Passenger Trains > Today's "Fleet" (of sorts) on the "Q"...

After observing the timely thread posted by 'kevink" regarding the detour of Amtrak Trains 7 & 8 today, the thought occurred to me that something quite rare might be in the making. So, I checked with girlfriend "Julie" to find that both #4 and #6 were running in good shape, and in fact, were only about 5 to 10 minutes apart at Naperville. Given Chicagoland's very long (and early) shadows at this time of the year, I opted for the relatively wide open area around Metra's Congress Park station to try and catch FIVE Amtrak long distance passenger trains passing through in an hour. Sure enough, almost like the CB&Q of old it happened, and in the span of 58 minutes, actually. In thinking about it, I don't believe there are very many places or times that this kind of event is possible. In this age of identical passenger train consists and appearances, I'm not suggesting there was anything noteworthy about the trains themselves, but to have five of them, each on scheduled runs of over 2,000 miles, all in revenue service, pass my location within an hour, truly was.

Cheers,

aussiehinz


All at Brookfield/Congress Park IL, November 28, 2012

1. Amtrak #5 @ 2:17 PM CST

2. Amtrak #7 (Detouring) @ 2:32 PM CST

3. Amtrak #4 @ 2:38 PM CST



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/12 23:46 by aussiehinz.

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4. Amtrak #6 @ 2:45 PM CST

5. Same

6. Amtrak #3 @ 3:15 PM CST (Also carrying Amtrak F59PHI #463, fresh out of Beech Grove and heading back to California)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/12 07:51 by aussiehinz.

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Great pix but what is that vehicle sneaking along behind the power on #3?

Try reading the caption for photo #6,it couldn't be a whole lot clearer.

Cool white exhaust bubble over the power in photo no.1.

Lol! Yes. The famous Brookfield "Dolphin Dome!"

EMD2024 Wrote:
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> Try reading the caption for photo #6,it couldn't
> be a whole lot clearer.


Before you criticise me, look closely at the caption, it was revised twice after posting. Yes I can read!

Ya its a F59PHI, not a F59PH. Not being picky but there is a big difference.

Good work AH. Sure looked like a nice day to be out on the Chicago Sub.

Nice set of photos. It would have been cool if locomotive #7 (shown in the first photo) was on the point of train #7.

aussiehinz Wrote:
> 1. Amtrak #5 @ 2:17 PM CST

P42 #7's looking sharp! It sustained heavy damage from a match with a dump truck some couple years ago, then this recent one with a burnt front-end: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2872656

Hopefully it had some sort of incident during its early days to make the recent run-in the "third" and final of incidents that come in threes.

Kind thanks, "KV1guy," I've made the correction.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/12 07:52 by aussiehinz.

Thanks, aussiehinz, great pictures as always.

Nice catch of the baggage car door that 3/4 open on Train 6. Hope there's nothing lightweight in there that would be tempted out the door at 70 mph. I wonder if it had been open since Galesburg, which I think is the last baggage stop on Train 6.

nope
checked baggage not handled at Galesburg

The_Chief_Way Wrote:
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> nope
> checked baggage not handled at Galesburg


Or the door may just have been broken the whole time unable to be closed. I have seen that happen on 3&4 across new mexico, even in and out of Albuquerque.

Well, that's encouraging.

Neither Chief Way or TS2010's comments make me feel much better about the security and safety of baggage in Amtrak's baggage cars.