Morning Railfanning at Brookfield 1/29/13

I couldn't believe it! 60 degrees in January in Chicago! Normally, the temperatures aren't any higher than 30-something. January's a harsh month. It is the coldest, most brutal month of the 12-month calendar year in Chicago. Yes, today was a delicacy, and I took advantage of it by visiting the Brookfield Metra station for the first time in 2013 to film the morning rush. Brookfield is one of my most favorite railfanning spots for a reason, and the action encountered on this day served as an example of that. As soon as I got to the station, I was greeted with the high-energy splendor that makes it such a desirable place to railfan. I also got some cool catches!

Nearly halfway into my visit to Brookfield, an inbound express train led by METX #8601 raced eastbound along Main 2. At the back of the train was METX #214, the Operation Lifesaver unit. METX #8601 was one of two cabcars that were covered with adwrap promoting BMO Harris Bank. The second cabcar would be METX #8600. Speaking of 8600, less than 15 minutes after 8601 and 214 came through, 8600 and METX #117 proceeded past the Prairie Avenue crossing as they headed east with an inbound train.

The BMO Harris bank cars weren't the only catch of the day. About three-quarters into my Brookfield visit came a westbound Carl Sandburg Amtrak train with a heritage unit, AMTK #66, one of several 40th Anniversary locomotives. Here's a shocking piece of information. AMTK #66 was built in 1997, not 2011 or 2010! Brief research is showing that the locomotive received the Phase III paint scheme sometime between January-March 2011.

The next train to race through the Prairie Avenue crossing would be an inbound Metra train pushed by METX 210. When I saw Twotenny (my nickname for the locomotive), I was pretty shocked. I did not expect to see the locomotive today. An interesting thing to note is that 210, and most of the locomotives on inbound trains, were extremely quiet today for some odd reason. Maybe their engines weren't positioned in the 8th notch.

A post about the Brookfield AM rush wouldn't be complete without talking about the stoppers. Train #1230 was pushed by METX #196, which showed signs of a desperately-needed bath on the engineer's side. I can never understand why locomotives tend to get so dirty in that spot. Most of the locomotives were dirty, 210 included, despite earlier rainfall. Train #1244 was pushed by METX #190 today. I am not sure what the deal was, but 190's engine or whatever, made a very odd rattling noise. The sound concerned me somewhat, but I liked it for the most part. Train #1254 happened to be pushed by METX 214. You guessed it! At the front of the train was METX 8601, one of the BMO Harris Bank cabcars. As it approached Congress Park before reversing its train into the Brookfield station, METX 214's horn was blown as a warning to anyone standing near the crossing. 214's horn sounded pretty different when compared to that of the other F40PHMs.

Below is a nice photo of 214 as it sat at Brookfield with T1254.

I cannot finish this post without mentioning the two freights I caught. As expected, they came through at the very end of the Metra rush. The first train, an intermodal, happened to include an Executive Mac in the locomotive consist. Leading was a GE C44-9W, BNSF #4166. Approximately 10 minutes later, the second freight came through. BNSF #4810 and BNSF #5885 led the train eastbound along Main 3. BNSF #9313, an SD70ACe, brought up the rear as a DPU (Distributed Power Unit).

Here are the links to the videos from Brookfield on January 29th, 2013
Brookfield AM Rush 1/29/13 9:09
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=579-07egXmE

BNSF Line Train #1230 @Brookfield 1/29/13 2:31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bok0NqKzg5U

BNSF Line Trains 1244/54 @Brookfield 1/29/13 14:34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwfHiGvjRf0

Fast BNSF Freights in Brookfield 4:04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZS4Gwrs-1g