Western Railroad Discussion > Last Hurrah at Naperville

The 2018 Santa Fe Convention has been a fun but hectic event. As usual the week went by at Super C speed! The hectic part was mainly because I tried to work in as much shooting time as possible. This was my first-ever time on the old CB&Q commuter racetrack out to Aurora in anything other than a train. And I thoroughly enjoyed it!

After I went over to check out the actual location for my 'sneaking up' thread I just sorta hung around the racetrack until I was all but out of daylight. Tomorrow morning my plan is to follow the old C&NW across the Land of Lincoln, at least to Clinton. Then I'll most likely keep following it across Iowa.

For now, here is the last train. The last hurrah of a fun week of railfanning & railfan camaraderie.

1. Metra scene at Naperville, IL (for real, this time... ;^). An eastbound commuter train is gliding up to a stop to pick up some Friday night fares. Right out of the camera with no photo-editing on July 21, 2018.

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/18 15:21 by santafe199.

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Ah yes, now THAT'S the Naperville I remember, looking down that infinitely long tangent track to EVERYWHERE WEST!

Thanks for your efforts in finding these locations and sharing your photos.

Watching the afternoon commuter parade on the BNSF Racetrack is really something to esperience first hand.  Anywhere along the Racetrack is good.  I 've had good times a LaGrange Road, if for no other reason that the plethora of food, drink and ice cream establishments within a block or two of the tracks.

Glad you had a fun time in Chicagoland.

- Norm

Great image Lance. Have a good chase thru Iowa en route home

Posted from iPhone

NCA1022 Wrote:
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> Watching the afternoon commuter parade on the BNSF
> Racetrack is really something to esperience first
> hand.  Anywhere along the Racetrack is good.  I
> 've had good times a LaGrange Road, if for no
> other reason that the plethora of food, drink and
> ice cream establishments within a block or two of
> the tracks.
>
> Glad you had a fun time in Chicagoland.
>
> - Norm

And the closer to Chicago the better.  LaGrange gets everything except the Congress Park turnbacks.  LaVergne used to be my spot.

sums007 Wrote:
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> And the closer to Chicago the better.  LaGrange
> gets everything except the Congress Park
> turnbacks.  LaVergne used to be my spot.

With the latest Metra BNSF schedule change, it looks there's only one evening train that turns back at the Brookfield crossovers (they were relocated from Congress Park several years ago). It's train 1261 out of CUS at 5:06 pm. There might still be a morning turnback but I haven't seen on to be sure.

Lance, generations of CB&Q and BN people call the track between
Chicago and Aurora the "East End."  Only foamers call it the race track.
CJV in Illinois

jo-tower Wrote: > ... Only foamers call it the race track ...

Well then, I guess somebody at Trains is (was?) guilty of foaming. I could be wrong about the source, but I can remember reading a railfan article back in the 1970s about your 'East End'. It was referred to as the triple-track-raceway or racetrack. And I took it to be a complimentary comparison to Santa Fe's famous passenger "racetrack" between Dodge City & La Junta...

Lance/199

santafe199 Wrote:
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> jo-tower Wrote: > ... Only foamers call it the
> race track ...
>
> Well then, I guess somebody at Trains is
> (was?) guilty of foaming. I could be wrong about
> the source, but I can remember reading a railfan
> article back in the 1970s about your 'East End'.

And there you have it, i.e. "a railfan article". The Burlington employees ALWAYS referred to it as the "East End", which was good enough for me, when I started with EMD in June of 1962.

> It was referred to as the triple-track-raceway or
> racetrack. And I took it to be a complimentary
> comparison to Santa Fe's famous
> passenger "racetrack" between Dodge City & La
> Junta...
>
> Lance/199