Iowa Pacific "Pullman Rail Journeys" excursion departs Chicago on 8/22/14

On Friday August 22nd, 2014, a Pullman Rail Journeys Excursion to Madison, WI using Iowa Pacific equipment set off on its journey from Chicago Union Station, I was downtown and around to catch all the action and capture the train leaving. Many other railfans came see the train leave, however most everyone waited at the Pennsylvania signal bridge at Racine Ave. grade crossing for it.

So here's the rundown of what happened. The passenger cars for the excursion were already at the Amtrak Chicago yards, and were positioned to the North concourse on track 19, right next to the Chicago river.

Iowa Pacific 515 and 518, Ex CNW 5029B and 5030A EMD E8s were moved into Union Station just around 5pm during rush hour to couple on, and reposition the train for loading passengers. So they pulled out just past Canal St. grade crossing, and pushed back in switching over all the way to track 1, the farthest track away from the Chicago river in the North concourse. This happened when it was still light out, surprisingly me and one other railfan friend were the only two people at Canal St. to get shots and all. I did tell a bunch of people to come because I had a feeling it would be too dark when it finally departed. (It was planned to, and did depart trailing behind Amtrak 341 a Northbound Hiawatha)

So basically since I knew the engineer for the station track move, he gave me a decent amount of horn at Canal st. grade crossing, and yes it sure did echo off the buildings! Then as they backed up, I moved over to the other side knowing the angle I wanted and the Ponchartrain club (the end car) blowing its wimpy horn for Canal st. grade crossing lead in. Just as the E8s were passing an inbound Metra was coming in hot too, it didn't have clearance and eventually stopped, but it really gave a cool effect as to what was happening. Basically older commuter engines pushing their train in, and a current commuter train also pushing in right near each other. I had two camcorders going for that, the other clip which I set my older camcorder on the ground for was not used in this video because it would have made the video 2 minutes longer than it is. That clip I used in my 500 subscriber special, its sped up but it still is another angle of what happened if you want to see.

The angle I went for when the excursion was pushing back was right under Wm J. Cassidy Tire Co, a building that goes back to the 1950s at least I'm sure. Iowa Pacific 515 and 518 being Ex CNW commuter E8s are real close to home there, as the tracks they originally traveled on were just over the tracks they were on in the video. (The tracks to Ogilvie Transportation Center, or to the Northwestern station originally)

Also making an unexpected appearance when first getting to Union Station in the beginning was Amtrak 66 the Phase 2 heritage unit, which is common as heck for Chicago but was a nice surprise. Honestly though I've seen and caught the Amtrak heritage units a ton, I think I've caught 66 at least 10 different times lol.

Here's a list of the railfans who I was there with for the evening:
Trainandhawksfan17-    / trainandhawksfan17  
Sethamtrak-    / sethamtrak  
bnsfwarbonnet-    / bnsfwarbonnet  
MrTrain513-    / mrtrain513  
Taylorveldman3832-    / taylorveldman3832  
and others who don't have Youtubes, but you know who you are. ;)

Thanks for watching!