Monday Morning Trains on Chicago's South Side

On February 20th, 2023, I ventured down to Chicago's South Side to see what I could find on my day off of school and I didn't end up empty handed! First I checked out the old ex-Santa Fe CF7 sitting at Reserve Marine Terminals in South Deering. I had hoped to see the engine moving, but it took too long for their train to get loaded and I decided to head down to the IHB in Hammond. Minutes after I got there, train BA2 came screaming by with the Belt's only GP40P-2 leading. I managed to beat the train to Cottage Grove where I caught them meeting another pair of geeps headed the opposite direction. I returned to the Indiana Harbor steel mill to watch CN's Lakefront local with a nice Grand Trunk blue pair. I followed this train to the west end of Kirk Yard at Pine Junction, where I spent the rest of my time watching a few switching jobs!
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[@ModelingSteelinHO]

Yup Steel Mill stuff. I'm in.

[@runlikehell4180]

Hell yeah

[@CSXFan5496]

Nice video! I'm so ready for this!!

[@TheHouseOfMasks]

This is railroading that is so good that it doesn’t even seem real!

[@electrictractiontrainsandt3063]

Amazing Video! 👍

[@PowerTrain611]

Nice! I love that old CF7 still hard at work.

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thanks! Pretty rare unit and I’m glad to see it still hard at work.

[@samuellang665]

I worked at USS Gary Works from 1995 to 2022, 12 years in Coke and 15 in Iron Producing. You are seeing blast furnace #4 and the high line with transfer car feeding material to the furnace skip cars that actually feeds into the furnace, iron ore(tacanite), lime stone, furnace coke, trim, acid pellets, b-mix, ect.. High line can be a very dangerous place, be alert of your surrounding's, this place runs 24/7, all weather.Iron is spit between south furnaces #4, #6, #8 and the big boy #14. The rest is Steel Producing, you can see the remote train operator riding the head of the train, This video only shows a small portion of the hot side, none of the cold(rolling)side. Gary Works is 7 miles long and a mile and a half wide, once 30,000 employee's now around 5,000 with 5,000 contractors? Long live USS, Long live the USW !

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

Different industry but I hear ya union brother!

[@davidballoid2118]

Wow @ 00:41 Theirs old Santa Fe CF-7 in the foreground, it was a converted F-7 locomotive. Only the Santa Fe did this modification to those units as a cost savings from buying new equipment, Although rare it's nice to see them still around.

[@remylopez4821]

Greetings from So Calif at 9:22 I didn’t know CN had tunnel motors I couldn’t see if it was a -40 or-45 version. I remember those from my favorite RR the SP. And I enjoy the scenery with all the heavy industry and canals a far cry from my playgrounds, the Cajon Pass.

[@EntertainmentWorldz]

Great video! ❤❤❤❤

[@lleroy8929]

Wow!

[@ianconder1626]

Very busy day ahead

[@mikedurhan9941]

That was quite a show. Thank you very much.

[@RScesium]

Fantastic video! Thank you. Russ in CT

[@datalasse]

Great video! Great drone clips!

[@heybeerdan1820]

The best rail-fanning. on the internet!

[@gp3829]

There's some nice footage in your video that would make good picture portraits. Thanks for posting.

[@RAILTravelers]

Very nice

[@CoryAY82383]

11:25 pure music!!!

[@Tony-1950]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@jasonbirkner219]

Great video. What kind of drone and camera was used? Excellent, clear, quality videos.

[@robp3246]

Great drone shots.

[@davidb8872]

Excellent footage 👍🇺🇸

[@Forverlost2017]

Great video!

[@AllAboardRailfan.1]

i enjoyed the video, Thanks for being there and sharing. 🚂🚃🚃🏝

[@SamLovesTrains]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@fitscfo]

Superbly done, Sam!

[@Heroduothecomedian]

Seeing this is making happy and bringing back memories of mewatching the trains at the steel mill working while I drove by to go somewhere or was my day off and wanted to watch. Sadly my steel mill closed down last year and they tore everything down so there is nothing left for me to see...at least for now, I heard a new steel mill will open up in it place in the next 5 to 10 years so I can wait and hopefully I'll get to watch all the trains in action again on my days off when they open up and give so many more job opportunities for my try state area

[@SamLovesTrains]

I’m glad my video could bring back those happy memories! It stinks to see historic industrial places getting torn down after all these years. It’d be awesome to see more stuff come back.

[@tomy.1846]

Amazing camera work and awesome drone footage! You have a great eye!

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thanks!

[@brfid]

Excellent content

[@millcreekrails]

Crazy good video!!

