I'm hoping that the newly installed track will be for double tracked METRA from Rondout to Fox Lake. That line can really use double tracking so that even more trains can be scheduled and Wisconsin &Southern freight trains can also be scheduled as well.
@@NYTrainzchaser You are welcome, I spent a lot of time in that tower getting my track bulletins while track inspecting, piloting grinders, rail detectors, ECT to get onto our CP RR.
I don't claim to be a MOW worker, but at one point there were 13 guys watching that front end loader mover that section track into place. Maybe they were had nothing else to do until that piece of track was laid. All that said, nice to see things expanding.
@MDN & BNSF Railway MetraRailfanner With 2 tracks owner Wisconsin & Southern which owns the Rondout to Fox Lake branch can also run freight trains in the day if necessary without interfering with passenger operations.
I've mentioned to METRA Conductors that the Fox Lake Branch should be double tracked from Rondout to Fox Lake. Perhaps they've now listened to my suggestion finally from the looks of things here.
@@Robbi496 I think you're right. It seens like that. You'd also have to be up in Rondout late at night to catch a. Wisconsin & Southern freight curving onto the Fox Lake Metra Branch. If an additional track was added from Rondout to Fox Lake Wisconsin & Southern could scheduele more freights if it became necessary.
@@Robbi496 That's correct. WSOR runs trains there on off peak hours. If it were double tracked, which is needed, there could be far more freights sent.
@CP C&M & BNSF Chicago Subdivision MetraRailfanner which means that an outbound Metra won't be blocking that busy line. This will come in especially handy those times when they do major work on Weekends. I've ridden that train many times and we've occasionally been bused between Roundout and Grayslake during non-peak times during the week, but usually during weekends, when demand is much lower and you don't have nearly as many business people. It's far far easier to just shut the track down to all traffic for a few hours during the week, on rare occasions, and even more so on weekends. They just do all the work at once, from replacing track, ties, ballast, plates spikes an everything at once. Being that it's single track for quite a bit of that distance, it would take days to a week, or more, if they had to stop for every Metra, even on the weekends. However, buy using buses, they can just rip the entire track out, including the ballast, ties, et al, and then rebuild from the ground up. This, with a good MOW crew can be done during daylight hours on a weekend, and has been done. I've been there and ridden to downtown. They have signs on all stations beyond Rondout to Fox Lake, explaining that for a coming weekend, there will be buses from Grayslake, double tracked, to Roundout. This happens every few years, and after major damage, from either a derailment, or washouts. After this is done Metra trains can unload off the mainline. Also, since the track is single track for most of the way to Grayslake, a late intbound can cause issues for both freight, Amtrak, and the outbound Metra. sitting on that track means that the main line stays completely open. All the times riding that I'd always wondered why they didn't do something like this. There's plenty of room under the trail bridge. I've ridden a Metra to Chicago to head home during a snow storm, where there was a delay. Once there was a freight train sitting north of that switch waiting for the outbound Metra. This will make that less necessary.
Kirk Zevola: Hopefully it will be to expand METRA Service between Rondout and Fox Lake and hopefully maybe double tracking between here and Fox Lake to allow for more frequent scheduleing of trains to and from Chicago. Also Wisconsin & Southern Freights can be scheduled more often and not just at night which most of them run.
Tom Z: I've only seen Canadian National switch runs. Every Thursday at 4 PM Isee one heading southwesterly. This is no doubt a schedueled run. In the 1970s there was more freight trains back when it was the Elgin, Joliet And Eastern Railroad.
@@meverything2216 On Tuesday the CN Local must be around 10 AM in the morning going in both directions. Thursday at 4PM it heads Southwestbound right on scheduele. This track seems entirely dormant otherwise. I thought that the CN takeover of the EJ &E would utilize this track more often than before but it sure hasn't!
That track is sure underutilized! It could have been the bases for the once dicussed Star Line that would stretch down to Joliet ILL with stops in Schaumberg, O'Hare, and towns in between up to Waukegan ILL. Plans for the Star Line seem to be on indefinite hold for now.
CSX Max: It's the Milwaukee District North Line METRA that branches off to the left to head northwest to Fox Lake ILL and the Wisconsin Southern Freight Line heading northwest. Straight north is the Canadian Pacific Freight Lines and Amtrak. They all converge together as they head south.
I'm hoping that the newly installed track will be for double tracked METRA from Rondout to Fox Lake. That line can really use double tracking so that even more trains can be scheduled and Wisconsin &Southern freight trains can also be scheduled as well.
Awesome coverage of the progress at Rondout and some nice catches too!
Thanks!
Wow they got that 3rd track down quick. Nice video as well :)
Thanks!
Busy piece of track! Nice shots of the equipment, enjoyed it a lot, thank you.
Thanks!
Great video. Lots to enjoy watching.
Very cool documentation of this work plus the train traffic.
Thanks!
@@NYTrainzchaser You are welcome, I spent a lot of time in that tower getting my track bulletins while track inspecting, piloting grinders, rail detectors, ECT to get onto our CP RR.
Excellent footage, love the location 👍😎
Thanks!
Mind-boggling number of passenger trains in and out of Chicago.
I don't claim to be a MOW worker, but at one point there were 13 guys watching that front end loader mover that section track into place. Maybe they were had nothing else to do until that piece of track was laid. All that said, nice to see things expanding.
wouldn't have been a hell of a lot easier just to have a track laying machine do the work? Or is the railroad to cheap?
That's a very interesting big Deere there.
great video!
Thanks!
