Abandoned Metra Train in the Chicago Area: 16 Cars, a MARC Engine and Seats Torn Out

We almost got caught on this one, because the factories around these trains were active. It is a locomotive and a long run of passenger cars, 16 cars in all, parked in the Chicago area for quite some time. The exact location stays off this page.

I explored it with a friend. I have no idea why these trains were left here, but they look amazing. The description notes the engine was a MARC train and one of the cars was burnt.

What we found

We started at the engine. The markings say MARC, which I did not know anything about, so I will leave that to the train people. We got inside and looked at the view from the conductor’s seat. There was trash on the floor and some engine parts, and a small window you could crawl up through.

Then the cars. A seat had been pulled out of one car and a couple more were lying on the track, and somebody had left something to step on so we could get in easier. The cars have a double decker section. A lot of the seats were torn up, and I think people stabbed them. There were tables, a bathroom I wanted no part of, and an upper deck that was moldy. Airplanes kept flying over us.

The signs were still posted. There was a megaphone and a trauma kit, a no smoking sign, a first aid kit, a priority seating sign asking passengers to give up seats for seniors and people with disabilities, and emergency exit routes for the Metra. A lot of the seats looked old, and some of the colors in there were cool. I heard there used to be two vintage luxury cars here, but they are gone now.

The last car or two were all seating, piled up. Another car was packed with panels and a little engine part, and we decided not to climb through it. Some of the cars looked like someone had started stripping them, probably for scrap, and one had an emergency electrical shut off. Someone told me these had cameras. I do not believe it.

One car was covered in motor oil. There were jugs, buckets and trash all over the floor, along with a bag of Doritos, and the oil had been spilled everywhere. My guess is that someone did not want to pay to dump it. The seats there were covered in it too, so we did not sit down.

At the end we made it out and saw somebody nearby, with another plane going over. There was a Malibu parked outside that probably got scrapped too.

Why old train cars end up in yards

I do not know who owns these cars or why they were left, so I cannot say they are Metra’s. What can be sourced is how a fleet like Metra’s ages.

In 2016, CBS Chicago reported that Metra had dropped a plan to replace its oldest bi level cars because of the state budget standoff and the lack of a statewide capital program. Metra had wanted 367 new cars and was negotiating for 21 at $52.5 million. About 346 older bi levels remained, some of them 60 years old, and Metra’s CEO said he was looking at used cars from other agencies and at expanding its ability to refurbish cars.

Replacement comes in pieces. The original Highliner electric cars, 166 of them, entered service on May 31, 1971, and the last six carried passengers 44 years later. Their replacements came in batches. The first 26 new cars arrived in 2006, and in 2010 Metra approved 160 more.

Locomotives are the same story. In 2018, Metro Magazine reported that Metra was buying used locomotives, including three built in 1988 for $2.5 million and 21 built in 1998 that came from Amtrak. Some of its own F40 locomotives were 40 years old.

None of those reports says what happens to cars once they are retired, and I could not find one that does.

The one thing we skipped was the roof, because there were too many people around.