Lake Forest Railfanning

Lake Forest Railfanning

Recorded on 5/12/17

A-Train4014 Productions returns to Lake Forest station to take advantage of the nice weather in the suburbs of Chicago. It started off chilly in the morning. By the afternoon, it started to warm up pretty nice to the point a jacket or a hoodie was necessary. Even though, we didn’t stay long at Lake Forest, it was still fun to be railfanning on a Friday to see some trains. One of the main reasons was the action seem to pick up a lot especially towards the afternoon.

1. Inbound Metra*
2. Inbound Metra
3. Inbound Metra
4. Amtrak Hiawatha*
5. Inbound Metra (Express)
6. Inbound Metra
7. Amtrak Hiawatha*
8. Inbound Metra (Express)
9. Inbound Metra
10. Outbound Metra*
11. Inbound Metra*
12. Inbound Metra*
13. Outbound Metra
14. Inbound Metra
15. Outbound Metra*
16. Canadian Pacific Manifest
17. Amtrak Hiawatha*
18. Amtrak Hiawatha*
19. Inbound Metra
20. Outbound Metra
21. Inbound Metra
22. Outbound Metra**
23. Amtrak Hiawatha*
24. Canadian Pacific Autorack-Intermodal
25. Norfolk Southern-Canadian Pacific Manifest
26. Inbound Metra
27. Outbound Metra
28. Amtrak Hiawatha*
29. Inbound Metra*
30. CEFX-Canadian Pacific Manifest*
31. Outbound Metra*
32. CSX-Canadian Pacific Manifest
33. Inbound Metra*
34. Outbound Metra*
35. Amtrak Hiawatha*
36. Amtrak Hiawatha*
37. Inbound Metra*
38. Outbound Metra
39. Amtrak Empire Builder

Highlight of the Day

22. Outbound Metra**

Rondout Railfanning

Rondout Railfanning

Recorded on 5/11/17

A-Train4014 Productions heads to Rondout in an effort to catch the “Windy City Express” on Amtrak Empire Builder 8 which features the Milwaukee Road coaches including the Cedar Rapids Skytop Observation car. Unfortunately, Amtrak 8 was delayed. So while waiting, we caught a few other rail traffic. Overall, it was a pretty good day even though Amtrak 8 was delayed.

1. Amtrak Hiawatha*
2. Norfolk Southern Crude Oil*
3. Inbound Metra*
4. Outbound Metra
5. Canadian Pacific-CEFX Manifest*
6. Amtrak Hiawatha*
7. Inbound Metra*
8. Outbound Metra*
9. Inbound Metra*
10. Outbound Metra*
11. Amtrak Hiawatha*
12. Amtrak Hiawatha*
13. BNSF-Canadian Pacific Manifest*
14. Canadian Pacific Autorack-Intermodal*
15. Inbound Metra*
16. Outbound Metra*
17. Amtrak Empire Builder*
18. Inbound Metra*
19. Amtrak Hiawatha*
20. Amtrak Hiawatha*
21. Outbound Metra*
22. Amtrak Empire Builder**

Highlight of the Day:

22. Amtrak Empire Builder**

*ALL Trains included a hornshow

Photo Album page (Suspended Temporarily)

Due to technical difficulties and the amount of load on our list of things to do, A-Train4014 Productions has been facing some issues lately as far as posting photos to our Blogger website. So unfortunately, we have to make some tough decisions and take down our photo album page temporarily.  We have enjoyed our railfanning journey as A-Train4014 Productions see the good, bad, and the different trains around the area where we can. While we're at trackside, not only videos are created, but photos have been made which turn into memories. Our photo album is starting to fill up with lots of train photos. We will recreate a short photo album of our favorite pictures of trains within the past couple of years. Stay tuned for our brand new photo album page and we apologize for any inconveniences.

You can still see our entire Train Photo Album on our Facebook page. While you're there, stay in touch with the latest news that we post monthly. In addition, keep watching our videos on YouTube as we post new videos once a week.

Facebook: A-Train4014 Productions
YouTube: A-Train4014 Productions

Wadsworth Railfanning

Wadsworth Railfanning

Recorded on 5/7/17

“Even though I really wanted to watch the NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway, and after hearing about my favorite Heritage Unit: Amtrak 42 will be leading on the Empire Builder into Chicago, I guess this marks the very first time I had to do ‘double duty’ while railfanning; meaning that I would watch the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on my iPhone while railfanning. Anyway, A-Train4014 Productions heads to Wadsworth in an effort to catch Amtrak 42 leading Empire Builder 8 into Chicago. While waiting on Empire Builder 8, we caught a few other rail traffic other than the Amtrak Hiawatha trains. Enjoy the show!”

