Just a few ticks past 23.30, coal for Detroit Edison's River Rouge, Michigan facility moves east through a thick fog in Downers Grove under the CB&Q bridge.

You want power? 20-cylinder WC 7514, screaming south for Grayslake with Vulcan rock train U700 on the Waukesha Sub, and ~150-kilovolt high-tension lines run a parallel route here in Antioch. Unfor... (more)

Sitting at the end of a track in a car yard in Lockport, we find an old Chessie bay-window caboose, dying a slow and quiet death. Its once-resplendent colors now covered by graffiti, the car sits ... (more)

As seen from the U.S. Highway 6 bridge, NW2 450 and a mate shove cars (somehow avoiding daily stringline derailments) in EJ&E's East Joliet yard.

157 years after the charter of the Aurora Branch Railroad, where the CB&Q all began, this tie plate sits as a silent testament to the deterioration of Class I branch lines across the United States... (more)

On a surprisingly warm and beautiful April evening, the shelter for passengers awaiting eastbound trains in La Fox is illuminated by the setting summer sun. Unfortunately, recreation of this photo... (more)

On the evening of August 13, 2006, Amtrak train 341, led by locomotive 131, sits at the green westbound signal (compass north) in Sturtevant. In less than one minute, its departure will signal the... (more)

Go the distance. This is my attempt to incorporate the granger roots of the C&NW into a photo made in 2006. In the process of making this photo, I discovered that the ground between the roa... (more)

On a chilly March evening, the crew of Metra/Rock Island suburban 528 fires up the headlight on control car 8565 and performs the standing air test.

After an entertaining high-speed southbound chase from Lake Wisconsin, we finally catch up to WSOR 11 and the employee appreciation special a little bit north of downtown Madison.

Has anybody else ever matched human faces with the front ends of these locomotives?

After another day of sitting in little cubicles staring at computer screens, mostly white-collar commuters detrain suburban 47 in Wheaton and head for home.

In the relatively cramped confines of an 8500 series control car, the engineer's controls appear Spartan and utilitarian, especially when compared to the latest and greatest of Metra's fleet, the ... (more)

The engineer's AAR 105 control stand of former ATSF 92. Note to viewer: if your patience is anything like mine, don't come here on Days Out with Thomas.

1296 shoves out of Main Street on a cool evening after my White Sox destroyed the Cubs 12-2, eliciting high-fives from several Metra crewmen. Visible on the side of the train are silhouettes of fe... (more)