I can see (name of train) from my window/porch/etc.

[railiner]

They still use the different station’s.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

They still use the different station’s.

Rats! Mom would probably want to have someone give her a ride to the Sturtevant station, then (or even Milwaukee). And get help while within Chicago Union Station. She's quite spry for someone in her 80s, but I still worry about her.

 

[Maglev]

From the top of the mountain here with binoculars, I can see Cascades trains in Bellingham. Many years ago when I was living in Hawaii, we came up here for a vacation and I saw (and heard) the Empire Builder from Whidbey Island.

 

[iplaybass]

I used to live within hearing distance and a 15 minute walk of the UP westbound main out of STL to KC (Missouri River Runner) Could always tell the UP freights from the River Runner. And on occasion, UP steam.

 

[iplaybass]

Rats! Mom would probably want to have someone give her a ride to the Sturtevant station, then (or even Milwaukee). And get help while within Chicago Union Station. She's quite spry for someone in her 80s, but I still worry about her.

Help in CUS shouldn't be a problem. Redcaps and carts routinely meet the Lincoln service trains.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

From the higher floors of my college campus, the NS line out of Chicago is visible, which carries the trains to Michigan and the East Coast. The Metra Southwest Service uses the same tracks, and the Rock Island District as well as CTA Red and Green lines are also visible.

Although not visible from my unit, the Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line can be seen from parts of my apartment building. The Union Pacific North Line, Milwaukee District North Line, CTA Blue Line, and Amtrak Empire Builder and Hiawatha Service trains also pass through the neighborhood.

 

[dogbert617]

Does that Union Pacific North line to Waukegan/Kenosha go to Union Station now? When I was in grad school at UIUC (beginning of 1980s), I would take the Chicago Northwestern commuter train to its terminal in Chicago, then walk a few blocks to Union Station to catch one of the Illinois Service trains to Champaign (could have been either the Illini or the Saluki - it was a VERY long time ago). My mom (in her 80s now) has been asked to come visit my sister in Charleston, SC, and Metra Kenosha-Chicago would be more convenient for her than Amtrak Sturtevant, WI-Chicago - but only if she didn't have to navigate between two different train stations in Chicago. (And I'd certainly urge her to get help boarding/unboarding the train and bringing whatever luggage she had to her Roomette.)

Nope, it's one of 3 Metra lines that goes into Ogilvie Transportation Center(formerly Chicago and Northwestern Station). The other 2 lines are Union Pacific Northwest(to Crystal Lake and Harvard), and Union Pacific West(to Geneva and Elburn). As far as I know, there are no plans to reroute those 3 trains to Union Station. BTW it is only like 2-3(?) blocks north from Union Station to get to Ogilvie, and IMO it is a very easy walk to do on either Canal or Clinton.

On a different note but still about rerouting Metra trains to a different downtown train terminal, the idea has been floated in the past about rerouting Southwest Service trains(to Orland Park and Manhattan) to use LaSalle Street station(which services Rock Island trains to Joliet), instead of Chicago Union Station. Currently as of now SWS uses the south tracks at Chicago Union Station, a la BNSF and the majority of long distance and regional Amtrak trains. This still has yet to occur, and I have no idea if there's a timetable for this proposal to happen. I'm under the impression that it has yet to be approved, though. Not sure if say MikeFromCrete knows more about the status of this proposal, as of now in 2020. I hadn't heard any new news about this proposal in several years, so not sure if it's a still alive idea as of 2020, or if it's now a dead proposal?

 

[jiml]

I live a couple of blocks from the CN/VIA main line between Toronto and Ottawa/Montreal. Up to 30 trains a day each way, and with two level crossings within a mile there are lots of horns and bells. The community has been lobbying for "whistle-free", but local government has so far been unwilling to pony up the money for gate and signal improvements required by CN. VIA trains pass through at up to 95 mph.

Currently I'm in Florida however, where I can see a lonely CSX branch line from my window. It seems to get used about once a week, and as a matter of fact a very short consist just passed through.

 

[hlcteacher]

early in the morning (if on time) the westbound LSL; I get up about the time the eastbound LSL passes by close enough that I often blink my porch light while wishing safe travels to all; as a child I watched many trains pass, especially back in the day when live animals (cows, pigs, chickens) were transported--and sometimes stopped for a smelly period...

 

[Chey]

The only thing I catch is the sound of the BNSF freights, which can heard all over this small town, especially at night.