-Andrew Mangalindan

A-Train4014 Productions

Owner/Founder

1. Canadian Pacific-Norfolk Southern Crude Oil*
2. Amtrak Hiawatha*
3. Canadian Pacific Intermodal*
4. Amtrak Hiawatha*
5. CSX Closed Hopper*
6. Amtrak Empire Builder**
7. Amtrak Empire Builder*
8. CSX Manifest*
9. Canadian Pacific Autorack-Intermodal*
10. Amtrak Hiawatha*
11. Amtrak Hiawatha*

Highlight of the Day:

6. Amtrak Empire Builder**

*ALL Trains presented a Hornshow

(Horn Zone Area)

Lake Forest Railfanning

Lake Forest Railfanning: National Train Day

Recorded on 5/6/17

A-Train4014 Productions continues to celebrate National Train Day by going trackside at Lake Forest station on the CP C&M Sub. Today was a special day in many ways. A-Train4014 Productions is proud to announce that Casey Walker (Warbonnet 669 Productions) has joined forces and joins the A-Train4014 Productions team as a researcher and developer role. In addition, Miles Jajich and former A-Train4014 Productions member, Jacob Brugioni briefly joins for the fun. Even though it was a little windy which made the weather a bit chilly, our day was pretty occupied especially just after lunch hour as the freight trains pass us from left to right. To end the day at Lake Forest, we surprised one of our friends on Metra, Rob Dargan on his outbound run. Happy National Train Day to all and to the railfans that care so much about trains.

1. Inbound Metra*
2. Inbound Metra
3. Amtrak Hiawatha*
4. Amtrak Hiawatha*
5. Inbound Metra
6. Canadian Pacific Manifest
7. Outbound Metra*
8. Inbound Metra*
9. Outbound Metra
10. Amtrak Hiawatha*
11. CSX-Canadian Pacific Manifest
12. Inbound Metra*
13. Outbound Metra
14. Amtrak Hiawatha*
15. Amtrak Hiawatha*
16. Canadian Pacific Intermodal
17. Canadian Pacific-SOO Line Manifest
18. Amtrak Empire Builder*
19. Canadian Pacific Autorack-Intermodal
20. Amtrak Empire Builder
21. Inbound Metra
22. Outbound Metra*
23. Amtrak Hiawatha*
24. Amtrak Hiawatha*
25. CSX Crude Oil*
26. Outbound Metra**

Highlight of the Day:

26. Outbound Metra

*Hornshow

Don't Look Down Music Video

Don’t Look Down Music Video

Created on 5/1/17

In honor of National Train Day, A-Train4014 Productions creates a music video using our favorite song, “Don’t Look Down” by Martin Garrix featuring Usher. In this music video, take a look at some of our favorite video clips from previous railfanning adventures. Since Chicago Union Station isn’t hosting anything special for National Train Day, we decided not only make a music video, but we go trackside to Lake Forest station. Stay tuned for Lake Forest Railfanning: National Train Day video coming soon.

Grayslake Railfanning

Grayslake Railfanning

Recorded on 5/2/17

A-Train4014 Productions is in for a treat as our friend, Jeff surprised us with the locomotive he was at the controls of. In addition, Jeff showed us around the locomotive before heads back out on his inbound run to Chicago. It was a really good day. Big thanks to Jeff for showing us the locomotive. It was pretty unique and different in comparison to the other Metra locomotives that he previously operated before. P.S. we apologize for the delay of posting this video due to technical difficulties.

Lake Forest Railfanning

Lake Forest Railfanning

Recorded on 4/28/17

The weather wasn’t bad today so A-Train4014 Productions returns to Lake Forest station for some railfanning. In addition, we decided to surprise our friend, Jeff just in time for his inbound run into Chicago. We also stayed a bit longer for his outbound run back to Fox Lake in the afternoon during the rush hour. It was a pretty good variety of trains but surprisingly, not many freight trains showed up than expected. I guess we missed out on the majority of the action during the early morning on Friday. Overall, it was a good day though.

