BNSF Far-Western Chicago Suburbs

Feed Notes

This audio stream is a stereo stream of the Aurora Subdivision and Mendota Subdivision in Northern Illinois. The Mendota Sub audio is on the left channel, and the Aurora Sub audio is on the right. The Aurora and Mendota Subs start a few mile west of Eola Yard, at the end of the Chicago Division in Aurora, IL. It is at this point that the Chicago subdivision "splits" into the Aurora Sub, and the Mendota Sub.

 Aurora Subdivision

The Aurora subdivision extends roughly northwest from Aurora towards Rochelle, IL, Savanna, IL, and ultimately ends at North LaCrosse, WI. The authority of the Aurora Subdivision dispatcher (who often answers the radio "BNSF C&I Dispatcher" after the Chicago and Iowa Railroad) extends from mile post 38.4 (the West Aurora plant) to North LaCrosse, WI, mile post 261.8. Most of the trackage is CTC, single track with sidings.

The stream picks up the dispatcher radio in Hinkley, IL (MP 55.1), the track detector at MP 47.1, and crews between the West Aurora plant, and the siding at Mored (MP 58.0). Often times switch jobs in Eola Yard as well as the various industrial jobs based out of Eola (Armour-Dial, Caterpillar, and the "Aurora Job" which serves several small industries) can be heard as well since they use the same channel for their activities. At night, and during band openings, the Dispatcher radio at Rochelle can often be heard.

Mendota Subdivision



The Mendota Subdivision extends roughly southwest from Aurora, starting at Montgomery, IL (MP 41.0) and ending at Galesburgh Yard (MP 162.4) in Galesburgh, IL. This subdivision is also used by several daily Amtrak trains, including the California Zephyr. This line is double-track with bi-directional CTC. Also of interest is the Illinois RailNet which come onto the line at Montgomery and has trackage rights into Eola Yard. They can often be heard in the evening requesting permission from the dispatcher.

The stream picks up the dispatcher's radio in Montgomery (MP 41.0) and Somonauk (MP 59.2) as well as the track detector at MP 43.8. Crews can be heard from Montgomery, and as far as Plano (MP 51.5). At night, and during band openings, the dispatchers radio at West Mendota (MP 83.1) can often be heard.

Radio Channels Monitored:



Left Chanel (Mendota Sub): AAR 85 (161.385)



Right Chanel (Aurora Sub): AAR 70 (161.160)

Technical Info:



The stream is received on a Yaesu FT-5200 2m Radio (Aurora Sub), and a Radio Shack Pro-2006 (Mendota Sub) both connected to a TrainTenna J-Pole antenna. The audio is fed into a Linux server running IceCast.

The equipment for the stream is located in Sugar Grove, IL.