September 2, 2018 – A CTA train picks up and drops off passengers…

September 2, 2018 – A CTA train picks up and drops off passengers at the Washington/Walbash Street Station, as it makes its way through the canyons of downtown Chicago, Illinois, with Trump Tower at the end of the street. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #cta #thechicagol #chicago

June 6, 2018 – CSX P902-05 passes through Nortonville, Ky

June 6, 2018 – CSX P902-05 passes through Nortonville, Ky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision with CSXT 9999, 9992, Kentucky Car, Indiana Car, Baltimore Car and New York Car as it’s train. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad #passengertrain #businesstrain #csxbusinesstrain

I’m honored to find out that my photo…

I’m honored to find out that my photo of Chicago’s Tower 18 Interlocking has been has been selected as the First Place Winner in the 2017-2018 National Railroad Hall of Fame Photography Contest! If you make it to Galesburg Illinois for the Railroad Days Festival (June 23-24) stop by the public exhibition drop by and check out all the photographs in the exhibit!

March 23, 2018 – Three “L” Rapid transit trains pass through tower 18 junction, just down from the Chicago Transit Authority’s Clark/Lake Street Station, during the evening rush hour in Chicago, Illinois. For decades, the Tower 18 junction at Lake & Wells was billed as the busiest railroad junction in the world. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains#nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways#railway #cta #commutertrains.

March 23, 2018 – A CTA “L” train passes through the tower 18 interlocking…


March 23, 2018 – A Chicago Transit Authority Rapid transit “L” train passes through the tower 18 interlocking in downtown Chicago, Illinois. For decades, the Tower 18 junction at Lake & Wells has been billed as one of the busiest railroad junctions in the world.

According to Wikipedia, The Chicago “L” (short for “elevated”) is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). It is the fourth-largest rapid transit system in the United States in terms of total route length, at 224.1 miles long, and the second-busiest rail mass transit system in the United States, after the New York City Subway.

Chicago’s “L” provides 24-hour service on some portions of its network, being one of only six rapid transit systems in the United States to do so. The oldest sections of the Chicago “L” started operations in 1892, making it the second-oldest rapid transit system in the Americas, after New York City’s elevated lines.

The “L” has been credited with fostering the growth of Chicago’s dense city core that is one of the city’s distinguishing features. The “L” consists of eight rapid transit lines laid out in a spoke-hub distribution paradigm focusing transit towards the Loop. Although the “L” gained its name because large parts of the system are elevated, portions of the network are also in subway tunnels, at grade level, or open cut. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #cta #commutertrains.

March 22, 2018 – A South Shore Line Commuter train heads out of the Portage/Ogden Dunes station…

March 22, 2018 – A South Shore Line Commuter train heads out of the Portage/Ogden Dunes station at Portage, Indiana on it’s way east. The South Shore Line (reporting mark NICD) is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend International Airport in South Bend, Indiana, United States.
The name refers to both the physical line and the service operated over that route. The line was built in 1901–08 by predecessors of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which continues to operate freight service. Passenger operation was assumed by the NICTD in 1989. – #jimstrainphotos #indianarailroads #trains #fujixt1 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #southshoreline #commutertrains

March 23, 2018 – A CTA “L” train heads through the canyons of downtown Chicago…

March 23, 2018 – A CTA “L” train heads through the canyons of downtown Chicago as it approaches the Tower 18 interlocking during the start of rush hour in downtown Chicago, Illinois. This intersection is one of the busiest ones on the Chicago “L” line that circles the downtown area and branches out to other points around the Chicago area. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #cta #chicagotrains

March 23, 2018 – A CTA “L” train passes through the Tower 18 interlocking…

March 23, 2018 – A CTA “L” train passes through the Tower 18 interlocking during the start of rush hour in downtown Chicago, Illinois. This intersection is one of the busiest ones on the Chicago “L” line that circles the downtown area and branches out to other points around the Chicago area. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #cta #chicagotrains

