In Chicago, a reminder that change is constant

Looking west from the River Forest Metra Station, an eastbound Union Pacific stack train passes through Vale. In the distance, a westbound stack train heads into Proviso Yard. (All photos by David Lassen.)

Looking east from the River Forest platform on a rainy afternoon, an outbound Metra UP West train passes a freight which had been waiting at Oak Park for its clearance to enter the double-track section from Vale to Proviso.

At Vale, an eastbound UP freight snakes through the switches at Vale taking it from the northern track of the double-track mainline onto the middle line of the triple-track main.

A westbound UP freight waits for a green signal at River Forest as an inbound Metra train heads toward Oak Park.

Some of that evolution is coming in 2017 to one of my favorite spots — River Forest, on the Union Pacific and Metra’s UP West line. The change will no doubt be good for the railroad and commuter passengers. For photographers? Probably not so much.

Just yards west of the River Forest Metra station is the spot UP calls Vale, where the three-track main line out of Chicago narrows to two tracks for a 1.6-mile stretch westward to the east end of Proviso Yard. It’s one of just two breaks in the triple track between Chicago and Elburn, where the Metra service terminate terminates, the other being a 6.2 mile segment between West Chicago and Geneva. Work is expected to begin sometime this year to add the third track to both segments.

As it stands now, River Forest is a fun place to shoot because you can see approaching trains for a good distance in either direction, and both views are interesting. When you look to the west, you have the interesting trackwork where the line goes from three tracks to two,and you can see all the way to the east end of Proviso. To the east, you can see to the next Metra Station, Oak Park, where trains are often staged, waiting for their chance to get through the double-track bottleneck.

No doubt the character of the spot will change when work on the third track begins. So if you’re in the Chicago area — or coming for a visit — I’d recommend adding River Forest to the list of hot spots we feature in the Chicago special issue and DVD, which is, of course, now available.