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

Using A Tripod For the Very First Time

JANUARY 5TH, 2013
On this day, I decided to pay a visit to the Melrose Park Station to film UP West Line Metra trains #509, 511, and 513 with my new aluminum tripod that I purchased from a Radio Shack store on North Avenue in Melrose Park exactly two weeks prior. I filmed four trains total, two of the outbounders, along with an inbounder, Train #512, and a westbound freight. I could have filmed UP-W T513, but I had to go home. The reason why? The battery inside my Samsung camcorder discharged much faster than I initially expected it to, and the only culprit  I could immediately think of was the cold weather. There was a little snow on the ground, light snow showers fell during the latter half of my stay at MK, and throughout my stay, light, but cold, winds blew. I was bundled up, and I was warm, but the same couldn't be said about my camcorder.

The first train I filmed was UP West Line Train #509. This train does not stop at Melrose, so it blew right past the station at a pretty high rate of speed.

The second train to enter the vicinity of Melrose was, and what a great catch this turned out to be, UP West Line Train #512, which makes a stop at MPK. Instead of stopping at Platform 1, the usual platform, the train stopped at the opposite platform, Platform 2, which is where the Elburn-bound trains stop to pick up and drop off passengers. Moves like this are pretty uncommon, so it was worth filming No one got on or off the train. Shortly after the departure of T512, snow showers began to fall.

This catch turned out to be the first of two great back-to-back catches, because the third train I filmed would be the reason behind T512 stopping at the south platform instead of the north platform. The third train was, and this was the best moment, a westbound freight train consisting mainly of stacked trailers, pulled by, not one, but TWO BNSF locomotives! The lead locomotive is pictured below. Sorry for not being able to get a better picture.

This was only the second time that I've seen a BNSF locomotive on the UP Geneva Sub, the first time being over the summer of 2012 when I lived next to the railroad by the Kedzie station, at milepost 3.82. I think this train had a final destination of the UP Global Two Yard, a.k.a. Proviso Yard, because it traveled so slowly, eventually coming to a halt. I terminated filming of the train when that happened. It resumed the journey to Global Two about 10 minutes later, clearing the area, and allowing the crossing gates to return to the "Up" position, which in turn, allowed a long line of vehicles on either side of the tracks to go through the intersection.

The fourth and final train I filmed would be UP West Line Train #511. This train makes a stop at MPK on its way to Elburn. After T511 cleared the area, I took down my tripod and placed it, along with my camcorder, into my backpack , and then I cleared the area. The snow showers were heavier at this point.

To see the videos of my visit to MPK on 1/5/13 in their entirety, visit the links below
Fun With A Tripod 5:33
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvAk5-rVaEg
Rarity on the UP Geneva Sub 8:35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk6bZuRZw5w

Melrose Park to Kedzie and Back

JANUARY 3RD, 2013
On this day, I had to run a very important errand, and that was returning a book checked out from the Chicago Public Library's Harold Washington Branch, its main branch, a couple months before. I had to do this in order to avoid a fine for an overdue book, which is twenty cents a day. Instead of returning the book to HWL, I chose to return it to the new Richard M. Daley Library, located approximately half a mile north of the Kedzie Station.

Not only was it a good opportunity to take care of this critical task, it was also a good opportunity for me to start using my Zone A-C 10-Ride Ticket that I purchased through Metra's Ticket-By-Mail program the month before. I boarded a northbound 303 Pace bus, and took it to the Melrose Park Station, where I awaited my inbound train, Train #52. While awaiting T52, an outbounder, Train #37, made a stop at the station on its way to Elburn. This train, pictured above, consisted of seven cars and was pulled by F40PH-2 locomotive #159.

It was approximately 3:30 when Train #52 pulled into MPK. At the very same time, a UP intermodal freight train, traveling westbound, approached the station on Main 1. I wish that train would've came behind T37, because I could've filmed it. I was at a loss again because as my train pulled into the Oak Park Station, a second UP intermodal train passed it, heading westbound! The only exclamation running through my head was DAMN!

Funny thing that happened on board this train. As it departed OP, the two conductors on board came into the vestibule where I was (and for the entire trip) and had a couple trivial conversations, after checking tickets of the two people who boarded the train at that station. They were gossiping, and I wasn't going to feed into it because I don't feed into gossip, but when they mentioned the Chicago Bears player Cedric Benson, and then the Green Bay Packers, I jumped into their conversation and said, "I'm a Packers fan!"

My remark prompted one conductor to say to the other, "Every time we discuss the Packers, someone in the vestibule says they're a Packers fan!"

LOL Funny indeed!

After dropping off the book at the Richard M. Daley Library, I decided to go to the Aldi, and the Subway, at Chicago & Kedzie to kill some time while waiting for Train #53, the outbound train I would take back to Melrose. Immediately after taking care of that, I stood at the corner of Chicago & Kedzie and filmed an outbound Metra train on the old Milwaukee Road trackage before walking to the Kedzie station where I would shoot some more trains. The best part occurred just after my arrival to Kedzie, and that was the meetup between T47, and a deadhead that usually comes right before that train in this neck of the woods. As the trains approached one another, they dimmed their headlights, and then the deadhead did something I've never seen it do before in reaction to a train coming from the opposite direction - it stopped!

Two more trains rolled through the station, T49 pulled by 165, and T51 pulled by 163. After T51 passed, a familiar face stepped onto the station platform. This guy would always take T53 from Kedzie to a point unknown. Every time I stood on the Kedzie platform and filmed the Metras in the 5:00 hour when I lived by the station in 2012, I would see this guy. Because of my very shy attitude, I never exchanged names with him, therefore missing my chances of snagging another friend.

Four minutes after T51 passed, T53, pulled by #137, an F40PH-3 locomotive, came to a stop at Kedzie. I boarded the train, along with four others, including the guy mentioned above, getting off at Melrose. When I got there, I had just missed the southbound 303 bus that I planned to catch, so I had to wait for the next one, filming the next three outbounders as I did so. I filmed Train #55 from the south side of the Melrose Park station, Train #57 from the north side of the station (where I decided to wait for the bus), and Train #59 while on board the bus. T59 is the deadheader that always came right before T47 when I lived at Kedzie. Its last stop is Elmhurst, and it makes another trip to Ogilvie Transportation Center as Train #60.

If you'd like to see the entire video, which contains all the Metras mentioned above, click the link below:
NEW TO OLD, OLD TO NEW 17:29
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ob5Lietilw