Trains Magazine columnist Fred W. Frailey takes a look inside BNSF Railway’s busy Willow Springs intermodal yard, near Chicago. In this free download, you’ll get a peek behind the security fence to experience the rush to move priority UPS traffic into and out of the Windy City.
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My how things have changed. I used to pick up piggyback trailers at the Santa Fe in the late 1970s and the 1980s and deliver too Toronto Canada. At that time if you had time to kill you could walk around the yard and even climb up on the locomotives and nobody cared as long as you did not touch the controls. I have a lot of photos from that time and it’s hard to believe it used to be that way. I also picked up at the BN and Chicago North Western and it was the same laid back attitude…Those were the best days of my life but I didn’t know it.
most excellent read will be reading again and again and again Thankks
Wonderful article about the yard! I’m retired from UPS and always wanted to see the whole rail yard & CACH configuration!
Excellent article about Willow Springs. I could feel the excitement and time pressure that the employees at the facility are under. Good journalism Fred.
Wonderful. Love this Willow Springs story.
Thank you for providing the free Willow Springs article! It’s a great look at an amazing Chicagoland location I see whenever I’m back in Chicago. Many thanks!