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» RAILforum » Passenger Trains » Amtrak » Unique sight in Chicago Union Station

   
Author Topic: Unique sight in Chicago Union Station
Judy McFarland
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I just arrived on the Hiawatha from Milwaukee and on the next track were parked 7-8 beautiful stainless cars, so I just gaped as I walked along The cars were beautiful -polished within an inch of their lives. I saw a diner with little lamps on the tables, at least one sleeper, what might have been a lounge car with a rear platform. The cars were all labeled BNSF and several had names like Mountain View and Lake Superior. I asked an Amtrak attendant at the door into the station and she said it had been there all week. State senators I think she said. She told me she would have liked to see the interior, but had not been allowed to do so. For me, it was a treat just to walk along the platform & admire them.

Also saw what I think is a new sign at the Milwaukee Airport station (MKA) forbidding recording devices on the premises I never noticed that before.

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My new "default" station (EKH) has no baggage service or QuikTrak machine, but the parking is free! And the NY Central RR Museum is just across the tracks (but not open at Amtrak train times. . ..)

Posts: 337 | From: Goshen, IN | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Henry Kisor
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Those are BNSF business cars; maybe Mr. Buffett was treating his board of directors and big stockholders to a train ride. Lake Superior is an ex-Northern Pacific diner, Budd-built in 1958; Mountain View is an ex-Great Northern club/lounge.

Wonder how much BNSF stock I would have to buy in order to score a ride in them.

Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Judy McFarland
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Thanks for the insight Henry. I think it would take more $$$ than I have to score a ride!
And another thing, I noticed: some of those beautiful long wooden benches are back in Great Hall, the waiting room that isn't. I haven't seen those in years, and I suspect they might have been hauled out for National Train Day. I doubt that the NATO bigwigs were waiting for trains last week.

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My new "default" station (EKH) has no baggage service or QuikTrak machine, but the parking is free! And the NY Central RR Museum is just across the tracks (but not open at Amtrak train times. . ..)

Posts: 337 | From: Goshen, IN | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Gilbert B Norman
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Those cars Ms. McFarland observed were handled on #4(20), which as noted by Mr. Kisor, are part of the BNSF Executrain fleet.

I was not able to get the best of views as I was walking to town with a neighbor and "we were chattin'". She knows I was once in the industry and her husband was once with CSX.

Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Train Granny
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Wow! Sounds like a treat just to look at the outsides of these cars! I wonder how they compare to the restored cars I got to peek into while in LA on the 14th?

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Train Granny

http://www.traingranny.com
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Martha (Marty) Hale
Savannah, Georgia

Posts: 182 | From: Savannah, Georgia | Registered: Mar 2012  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

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