EMD SD70s
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Since the CN redid their Iowa power plan, Iowa has seen a few solid IC SD70's consists come and go. Today the weather was not ideal, I will take the sun. The past few consists have had bad weather or I have been on them. Today a 2x1 DP-d 338 fights the 30mph wind as they make their way towards Chicago and Kirk Yard. Here the train hits a small drift outside of Jesup as the wind fills in the holes this afternoon.
Soaring over the confluence of the John Day and Columbia Rivers, one-off local LID44 gets her feet under her again after being hooked by a hot stack. Leading the way this day was a pair of SD70 products, with trailing tonnage made up of extra traffic between The Dalles and Hinkle.
A matching pair of IC SD70s lead M337 out of Plato Center, Illinois passing one of the only IC-era R2 signals left in northern Illinois. Since being relegated to Kirk pool service, the ICs have become extremely difficult to shoot on the former Iowa Division, and this train just so happened to sit in Hawthorne long enough for me to get home from work, grab my camera, and head for northern Illinois.
Two years of relentlessly chasing between Chicago and Centralia and not once have I shot an IC pair under such extraordinary light as this.
The sun has set over the Windy City as CN L537 rolls through 16th Street on the home stretch to Glenn behind a pair of ICs and a GTW GP38-2.
Since the CN redid their Iowa power plan, Iowa has seen a few solid IC SD70's consists come and go. Today the weather was not ideal, I will take the sun. The past few consists have had bad weather or I have been on them. Today a 2x1 DP-d 338 fights the 30mph wind as they make their way towards Chicago and Kirk Yard. Here the train makes some speed as they dip thru one of the many hogbacks on the Dubuque Sub outside of Independence. CP 8881 in cut-in 6000 feet back on this 8100 foot train.
Another shot of a great chase of the CN Bessemer ore train on 9/23/2020. Even if we do all prefer they were orange and black and these IC SD70's were still running the hot intermodals in and out of New Orleans where I first saw them, it's still a great scenic line and a fun day. And I rather like 3 matched standard cabs in 2020 if they aren't painted right.
Nothing says “Illinois” more than cornfields, trains, and specifically the Illinois Central! IC 1000 is seen here leading a cut of stone cars South from Limestone, IL back towards the Herscher Branch wye just South of here to then head East to the mainline of Mid-America the “Chicago Subdivision.” Fall is coming upon us quickly in Illinois and the fields are about ready for harvest. Let it begin!
CSX local F752 led by an EMD SD70MAC pops out of a tree tunnel on the Andrews Sub at N. Charleston on its way to Bennett Yard.
A trio of Illinois Central SD70's split the searchlight signals at MD North in Harmonsburg, Pennsylvania as they hustle south of the CN Bessemer Sub with a train of iron ore loads in tow for the Pittsburgh steel mills. This control point is the north end of what was once the junction of the Bessemer's branch to Meadville.
====Info====
CN Bessemer Sub
Harmonsburg, PA
CN U70262-18 (Iron Ore Loads; Conneaut, OH to North Bessemer, PA)
IC 1028 SD70 Blt. 1999
IC 1038 SD70 Blt. 1999
IC 1022 SD70 Blt. 1999
A few hours after I photographed GALCNI parked outside of Earlville, IL, on the BNSF's Mendota Sub sporting two Illinois Central standard cab SD70s still in their as-delivered "Deathstar" paint (see previous image), it was moved up a few miles to the standard holding point outside of Somonauk. It was there after the train tied back down that some knuckle-dragging jackass in the middle of the night stole the horns off of BOTH locomotives! Whoever did it knew what they were doing, as it was sometime that morning that the horns of both 1010 and 1020 were discovered to be missing. Since this train could now no longer legally move, BNSF had to send out a pair of rescue units a couple of days later to drag this train into Eola.
L537 from Kirk Yard making the slow crawl through downtown as they cross 16th St. I was leaving the White Sox game and heard these guys were at Kensington so I headed over to 41st St and here to grab them. A nice added bonus after a White Sox walk-off win!
A quartet of SD70 variants bring Norfolk Southern #153 across Wells Viaduct near Toccoa, GA on their way south towards Atlanta and eventually Birmingham.
In September 2020, I made several day trips to the Bessemer to shoot the daily ore train with IC SD70's, just thinking that something is going to happen to these standard cabs eventually. The change wasn't long in coming. One of the classic Bessemer shots that was much more elusive than it should have been is this view at the Orr Rd bridge near Mercer. We've all been there, didn't plan correctly, CF'd at the last minute, ... Third time was the ticket on 9/23/2020
CN L536 navigates the concrete mountains of Chicago's Near South Side behind a pair of IC SD70s. We are on top of Indiana Avenue just blocks from the former site of Central Station. CN has single-tracked a portion of the Chicago Sub between 16th Street and McCormick to replace four bridges on this segment. The single-track previously occupied the span in the foreground.
