# NICTD's Shoth Shore Line - Lunch In South Bend



## fredevad (Jul 12, 2010)

*South Shore Line*

July 3, 2010

This trip would take me from Milwaukee to Chicago Union Station on Amtrak, then to Chicago Millennium Station by CTA bus, the all the way out to South Bend, IN airport via the South Shore electric line. I'd been looking forward to this trip since MrFSS on the AU forum mentioned it a few months earlier. I'd never ridden electric heavy rail before, so I thought it would be fun. My only concern was doing this trip on a holiday weekend, a concern I found out later I should have heeded.

The day started bright and early, leaving the house at 5:40 am to make the first Hiawatha train of the day. Before leaving, I had the sinking feeling I was forgetting something so I did a final check; camera, power supply, exact change for bus, power supply for phone, scanner, ear buds. Yep, I got everything. It wasn't until about halfway to the Amtrak station (and too late to turn around) that I realized what I had forgotten. I had put the battery for my new HD mini-cam on charge last night so that I would have a full battery for the trip; but forgot to put it back in the camera. There will be no pictures or video today. Rats!

I pulled off the highway and right on to a primo free parking spot on St. Paul Avenue, directly under and shaded by the 6th street bridge (the bridge you see in many EB smoke stop pictures of Milwaukee). I walked into the station and right up to ticket agent (Bill or Bob, I can't remember his name) and purchased my roundtrip tickets with a friendly smile. He told me they were already boarding, so I walked right on to the train to find a spot in the quiet car, an Amfleet I, on the Amtrak Hiawatha 330. I quickly setup the TomTom Car Kit, iPhone, and scanner and was ready to go.

The trip to Chicago was uneventful. I overheard "No restrictions to turnout." on the scanner. I found out that Turnout was a tower around Gurnee, IL. Each of the 3 track detectors en route faithfully reported 32 axels, no defects, and a train length just over 600 feet. As most Hiawatha consists I'd ridden lately, we had a P42 for power at one end (tail end MKE to CHI), an F40 at the other (unknown if it was an NPCU or not), and Horizon coaches surrounded on either end by Amfleet coaches. We only stopped for a minute or two near the Western Avenue Metra station to let a freight pass ahead of us at that massive switching junction (I don't know the name of the junction), and we arrived a few minutes early into Chicago Union Station.

Usually I wait and let everyone detrain ahead of me, but this time I wasn't sure of my connection time taking a bus to Millennium Station, so I made like a commuter and exited the train just after we stopped, walked quickly off the platform and through the station. I had my $2.25 bus fare staged in my right pocket, exited at Adams Street and checked the Google Maps application on the iPhone to find the next bus to Millennium Station, which was the #60 departing from Clark and Adams. I walked around the corner just as a #60 was pulling up, so I walked right on board the bus without missing a step!

As I rode the bus to Millennium Station, I was acutely aware of the empty streets of downtown Chicago at 8 am compared to Times Square and Manhattan in general, having been in New York City only a few weeks earlier. The bus took just over 10 minutes to reach the stop on Randolph near Michigan Ave. where Millennium Station is located. I asked the bus driver where the entrance to the station was located, and he told me it was on the south west corner of Randolph and Michigan, confirming what I had learned from research on YouTube and the AU forum.

I made my way through the entrance of Millennium Station, a Batman Dark Night movie site, and to the platforms. Since the ticket agents were not open until after 9 am and my train leaves at 8:40 am, I bought my roundtrip tickets at the automated machines. I had plenty of time before the departure of my train, so I walked back out to get some coffee. By the time I walked back, they were beginning to board. So again, without missing a step, I walked to the head end car and right on board. We were using the single level cars today, but I wanted to find a seat as close to the rail fan window as possible but still have a window seat. Turns out the first window seat is the 3rd seat from the end of the car and would be facing backwards to the direction of travel.

As I waited for train 503 to depart, all the seats in my car filled up, so I wouldn't be able to use the rail fan window without losing my seat and once again got worried that I'd picked the wrong weekend to take this trip.

The trip to South Bend was uneventful and all the seats remained occupied for most of the trip, so the rail fan window would have to wait until another trip. I guess I'd rather sit at a side window seat than have to stand for the duration of the trip. Perhaps I would feel differently if I had remembered the camera battery.

We arrived in South Bend on time. As I was walking down the platform to the terminal, Dave the engineer was standing just inside his door, so I said to him "When are we leaving, 1:05?". He gave me a funny look before he finally responded, "Yes, 1:05 local time." I'm guessing not many passengers ride out to the South Bend airport just to turn around and ride back and that threw him for just a second.