1. Amtrak Hiawatha*
2. Inbound Metra*
3. Outbound Metra*
4. CSX Crude Oil
5. Canadian Pacific-Norfolk Southern Manifest
6. Inbound Metra*
7. Outbound Metra*
8. Amtrak Hiawatha*
9. Canadian Pacific Autorack-Intermodal
10. Amtrak Hiawatha*
11. Inbound Metra
12. Outbound Metra*
13. Amtrak Empire Builder
14. Amtrak Empire Builder
15. Inbound Metra*
16. Outbound Metra*
17. Amtrak Hiawatha*
18. Amtrak Hiawatha*
19. Inbound Metra
20. Canadian Pacific-CEFX Manifest
21. Outbound Metra**

Highlight of the Day:

21. Outbound Metra

*Hornshow

Grayslake Railfanning

Grayslake Railfanning

Recorded on 4/27/17

A-Train4014 Productions goes railfanning at Grayslake station once again to meet up with our friend, Jeff on Metra before he leaves on his inbound run to Chicago. The weather was cloudy and rainy especially in the morning. We start out at Grayslake station on Lake Street. But as we left, we overheard a northbound CN freight train is approaching Grayslake on the CN Waukesha Sub. So after when Jeff left for Chicago, we drove to the other Grayslake station on Washington Street to catch the northbound freight train. Honestly didn’t expect a little surprise on the consist (Hint: The Second Locomotive).

Lake Villa Railfanning

Lake Villa Railfanning

Recorded on 4/25/17

A-Train4014 Productions returns to the CN Waukesha Sub on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. The weather forecast wasn’t looking good for the next couple of days due to rain and wind. So we decided to take advantage of this nice weather before the storms pass through Chicago. Rail traffic was pretty average but the action started to pick up around 2-3pm. We would’ve stayed longer but we had to run some last minute errands after our trip to Lake Villa. No worries though! We can’t wait for more railfanning this summer! Also stay tuned to our social media platforms as we’re on the verge of making our announcement with The Joliet Rocket this summer with the Nickel Plate Road 765!

1. Canadian National-Illinois Central Closed Hopper
2. Canadian National Intermodal
3. Canadian National Manifest
4. Outbound Metra
5. Canadian National Manifest
6. Inbound Metra
7. Canadian National Intermodal

No Hornshows

No Highlight of the Day

Rondout Railfanning

Rondout Railfanning

Recorded on 4/22/17

A-Train4014 Productions joins our friend, SamLovesTrains at Rondout. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other so it’s been great catching up. Before heading to Rondout, we heard about SOO Line on CP 281. We didn’t think we wouldn’t be able to catch it at Rondout in time. Fortunately, Lake Forest was close by so we started there for a minute until CP 281 passed.  It was pretty fun. The weather still played nice but it got cold at times but it was still nice enough where I didn’t have to wear more than one layer of clothing.

1. Outbound Metra
2. BNSF-Canadian Pacific-SOO Line Manifest
3. Inbound Metra*
4. Canadian Pacific Autorack-Intermodal*
5. Outbound Metra*
6. Amtrak Empire Builder**
7. Amtrak Empire Builder*
8. Inbound Metra*
9. Outbound Metra*
10. Amtrak Hiawatha*
11. Amtrak Hiawatha*
12. Outbound Metra*

Highlight of the Day:

6. Amtrak Empire Builder*

*ALL Trains included Hornshows

Grayslake Railfanning

Grayslake Railfanning

Recorded on 4/19/17

After briefly catching the Siemens Charger Test Train in Gurnee, A-Train4014 Productions heads to Grayslake before the Test Train returns back to Chicago Union Station. We met up with our Metra engineer friend, Jeff as we talked more about trains and even squeezed a brief discussion about coyotes. Luckily it didn’t rain yet but we had a great time talking with Jeff.

Siemens Charger Train Test

Siemens Charger Test Train

Recorded on 4/19/17

A-Train4014 Productions goes “train chasing” as we heard about a test train on the CP C&M Sub that will be running on 4/19/17. Amtrak is testing its brand new Siemens Charger locomotive that is reported to be replace the Amtrak P42DC and F59PHI locomotives. We were supposed to be catching it in Wadsworth in hopes of hearing the Siemens Charger’s horn. Unfortunately, our parking spot next to the train tracks in Wadsworth was blocked off so we rushed over to Gurnee, IL in the morning to catch it. While we waited for the Test Train to return to Chicago, we briefly made a stop at Grayslake station on Lake Street to talk with our Metra engineer friend, Jeff.

I had to go to school but when class was released early, I rushed over to Rondout in time to catch the Siemens Charger Test Train once again. While I waited in Rondout, we caught an Outbound Metra and an Amtrak Hiawatha. However, rain started to pour down. It got pretty heavy but luckily there was no thunder and lightning. Overall, it was a pretty good day. Everything worked perfectly.