Chicagoland railfanning

Watch in HD! The semester is over, final grades are in, and the summer has begun! Right after I moved out of my dorm I headed west with my father to Chicago, the busiest rail city in the country and home to a multitude of fascinating lines and railroads. We started by following the CSX line west from Grand Rapids down to New Richmond, Michigan, where we caught a couple of trains in the area before moving down the next day to Benton Harbor, Michigan, where we caught a southbound manifest crossing over the swing bridge located west of town. Passing through New Buffalo, Michigan, we continued west, catching a train on the South Shore and one on the NS Chicago line, before catching several trains around Whiting, Hammond, and Griffith, Indiana, including the unique bottle train. The next few days saw us go to far away places including Clinton, Iowa, and La Grange, Illinois, covering every class 1 in the Chicagoland area and several regionals, such as the Indiana Harbor Belt Railway. We finished up our trip by catching a number of unique moves on CP's ex DME lines in Eastern Iowa, including a ballast train hauled by an SD30ECCO, GP22ECCO, and standard cab SD60 that had just left a coal train derailment!
||Equipment List||
|||Photography|||
Canon 7D Mark II - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon 5D Mark III - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 Tripod - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
I use hexagonal plates for my tripod mounts, though your usage may vary with those
|||Video|||
Canon XHA-1S - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Bogen 3040 Video Tripod - No link, but it's relatively easy to find on eBay for about $150
|||Misc|||
ATCS Monitor - groups.io/g/ATCSMonitor
Uniden Bearcat BC245XLT - wiki.radioreference.com/index...
Final Cut Pro X - www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/

[@ipnz]

Awsome great video many thanks for showing it.

[@larryjay]

Zachary, you are the best! A+ for videography. Every encounter is carefully composed and the colors bold. First silence with birds and other natural background sound. Then a discernible rumble. Suddenly we catch sight of colorful beast thundering our way. Massive MVsquared. The episode with the rail swing bridge and barge traffic was especially enjoyable. Some time I hope you will be able to cover the Columbia Gorge. Thank you again for hours of railfan enjoyment.

[@HighRail62]

Great Stuff and so relaxing to watch. Thanks for sharing this treasure!

[@paulperrottet113]

Zach, excellent video. Great composition and exploitation of the surroundings. Extremely interesting and varied settings in very good light conditions. Keep up the good work.

[@Railfanable]

Wow! That tanker nearly got run over.

[@2959wvp]

I have watch many of your rail videos because the desert scenery is so beautiful! But I really enjoyed this video as I am an old inland water guy and enjoyed the towboat section of this vid! Nice Job!

[@TheIronweed-vx5lg]

Well done sir!

[@KingSNAFU]

Awesome video.

[@burnuts007]

Love the third shot! Awesome

[@danielkennedy1524]

Great video! thank you!

[@Mrtubbs56]

To bad you couldn't have gotten a little closer. I love that deep rumble of the locomotives as they pass.

[@dave3216]

Very enjoyable. Thx.

[@akses955-jendela-dunia]

The beautiful scenery once, the trai cool

[@newcastlerails1416]

Nice video!

[@sheepgti390]

Dont mind me just railfanning around!

[@JimWinsor100]

Damn that's an excellent video camera!!.....nice distance{zoom}.

[@Nicola636128]

Awesome video!

[@gragor11]

2:31 Well wouldn't that have been interesting if that tanker truck hadn't found a way onto the major roadway. Would have sucked for all involved.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Holy crap, just how long is that tanker crossing the track at 2:31?!

[@wicky201]

More than 53 feet...apparently no limits in Michigan?!?!? www.michigan.gov/documents/Loads_dim_87014_7.pdf

[@geofftech]

AndreiTupolev I was wondering if he was going to go into emergency.

[@sheldonhopkins7625]

The swing bridge at about 24 minutes: Can't they swing just enough to let a boat/barge/sloop get through, OR does the bridge have some federal requirement about open/close, or maybe it's a What else is there to do ?. I'm surprised there isn't a federally required inspection of the track connections at each end when the bridge swings. Great Video.

[@dannygayler90]

First real opportunity I've had to watch this I am surprised USA has BDouble Road trucks , as I though Australia only had these ?

[@bkriegel95]

It's not that you see an Amtrak unit with a 2nd gen Nathan K5HL horn.

[@kevinzeh3559]

What are those black tank looking railcars going by at the 46 minute mark?

[@brianlingenfelter4466]

Nice video's you have. Did you have any trouble around Chicago at all while filming?

[@chrispage7979]

Brian Lingenfelter

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌏🌎🌍🌐🌐🌐

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌏🌎🌍🌐

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌐

[@bkriegel95]

*often

[@donalfinn4205]

I find the size of the copyright etc, lettering to be a constant distraction. I’m sure you could make it smaller. I might subscribe then.

[@railyardfilms6491]

Metra leased by BNSF owner operator

[@elizabethlara6470]

ff

[@kyletawney7308]

Not what you see in colorado

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌏🌎🌍🌐