Why Does Metra End Here?
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- čas přidán 26. 06. 2024
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0:00 Intro
0:30 Train Ride
1:28 "There's Nothing There"
3:02 Big Timber
5:30 Elgin
#chicago #metra #transit - Zábava
Oh I really need to get to using Metra more often. I really want to do videos like you and Miles one day. Luckily I have a trip planned next week!
Are you looking for a rail fanning buddy to do that with? 😂 I want to do that too but the prospect of doing that alone is... depressing AF lol
Even tho it’s been 3 months, I just subscribed! Can’t wait to see what videos you might post one day!
Your assessment is precisely why the line was extended past Elgin, as the more historic commuter end of line and rail yard is capacity limited and not as park and ride friendly. Interestingly, from a reverse commute standpoint, the riverboat casino in Elgin became the big attraction even before that.
I've also known people who have shared personal memories of the old Chicago Aurora and Elgin interurban line. While not a part of that railroad, the trolley museum in South Elgin is a worthwhile visit commemorating Chicago interurban history.
The "Pace Station" also served as the Elgin Greyhound station until they dropped the stop to more directly compete with Megabus express services. It had significant ridership, serving some other areas with now discontinued service and probably should have been maintained. However, the more recent Pace services to Elgin are a welcome regional connection, better serving the metropolitan area without necessitating going through downtown Chicago for everything.
As this is unfortunately my local station, its an important park n ride to service people to the north and west where there are no Metra Stations. At the end of the line stations like these are important to help generate riders from further flung areas. The closest station to the North is Crystal Lake with a bunch of semi dense suburbs in between. While land use wise it sucks, it funaldamentally makes sense to have a station like this sonewhere.
I find it amusing that here in Austin we also have an Elgin at the far end of a Commuter (Bus) line
SD70MACH GREATEST LOCOMOTIVE EVER MADE
Reminds me of M3 Parkway station on Dublin's commuter rail network, which exists so that people in the rural areas northwest of the city can drive to the station and catch a train from there.
As a New Yorker I’m pretty blown away with how much track Metra offers yet how underwhelming their service and equipment is
Don't get me wrong the F40PHs are classic. But it is time for new equipment. Will we get it? Hell no. 🤷🏻♂️ Welp
@@scenicdepictionsofchicagolifebelieve it or not metra is putting some battery powered trains on the rock island beverly branch, they also ordered new passenger cars i believe too
Isn't it because most of what Metra uses is actually leased?
The reason Milwaukee District West trains end at big timber because to built a park-a-lot for people to drive to station
Not the SD70!
Heh, I used to live in Elgin when I was really young.
You are correct. Big Timber was created out of necessity of the housing boom in Kane County over past 20 to 30 years. From Huntley to Pingree Grove. And considering your next line to the north is Crystal Lake and to the south Geneva. Downtown Elgin is crowded, congested, limited parking. Also considered semi not safeish. Though I've explored often during the day and it's fine. So yeah it's a pure car commuter station where most folks probably coming from outside Elgin. But, hopefully, that may not be the end of the line someday. As they are proposing limited runs out to Rockford! Hopefully see that sometime in my lifetime. Also that kitchen was probably a coffee shop at some point. They seem to never last at Metra stations.
Thanks for the info! Glad to see my theory was correct - makes me think about some stations like La Fox, I wonder if that was built for the same purpose, but the development just didn't happen?
For what its worth, I didn't feel too unsafe walking around downtown Elgin when I was there.
I don't think the Rockford extension will really be an extension to the MD-N line itself, I think it's going to be a more separate service? Of course, I'm not entirely sure - it'll be interesting to see how they denote that.
@@karatransitfur La Fox serves the same purpose surely as well. I've watched the area Campton Hills blow up with development for sure. I don't know how congested the Elburn and Geneva stations get. That's why Crystal Lake has two stations. Pingree Road is not walkable to anything but it's a big parking that the downtown station could not offer. You are probably right about the Rockford line. Admittedly not too familiar with it.
@@WayneSimonsthere are a few things that can be reached on foot from Pingree Road now: a bunch of doctors’ offices. A few able-bodied visitors to them may opt to walk instead of having to be driven for the entire trip.
The Big Timber station building looks like it's supposed to be rented out for parties.
It’s very empty
Why would anyone wanna rent an old station in the middle of nowhere for a party? 😂
@@DDLCANDRAILFAN92 no neighbour complaints \m/
What was most interesting to me is that Big Timber was described as "nothing"...and while it might not have been the most interesting place, to me it didn't look like "nothing". A parking lot might not be very fun, but obviously there are a lot of people there. I actually looked around this area and it seems like there was some large office parks and residential areas relatively close. There is actually quite a bit of "there" there.
