Lining up the trains for Chicago Union Station at Canal St. on 7/14/14

After hearing about some cool Amtrak stuff coming into Chicago, I decided to go catch it all with uprrguy94. We barely made it in time to Canal St. as the Empire Builder was coming to a stop waiting for clearance. I knew what was on it already, a Cascades F59PHI and 5 BNSF private cars at the end! If not cool enough, an inbound Metra showed up right behind that, and then the Hiawatha behind too! It was like they were purposely lining trains up on only Main 2 just get into the North Concourse, it must have been backed up pretty badly. However this day of railfanning had some other awesome stuff too, not just here at Canal St. Those things will come in future videos, I have a ton of videos to make and upload.
Thanks for watching!

[@jefferymarker4951]

Timing is everything and you caught it all. Impressive array of Metra and Amtrak trains make this video standout. Watched it twice it was so good!

[@Railroadfan5383]

Thanks Jeff! I worked hard on this one, 12 minutes long!

[@MetraRailfanPlaysRoblox]

Amtrak train and Metra train WOW i like your videos dude🎉🎉🎉

[@NortheastCorridorTrains405]

I heard about trains! They are awesome! 😃

[@JoshuaTheTransitProdigy]

**Subscriber #2,075** Nice catch on the Amtrak Cascades engine. Not everyday you see those in Chicago!

[@Railroadfan5383]

Thanks! Yea they come maybe a few times a year at best, not very often.

[@yesfandavidb]

Loved the video!

[@WisconsinTrains]

Very nicely done.

[@Railroadfan5383]

Thanks Keith!

[@mateomoreno6125]

I love trains

[@WhiteCamry]

Does anyone know what that "William B. Strong" coach tailing the Amtrak @ 3:40 was? It looked like it had a drop-ramp at the end.

[@BossSpringsteen69]

I remember 412 when it was brand new. One day i will post the interior pics.

[@midwesternrail4729]

7:48 METX 413 passed by. Then at 7:53 Amtrak 413 Passed by!

[@ningx7059]

Love your video!

[@Railroadfan5383]

Thank you! :)

[@Ferromexfan4081]

Nice train Railroadfan5383

[@michaelglass4701]

AWESOME

[@454turbojet8]

0:51: Amtrak F59PHI locomotive no. 468, with the Amtrak Cascades paint scheme. Cool! What is it doing in Chicago? Is it now property of Metra?

[@testaccount1140]

Am I correct that the trains leaving Union Station and Olgivie Station eventually run parallel to each other for a while before diverging into their different routes?

[@aelitadelarobia]

yes, but only the union Pacific west Line and the north end tracks from union station

[@stevejobs7881]

Ogilvee runs on elevated tracks and UP-W curves southwest to cross by western avenue though doesn't stop there. A conductor was once discussing that there was talk to divert MD-W and MD-N to OTC while UP-W would go to Union Station to avoid them crossing each other but I guess that nothing came out of it.

[@kringebirds]

Ogilve only runs metra lines but union does both amktrak and metra

[@the1thatgotirwin]

locomotive 198 seems to have some front end damage repaired

[@Railroadfan5383]

I wouldn't know to be honest. If it got damaged and then repaired, it probably would have got the new headlight housing without glass in front of the headlights, as seen on Amtrak 26 at 9:21 in the video. The only damage it had in the video was a dead bird on the conductors side marker light lol

[@chicagolandrailfan1550]

You caught Amtrak F59PHI, Lucky you

[@MetraEverythingProductions]

This aged horribly

[@user-vi4tx8ys9t]

9:30 is this considered j walking? Waking across when rail signals are activated?

[@Railroadfan5383]

I wouldn't call it jaywalking. It's more like trespassing on railroad property.

[@masovik4942]

So I wonder why BNSF moves it's brass on Amtrak? Can it be more economical? Do the execs want to board at a station instead of a yard? Do the cars--the diner especially--need station facilities for supply and resupply? Anyone have any insight?

[@Railroadfan5383]

Well it depends, BNSF uses their own freight locomotives to move those cars, and many others they have for their own excursions and events out West. However it probably is more economical to move the cars across the country via Amtrak rather than have one or two of their own locomotives be specifically assigned to the movement. Freight locomotives don't have HEP, or the system to give power to the cars for them to have electricity from the locomotives. Amtrak locomotives do have HEP because they haul passenger cars of course. (If the cars were to be hauled by freight locomotives, they would have to have their own smaller engines and generators underneath the cars going. Which in the video you can hear one going for some reason at 4:16) And to add the freight locomotives are meant to haul freight and big loads, so hauling just a few passenger cars would be a waste of fuel and time. Time meaning, the time they are used to move those cars is time lost where they could be used to move freight. Plus those passenger cars could have been just an equipment movement, not actually filled with passengers/people. (Excluding the people who are in charge of them and such, which the person out the window you saw was probably one of them. Many of the cars had the shades down on many windows, so its safe to assume it wasn't hauling a lot of people for an excursion or trip of some sort. For loading passengers in and out of yards, I would also assume its better to have them load in a station rather than some yard facility, but since like I said I don't think these cars were hauling many people (except the few people in charge of the cars themselves), I dont think it matters here. As for supplies of the diner car and/or other cars, I would say if they need supplies, the railroad would make arrangements ahead of time to load up the car with the supplies where needed, and when needed. Most of what I said is just assumptions based on what I have observed, but I hope this helped a bit.