The Fox Lake Branch should be double tracked from Rondout to Fox Lake to be able to add more trains in each direction!
@MDN & BNSF Railway MetraRailfanner With 2 tracks owner Wisconsin & Southern which owns the Rondout to Fox Lake branch can also run freight trains in the day if necessary without interfering with passenger operations.
I've mentioned to METRA Conductors that the Fox Lake Branch should be double tracked from Rondout to Fox Lake. Perhaps they've now listened to my suggestion finally from the looks of things here.
@@albertcarello5489 Last time I new METRA owned it as far as Fox Lake and WSOR north of there?
@@Robbi496 I think you're right. It seens like that. You'd also have to be up in Rondout late at night to catch a. Wisconsin & Southern freight curving onto the Fox Lake Metra Branch. If an additional track was added from Rondout to Fox Lake Wisconsin & Southern could scheduele more freights if it became necessary.
@@Robbi496 That's correct. WSOR runs trains there on off peak hours. If it were double tracked, which is needed, there could be far more freights sent.
Wow that is awesome 👌
Thanks!
Good Job. 👍🏻
I think this could also be part of the effort to increase the number of Hiawatha roundtrips.
@CP C&M & BNSF Chicago Subdivision MetraRailfanner which means that an outbound Metra won't be blocking that busy line. This will come in especially handy those times when they do major work on Weekends. I've ridden that train many times and we've occasionally been bused between Roundout and Grayslake during non-peak times during the week, but usually during weekends, when demand is much lower and you don't have nearly as many business people.
It's far far easier to just shut the track down to all traffic for a few hours during the week, on rare occasions, and even more so on weekends. They just do all the work at once, from replacing track, ties, ballast, plates spikes an everything at once. Being that it's single track for quite a bit of that distance, it would take days to a week, or more, if they had to stop for every Metra, even on the weekends. However, buy using buses, they can just rip the entire track out, including the ballast, ties, et al, and then rebuild from the ground up. This, with a good MOW crew can be done during daylight hours on a weekend, and has been done. I've been there and ridden to downtown. They have signs on all stations beyond Rondout to Fox Lake, explaining that for a coming weekend, there will be buses from Grayslake, double tracked, to Roundout.
This happens every few years, and after major damage, from either a derailment, or washouts.
After this is done Metra trains can unload off the mainline. Also, since the track is single track for most of the way to Grayslake, a late intbound can cause issues for both freight, Amtrak, and the outbound Metra. sitting on that track means that the main line stays completely open. All the times riding that I'd always wondered why they didn't do something like this. There's plenty of room under the trail bridge. I've ridden a Metra to Chicago to head home during a snow storm, where there was a delay. Once there was a freight train sitting north of that switch waiting for the outbound Metra. This will make that less necessary.
8:20 nothing more fun taking a photo of someone else doing all the work
U did get one f59phi locomotive
Nice train video.
Thanks!
Nice video well done
Thanks!
I like the trains but why 3rd tracks?
7:01 that sounds like an rs2m on a metro North m3
Why are they installing a new track at roundout ? Also Awesome Amtrak, Metra, and Canadian Pacific catches
Kirk Zevola: Hopefully it will be to expand METRA Service between Rondout and Fox Lake and hopefully maybe double tracking between here and Fox Lake to allow for more frequent scheduleing of trains to and from Chicago. Also Wisconsin & Southern Freights can be scheduled more often and not just at night which most of them run.
Love seeing the trains switch tracks.
Are these videos from a control tower?
They're taken from a bike path.
what does the project consist of BTW? Never heard anything about it
Metra is installing a third track to reduce congestion.
@@NYTrainzchaser from Rondout to where?
@@WillGrimm623 I would say to Fox Lake Illinois.
Nice video :)
Thanks!
How far south is the 3rd track supposed to go?
Do you ever see anything on that track that crosses?
Tom Z: I've only seen Canadian National switch runs. Every Thursday at 4 PM Isee one heading southwesterly. This is no doubt a schedueled run. In the 1970s there was more freight trains back when it was the Elgin, Joliet And Eastern Railroad.
There is a CN Local every Tuesday and Thursday
@@meverything2216 On Tuesday the CN Local must be around 10 AM in the morning going in both directions. Thursday at 4PM it heads Southwestbound right on scheduele. This track seems entirely dormant otherwise. I thought that the CN takeover of the EJ &E would utilize this track more often than before but it sure hasn't!
That track is sure underutilized! It could have been the bases for the once dicussed Star Line that would stretch down to Joliet ILL with stops in Schaumberg, O'Hare, and towns in between up to Waukegan ILL. Plans for the Star Line seem to be on indefinite hold for now.
Whats that blue bi level 4:47
Illinois Railfanner: That blue bi level is a former Virginia Railroad car.
@@albertcarello5489 11:37 it looks like the new metra bi level bike car im pretty sure it's a the new metra bi level bike car
Why are they adding a 3rd track?
To reduce congestion.
what line is this
CP C&M sub or Metra Milwaukee District North line.
CSX Max: It's the Milwaukee District North Line METRA that branches off to the left to head northwest to Fox Lake ILL and the Wisconsin Southern Freight Line heading northwest. Straight north is the Canadian Pacific Freight Lines and Amtrak. They all converge together as they head south.
Are these metra or CP crews? The 3rd track might come in handy with the KCS merger coming
What is the kcs merger
CP bought KCS
AMTRAK HERITAGE 12:55
Could be a better video if you place your self to catch all the action other than that it is a good video
What Metra lines go there?
The Milwaukee District North Line.