Railfanning the BNSF Racetrack - Afternoon Metra Rush in Downers Grove - 4K

Watch in 4K Resolution! Here’s the final video from my trip to Chicago. For our last full day in town, we went trackside on the BNSF Chicago Subdivision. This 38 mile triple track high traffic former BN mainline running from Chicago to Aurora is most often referred to as “The Racetrack”. It hosts Chicago Metra’s busiest line, the BNSF Railway Line, with 94 trains operating each weekday. In addition, the line hosts Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Illinois Zephyr, and Carl Sandburg, as well as BNSF Freight traffic. During the afternoon commuter rush between 3 PM and 6:30 PM, 25 outbound Metra BNSF Trains depart Chicago Union Station, some as close as four minutes apart. With a combination of local trains making all stops, trains making “flip-backs” at various points on the line, and trains running as express services during different portions of the route, trains quickly get out of order as they move farther from the city center, which you will note as you observe the train numbers in the video. Metra's F40PH "screamers" still rule the rails here, and you will see many of these venerable workhorses still hard at work.
We set up at the Downers Grove/Main Street station around 1:45 PM in the afternoon, before the start of the rush. We stayed until 6:30 PM to catch the majority of the rush, and then returned from 9 PM to midnight to see some of the post-rush freight and commuter traffic. With the combination of Metra, Amtrak, and BNSF trains, there was hardly a dull moment! You’ll see a total of 45 trains in 45 minutes, showcasing just about every type of operation that the rail line sees. I didn’t have my tripod with me on this trip, so I had to improvise a tripod, which means that these videos are somewhat of a worm’s eye view. Still, it should give you a good idea of just how busy this rail line is.
I had a description all typed up with a list of all the trains in the video, but it was simply too long for RUclips’s word limit. If you have any questions about individual trains, feel free to leave a comment asking for more info.
This concludes the video series from my Chicago trip. Keep an eye out for more 4K videos coming soon!
Enjoy!

[@Balerio2357]

Great video Stephen, thanks for posting!
- Balerio

[@jameschristiansson3137]

Great work! This video brings all the benefits of living in Downers Grove without actually having to live in Downers Grove.

[@metrasnakieasaurus1066]

Great train action and camera work!!! My son would live some new subscribers to his Metra trains and more channel..Happy New Year to all! #MetraSnakieAsaurus

[@MarkAHHDvideostreaming]

Nice video, subscribed

[@CSXEMDTrainLover]

awesome train video