Re: Racing Across the Causeway Drew
Author: DCA
Date: 03-04-2012 - 22:46
Neat shot on the Causeway, Drew.
It isn't easy for us west coast guys, but if folks want pictures of two trains moving in the same direction, there's probably no place better than in my hometown of Riverside, Illinois on the BNSF three-track "raceway" west from Chicago. Weekdays in the mornings and afternoons literally dozens of locals and express commuter trains go by in a couple of hours, interspersed with freights and Amtrak.
Riverside is about 11 rail miles west of the Loop and quite a few expresses don't stop there, overtaking the locals that do. Though this area has been a "quiet zone" for many decades, when overtaking a slower or stopped train near grade crossings the fast trains, usually on the middle track, have to sound 14L. Pedestrians sometimes are not very cautious: there is a well-known video, taken a couple of miles west of Riverside, of a pedestrian who didn't make it across the middle track. I remember as a kid that there were others. Trains move right along on that track.
Photography is easy from the numerous suburban stations along that stretch.