Chicago: Why was there a Superliner train on the South Shore tracks this morning?

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tommylicious

OBS Chief
Joined
Sep 9, 2013
Messages
599
Why did I a see an Amtrak Superliner train on South Shore Line tracks this morning around 10am-ish? Which train is this?
 
tommylicious said:
Why did I a see an Amtrak Superliner train on South Shore Line tracks this morning around 10am-ish? Which train is this?
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I'm trying to think myself, how a Superliner Amtrak train could've ended up on South Shore tracks. As I can't think of many junctions, that'd allow such an Amtrak train to detour onto South Shore tracks. I know there are other experts, who'd know this info better than me. Also, are you sure you saw a Superliner running on South Shore tracks, and not say you were railfanning somewhere(i.e. Ogden Dunes) where both Amtrak and freight trains use one set of tracks, and another with South Shore trains and(to a lesser extent, though freight trains one will see are shorter such trains) freights? And of course anywhere along the South Shore/Metra Electric route north of 115th/Kensington to about just south of McCormick Place, you'd see freight trains and Amtrak City of New Orleans trains(which use Superliners) use the non-electrified tracks on the east side.
 
are you sure it wasn't a South Shore double decker train that you saw. From certain angles they can look quite similar.
 
How about some details? Where did you see it? In what direction was it heading? I don't know of any connection between the Amtrak Michigan Line and the South Shore in Michigan City. There might be a connection between the NS and the SS in South Bend if the Superliner train was the westbound Capitol Limited. It could have been a South Shore double-decker. If it was north of 115th Street in Chicago, it was the CONO on the adjacent CN tracks.
 
Are you certain it was on the Metra Electric tracks and not on the parallel CN tracks used by Amtrak? The City of New Orleans would have been passing near that location around that time.
 
To answer a question from above: There is a NICTD-NS connections in Indiana, somewhere west of Porter. IIRC, it's actually a "wrong way" connection from the standpoint of any utility to Amtrak for detours (meaning an eastbound train could go from NS to South Shore, but not from South Shore onto the NS).
 
I didn't know about the CN tracks...it was probably the CONO then. How does it get to Union Station from those tracks? I've never ridden the CONO and won't because of the terrible downgraded food.

Eric S said:
Are you certain it was on the Metra Electric tracks and not on the parallel CN tracks used by Amtrak? The City of New Orleans would have been passing near that location around that time.
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The CN tracks (on which the CONO operates) cross over the Metra Electric tracks under McCormick Place, so the CONO would be on the west side of Metra Electric at Soldier Field. From there, the CONO uses the east-west St. Charles Airline to access Union Station. By the way, in any case, there are no "South Shore tracks" at this location. The South Shore uses Metra Electric tracks north of 115th Street.
 
tommylicious said:
I've never ridden the CONO and won't because of the terrible downgraded food.
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Could always ride the Illini or the Saluki down to Carbondale and back. Of course they don't have any more food options, but I'm guessing you hold regionals to a different standard? ha.
 
MikefromCrete said:
The CN tracks (on which the CONO operates) cross over the Metra Electric tracks under McCormick Place, so the CONO would be on the west side of Metra Electric at Soldier Field. From there, the CONO uses the east-west St. Charles Airline to access Union Station.
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...and then it either pulls forward onto the BNSF, or takes a turnout onto the NS at 21st Street (I think the BNSF routing is preferred, but NS is a common enough alternate), and then backs into Union Station. Southbound trains back out of the station and change directions once onto BNSF or NS.
 
Quite possibly some sort of extra loaned equipment to support additional ridership to Lollapalooza
 
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NorthShore said:
Quite possibly some sort of extra loaned equipment to support additional ridership to Lollapalooza
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No, for a few different reasons. First, Superliners are not compatible with the high platforms at many of the South Shore stations (including Van Buren or Millennium Stations downtown). Second, Amtrak doesn’t really have spare Superliners in the peak of the summer to rotate out for a weekend to loan to a commuter agency. Third, it would make far more sense just to turn their own equipment faster to add service (especially off-peak, when more spares are available) than to go through the hassle of borrowing equipment (including a Sightseer car, as the OP mentioned).

OP already noted that he didn’t realize the route of the City of New Orleans, which would have gone through the same location at the time he observed it.
 
I was thinking more in terms of weekdays for additional fringe rush hour service, when South Shore might already have everything out. Might not be much for Amtrak to offer a few protection cars locally and make a few bucks. But hadn't considered platform incompatibility.

CTA and Metra were offering extra service, so on the surface the theory at least seemed sensible. Sometimes for heavy and unusual operating days, you'll see odd and unexpected stuff.
 
Of course, most of the South Shore's busiest stations have high-level loading, so the Superliners wouldn't be any good at Randolph Street, 11th Place, Hegewisch, Hammond, East Chicago, Dune Park or South Bend. No, I believe the OP saw the CONO running on its usual tracks past Soldier Field.
 
That and a superliner passageway is on the second floor and Shoreliners are on the first.

You also then have the issue with the Shoreline trains all being EMU so the superliner would have to have a Pass Thru MU as well. And I’m not sure how many are equipped as such.
 

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