There is stuff there, which is why personally I didn't want to call it "the middle of nowhere" - but there's not really any destination for pedestrians or someone who doesn't live there, if that makes sense
If you want to see an actual middle of nowhere Metra stop, try Elburn.
@@scenicdepictionsofchicagolife I checked it out, and it was smaller than I expected for a commuter rail stop, but that is still an exurb of a very large metropolitan area.
laughs in harvard. Though elburn probably has us beat.
I've used Elburn quite a bit! It's the closest Metra station to a big state university, so it gets quite a bit of use.
A friend of mine and I decided one day to ride every Metra train from the beginning to the end of the line and back, which runs on a Saturday. We started our day in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at around 5:45 a.m. and rode all the way to the Ogilvie Transportation Center. From there, we did lines like the Chicago to Geneva line, Chicago to Fox Lake line, Chicago to Elgin line, Chicago to Aurora line, Metra Electric to University Park, Metra to Manhattan line, etc...
The only lines we couldn't really do were the Chicago to Antioch line and one other that didn't run on a Saturday at the time. But that was okay since we didn't finish our day back in Kenosha until around 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
In total, my friend and I logged about 360 miles on Metra in one day, riding every line from the beginning to the end and back again. We really knew how to time out the trains, and we did take some quick shortcuts. We cheated slightly to make transfers by stopping just short of Union Station to catch a transfer from one train to the other. A conductor of our train was also nice enough to hold the train for us to make a transfer as we literally ran to make a connection since the train we arrived on was scheduled to pull in just as the other train we wanted was scheduled to pull out only two minutes after our initial arrival.
And I do mean we ran to make the connection since the conductors were bending the rules to hold the train for us. But after talking to us and realizing what we were doing, the conductor said if we were willing to run at top speed, they could hold the train just long enough for us to make it.
So, what was the total cost of this trip? $5.00. That's it-just five bucks! Gotta love the weekend pass. I always take the train out of Kenosha when I go to Chicago. It beats paying to park downtown.
I haven't taken the Metra, though, or been back to Chicago since 2018. This is mostly due to the pandemic and other things that just popped up that kept me busy. Plus, the friend I made the big Metra trips with (Like the 360-mile one) passed away from a rare cancer, and another friend of mine I made trips with had a medical issue crop up that stopped him from going. So It's not quite as easy going it alone.
I hope to do some type of Metra trip this year and plan on hitting up a few spots around the Chicago area for railfanning. But it's not quite as fun when you don't have someone to hang out with to share the experience with. But it's been six years, so I'm way overdue. There have been a lot of changes in that time, I know, around Metra, but even the Chicago skyline, has changed quite a bit in that time.
I’m sorry to hear about the passing of your friend - I bet the Metra adventure is a great memory with them ❤️
@@karatransitfur The best of memories. We had a blast that day. 😊
damn man that sounds like some really good fun to ride all of them in 1 day, i’m currently trying to work up a way for me to ride every one in a day too since i start a new job in a few weeks that’s over night so i won’t be awake during the time when most trains run.(btw im sorry to hear you lost your friend man, rip and i wish your other one to get well soon:))
What part of the city do you lads frequent? I live in Portage Park but work in Jefferson Park (right next to the transit center actually)
If youre interested in down to railfan with yall
Stormy after hearing not to go to Big Timber: *"Why do I hear boss music?"* ....Long Island's equivalence of Big Timber is Ronkonkoma. Ronkonkoma was built in 1883 but it wasn't electrified until 1988, and because of electrification, many people on the East End of Long Island preferred to drive to Ronkonkoma instead of relying on the diesel trains so they built a huge lot and parking garage. Though besides all the parking, it does have TOD as well as Long Island MacArthur Airport being next door.
Elgin was founded in April 1835 by James T. Gifford and his brother Hezekiah who left New York for Illinois after hearing tales about the region, and James named it after his favorite Scottish song called Elgin. The Elgin in Scotland is in Moray on Scotland's northern coast. Elgin was once home to the largest producer of fine watches in the US, and they even made clocks for Chicago Union Station!
I think there’s an Elgin clock in OTC still!
all hail the pahkin laht
Thank you Ben Chase, very cool
Ahh yes, the one gender.. employee
Reminds me of M3 Parkway station on Dublin's commuter rail network, which exists so that people in the rural areas northwest of the city can drive to the station and catch a train from there.