March 23, 2018 – CTA Track workers get in a short amount of track time…

March 23, 2018 – CTA Track workers get in a short amount of track time during the start of rush hour in downtown Chicago, Illinois at Tower 18 after #706 clears the interlocking and heads into the Clark/Lake Street Station, with another “L” train not too far behind it. The tower 18 intersection is one of the busiest ones on the Chicago “L” line that circles the downtown area and other points around the Chicago area. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #cta #chicagotrains

March 23, 2018 – Three “L” Rapid transit trains pass through tower 18 junction…

March 23, 2018 – Three “L” Rapid transit trains pass through tower 18 junction, just down from the Chicago Transit Authorty’s Clark/Lake Street Station, during the evening rush hour in Chicago, Illinois. For decades, the Tower 18 junction at Lake & Wells was billed as the busiest railroad junction in the world. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #cta #commutertrains.

March 22, 2018 – A South Shore Line Commuter train arrives at the Portage/Ogden Dunes station…

March 22, 2018 – A South Shore Line Commuter train arrives at the Portage/Ogden Dunes station at Portage, Indiana on it’s way east. The South Shore Line (reporting mark NICD) is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend International Airport in South Bend, Indiana, United States.

The name refers to both the physical line and the service operated over that route. The line was built in 1901-08 by predecessors of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which continues to operate freight service. Passenger operation was assumed by the NICTD in 1989.

March 21, 2018 – The conductor on Amtrak 390…

March 21, 2018 – The conductor on Amtrak 390 prepares to throw/check the switch to move the north bound Saluki onto the track next to the platform at Carbondale, Illinois to pickup it’s first passengers for the trip to Chicago. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #amtrak #passengertrain

Amtrak 391 Conductor at Carbondale, IL

February 24, 2018 – The rain pours from the sky as the conductor from Amtrak 391, The Saluki, stands beside his train at Carbondale, Illinois after arriving from Chicago via the CN Centralia Subdivision. One of the hardest things about shooting in the rain or other bad weather is just getting out the door! Many times it’s really worth it though! I always keep a golf umbrella in my SUV for times like this!

Amtrak 391 SB 1 arriving at Carbondale, IL

February 25, 2018 – Amtrak 391, The Saluki, slowly makes it’s way around the old Illinois Central coaling towers, as it heads south in the rain for it’s final stop of the day at Carbondale, Illinois with 4613 leading.

October 1, 2015 – Norfolk Southern’s 9571 heads up the American Association of Private Railway Car Owners passenger train special…

October 1, 2015 – Norfolk Southern’s 9571 heads up the American Association of Private Railway Car Owners passenger train special with AMTRAK engines 156 and 154, as it heads west through Hatfield Junction just east of Oakland City, Indiana. The train left Louisville on the former Southern Railway’s St. Louis line and crossed the Ohio River, traveling through scenic southern Indiana and Illinois arriving at their convention destination in St. Louis, Missouri. – Tech Info: 1/400sec | f/5 | ISO 320 | Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 32mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW.

December 9, 2017 – Amtrak train 391, the Saluki…

December 9, 2017 – Amtrak train 391, the Saluki, sits at the station in Carbondale, Illinois after returning from Chicago with a load of passengers with Amtrak 52 leading. This train is usually single level equipment but due to the Polar Express train in Chicago running during the holidays this train was robbed of its single level cars.

Pennsylvania 5809 passenger train at Dennison, Ohio

July 31, 20114 – A pair of E8s, with 5809 leading, in beautiful Pennsylvania RR maroon and gold paint pulled a private car passenger train from Philadelphia to Dennison, Ohio during the Dennison Railroad Museum’s 2004 Railfest. The event was in cooperation with the Ohio Central Railroad, as the museum celebrated its 15th Anniversary. It was billed as the largest railroad heritage event of 2004. It ran from July 30 to August 1, 2004. Many of the locomotives featured during the event are owned by the Ohio Central Railroad. The Ohio Central provides full-time freight railroad services and also offers passenger excursions powered by vintage equipment.

The last light on the L, Chicago, IL

December 8, 2017 – A Chicago Transit Authority train stops in a station on the elevated tracks know as the “L” in Chicago, Illinois among the tall canyons between the downtown buildings as the last light fades from the sky.