[@SamLovesTrains]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@357Shakey]

Great video! Back in the 90’s, a friend who worked for the CNW/UP took my mom and I on an all day rail watching excursion. We ended up seeing the molten steel train. Brings back memories. But we didn’t have drones back then!

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thanks! I would’ve loved to railfan way back then. I’m sure it was much more busy in this area too.

[@absgsfdsgahj4635]

old ass

[@GMCGUY-]

Great video brother I'm a new subscriber and I just told about twenty people about your webpage I hope the word of mouth helps get your numbers up. You got skill kid keep up the good work in these videos are awesome keep them coming 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐😊

[@yumenekotrain]

The freight trains that come one after another are wonderful. Shooting from the sky is also wonderful. I registered the channel. 😄

[@SamLovesTrains]

Glad you enjoyed. Thanks for subscribing!

[@absgsfdsgahj4635]

what your name say

[@yumenekotrain]

@@absgsfdsgahj4635 YUMENEKO TRAIN (^^♪

[@eugenenewton1909]

Those slag cars from up above are fantastic

[@Boywundr38]

Really cool video! Thanks for posting it! Make more if possible.

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thank you! I plan on posting another similar video tomorrow!

[@HavelockYard]

Sweet video!! Does it get any better than an old CF7 !!!

[@iankirvan1986]

Excellent video, so much to see,gritty,urban Railroading at it's best 👌 🙂

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thanks. It’s one of my favorite regions to visit because of its industrial feel!

[@absgsfdsgahj4635]

griddy

[@highrx]

Crazy thought, basically none of that rolling stock and infrastructure could built if there wasn’t steel mills? The timber that was harvested and turned into lumber seen on that train couldn’t have even been produced without steel mills. The nail and screws to make the lumber useable started life in a steel mill.

[@LancesLens]

Great video! Awesome locations!

[@romanf5061]

great drone footage! It really helps show the scope of the steel works, Kirk Yard, and all heavy industry that surrounds them .... Truly unexplainable, if one hasn't seen it with their own eyes

[@BlakesTrainsandMore4014]

Listen to all those EMDs Roar! Awesome Video as always!

[@SamLovesTrains]

Love how the old non-turbo geeps sound in high notch. Thanks for your continuous support!

[@BlakesTrainsandMore4014]

@@SamLovesTrains Of Course!

[@tonyroman1569]

Had the pleasure of aquireing 4634 she's still alive and kicking.

[@chitownnemesis2182]

Have not seen the GT paint scheme in years. Also a lot of old engines from CN with the old paint. I see more IC engines on the CN lines running through Griffith more than anything at times. I catch a few up by the mills at times.. But, overall, nice video, brought back memories.

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thank you. The Chicago area has a ton of old Illinois Central stuff on their trains between Gary, Homewood, and Glenn. They’ll also send them south towards Kankakee snd Champaign. You won’t see too many GTs outside of yards or local service.

[@ajwawrzyniak]

Another great video! I loved seeing the old Grand Trunk Engines. Drone shots were superb!

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thank you. That Grand Trunk pair was probably the highlight of my day!

[@unpasaro]

what a fantastic video!! how many trains simultaneously !!! EXCELLENT

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thank you for watching! Glad you liked it!

[@frederickschulkind8431]

Great drone views here. I have certainly heard of the Indiana Harbor Belt, but I don't recall seeing any of their locomotives. There are some other interesting things in this, such as the 5 parallel drawbridges with 2 abandoned and one new. Canadian National now owns Illinois Central, which accounts for that, but some definitely need paint jobs.

[@tomstarcevich1147]

Reserve marine terminal needs some track maintenance looks cool 😎

[@scotabot7826]

NOTHING compairs in sounds to a sweet EMD, nothing!!

[@andrewpalm2103]

Great drone footage, as usual, Sam. Whew, but those mill shots could be used in a dictionary's definition of "decrepit." You'd never know that some form of economically viable work goes on there. And could somebody give CN 9673 a bit of love? Cheers from Wisconsin!

[@SamLovesTrains]

Thank you! I love the old decrepit vibe of the mills, but It’s sad. It shows how far down hill this region has gone industrial wise. If you look closely on that 9673, you can see its old GO Transit green paint bleeding through. Pretty neat.

[@victormioduszewski4729]

I'll take this over Silicon Valley Any Day...Where People are...and were Treated like People...👍

[@runnikee6986]

What are you flying?

[@SamLovesTrains]

DJI Mini 3

[@runnikee6986]

@@SamLovesTrains Awesome. I just got my students a Mini 3 Pro for our Introduction to Drones class.

[@SamLovesTrains]

@@runnikee6986 It’s a great drone. Pretty easy for beginners to learn too. Your students will definitely love it.

[@tonyroman1569]

4632 surprised gt kept it battle creek build.