See the Trains news release. Looks like you will be able to take Amtrak to IRM pretty soon.

Copying ONLY the info relevant to this discussion:

I will hazard a guess that this service will begin as inbound to Chicago in the mornings and outbound in the evenings--NOT conducive to Museum visitation. And the Museum campus is almost exactly equidistant between the proposed stops at Huntley and Belvidere.

Great news and not just because of the potential, eventual, somewhat inevitable link to IRM. In my rose colored view of preservation nothing is better than seeing rail service grow. I like to see old machines preserved, but I don't like to see societal foundations join them in museums (or in the weeds).

Save the old while embracing the relevant.

IRM will be a great place to tell the story of renewed relevance of the rails, just by watching Amtrak glide by a simmering 2-10-0. Good on ya', Illinois.

Rob

PS: For you strummers out there, I am sure I am not the only RYPN irregular to be excited about new train service to "old Rockford town up by the Wisconsin border." The Huntley stop is just a short taxi ride from IRM and to a special farm "outside McHenry in Johnsburg, Illinois." And that's not far from Lake Marie where you can spend some time "standing by peaceful waters." We got to go now.

Would this open up the door to possible IRM excursions to Rockford/Chicago under Amtrak auspices?

The very fact that IRM would then have a direct connection with an Amtrak route says it could...

Metra has also looked at expanding service on this line. Last I heard/read, the proposed Huntley stop was going to be at Coryne Station Road, just west of downtown. If true, that's about a mile or two of the present IRM end of mainline. If IRM could bridge the Kishawaukee River and reacquire right of way, it is potentially possible that IRM could one day make a cross-road or cross-platform connection with Amtrak and Metra.

They've said a single run for starters then may add another train later. Its an active discussion on the IRM yahoo. Whether they make a stop at IRM is another ordeal however, but they've been chatting about crossing upgrades and their UP rail connection and its costs etc etc, so the idea is a serious bounce there.

They've already taken their Nebraska Zephyr out for an excursion from Union Station, but thats a special thing, this is a regular daily train. It would be reasonable easy to set up a stop, the line runs right past the depot in easy view. Some simple boardwalk could easily do for passenger embarking, disembarking.

well the ideas are flying, lets hope it can happen.

Regarding Amtrak stops at locations not on the regular timetable: Here in California we have the Colonel Allensworth State Historical site between Corcoran and Wasco on the San Joaquin line. Not sure if this is still the case, but Amtrak used to arrange special stops here for school groups. If an organization or school district met a minimum passenger count and gave Amtrak sufficient "lead time", a train would stop at Allensworth for the group.

Make IRM a flag stop, to make it more convenient. Eliminate the taxi ride.

IRM has regularly made radio spots, if they get a stop, they could promote taking the train out, you could have more regular patronage that way. That can mandate a more "scheduled" stop than a "lead time when there's enough passengers" stop.

I just wonder if the can get a stop if they have to make a ramp for the impaired folks.

Don't get your hopes up... When Rauner wins the governor's seat this fall, this boondoggle is going in the dust bin, where it belongs. Amtrak already serves Rockford, via a connecting bus line, which also has nine or ten daily trips that go where people really want to go, which is the airport, not downtown.

Now, Huntly likes this, as they see the proposed track connection as bringing them one step closer to commuter rail service, and that is where IRM will finally get it's public transit. Amtrak's one-train-a-day won't get enough passengers to fill a bus.

There will be a second round trip added when all the upgrades are complete and trains can start running at up to 79 mph. Top speed when the service starts next year will be 59 mph.

Seems like Union would do well as a scheduled seasonal weekend stop.

And FWIW, when I lived in Rockford I went to downtown Chicago a lot more often than the airport.

Railroad history trivia: there used to be seven railroad passenger depots in Rockford. The former CNW East Rockford depot on 7th Street that this service will use as a temporary station in Rockford is the last one standing. There were three on 7th Street (CNW, IC, & Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary), three on South Main Street (CNW, CBQ/MILW, IC) and one a few blocks north of State Street on the CNW "KD" line. A new depot was built to serve a gas-powered 'trolley' near the former location of the CNW "KD" line depot back in the early 1980s (maybe late 70s?).

Paul

Paul Krueger
Seattle, WA

I have to agree with Dennis that Amtrak to Rockford doesn't make a lot of sense. BUT, extending the operation to Freeport, Galena and into eastern Iowa does make sense, especially to Galena, which is a big tourist destination, with two lane roads out of Chicago for much of the way.

Les

I have to agree that this doesn't make any sense, especially of you go back into the original plans that were proposed some ten+ years ago. METRA extending to Marengo (the limits of Kane County & the RTA tax district) and Belvidere & Rockford creating their own taxing authority to pay METRA to run the rest of the way to Rockford. It also was to include stops at the Rockford airport and O'Hare, so you're serving two markets (commuters and flyers)

What Quinn has proposed is the worst of both. Who's going to ride this boondoggle? Illinois is tapped and its spending money it doesn't have along with Federal funds (borrowed from China) for service we don't need and that few people will use. Illinois needs to be solvent before we blow money on this.

But the only way to get to Freeport and Galena today is via the IC Iowa Div. (now CN), since the C&NW is abandoned west of Rockford. This proposal is something Quinn dreamed up after CN refused to play ball. At the moment, aside from no connection at Big Timber Road, there are also absolutely NO signals on any of this single track railroad, and having just been over this line last year, west of the Chrysler plant in Belvidere, the railroad is pitiful. Kinda makes one wonder who's pockets this money is destined to line. This from the governor who wants to make our "temporary" state income tax increase permanent.

I can see that Huntly is supportive; they want commuter rail, and this boondoggle would provide the connection. Metra to Huntly, or further probably makes sense, since Huntly has been ruined by development already anyway. Rockford? Pftffft!