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Some Questions from a Michigan Railfan

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:02 pm
by David Collins
Hi All, I'm going to be in the chicagoland area from the 25th-27th on a road trip, I have a few questions..

1. What time is Franklin Park Busy?
2. What lines do the Metra heritage units run? My dad wants to see the CNW since he lived in Prospect heights...
3. How many trains pass FP between 1-7 PM?
4. When is Rochelle at it's busiest?
5. Where is the best place to setup in Coal City?


I hope you can help this Michigan Noob...

Thanks,

-David

Re: Some Questions from a Michigan Railfan

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:27 pm
by Saturnalia
David Collins wrote:
Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:02 pm
Hi All, I'm going to be in the chicagoland area from the 25th-27th on a road trip, I have a few questions..

1. What time is Franklin Park Busy?
2. What lines do the Metra heritage units run? My dad wants to see the CNW since he lived in Prospect heights...
3. How many trains pass FP between 1-7 PM?
4. When is Rochelle at it's busiest?
5. Where is the best place to setup in Coal City?
Questions 1 and 3 will be answered by looking up the latest Metra timetables.

Question 2 is a you never know when. The heritage units are assigned to consists which are assigned to different runs, and they vary. It'll be up to luck for that. But you can definitely increase your odds if you were to say camp out at the north end of Union Station or Ogilvie to catch them running.

Re: Some Questions from a Michigan Railfan

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:37 pm
by MrAnderson
2. The CNW would most likely be running on a UP run Metra line. Which run out of OTC. There's a parking garage right by where the tracks for Union Station and OTC cross, so you can get above the elevated tracks.

Re: Some Questions from a Michigan Railfan

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 4:22 pm
by Saturnalia
MrAnderson wrote:
Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:37 pm
2. The CNW would most likely be running on a UP run Metra line. Which run out of OTC. There's a parking garage right by where the tracks for Union Station and OTC cross, so you can get above the elevated tracks.
Which ramp are you talking about specifically? And how are the angles from there?

I might be diving into more Metra stuff once the pandemic abates so, I'll get my recon mission started now I guess :lol:

Re: Some Questions from a Michigan Railfan

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:50 am
by MrAnderson
This is the garage. https://goo.gl/maps/hzxRbUtmfCKyCQGe7

The angles are alright. My favorite angle is this https://www.railpictures.net/photo/763252/

Here's a video from there pre-covid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_PZ7fMKsI&t=309s

Edit 3/26: I was in the area during rush hour and there were many trains, at times queuing outside OTC. Not quite as many as the pre-covid times but still a lot