I will be visiting Chicago in early may and was thinking of spending a day in Janesville,Wisconsin is this a good place to railfan for the day or is there a better place to spend my day.I really want to catch as much Canadian as possible without having to go anywhere in the Chicago area.I wouls appeciate any advice from anybody.Thank You!
Welcome to the Forum, Rob!
Let me get this straight: you're visiting Chicago, yet you don't really want to come anywhere near it?
If you want things Canadian, Janesville is not the place to find it. That's UP and the Wisconsin & Southern. Your best bet would be Duplainville, west of Milwaukee, where CN and CP cross. I've not been there myself, so can't comment on what you'll see.
Now, if you'll explain where you're coming from and what makes you want to avoid Chicago, maybe we can work on a cure!
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
I would go north of Chicago to Rondout Illinois, not far south of the Wisconsin border. The former North Shore interurban bridge goes over the CP main line, and Metra uses the tracks. So you would see CP, Metra, Amtrak, and possibly WSOR. The tower at Rondout still stands and the EJ&E crosses at the tower (and then itself goes under the path east of the bridge) so you have some additional railfanning opportunities there. Best of all they still hoop up orders at Rondout so if you have a good lens you can capture an image of railroading's past.
I am "stealing" a Keith Schmidt image from Rondout looking north (so away from the tower and EJ&E)
West of Rondout I would think of Gray's Lake for CN action (also Metra).
Dave Nelson
Ditto to what CSHaveRR said...Duplainville would probably give you max Canadian exposure given your restriction of not wanting to be in the Chicago area. It's about a 2 hour drive from Chicago via I-94.
Marjean Lane has little traffic, is where most railfans park, and is right next to the CP tracks. The CN tracks are in view from there, but slightly far away for photography/video; nevertheless, it's quick to shoot over to the CN crossing on Green Rd. whenever you hear a CN train approaching. Additionally, if you're there in the afternoon, you'll catch Amtrak #7 and #8.
May I suggest Duplainville?
Just a mile or so off of I94 by Waukesha.
The CP and CN cross there by the intersection of Green Rd. and Duplainville Rd.
You can park on Marjean Rd.
Janesville certainly is interesting, with the Wisconsin & Southern, the Union Pacific and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern all serving town--but you'll probably be slightly disapointed if you happen to hit a 'lull' and nothing moves for a while. On most days, the WSOR and the UP are busy with the road trains toward the morning and again in the late afternoon. The IC&E comes up into town on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings by pulling past the WSOR roundhouse and then backing up to serve Freedom Plastics--he usually has a pair of GP40-2s. The WSOR will be busy most of the day, but sometimes the local crew will go out to work someplace like Milton or maybe out to get a train from Monroe that didn't make it back in the night before. If you hit a spot like that, it will seem like they aren't doing anything--but the crew is working somewhere else nearby. The UP runs a pair of road trains up from Proviso: the "A train" in the morning and the "B train" in the afternoon. These run with pairs/trios of 9450-series GEs. There are a few interesting locals that the UP operates--they will run grain trains from Beloit, WI with six MP15s--a trio on each end since they make a backup move on the former MILW "Southwestern Line" from Clinton to Beloit, WI. The UP also serves the GM plant in Janesville, but the hours have been cut there since the axle supplier has been on strike--that might also be effecting the UP road trains too. Yard power in Janesville consists of about a dozen ex-C&NW MP15s, along with a few ex-Rio Grande GP40s. If you make a trip up to Janesville, try to get a UP train on Tiffany Bridge--five stone arches over the creek just about six miles south of the Janesville Yard. You can get to it by stair-stepping southeastward from Janesville or by taking the HWY "S" exit off I-90 at Shopiere and heading east for about 5 miles. After ducking under the rail line, take a left and follow that road to the bridge.
If you want to shoot the CN around Chicago, take a look at the Railfan Photo Platform at Homewood, IL--that spot is as safe as any around. Covered, elevated and a steady supply of trains--CN road trains, CN yard moves, Metra Electrics and Amtrak service. Probably has the best variety of any of the 'railfan parks'.
Lance Wales
wheeling rob wrote:Have not been on here recently and saw your responce- is there a place to park near the roundhouse where no one will harass you? Also can you recomend any other places to catch some action around janesville? Thank you for any comments!
I've never been hassled by anybody when I was there but I never really stayed more than about 45 minutes or so and I parked at least 100-200 feet from the tracks (you'll find a dirt parking lot near the roundhouse if you look closely, but I can't tell you how to get there and can only do it myself from memory when driving). Good luck and be respectful and 99.999% of the time you won't have any problems.
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