#f40c

Chicago Union Station

Here is a Milwaukee Road commuter train, at what I’m assuming is Chicago Union Station. We see here a couple of interesting things here: the locomotive is an F40C, of which not many were built (fifteen), as well as a Northern Pacific sleeping car, part of what I assume to be an Amtrak train of BN ilk.

More assumptions on my part: I gather that this locomotive was developed alongside that of the F40PH, or just prior to that much more successful four-axle design. (I recall seeing those units, brand spanking new, in 1976 or so.) This particular locomotive was built in April of 1974.

So, not a great photograph to be sure, but fun to lock down some details of the equipment I had not noticed at the time. I had just turned 15 and was on a trip to the Windy City for the first time.

Chicago

Inbound at Rondout

An inbound Milwaukee Road commuter train has just joined the double track main line, coming in off the Fox Lake Branch. The train is seen here passing the well-known tower at Rondout and will now head toward Chicago Union Station on the high iron.

At the time of this image, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern crossed here at the tower; that line would become part of Canadian National. The Milwaukee Road itself will be folded into the Canadian Pacific. The commuter train will become part of Metra, with the locomotive here (an F40C) already being funded by local transit agencies to help out the (by that time) faltering Milwaukee Road.

I’ve included the going away shot to show the F40C more clearly. EMD built only fifteen of these units, but its development led to the successful F40PH, of which there would be hundreds.

Changing of the Guard by joemcmillan118 on Flickr.

Chicago: The Other 611

February 2003.

For many railway enthusiasts, the number 611 immediately conveys mental images of Norfolk & Western’s magnificent streamlined 4-8-4 steam locomotive. But the number is shared with another interesting engine.

On clear morning in February 2003, I arrived in Chicago on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited. Marshall W. Beecher met me at Union Station and we set out to explore Chicago’s…