BNSF Chillicothe Subdivison--- Chicago to Galesburg (Large pics)

[Jacobchgo19]

Looking east into the BNSF Willow Springs Facility.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

The NS/BNSF Joint Venture, the ZNYCLAC passes the eastbound control signals at CP151 in Willow Springs. The train is loosing speed as it slows to take CP155 onto the Running Track, where it will stop on Track 1601. After stopping on 1601, the train will unhitch the first twenty cars and deliver them to Track 1702, and pick up fifteen off of 1701, and continue its journey to Los Angeles.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Splitting the signals at CP173, the westbound ZWSPSBD11 (Z(High Priority) Willow Springs - San Bernardino - March 11th 2016) departs Willow Springs. An unusual consist for the day, it lacks container traffic from Corwith due to a derailment at the yard entrance. The train has definitely made up with trailer traffic, however, by combining the ZWSPLAC and WSPSBD's for the afternoon. (Los Angeles, California and San Bernardino, respectively.)


Trains with a WSP symbol start and terminate at Corwith. The motive power terminal for the eastern half of the Chillicothe Subdivision is located at Corwith. Because Corwith does not handle trailer on flatcar service, trains head to Willow Springs to pick up trailers, and head west with similar or new symbols, and vice versa. Any trains leaving Corwith are not Z trains, they are Q Trains (In the case of the Willow Springs-San Bernardino, it would be started at Corwith as the QCHIWSP, and turn into the ZWSPSBD upon leaving WSP).

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Splitting the revised signals at CP 173, BN9219, an SD60M, heads west. The 9219 is in charge of ZWSPSTO-15. The power will be swapped at Galesburg.

Just a few hundred feet down the way, at CP176, we catch the BN2322 passing the revised signals, with the Argonne Local. On "Runner Track", we see the green light for the ZWSPSTO, and it will throttle up momentarily.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

LCHI102

LCHI102 passing through Bridge 24 in Lemont, on the Chicago Ship/San Canal.

LCHI102 approaching 135th St in Lockport.

The front steps of LCHI102 pull up to 135th Street, on an diverging-approach-medium. The train will head towards Joliet Yard and make a cut out of cars.

LCHI102 passing a pair of GP38's from Joliet Yard returning to Corwith, splitting the ATSF era US&S H5's at CP Romeo.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

A BNSF Baretable drag from Willow Springs passes an outbound Heritage Corridor train at Joliet Union Station during the evening rushhour.

Until September of 2014, freight traffic running through Joliet was often reserved for the high-priority Z and Q trains due to rush. All throughout 2014 and 2015, massive rearrangement of Joliet Union Station occurred. The gap inbetween the mains on the Transcon was removed, and set inbetween the UP. New signal infrastructure was installed, a four track "T" cantilever on the north side, and two independent two-track spans to the south. UD Tower, one of the last operating towers in the Chicago area, was retired and donated to the city. With the movement of the mains, this paved the way for a new Amtrak and Metra platform in which one does not need to cross the busy AT&SF tracks, which was a massive safety issue. The old platforms at the station building proper were fenced off. Metra's operations were shifted to a new platform east of the diamonds. As of 2016, the state budget crisis has resulted in a stoppage of the project. All allocated money to this point has been spent, and it would appear that a pair of 56' foot trailers will exist as Joliet Union Station for many years to come.

When completed, it will be known as The Joliet Multi-Modal Transportation Center, used for busses and trains..

It's been affectionately called Joliets Multi-(blot-out of Modal) Million Dollar (blotout of Transportation Center) Passenger Platforms

 

[hholdenaz]

The shots do look nice and I'm impressed. But I do have one question: could it be possible to modified it so it can be used to represent the steam era?

And no, I'm not asking you to change it: I just want to know.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

The shots do look nice and I'm impressed. But I do have one question: could it be possible to modified it so it can be used to represent the steam era?

And no, I'm not asking you to change it: I just want to know.

Definetly. It would require additional research, due to the number of depots and what have you- that's actually not a bad idea.
The WWII era actually brought lots of interesting changes to the subdivision, including Bridges 9C and 24A being movable for the first time since their construction... It'd definitely be a project worth looking into down the line!

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Now, something other than Trainz screenshots... The depot at Mazon in preliminary stages, made with Sketchup to be imported and cleaned up elseware.

