Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area. Located primarily in DuPage and Kane Counties, it is the second most populous city in Illinois, after Chicago, and the 144th most populous city in the United States. The population was 197,899 at the 2010 census, and was 180,542 at the 2020 census.
West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,086 at the 2010 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner, after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU) in 1855. The city was initially established around the first junction of railroad lines in Illinois, and today is still served by the Union Pacific West Metra service via West Chicago station.
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, 32,500 miles (52,300 km) of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.
Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. It is the fourth busiest commuter rail system in the United States by ridership and the largest and busiest commuter rail system outside the New York City metropolitan area. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 23,726,400, or about 116,200 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023. The estimated busiest day for Metra ridership occurred on November 4, 2016—the day of the Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series victory rally.
The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over 12,000 miles (19,000 km) of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. Until 1972, when the employees purchased the company, it was named the Chicago and North Western Railway.
The Iowa Interstate Railroad is a Class II regional railroad operating in the central United States. The railroad is owned by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The BNSF Line is a Metra commuter rail line operated by the BNSF Railway in Chicago and its western suburbs, running from Chicago Union Station to Aurora, Illinois. In 2010, the BNSF Line continued to have the highest weekday ridership of the 11 Metra lines. While Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, the BNSF line's color on Metra timetables is "Cascade Green," in honor of the Burlington Northern Railroad.
The St. Charles Air Line is a rail line in Chicago, Illinois, partially owned by the BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Canadian National Railway.
The Chicago Rail Link is a shortline switching railroad in Illinois. It owns and operates more than 72 miles of track on the South Side of Chicago. It is owned by OmniTRAX.
Joliet Union Station was a train station in Joliet, Illinois that served Amtrak long-distance and Metra commuter trains. It was replaced by the new Joliet Transportation Center in 2018, a train station that was constructed adjacent to the Union Station's location. Train service to Joliet Union Station permanently ceased in September 2014. The station is 37.0 miles (59.5 km) from Chicago Union Station on the Heritage Corridor, and 40.1 miles (64.5 km) from Chicago LaSalle St. Station on the Rock Island District.
South Dakota Highway 42 (SD 42) is a segmented state highway in southeastern South Dakota, United States. The first segment is a six-mile-long (9.7 km) highway in Aurora County. The second and longest is 60 miles (97 km) long and connects Ethan and Sioux Falls. The final segment connects Sioux Falls to Iowa Highway 9 southeast of Rowena.
The Aurora Transportation Center is a station on Metra's BNSF Line in Aurora, Illinois. The station is 37.1 miles (59.7 km) from Union Station, the east end of the line. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Aurora is in zone H. As of 2018, Aurora is the 13th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 1,856 weekday boardings. There is a staffed station building. Just north of the station is the Hill Yard, a large coach yard used to store the Metra trains on the BNSF Line. Aurora is a stub-track terminal, which means the Metra tracks end here. Amtrak and BNSF freights use the two tracks east of the station.
Maryneal is an unincorporated community in southern Nolan County, Texas, United States. It lies along FM 608 south of the city of Sweetwater, the county seat of Nolan County. Its elevation is 2,566 feet (782 m). Although Maryneal is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 79535; the ZCTA for ZIP Code 79535 had a population of 181 at the 2000 census.
The Aurora Subdivision or Aurora Sub is a railway line in Wisconsin and Illinois operated by BNSF Railway. It is part of BNSF's Chicago, Illinois, to Seattle, Washington, Northern Transcon. This segment runs about 262 miles (422 km) from the St. Croix Subdivision in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to the Chicago Subdivision in Aurora, Illinois.
Smithshire is an unincorporated small village in Warren County, Illinois, United States. Smithshire is located along the BNSF Railway line, 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Fort Madison, Iowa. Smithshire is 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Galesburg. Its population is about 100. Smithshire has a post office serving ZIP code 61478, a restaurant, a church, a grainery complex, and a fire station.
The Chicago Subdivision or Chicago Sub is a railroad line in Illinois that runs about 38 miles (61 km) from Chicago to Aurora and hosts Metra's BNSF Railway Line commuter service. It is operated by BNSF Railway as the easternmost part of the railroad's Northern Transcon to Seattle, Washington. This line is known as the Racetrack because it is mostly triple-tracked and supports fairly fast trains. It had been operated by a BNSF ancestor, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, which introduced high-speed Zephyr passenger trains in 1934 and ran many of them along this subdivision from Chicago to points west.
Walter Theodore Krausch, known as W.T. Krausch (1868–1929), was an American architect, engineer, and inventor who worked for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) from the late 1880s to the 1920s.
