Amtrak & Metra Railfanning At Chicago's Roosevelt Road

Located about 5 blocks south of Union Station is the intersection of South Canal Street and Roosevelt Road. Roosevelt Road crosses over Amtrak's coach yards and is just north of Metra's large coach yards as well. Chicago is Amtrak's "hub" where many of its trains meet, so you won't be disappointed in the number of trains you'll see here! Due to Train #49's lateness, my visit here would be shorter than I would have liked but I wasn't gonna pass through Chicago without visiting this place if I knew I had just enough time to do so! Included here are some photos taken at what has become my favorite place to railfan in the Windy City! Enjoy...

Walking up onto the Roosevelt Road bridge over the Amtrak coach yards, and you see the mighty Willis Tower!

Three rows of Superliners at Amtrak's Chicago coach yard.

EMD GP40FH-2 #4144, a former New Jersey Transit unit, now owned by Iowa Pacific Holdings who operates the state-sponsored "Hoosier State" train
with this set of equipment that includes a full-length dome car. This train operates between Chicago and Indianapolis, IN on the days the "Cardinal"
does not operate and uses Amtrak crews with Iowa Pacific's equipment.

The Hoosier State and some Amtrak equipment with some private cars in the background.

Amtrak Train #49 - The Lake Shore Limited, the train that brought me here, is seen here having backed out of Union Station to be turned and serviced
in the yard so as to go back to New York tonight as Train #48.

Metra, Chicago's Commuter Railroad's coach yard next to Amtrak's near Roosevelt Road.

Amtrak's Chicago shops. A lot of this facility was upgraded with American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (Economic Stimulus) funds a few years ago.

To close things out, we have two Metra trains with the Willis Tower! Now let's head out to Missouri!

After walking back to Union Station in a rather stiff wind, I headed to McDonald's for a very quick lunch, then back to the Metropolitan Lounge where I would end up having a rather in-depth conversation about Amtrak with a few guys who work for the National Association of Railroad Passengers or NARP! It was getting close to my boarding call for my next train, so off to La Plata I go! Check out the link below...