Western Railroad Discussion > A bunch of photos of CN in deep Chicago snow; lots of old power

Until now, February in Chicago was below freezing and filled with snow - about 2 feet of it. Suddenly it is 45° and sunny in Chicago, and a big snowmelt is occuring. During the cold and snow, I took a lot of photos and finally got around to organizing and editing them. This whole batch is of CN, mostly the Chicago Sub near downtown and the south side.

There are only a few different trains shown - M337/338, L536/537, a local, and grain extras, but the power has gotten really interesting. CN seems to have assigned a whole assortment of older power to these secondary mains. Looking at some of their busy mainlines, it seems like a parade of ES44's. On these lines, the most common power is now: SD70/75I's, C44-9W's, C40-8W's, and C40-8M's. A bunch of the latter were scrapped by CN last year, yet now I'm seeing them more than ever (from what remains.)

1-3: Late January, M337 heads west through 16th St. with a very colorful consist.

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4. For that train I also caught it crossing the old swing bridge over the Canal on the Freeport Sub.
5/6. L536 passes 39th St. with a GP40-2W trailing.

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7-9. Another day, another bizarre M337 consist. I ran out of time to get this in a better location. I haven't seen these BC Rail C44-9WL's much. Also, an ex-UP geep headed somewhere.

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10. With a lot more snow on the ground in earlier February, a UP SD70 leads a grain train through 16th St.
11/12. On Feb. 5th, a nighttime westbound features a grungy ex-LMS C40-8W through 16th St.

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13. As the snow deepens and the temperatures drop, schedules start to get way off. L537 usually heads through 16th to Glenn at 7-10pm, here it is the next morning.
14. A local waits at Kelley for clearance through the morning rush.
15. An empty unit grain train passes 39th St. as South Shore speeds south.

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16. A unit train heads past 47th while South Shore heads inbound.
17. A freight waits at Cermak to get across 22nd/16th.
18. Goofed this up, but this was a bizarre consist on an evening M337 (I think). CN leader, BNSF, CP, lease switcher.

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19. GT leader on a local waiting at Cermak
20. M338 heads south at 39th
21. Interesting loads on a WC flat.

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22-25. On a bitterly cold morning, M338 has 3 Dash-8's plus an SD75 as it heads south at 35th St.

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26/27. M338 heading south at Kelley, with M337 waiting. Couldn't get to a clear shot quick enough for the meet.
28. M337 with BNSF power heading north

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29-31. L537 heading north past 39th, with an old IC G40R and a BC Rail wheel car

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Great series!

32. L537 heading north at 47th St.
33. L536 usually has 2-4 engines and is a big train, on this way it was short with this stranger.
34.Haven't seen an old Tropicana reefer in years!

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Nice series, some good stuff there.

35. This photo is connected to this post: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,5196297,5196330#msg-5196330
On this morning, L537 was stopped northbound at 39th on Main 2. M338 Got stopped southbound on Main 1; 1158 then weaved through both of them. 
36. Then, for some reason, all of that power on L537 was sitting at Bridgeport later, let L537 got to Glenn with something else I guess.
37. While over in that direction, a CN local that died in the Bridgeport sitting gets going before sunset onto the Joliet Sub.

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38. While waiting for M338, a sunrise at a few degress over the lake gives a sense of what the weather is like.
39-40. M338 with a cowl trailing.

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41. More bitter weather; M337 heads north through it at 39th
42/43. There has been a lot of BNSF power on these CN trains lately; a warbonnet on M337 was a surprise.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 09:46 by inCHI.

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44. M337 with an SD75/cowl
45/46. And yet again, M337 with a CSX GE leading a BC Rail cowl.

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Last post!

48. Stray shot; while over in South Chicago EJ&E 667 was paused on the lakefront local.
49/50. And on that note... this morning's local to Glenn had 665 leading. The sun decided to hide at 16th.

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Man, Killer series with Awesome variety! Really like shot #12.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 10:02 by SP8595.

Nice winter shots around Chicago.  You got some great results including the sunrise over Lake Michigan.