Chicago was featured in the July 1993 issue of TRAINS magazine. Included in that issue was a "Top Ten" list of Chicago's best train watching spots, as selected by the TRAINS staff.
Classic old train station at the crossing of BNSF's Chillicothe Subdivision, CN's Joliet Subdivision, Union Pacific's Joliet Subdivision, and Metra's Rock Island District. Metra and Amtrak trains stop here. Location is Jefferson Street (US Hwy. 30) and Scott Street (Illinois Hwy. 53).
Crossing involving main lines of CSX Barr Subdivision and Blue Island Subdivision, CSX former GTW Elsdon Subdivision, and Indiana Harbor Belt, with Metra's Rock Island District passing over on a nearby bridge. Location is on Broadway west of Western Avenue, and is within walking distance south of Metra's stations at Vermont Street.
On CN's former Illinois Central Chicago Subdivision at the south end of Markham Yard, with the Metra Electric District paralleling to the west. Metra and Amtrak trains stop here. Location is one block west of Dixie Highway at Ridge Road.
Crossing involving main lines of CSX, Indiana Harbor Belt, and Union Pacific's Villa Grove Subdivision. Location is near Lincoln Street south of 138th Street, and can be reached by walking east and southeast from the Riverdale station on the Metra Electric District.
Includes three different fine train watching locations. State Line is crossing of CSX and Norfolk Southern main lines, with NICTD's South Shore Line passing nearby. Crossing can be reached by walking east from NICTD's Hammond station on Hohman Avenue. Hohman Avenue crossing is about a mile south in the center of town, and is where the Norfolk Southern line crosses the Indiana Harbor Belt main line. And four miles to the north is Amtrak's Hammond-Whiting station, on Norfolk Southern's former Conrail Chicago Line.
Located 40 miles southeast of Chicago, and junction involving Norfolk Southern's former Conrail Chicago Line, Amtrak's Michigan Line, the CSX Grand Rapids Subdivision, and the CSX former Conrail Porter Subdivision. Area cannot be reached by public transportation, and is south of I-94 and west of Indiana Hwy. 49.