Railfanning 55th St, Hayford and Wrightwood, Chicago, 011013: CP, BRC, NS, CSX & BNSF

Train 1: Two AC4400s lead a Canadian Pacific oil train north on the Belt Railway of Chicago at 59th Street, behind the Midway Airport transit center and CTA yard. Train 2: In the distance, a Norfolk Southern transfer job with a Dash-9 and SD60 for power, heads down the Belt's line to the west side of Clearing Yard. Train 3: BRC SD40-3 #560, one of only two on the roster that are not mated to hump slug units, heads north at 55th Street with a short ballast train. Train 4: CP 8735 and 9813 (an ES44AC and AC4400, respectively), hauling a high-priority stack / autorack train, bounce through the crossover at Archer Avenue, then head south on the left-hand main. They will take the Belt's main line as far as NS's Chicago Line, heading eventually for Detroit and Ontario. Train 5: BRC MP15DC #533, one of two on the roster, moves north on the Belt with ethanol loads for a processing plant in Cicero. Train 6: BNSF 4063 and 4172 take the BRC's western line to Clearing Yard, with a manifest off the "Racetrack". The two Dash-9s are former Santa Fe, specially built with "gullwing" cabs (with notches in the roof) to allow clearance through a particular loadout facility. Train 7: Now we are at Hayford Crossing, the extreme east end of Clearing Yard and where CN's Grand Trunk Western enters/leaves the Belt (the old, rarely-used main line further into the city crosses the BRC here as well). NS GP60 #7142 and high-hood GP38-2 #5146 bring a transfer freight eastward out of the yard, probably heading to Calumet Yard. Train 8: A CSX freight with BNSF power tagging along gets moving again, after waiting for permission to enter Clearing. The lead unit, SD40-2 #8409, was originally a straight-SD40 built for one of CSX's predecessors (my money is on B&O). Train 9: Light NS power, including SD70M-2 #2667, has come out for headroom in the yard. Train 10: An NS Dash-9 and Dash-8 smoke it up as they head west on the Belt, decelerating slightly and coasting through Hayford. Their train (CN symbol M341) will take the 67th Street Wye to the northbound BRC main line, heading for CN's ex-WC to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. There, the NS power will be swapped for CN, and the train will head on to Winnipeg. Train 11: NS C40-9W #9322, SD60M #6759, C40-9W #9458 and C40-9 (standard cab) #8832 come to a brief stop at the crossing, then proceed into Clearing with their train. Train 12: Now this is a lashup! BNSF SD40-2 #1967, in Heritage I paint, and SD60M "triclops" #8143 in Cascade Green, drop off crew and head slowly out of the yard. The mass of signals in the distance are at Columbus Ave and Forest Hill-75th Street, on the approach to Forest Hill, Belt Junction and Landers Yard. Train 13: On Norfolk Southern's ex-Wabash main out of Landers Yard between the Wrightwood and Ashburn stations, three Dash-9s shove a stack train back into the yard in the course of their switching work. South of here, most of the traffic on the old Wabash is Metra's Southwest Service commuter trains to Orland Park and Manhattan, but a couple intermodals, including the RoadRailer service to the Twin Cities, go south as far as Chicago Ridge, where they access the northbound Indiana Harbor Belt. A tri-weekly (I think) NS local freight goes all the way to Manhattan. ~Thanks for watching!~