Western Railroad Discussion > Day and night at the Rochelle diamonds

Earlier this summer I spent a few nights at the Rochelle Diamond Lodge in Rochelle, IL, from June 27th to July 2nd. I took plenty of photos as I wanted to get some shots of the old CNW signals before they are replaced later this year. Two of my favorite shots featuring the signals were taken from the 9th street crossing on UP next to the park looking west toward the diamonds. The first picture shows eastbound and westbound UP trains waiting while a BNSF eastbound intermodal passes through on July 1st. The second picture is a 15-second long exposure shot of another eastbound BNSF train approaching the park on the night of June 28th.

Thanks for looking.
Matt.

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Both are fantastic shots.  The night shot certainly evokes almost a sleeping giant image.

Nice job and thanks for sharing.

very nice work. Would be good in a magazine showing the diamonds.

Very nice.
JB

Send it to Trains Mag maybe they will print it.

That first shot is awesome! Thanks for sharing,

~Ryan

When I was last there, we saw supports and bases for three of the four signal cantilevers required to protect the diamonds, but nothing yet for westbound trains on UP.  Has anything been done there?

(It appears that the other three will all be cantilever signals, with one heavy support.)

Carl Shaver
Lombard, IL

I've been thinking about heading there tomorrow (Friday); this might make up my mind for me!

Kennedy
 

Is that a new signal bridge going up on the C&NW side?

Thanks all for the compliments. UP crews have been working the past several months to put up new signals and signal cantilevers for the entire diamond/interlocking system in town. The UP crews wasted now time blocking the BNSF for a day or so putting up the new cantilevers on the ex-CB&Q on both sides of the diamond, but only part of the cantilever has been put up on the west side of the diamond on the ex-CNW, with nothing set up on the east side yet.

The first photo is looking east down the BNSF from the Route 38 crossing west of the dimaonds. The second is looking west from the 9th street crossing east of the diamonds. The third is looking east down the UP from the west side of the dimaonds.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/15 21:25 by Poker2662.

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That is a nice dip in the track in photo 3.  I know my HO equipment would surly uncouple.

They're fussing around the base of the BNSF cantelever now, and another track crew is working on the diamonds on Track 2, I think.  The UP defect detector just went off for Track 1....