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West Chicago Wings

West Chicago Wings

UP 5174 West sweeps beneath the home signals for the EJ&E crossing interlocking plant in West Chicago, IL on 1/30/2005. The train is turning off the route of the original Chicago & Galena Union onto the route of the Dixon Air Line, built to the Mississippi River in 1854 from this point.
Hi Ed, that is what I had in mind, some guys don't mind locos tied up with the infrastructure, but I think it makes for a much cleaner image when they are separated.
I think the other shot has a little more impact because the loco looms larger and you have cropped it tighter, less foreground and sky.
I tried the same sort of crop on this one and it gains the same impact. Perhaps you could put them in a critique thread on the discussion board and see what the other guys say, some of them do not visit the gallery very often.
Thanks for posting the image for comparison.:up:
 
I like this composition better because the locomotive doesn't obscure the infrastructure. Some day those signals will be replaced by something else. I haven't been to that location since 1997 and I'll bet a lot has changed.

Also may I note that the history lesson along with the nice photo is much appreciated. Too many interesting photos here leave too much to the imagination.
 
Thanks for your comments. As for West Chicago,
there has been some change in recent years.
The old CB&Q Aurora Branch has been severed west
of the EJ&E. A new balloon connector has been
built northwest of the EJ&E crossing to allow
eastbound UP trains to turn south onto the EJ&E.
Some new micro-mansions have been built hard
against the tracks east of town, where a stand
of trees previously stood. Much more change
is happening west of the Fox River, where a
third main track is being added from Randall
Road to Elburn - and where cornfield backdrops
are disappearing beneath more housing spawl.

- Ed Kyle
 

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