I walked into the terminal and followed the signs for the restaurant. I found a deli about half way across the airport. Most sandwiches and wraps were about $8 and I purchased a ham, cheese and egg croissant and ate in the business center so I could charge the phone as much as possible before boarding for the return trip since there were no 120V outlets on the train at my seat.

I re-boarded what was now train 506 15 minutes before departure and went to the seat opposite the isle from where I was sitting on the outbound trip. This time I would sitting facing forward to the direction of travel. The train quickly filled up and I was once again sharing a seat before we departed. For the inbound trip, I would try to get a Google Latitude fix at every station I could get a network connection (and some in between) instead of letting keeping the application running. I needed to conserve some battery to find my bus once we returned to Millennium Station in Chicago.

We departed on time and found the train's radio traffic on channel 83. We flew through the Indiana countryside at what seemed like a blistering speed, but I wasn't able to get a speed reading as both the TomTom and Motion-X GPS applications wouldn't cooperate.

By the time we boarded the Michigan City Carroll Ave station, we were already at standing room only. While we sat at the Carroll Ave station, which seems to be a yard for the South Shore Line, there was a bright orange South Shore Freight engine sitting just on the other side of a switch near to us with (presumably) the engineer just hanging out on the front steps. My guess is he was waiting for us to depart so he could move his engine.

As I was admiring the bright colors of that engine, I felt a bump from behind. When the lights went out and then back on, it was obvious that they were attaching more cars to our train, although I never found out how many. I kept hearing Marco, our conductor, call out on the radio to have his crew tell people to move to the rear cars, and soon the standing room passengers were gone from my car ... at least for now. Just before we departed Carroll Ave, I heard over the radio "Call 911". Apparently an elderly lady was having problems with the heat. I hope she is OK.

It didn't take long to realize this was going to be an extremely full train. By the time we hit Beverly Shores, our passenger count was already at 326 and I could hear that Marco was starting to get worried. At each station, more and more passengers boarded and soon the isles were getting full with standing room only passengers.

As we approached the East Chicago station, the crew was very concerned about being able to board the rest of the route, and as we pulled up to the platform Dave the engineer came over the radio and said "Marco, you should have stayed an engineer!". There were so many people to board there that Marco wasn't able to get back on board at first. We were completely full, not even standing room only left.

I overheard Marco talking to Dave and telling him not to stop at the Hegewisch and Kensington stations. They talked about passengers that needed to depart those stations, and Dave soon replied that he couldn't skip those stations that unless he had permission from dispatch. Dave called in the request to dispatch and the request was denied. I could tell Marco was frustrated, but he kept his cool.

The plan at the Hegewisch station was to open the local doors (the doors on either end of the cars) only to let off the detraining passengers. That didn't go well at all and the boarding passengers flooded the local doors and we sat at the station for quite a while. By this time, between the doors being open for a long time and there being so many people, the train was starting to get very warm inside.

I don't know if everyone that was waiting was able to board at Hegewisch or Kensington, but we did make the stop at Kensington. Once we were back on the Metra electric line, we changed to channel 61. I tried to enjoy the ride into Chicago as best I could, but it was starting to get too hot and I was starting to get tired of sitting on the seat for so long, although I was glad that I was sitting.

Just before we hit the Van Buren station, I figured out why the train was so full. I overheard a lady telling another passenger that her daughter was talking her to Taste Of Chicago. Ooooooh, double whammy! Not only was it a holiday weekend, but it was also a Taste Of Chicago weekend. I looked out my window on the right side of the train and there it was. I'd been to the Taste back in the mid 80s and because of the crowds, vowed to never return. Once the Taste Of Chicago passengers detrained at the Van Buren Street station, there were actually seats available and I think the rest of the passengers collectively sighed in relief.

We finally pulled in to Millennium Station at around 3:25 pm, about 45 minutes late. The doors were opened and all passengers quickly detrained. Stepping off the train, I felt the cooler but still warm air of the platform. As I walked by Dave the engineer standing just inside the head end of the train, I told him "Someone tell Marco he should have stayed an engineer." He chuckled and replied "Yea, right!". Walking in to Millennium Station from the platforms I felt the cooler, air conditioned ar. I quickly found a spot and stepped to the side out of the way to enjoy the air conditioning for a few minutes.

After enjoying its cool air, I said goodbye to Millennium Station, walked out onto Randolph Street and checked the iPhone for where and when the next bus would take me to Union Station. I crossed Randolph Street and immediately caught the 151 bus on Michigan Avenue. The streets of downtown Chicago were very crowded in contrast to when I was there that morning.

After arriving at Union Station, I visited the McDonalds near the north concourse as the croissant I had earlier was not very filling. After finishing my meal, I grabbed an Oreo McFlurry and headed down to the north concourse waiting area to wait for the 339 Amtrak Hiawatha.

