Morning Railfanning at Melrose Park 1/30/13

Yesterday's weather was just a one-hit wonder. In the overnight hours, a cold front moved through the area, bringing with it snow showers and lower temps. Yes, it was a slap back into reality. I knew the cooler weather would hinder me from going out to railfan, so I decided to take advantage of the final hours of above-average temperatures by filming the morning rush on the UP West Line from the Melrose Park station.

I brought along my tripod and used it to better position my camcorder as I filmed the trains, and rightfully so, because snow showers fell throughout much of the morning, and I needed one hand to hold a green umbrella I carried with me to keep dry. The camcorder required two-hand operation, but use of the tripod narrowed it down to one, and practically zero on several occasions. I should've used the umbrella to shelter the camcorder from the snow showers because water drops got on the lens during the first two trains. I did not notice that until after the second train had passed. Luckily, I used my phone to tweet the train run numbers along with the number of the locomotive on each train, except for Train #24. I did not pay much attention to the number of the locomotive on the back of that one. T24's trip originates at West Chicago. T49, which leaves Ogilvie at 5:09 pm, terminates at West Chicago and doesn't come back for the night, so I'm guessing whichever locomotive was on T49 the day before was on T24 today. I was not at Melrose yesterday, so I'll never know which engine was on T24. I did film T49 the day before yesterday however.

When I filmed the PM rush at MPK two days earlier, I noticed that the crossing gates at MP 11.38 reactivated not long after a westbound train passed through. I called UP and notified them about this as soon as I got home, but today, it didn't seem like anything had been done to fix the problem. I filmed Train #17 with METX 131 just to get extra video footage of this happening, and I got it! Not long after 131's began to sound, the lights, bells, and gates reactivated. They stayed in the down position for about five seconds before going up again.

Here is a photo of METX 131 at Melrose after returning with now Train #34. This picture shows you how sloppy it was at the station on this day.

An interesting catch of the day happened to be a horn duel between the cabcar of Train #26, pushed by METX #146, and METX #143 as it approached MPK with Train #19. The cabcar won the horn duel because it eeked out a few blows after 143's final blow. The horn duel took place near the 9th Avenue grade crossing, approximately 5/8 of a mile east of where I was. It would've been so much better if it took place by me! I love it when the quiet zone is neglected for a few seconds. There may be the "Danger Another Train Coming" signs at the 9th Avenue crossing, but because I've never ventured over there, and neither do I plan to, I am not so sure of that. I mention this because there are two at MP 11.38, and when one train is present as another train is approaching, the signs go off and the approaching train sounds its horn. I have yet to hear a horn duel by two moving trains at the Melrose Park depot.

Here is the video of the morning rush at Melrose
RE-UPLOAD: UP West Line AM Rush @Melrose Park 1/30/13 22:54
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0rpy2_JIiw