C&NW Class Part I

This video was shot at he Chicago and North Western flat yard (manual classification yard) near the Berkeley commuter train station (now part of the Metra system) a little over six months prior to the Union Pacific acquisition. In Part 1, we see a double stack container train headed into the yard, while an automotive and corn syrup train exit.
Copyright © 2011, Jason Paul Kazarian. All rights reserved.

[@elsadollful]

I'm guessing the Proviso yards. I lived along the tracks going to O'Hare from about 56. The CNW engines would idle right behind my back yard before proceeding thru the yards. In my young days it was F unit's, wooden ice cars and a caboose. Seen about 3 wrecks in those days.

[@AllanLoveJr]

Long live the C&NW. Gone. But not forgotten.

[@elleryparsons5766]

Loved to see those trains one way or another I have a C&NW for N scale not for Ho gotta find the right one for the layout.

[@matts2806]

Seeing 6481 at 2:40 is interesting. Only 10 CNW SD45s even made it to the UP merger, and most of those were probably in storage and rotting away at that point. It's quite possible you caught literally the only one in service by that point, or one of the last 2-3.

[@tommythomason6187]

Super vid. Wonder if there are any videos of C&NW's Executive F units in action? Read that some of them were actually scrapped.

[@CNW1025]

Awesome video, I live in the NW Berkeley area and railfan at the station a lot. You can't get that close to the tracks anymore. Great video, interesting to see how the area has changed

[@incidious13]

I miss them all...long live the bar and ball!!!

[@dwkcamman611]

Excellent catches!!! Love the older footage!!!

[@RetroRailroading]

@RichmanJ93, yes, a lot has changed in seventeen years. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@erikpopravak3081]

nicely shot video. Go CNW

[@CNW1025]

They just tore down the original Berkeley Station to make room for the 3rd track of the mainline, so you have some of the only video of that station now. I took some pictures on the last day of operation. The next day, a piece of railroad history was gone. So I kept a few bricks from the old station.

[@cnw1302]

Awesome video got all them memories on film

[@BurlingtonNorthernModeler]

Ah, the year I was born! Great video It's too bad the C&NW is not a thing of the past

[@RetroRailroading]

@CNW1025, glad you enjoyed the video. It's great that rail infrastructure is constantly being upgraded, but a shame our old hang-outs are fast disappearing.

[@BossSpringsteen69]

A month prior to this video i started working for the CNW. I would tell the guy surveying at 2:40, "Don't bother surveying, this area will only be ripped up 26 years from now".

[@RetroRailroading]

Meaning multiple paint jobs? True, the 6921 is faded. But Compared to SP locomotives of the era, these are spotless. See C&NW Class Part II for a look at some brand-spanking-new GE units with the "lightning bolt" paint job.

[@RetroRailroading]

Upload your last day shots. It would be interesting to see how much has changed.

[@adrianneils2727]

I believe CNW unit 8925 was an AC4400CW, one that may have escaped the UP merger chopping block. Whatever units were newest or were sellable at the time of the 1995 merger were kept, the rest were mostly scrapped.

[@trainandtruckmodeler786]

????????????? The only ones that were retired first were the GP7s and GP9s....the GP38-2s went back to Florida were the leasing bank was as the lease was started by the CRIP and signed over to continue on CNW....the GP40s of ex precentral went and the leased SD50 and SD60s.....everything else stayed....

[@RichmanJ93]

It's funny watching this & thinking I'd be 1 year & 8 days old the day you filmed this. Most all of the motive power in this vid is long gone now.

[@trainandtruckmodeler786]

I didn't see any of these gone....even the SD45 still survives on a railway in Ohio all the SD40-2s are out west or working on shortlines.

[@RetroRailroading]

No, actually, I don't. This is perhaps the only freight (non-Metra) footage I have from that trip nineteen years ago. Glad you liked the video, though.

[@MBTrains1205]

i love how CNW doesnt care how there locomotives look

[@trainandtruckmodeler786]

?????????

[@switchmaker]

Love it! Virtually no graffiti!

[@MBTrains1205]

yeah SP where bad i just miss the CNW

[@adamryan218]

Do you have any footage of last day operations in Rochester would like to see the change from then till now

[@ziggypwner]

I would be -3 years 300 days old at this video.