The Amtrak 339 Hiawatha departed Chicago on time and I found myself sharing the quiet car with only 2 other passengers. We remained slow on advanced approach until somewhere around Lake Forest, then resumed normal speed the rest of the trip. It was very relaxing after the over crowded South Shore 506 train. Did we arrive on time to Milwaukee? Don't know, didn't care, but I enjoyed every minute aboard the Amtrak train.

Commuter trains will be commuter trains and certainly have a place for joy riding, just not on holiday or Taste Of Chicago weekends in my book! Maybe I'll try this trip again someday when it's not so busy, but for now, I'll stick with Amtrak.


----------



## Guest (Jul 12, 2010)

Good report, reminds me of the first day of the Redline in Austin re the crowds and crew worries/problems! Still probably as bad as NYC or WAS during rush hour and on holiday weekends but I'm sure Mr FSS had an easier time since he's retired and can go during the week/at his leisure! :lol:


----------



## MrFSS (Jul 12, 2010)

Guest said:


> Good report, reminds me of the first day of the Redline in Austin re the crowds and crew worries/problems! Still probably as bad as NYC or WAS during rush hour and on holiday weekends but I'm sure Mr FSS had an easier time since he's retired and can go during the week/at his leisure!


Nice report fredevad. Too bad no camera and the big crowds.

The day I went was a normal day and it was still a very crowded train.

Since you didn't get photos, mine are *Here*.


----------



## MikefromCrete (Jul 12, 2010)

This was the first year that Chicago had its fireworks on July 4 (at three locations along the lakefront), instead of July 3 near the Taste site, so attendance at the Taste was actually down this year, so it could have been worse!

The tower is question on the southbound Hiawatha trip is Rondout, the location where Metra's Milwaukee North Line to Fox Lake leaves the Amtrak/CP Milwaukee line.


----------



## lthanlon (Jul 12, 2010)

Great trip report, thanks!

I went to the Taste of Chicago just once and that was only because I'd been assigned to go get photos there. Came back with, of course, the standard shot of a small child chomping down on an ostrich drumstick.


----------



## MrFSS (Jul 12, 2010)

lthanlon said:


> Great trip report, thanks!
> 
> I went to the Taste of Chicago just once and that was only because I'd been assigned to go get photos there. Came back with, of course, the standard shot of a small child chomping down on an ostrich drumstick.


What did the ostrich think about that?


----------



## fredevad (Jul 12, 2010)

MrFSS said:


> Since you didn't get photos, mine are *Here*.


Thanks, already seen 'em... they're what convinced me to plan this trip in the first place!


----------



## fredevad (Jul 12, 2010)

MikefromCrete said:


> The tower is question on the southbound Hiawatha trip is Rondout, the location where Metra's Milwaukee North Line to Fox Lake leaves the Amtrak/CP Milwaukee line.


Hmmm... interesting. I thought the conductor told me it was just south of Gurnee, but that seems too far north to break off towards Fox Lake. Maybe he didn't mean "just south", but "south".

So following the tracks from Fox Lake, would that put Roundout (is it Roundout or Rondout?) near Libertyville/Lamb's Farm here?


----------



## Eric S (Jul 12, 2010)

fredevad said:


> MikefromCrete said:
> 
> 
> > The tower is question on the southbound Hiawatha trip is Rondout, the location where Metra's Milwaukee North Line to Fox Lake leaves the Amtrak/CP Milwaukee line.
> ...


Yep, that's Rondout.


----------



## Trogdor (Jul 12, 2010)

fredevad said:


> an F40 at the other (unknown if it was an NPCU or not)


All of Amtrak's working F40s are NPCUs.


----------



## fredevad (Jul 12, 2010)

MikefromCrete said:


> The tower is question on the southbound Hiawatha trip is Rondout, the location where Metra's Milwaukee North Line to Fox Lake leaves the Amtrak/CP Milwaukee line.





Eric S said:


> Yep, that's Rondout.





Trogdor said:


> All of Amtrak's working F40s are NPCUs.


Thanks all!

I gotta start posting more of these trip reports - I've learned more from posting this than on the trip itself.


----------



## PaulM (Jul 23, 2010)

fredevad said:


> Commuter trains will be commuter trains and certainly have a place for joy riding, just not on holiday or Taste Of Chicago weekends in my book!


Not in my book either! A few years ago, returning from Europe, we spent the night at a hotel near O'hare. The plan was to bike to the Franklin Park station where we would take the Metra to CUS to catch the IZ home. But bicycles weren't allowed on the Metra due to the stupid Taste. So we wound up biking all the way to CUS. I would have enjoyed the scenery more if I didn't have to watch out for crazed motorists. 

I thought banning bicycles just because of the Taste was over-kill. But reading you report, I've changed my opinion.


----------

