Bensenville Junction is at the west end of Canadian Pacific's ex-Milwaukee Bensenville Yard, and may be reached from downtown Chicago by taking the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) to York Road. Head north on York about three miles. Just past the Green Street stoplight is Railroad Street which runs along the south side of tracks leading from the yard. Turn right on Railroad, go a block or two and look for a parking spot (do not park in the area reserved for Metra employees).
This location is easily reached from Franklin Park Junction. Just get back on Franklin Street and head west. Franklin becomes Green Street and runs along the south side of the yard for much of the way to Bensenville. Although CP has erected fences, some decent views of the yard are possible from the road. When you reach Bensenville, turn right on Lincoln Street and go north a couple of blocks to Railroad Street. Lincoln is easily missed; if you arrive at York Road, turn right and go north to Railroad Street. Then turn right again.
Another way to get here is simply to take a Metra Milwaukee West Line commuter train to the Bensenville station and walk east a few blocks. The trains depart from Union Station in downtown Chicago.
The tracks alongside Railroad Street are the Metra Milwaukee West Line, carrying Metra commuter trains to Elgin where they terminate. West of Elgin, the tracks belong to Iowa, Chicago & Eastern (controlled by Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern), who purchased the line from I & M Rail Link in 2003 (the latter bought it from CP in the early 1990's). Entering from the northwest is CP's double track extension from Union Pacific's ex-C&NW "New Line". The New Line is a freight-only and begins in the north shore suburb of Northbrook, diverging to the southwest from UP's north-south Milwaukee freight line. At Techny, just north of the now closed Glenwood Naval Air Station, there is a connection from the Metra/CP ex-Milwaukee Road main line to the New Line. Most CP freights coming south from Wisconsin transfer there to the New Line, which continues southwest through Deval and then wraps around the west side of O'Hare Airport. CP trains use trackage rights on UP to a point about two miles north of here (see below for more on this location), where they access their own tracks to Bensenville Yard. In the above photo you are looking north. The foreground tracks are the Milwaukee West Line, and the curving tracks in the background are those leading off the New Line into the yard (UP trains on the New Line continue on south another three miles to Proviso Yard).
Traffic here is moderate through most of the day with heavy commuter traffic during rush hours. The only freight traffic on Metra is an occasional IC&E freight, but the New Line connection sees more frequent traffic--about 20 CP trains a day. Some switching moves at the west end of the yard are observable here as well. Tower B-17 is still in operation and controls the junction. It is staffed by CP operators.
The control point where CP splits off from UP's New Line is known as "Bryn Mawr." It is right alongside York Road, south of Devon Avenue and about two miles north of the Bensenville interlocking. South of Bryn Mawr, the CP and UP lines parallel each other for a ways, then UP curves east and then heads south again on a viaduct that passes over Bensenville Yard about a mile and a half east of the Tower B-17. Traffic at Bryn Mawr is easily seen from York Road, but you're likely to see more planes than trains--the location is on the western edge of O'Hare Airport at the end of a runway. Currently, there is a proposal to expand the runways at O'Hare, and if that comes to pass, the UP line will have to be rerouted.
Frequencies
Metra/CP: 161.520, 161.430
UP: 160.890, 161.040
Bensenville. Railroad Street is public property, so there are no trespass problems
here. Since you're on the south side of the tracks, photography is easy. The surrounding
neighborhood poses no safety problems.
Bryn Mawr. Just park along the east shoulder of York Road. But be careful. Traffic
whizzes by at high speeds.
For more on the Metra Milwaukee West Line, see Franklin Park, Cragin and Western Avenue. See also Other North Side Junctions for Pacific Junction.
For more on the UP/CP New Line, see Deval. See also Techny at Other North / Northwest Suburban Junctions; see Spaulding on the same page for more on IC&E.