Also, seen in real-life. The depot currently looks different, and is painted differently. Credit belongs to Wikipedia.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Did a little texturing. Not done just yet.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Streator, Illinois depot..
Not currently used by Amtrak, like Mazon, but rather used for BNSF MofW.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

So, I did some fact checking here. An average Jointed Rail locomotive, for sake of comparison in complexity- is around 30-50,000 polys, dependent on what it is. A few of the buildings I've seen in Trainz from Sketchup are around half of that, if not more. The Mazon Depot is just under 3,000 polys, and the Streator Depot is only at 2,074 right now. I figured I'd put that out there, as content from Sketchup is known to be high in polys and low on performance.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Another addition to the "more than just track, DEM textures and signals" category.
B40-8's are a common sight on LCHI102,101, and the various other locals- MGALCHI, YJOL202/201, etc.
There's a lot of four axle industry restrictions, and these old workhorses are part of the landscape- in addition to GP38's, GP35's, the occasional GP40 and B40-8W's.

Still -some- work to go on this, but essentially- its a 4 axle version of the C40-8's, the JR model.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Logistics Park- Chicago is a simplistic, yet complicated place- as an outbound "Q" train pulls out for headroom and to shove back, while the G4FW (Global IV - Fort Worth) departs Global IV and enters the Southern Transcon at CP482. The UP train is departing off the runner about two or three hundred feet east of the bare tables, and taking another switch onto Main One. The Q train is coming out onto M2 from the runner, and "Leg B". The train will shove back into LPC momentarily, making room for an eastbound vehicle train waiting entrance to LPC on the runner.

LPC, located in Elwood, Illinois is a multimodal facility handling trailers, autoracks and containers. It's located right next door to the recently built Global IV, on the former Chicago & Alton.

Situations like this are possible due to the sheer amount of crossovers and double slip switches. Normally, the G4FW would head through St Louis to Kansas City, after departing Chicago. The train will join the AT&SF until its arrival in Kansas City.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

The autorack yard, and receiving/departure..? yards have been completed at LPC, beginning work on the intermodal ramp now.
This is the last major yard on the "east end" of the Chillicothe, and the next yards are at Streator and Chillicothe (which is only two tracks.), and then Galesburg!.. Lots of work so far, the mid portion from Coal City to Galesburg will be put off for a few days as I texture up and lay down some scenery on this portion of the railroad.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Welp, how about that.. the Mazon depot is completed, in Trainz and isn't too horrible texture wise.
Made in Google Sketchup with a historically low polycount of 2706.

Progress screenshots of the Streator Depot, which was exported to verify poly count and texture appearance. Need to find a new brick texture.

So: Trainz community.. Sound off. What do you think so far?

 

[Falcus]

I see lots of Sketch up and DEM Tex. What you've done looks like a good start. Your track work looks solid from what I can see of it. But a route is more then just Trackwork as I'm sure you're discovering. That said, even you decided to quit tomorrow, I hope you'd upload what you've done because its a good start.

-Falcus

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Oh yeah, definitely more than just trackwork. I'm eventually going to get it textured and what have you, probably this week and slowly progressing.

 

[Jacobchgo19]

So, the project is still tooling along- just fine, infact. I've taken a substantial break for a few weeks just to clear my head. Since this project was started, I've taken eight research trips to the Chillicothe Sub, to towns like Verona, Kinsman, Ransom, Ancona, Toluca, LaRose, Wilbern, Chillicothe, Edelstein, Princeville.. and many others, in combination for this project and my photography hobbies (The ATSF Searchlights are not long for this world, as replacements are in Willow Springs, Romeoville, Verona and Toluca..)

 

[Jacobchgo19]

Finally something to show for myself about the above comment.
The VOIGLPC (Vehicle: Oakland-Logistic Park Chicago) flies past the control point signals at Verona, a tiny town about seventy miles southwest of Chicago. The ATSF Cantilevers here draw dozens of photographers to the area each year, this, however, will be their last summer. The signals have replacements of the Safetran type in place, waiting to be raised and activated. It will become just another cookie cutter town on this stretch of famous railroad.

Here's an idea of what the town actually looks like.

credit to Tom McNair via Facebook, no infringement intended. The ZALTWSP (Alliance Texas - Willow Springs) a few months past.