The triple track speedway was signaled in both directions on all three
mains. One Monday afternoon a few years ago near the Brookfield IL Station, I
have
4 trains in one photograph. One the south main, Amtrak #6 is heading east
while a dinkie stops at the Brookfield station on the same track, the middle
main has an express dinkie westbound, and the north main has a local westbound
dinkie.
One of the many ways this 39 mile stretch of mainline really struts the
stuff is during the morning and afternoon dinkie parade, dinkie is a term used
on
the Q for the suburban trains. As in the Q days today Metra operates the
service, but as in the Q days westbound dinkies can pass one another, stop/skip
stations due to the abundance of cross overs on the triple mainlines. Last
year about a week or so before Christmas on a week day I rode down to Union
Station to meet a friend of mine that came in on Amtrak to lay over for a few
hours to go west on Amtrak's Empire Builder. At the Lisle, IL stop our train
was packed with people standing in the isles. BNSF decided to annulet that
train and run the train non stop downtown. And another set of equipment would
head out to Belmont to pick up the passengers that were supposed to be on our
train. Our train crossed over to the middle main and flew downtown.
Also with the amount of cross overs when a section of track is down for
track work, the trains can easily be crossed around the work crew, thus not
causing late running trains. The south main is the normal eastbound, the middle
is
hot trains going both directions, and the north main is westbound. As Rich
said and again I stated here this is the normal operation. Given the late
running of the CZ, again the triple track shows what it can do. Other Metra
Rail
lines such as the old C&NW (now UP) west line Chicago-Elburn IL, doesn't have
the number of cross overs on the main, 3 tracks to West Chicago and then
double track west from there, so Metra on that line can't operate the stop/skip
and express trains that the BNSF can on the old Q main.
The triple track is a great place to photograph.....
Loren Johnson
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