[@MrZkr123]

Have they ever considered grade separating that crossing?

[@Victimof67]

I don't know, but it is pretty close to the fork in the river. Fortunately passenger trains are short... but pretty slow right there.

[@Railroadfan5383]

I doubt that they have considered a grade separation. There's no easy way to move any tracks, so the only possible way would to have Canal St. go over the tracks by building a street overpass. Which is quite possible actually, but a bunch of the buildings there would have to be rebuilt in front too to meet the height of the street overpass. The 6 elevated Ogilvie Transportation tracks are stuck where they are, and the 3 Chicago Union Station tracks are stuck too underneath the 6 elevated tracks, and the fact that the 3 CUS tracks now has that skyscraper built above it.

[@bernadetteserrano8323]

Zach Rudnick when will Isaac what's your name I meant to meet you why does train not stop

[@JoshuaTheTransitProdigy]

Zach Rudnick i love your profile pic.

[@TG-sf2dq]

Where was this exactly? How can you access it?

[@RefrigeratedWaffles2]

It’s on Canal st. At the crossing.

[@RefrigeratedWaffles2]

You can access it pretty much like any other crossing on a public road

[@yesfandavidb]

I'm wondering if the Amtrak at 7:54 is one of the Michigan trains

[@Railroadfan5383]

Its the Hiawatha

[@yesfandavidb]

Thanks!

[@ryanmcminn1981]

David Bonnema mi train is on the south corridor I live in mj

[@charlieschreiber3]

the hiawatha goes from milwaukee and comes back to milwaukee

[@charlieschreiber3]

the only stops are mil gen mitchell airport sturtavent and glenview and chicago and all of those stops reverse going back to milwaukee

[@yesfandavidb]

What station is the Metra at 9:59 headed to?

[@Railroadfan5383]

Ogilvie Transportation Center

[@yesfandavidb]

That's what I kinda thought

[@csxrailfan1355]

Railroadfan5383 wait, so Chicago has 3 stations? Union, La Salle, and Ogeldy? I live in the area and I didn't know that

[@testaccount1140]

@@csxrailfan1355 Also Millenium Staition for Metra Electric!

[@suewarso8250]

What are the rear cars?

[@Railroadfan5383]

Private cars, the ones in the video are owned by BNSF, which theyll use for special events and excursions, sometimes transporting the people who run the railroad or employess with high positions on BNSF. The private cars themselves are older passenger cars back before Amtrak was created, they are very elegant on the inside and are kept in very good condition.

[@yesfandavidb]

But BN and SF didn't merge until the 80's or 90's correct?

[@Railroadfan5383]

They merged in 1995.

[@christopherreiff3192]

An F40PH with an E bell

[@lailasalas]

I can not identify which route and terminal is used by the Metra Trains Under The Bridge

[@Railroadfan5383]

lailasalas Under the bridge is Milwaukee North, Milwaukee West, and North Central Service (NCS). And they use the North concourse of Chicago Union Station.

[@lailasalas]

THANKS And In the upper part of the bridge just above where we see The Milwaukee Route consists arriving and departing Union Station which route terminal and trains run to

[@Railroadfan5383]

The trains above are UP West, Northwest, and North line trains. They go to/from Ogilvie Transportation Center.

[@lailasalas]

thanks

[@scrapper276]

Is that northconcourse where the empire builder comes out of to go to the upper midwest and seattle and portland? Would you happen to know the gates or gate that corresponds to those tracks or track?

[@MarkInLA]

Man that rear end view ar 4:15 is ugly !! Guessing it's a garage door ...

[@Railroadfan5383]

Yes thats how it functions. I dont think all theater cars have a garage like door to cover the glass.

[@allisonholm2202]

this is amtrak 198 to chicago union station

[@Railroadfan5383]

+Allison Holm Yes, it was.

[@lakishariley7369]

Woowww!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MattKhosrowRailfan]

It’s metra 98

[@SharlenesJourney]

Idiot #1 lol I love trains so much thanks for this

[@Railroadfan5383]

No problem, thanks!

[@JoshuaTheTransitProdigy]

Its Sharlele Not everyday you catch a woman that loves trains!

[@justinbonz]

Make more videos!!!!!

[@golamkabir6735]

Yes you should

[@mikethompson5443]

How r they idiots y would u wait for no train

[@Railroadfan5383]

For one, you should always expect another train on any track. If they walked across and a train passing the other train came from a blind spot they didn't see, they could easily be hit and killed or severly injured. Plus the gates are down, that's trespassing and its illegal. This makes them idiots, because they would want to get across the crossing faster and risk their life. And there's always a risk.

[@saxyhugs]

LMAO you guys could not find a more boring hobby if you tried! This railfanning nonsense makes sewing look pretty damn exciting. I take trains sometimes for travel, but to just sit there and watch trains? Do you watch cars too? Yawn.

[@Railroadfan5383]

Glad that you wasted your time commenting on this "boring hobby" video.

[@s0nnyburnett]

+John Honyer You might find this strange, but some people have hobbies different than yours. And here's the kicker, people like cars too!

[@ryanmcminn1981]

+s0nnyburnett that just a troll gojng to chicago soon cant wait to railfan

[@yesfandavidb]

So why were you watching the video, John Honyer?

[@saxyhugs]

Touche