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Up until the early 90s BN was using the E-units on commuter service. They replaced them because of increasing upkeep costs. I believe they had F40 PH for a while, then something newer, now even NEWER stuff. I don't know which. I used to love the old E-units. After the e-units were taken out of service, they were all lined up in the commuter yard just outside of Union Station - for maybe a year or so. I guess they were looking for a buyer. The BN E-units ran commuter service between Chicago Union Station and Aurora. I think different lines around Chicago ran differently painted equipment (I seem to remember a different line ran C&NW equipment. The trains run engine out (engine pointing away from downtown). They run this way so that when the trains pull into Union Station, the engines (with all the noise and smoke) are farthest away from the doors going into the station, and away from all the commuters. The trains usually run 5-8 double-decker cars, I believe. The ones on the C&NW line are smooth side. The ones on the BNSF line are (and have been) fluted-side stainless steel cars. The line between Chicago and Aurora is triple track. Trains run on the right hand side. Express trains run on the middle track, or the middle track is used for freight. Rush-hour is the heaviest use time. I used to ride the train every day between Aurora and Chicago. Some of the stations are REALLY crowded in the morning. Some trains are locals, some are express. Locals stop at every station stop, express stop at 2 or 3 stops, then express the rest of the way. You can see the route at metrarail.com The trains are commuter trains, so there is minimal space for luggage. When they stop, they usually are stopped at a station for a minute or less. As soon as the last person is in or out, they go. During non-peak times, they will only have passengers in some of the cars, so the conductors don't have to walk the entire length of the train. In the "closed" cars, the lights are off. On "special event" nights (i.e. - 4th of July fireworks or Taste of Chicago) during EXTREMELY high ridership, the schedule goes out the window, and trains are "fill and go". As soon as they are full, they head out, and make every station stop. Train lengths are limited to something like 7 or 9 cars because of the length of the commuter platforms. On rare occasions, trains on the middle track will have to make a station stop. There are pedestrian walkways that allow this - but only 1 or 2 at a station, so the train will pull up to these walkways and board and de-board passengers. I'm pretty impressed with BNSF service. I'd say they are within 5 minutes of the schedule 90% of the time, and within 15 minutes 99% of the time. Also, the engineers are pretty darn good at stopping at the exact same place from day to day. At some platforms, you can see small metal plates bolted to the ties that tell the conductor where the engine should stop depending on the number of cars they are pulling. Funny thing - the engineers are good enough that people actually line up at the stations where the doors of the car usually end up. They have a name for this "door bunches". There are commuter train yards in Aurora and just south of Union Station in Chicago. Each day, IIRC, after rush-hours all trains have a brake check done. Trains are stored overnight at both yards so that in the morning, there are trains already in place for rush-hours. That's what I can remember off the top of my head. If you have any questions, post them, and I'll answer if I can. BTW, I live about 15 min from both the Aurora and Route 59 stations. Rob
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