Western Railroad Discussion > CN sightings at Chicago diamonds

I caught a few CN trains recently threading their way through Chicago. I'm including the images of some of the passenger trains that the freights were timed around too.

1. Work on the Wells-Wentworth Connector is underway near 16th St., closing off areas near the diamond as they dig out the road to eventually run it under the tracks here. There is a lot more visual clutter and as I waited for CN's M337 to come through the junction, I was surprised by the Rock Island heritage wrap engine leading an outbound Metra train.

2. After it cleared, M337 got the signal to head through. The signal on the right has been replaced as CN reconfigures the track.

3. The diamond of Main 2 is still in place, but other portions of it are ripped up for single tracking/reconfiguring.

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Getting M337 through here involved a lot of passenger train conflicts. It was at 16th St. occupying the only main, while Amtrak 391 was getting closer to there (bhind it) as it headed to Chicago. Once conflicting Metra/Amtrak/NS traffic at 16th and 21st cleared, there were still things like an inbound Amtrak St. Louis train coming up to 21st. Cermak on CN is now also signal track, so any Amtrak/Metra movement that is lined up also blocks freight movement.

A bit later, a similar situation emerged when L536 (from Glenn Yard) got to Cermak. NS had an oil train to send through 21st, then the Texas Eagle was lined up through Cermak. Often L536 is through here before 1pm, but on this day it was after 2pm. It would have been even more messy if the northbound Texas Eagle was on time, as
it would have been in the mix too.

4/5. The Texas Eagle going through 21st.
6. CN L536 going through the single track Cermak interlocking.

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7. L536 crossing 21st St. The CN main in the foreground is cut and isolated as part of the track reconfiguration project.
8. Didn't expect to get this shot at a walking pace, but L536 got stopped at the signal before 16th St. while blocking 21st St.
9. The rear end going under 18th St. 

L536 was 185 cars ! But maybe I counted that wrong, because for some reason it stopped twice going through here; first at the signal before 16th St., and then next when the head end had to be passed Kelley on CN and maybe at somewhere around 31st St. I'm really curious what causes that. An outbound Metra train ended up waiting at 16th for a few minutes for this monstrosity to cear.

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Last post. The other night I saw a regular early evening move on the CN Joliet Sub. I don't snow the symbol involved, but there is a local that leaves Glenn Yard, goes to Bridgeport, runs around it's train, and the heads onto the Freeport Sub to go west.

10. Crossing Ashland Ave.
11. Coming down the running track at Bridgeport.
12. About to run around the train.

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