I can't possibly see any Amtrak train, I'm smack in the middle between Lamy and Ft Worth, both approx. 300 miles from me (not just the stations but also the tracks they use).

But I see Amtrak trains in my dreams all the time, ride them too.

 

[Qapla]

Back in the late 1970's when I was dating my wife (before she was my wife) a freight line went right behind their house ... my FIL back fence was the only thing that separated his yard from the tracks. The house was only about 50 feet from the tracks Not only could we hear the trains as they went by - we could feel them as they shook the whole house.

Sadly, that line is now part of the "rails-to-trails" and there are no longer any tracks or trains running there - only a few riders on bicycles and homeless walking by

 

[LookingGlassTie]

I would be able to see the Northeast Regional from my house.........except that I don't have X-ray vision like Superman........

 

[Seaboard92]

This is right behind my office.

Amtrak: Silver Star No. 91/92. 91 usually is at 1:06 AM and 92 is 4:27 AM. However I have seen both from work at times.

CSX: F765. Usually south between 9-11 AM and back north between 12-5 PM

I can see this line from my house too but only in the winter when there are no leaves.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Up until about a year ago I could hear the K5LA chimes from the Heartland Flyer as it passed through Norman, but then Norman became a "no blow" zone, and pedestrian crossing deaths skyrocketed. Hopefully that decision will be reversed and now the only way to hear the Flyer is if the wind is from the South and I hear it warning the last grade crossing before Norman.

 

[Willbridge]

Fond memories of church youth group campfires in Columbia Gorge state parks in the early 60's. Time to quit singing folk songs and head home when UP 18, the Portland Rose and SP&S 4, the Mainstreeter-Western Star whistled for obscure crossings.

In Edmonton, the evening CP/VIA Dayliner from Calgary whistled for the Ellerslie crossing. That was the signal that it was bedtime for our grade-school age son.

 

[sitzplatz17]

I currently have a good view of the BNSF main line north of Seattle from my office building. So I get the Cascades and Empire Builder rolling by every day. [emoji846]

 

[jiml]

Fond memories of church youth group campfires in Columbia Gorge state parks in the early 60's. Time to quit singing folk songs and head home when UP 18, the Portland Rose and SP&S 4, the Mainstreeter-Western Star whistled for obscure crossings.

In Edmonton, the evening CP/VIA Dayliner from Calgary whistled for the Ellerslie crossing. That was the signal that it was bedtime for our grade-school age son.

Wasn't it great when one could tell time by trains passing?

 

[Wolverine72]

The tracks by my house were pulled-up years ago with the right of way now used for bike path.
However mom was in therapy one summer in Birmingham, Mi. where the Wolverine ran right by her room several times a day. “There’s something about a train” She was about 1 1/2 miles north of the new Troy station. Later we checked out the station when it opened. This station is much closer for me and appears to be a much better place than Pontiac to leave a car. Or better, I short uber ride.

 

[basketmaker]

California Zephyr (#5/6) from my bedroom window. BNSF Brush Sub (MM 527)

 

[Peninsula400]

I wish we were anywhere near a line. I do live about a mile from the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit tracks, and the horns leave me trainsick on the regular.

 

[wwchi]

I can hear the Pere Marquette from our back deck in St. Joe Michigan...and can SEE it in winter when the leaves are off the trees...

 

[tricia]

From home I can hear freight trains whistling 10 miles away at the crossing in Hot Springs ... but have to drive about 2 1/2 hours to see an Amtrak train. At 0-dark-thirty.

 

[City of Miami]

The BBRR (recently purchased by the state of VA) runs right by my apt bldg here in Charlottesville. I can clearly see the Cardinals from my 2nd floor apt windows. For 6 yrs prior I lived 4 blocks north closer to the NS line through town. During foliageless months I could see the Crescents and Lynchburgers from my br window. Sweet

 

[Devil's Advocate]

There are no trains where I work. At home the tracks are too far to see but close enough to hear. Since we switched to silent crossings horns are pretty rare these days. On those occasions when the horn does sound I'll stop whatever I'm doing and have a listen while I ponder the cause (track construction, erratic behavior, rogue engineer, etc).

I've since remembered that there is a single branch line about ten minutes from where I work, but the route is so well hidden and so rarely used I've only seen one train in the last decade or so.

 

[PerRock]

Since we're sharing some images, taken from the parking lot & my work last summer.

peter