A unique look at an important, historic railroad junction

I've maintained an interest in railroading throughout my life, and when a train rolls by I tend to give it more than a passing glance.

During the summer, while taking aerial photos at a golf course near the busy junction that the Union Pacific refers to as “Shermer,” I was aware that Chicago-bound Amtrak No. 8, the “Empire Builder” from Seattle and Portland, was due to make its arrival in nearby Glenview at some point during the course of my flight. I happened to be photographing an area of the golf course adjacent to the tracks when the train's engineer sounded the horn for maintenance crews working near downtown Northbrook, so I redirected my flight slightly to the west to photograph the train passing through the junction.

Using the route of the former Milwaukee Road's C & M (Chicago and Milwaukee) subdivision, the “Empire Builder” is passing under the double-track steel bridge of the Union Pacific's freight-only Milwaukee Subdivision, which historically was the Chicago and North Western's “New Line.” UP absorbed the C & NW through merger in 1995.

To the left of the photo, a pair of tracks known as “The Dump,” due to its proximity to the former landfill now occupied by the golf course, connects the C & M to the Union Pacific line so Canadian Pacific freight trains can exercise trackage rights on the UP for 10 miles to a second junction called Bryn Mawr near O'Hare Airport.

For decades I've been fascinated with the network of tracks and the trains that pass through Shermer, but the UP is elevated through there and photography from publicly-accessible areas is challenging. A drone, though, coupled with an FAA authorization to fly in Chicago Executive Airport's airspace, offers a new vantage point at this important and historic railroad junction.