Rochelle Railroad Park: The Busiest Diamond in America

Just east of Interstate Thirty-Nine in Rochelle, Illinois, two of the busiest freight railroads in North America cross each other at a right angle. The Union Pacific mainline runs southwest to northeast, hauling cargo between Chicago and Omaha. The BNSF mainline cuts northwest to southeast, connecting Chicago to the Twin Cities.

Where they meet is called a diamond crossing, and this one handles between eighty and one hundred twenty trains every single day. The first railroad reached Rochelle in eighteen fifty-four. A second line crossed it sixteen years later.

By nineteen ninety-eight the city had built a small park in the wedge of land between the tracks, the first park in the nation built specifically for watching trains. Railfans from every state, and from countries around the world, come here to sit under the pavilion and count locomotives. On a busy afternoon, you will not wait long.