Takin' Care of Business
It did take a bit of time to figure out what exactly the Bloomer Line was up to when they kept shoving cuts of hoppers back and forth, but radio traffic finally informed us they were setting out a long string of hoppers onto the CN. With that information in hand, the only natural thing to do is visit the old Illinois Central depot in town.
Gibson City's IC depot looks good still, and it also retains a very... interesting late-IC era sign. The double deathstar-adorned sign features a strangely realistic eyeball drawing that makes me laugh and also wonder what the hell they designed the thing like that for every time I see it. It's becoming more and more weathered these days, but it's still just legible enough.
Unfortunately for us, the power set at the Bloomer these days includes LTEX3802. Solid black with nothing else on it, making it the least photogenic unit on the bright-red roster by a longshot - and not even a nice nose decal like on IC motors! In a better world, one of the two remaining Bloomer road units would lead, and even the LTEX3801 wouldn't be a bad leader here. But the black GP35 rebuild was our leader instead. Better than nothing really, but oh well.
Paint aside, the three motors did sound damn good taking care of business.
Takin' Care of Business
It did take a bit of time to figure out what exactly the Bloomer Line was up to when they kept shoving cuts of hoppers back and forth, but radio traffic finally informed us they were setting out a long string of hoppers onto the CN. With that information in hand, the only natural thing to do is visit the old Illinois Central depot in town.
Gibson City's IC depot looks good still, and it also retains a very... interesting late-IC era sign. The double deathstar-adorned sign features a strangely realistic eyeball drawing that makes me laugh and also wonder what the hell they designed the thing like that for every time I see it. It's becoming more and more weathered these days, but it's still just legible enough.
Unfortunately for us, the power set at the Bloomer these days includes LTEX3802. Solid black with nothing else on it, making it the least photogenic unit on the bright-red roster by a longshot - and not even a nice nose decal like on IC motors! In a better world, one of the two remaining Bloomer road units would lead, and even the LTEX3801 wouldn't be a bad leader here. But the black GP35 rebuild was our leader instead. Better than nothing really, but oh well.
Paint aside, the three motors did sound damn good taking care of business.