line H wrote: When it was a dead hour no Metra, No BNSF, no nothing. For a hour i waited and nothing. Signals were good and this was at 12:30 in the afternoon. I mean come on.
Do you mind if I ask where you were waiting?
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

Unread post by lakeshoredave »

excellent info guys. thanks again.

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

Unread post by Tsidephotos476 »

My experience with nearby freight service that's good. BNSF racetrack: good on weekday evenings, once the metra rush is over, they often push a bunch of freights down the line. Weekends have decent amount of freights, I'd go in the afternoon to evening as that's when I've had the most luck. BNSF southern transon. Fast freight trains, one at least every half an hour most of the time, best part not a quiet zone so lots of horn action. Though I hit a dead zone and a train didn't appear for at least 50 minutes so I left. UP's Geneva sub. Real good, every time I've went there has been lots of UP freights mainly I'd guess because of the intermodal terminal out in Rochelle and the yard in Elmhurst. If you go to Rochelle you can actually see the semi-busy Aurora sub and the mentioned Geneva Sub. Unknown CN sub located around Aurora. Pretty busy some days though fluctuates, saw 3 trains in an hour and about 10 in two hours, mostly a single track mainline though is double track around the Eola interchange with BNSF. Used to not be a quiet zoned line, but now mostly is. These are the lines I mainly railfan with good freight action. If you want other heavy freight areas Blue Island and pretty much anywhere on the NS Chicago line will do also. My frequently traveled places are Glen Ellyn, Downers Grove, Lockport and Rochelle.

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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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Tsidephotos476 wrote: UP's Geneva sub. Real good, every time I've went there has been lots of UP freights mainly I'd guess because of the intermodal terminal out in Rochelle and the yard in Elmhurst.
Yard in Elmhurst? Is there something near Elmhurst besides Metra's yard/facility?
Tsidephotos476 wrote:Unknown CN sub located around Aurora.
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Re: busiest freight route into chicago

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GreatLakesRailfan wrote:
Tsidephotos476 wrote: UP's Geneva sub. Real good, every time I've went there has been lots of UP freights mainly I'd guess because of the intermodal terminal out in Rochelle and the yard in Elmhurst.
Yard in Elmhurst? Is there something near Elmhurst besides Metra's yard/facility?
Tsidephotos476 wrote:Unknown CN sub located around Aurora.
That used to be the EJ&E, back in the day...
Where is there a Metra yard in Elmhurst? I think he's referring to Proviso, directly east of Elmhurst.
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