Since the CN redid their Iowa power plan, Iowa has seen a few solid IC SD70's consists come and go. Today the weather was not ideal, I will take the sun. The past few consists have had bad weather or I have been on them. Today a 2x1 DP-d 338 fights the 30mph wind as they make their way towards Chicago and Kirk Yard. Here the train slows as they climb Big Raymond Hill outside of Raymond with almost 16,000 tons of traffic out of Iowa.
NS 12R, led by NS 1800, the first EMD SD70 ACC rebuilt unit clears Chester, SC. The third locomotive is the Savannah and Atlanta Heritage Unit.
Train A408 (Gary, IN - Centralia, IL) hustles south through rural Gilman, IL doing all of track speed with a pair of classic IC SD70s (1026-1019) in the lead. Seen here splitting the famous ancient concrete Illinois Central coal towers on the outskirts of town on the CN Chicago Sub. As can be seen from I-57 and Route 45, the Coal Tower’s is a historical landmark along the Mainline of Mid America, so much so that Google Maps made a pin for it! Taken: 2-26-21
This is one shot with A408 I’ve wanted for years now and the stars finally aligned for it, sole IC power, sun, and having the chance to make the drive down to Central Illinois for a good chase. Matt T’s truck also made it down the access road safe and sound, as most people have car trouble after traveling down the road.
A South bound CSX Freight train led by an EMD SD70 MAC clears Ashland, VA. Remains of Winter storm Jonas is seen.
B434, combined with a C309 from Resource heads south by NE Singleton with a doubled up train for Stilesboro.
After getting a recrew at Champaign Road in Taylor, Michigan, CN L572 is back on the move south over the Dearborn Sub. The iconic concrete arches still standing from Ford's electrified section of the DT&I create a unique tunnel over the pair of IC SD70's on today's train.
====Info====
CN Dearborn Sub
Taylor, MI
CN L572 (Flat Rock, MI to NS Oakwood Yard - Detroit, MI)
IC 1034 SD70 Blt. 1999
IC 1017 SD70 Blt. 1999
The CN L585 job heads back towards Clinton after working in Gilman for a few hours. They busted out their number board & burnt out a ditch light but hitting downed trees full of ice the day prior.
A westbound Conrail unit coal train grinds upgrade through Big Beaver Cut in Highland, PA on Sept. 17, 1998 with two fresh SD70s.
A collision with the grain truck meant the venerable IC 1009, a repaint which had been assigned to the L585 local (Clinton-Gilman turn) since December, was out of service. Filling in was a pair of classic Deathstar SD70s, departing Clinton on the supposedly future CN-KCS "Springfield Speedway" on a smoky, but sunny morning. The 8,000 horses and 10 cars for Gilman split the nearly 90 year old classic US&S ABS signals. (That left one leaning is actually a cast-iron "Hall Signal" semaphore base!) As rustic as the line looks near Clinton, the CN keeps much of it in tip-top shape good for 50 mph. At Birkbeck, about a mile up the line, the engineer will open the throttle and sprint to Gilman.
Southbound CN A40891-01 gets out of Kirk Yard for the Illinois Central with a trio of namesake SD70's, a worthy tradition for some time now. Nice are the lashes of 3 former Illinois Central SD70's, better is the trio still in all black paint with nary a "noodle" to be found.
A duo of Illinois Central SD70's wait out the night in Mobile, Al, at the very southern stem of the IC mainline to town. They're on the point of CN train A489 and will be called at dawn to take the train to Jackson, MS, and eventually Memphis, TN, on the former IC main. A rare pairing of 70s was a good excuse to get out and take a few photos over a year and a half ago now. Hopefully this scenario will repeat itself again soon...
I think it goes without saying that I wasn't expecting to shoot any Illinois Central SD70s this year. Yet here we are in 2022 with a standard cab leader on an intermodal train. I guess that CN has proved me wrong.
I've always thought that these units were interesting; the standard cab being an anachronism in the SD70 series of locomotives. I think it's neat that this—what just looks like a lengthened SD60—is in the same family as the modern ACe-T4.
Conrail SD70 number 2571 leads an Easbound intermodal train under the long gone signal bridge at Cove, Pa.on 07-01-99.
CN L553 headed back towards Otto from the quarry in Limestone off of the CN Herscher Branch in Central Illinois.
CN L509 departs Joliet, IL bound for East Morris as it crosses over the scarcely shot Des Plaines River lift bridge north of the city.
CN A408 rolls past the sprawling grain elevators in Farina, Illinois behind a pair of Illinois Central SD70s.
Holiday? Hell! Gotta keep those rocks moving.
CN's L544 blasts south through Marissa, IL with 30 loads of limestone from Kaskaskia Regional Port District Dock #1, addressed to Prairie State Energy Campus a few miles south - a transfer that happens every weekday. In return, the Dock gets fly ash loads. The crew would also retrieve 30 additional loads of fly ash for later pickup by L548, bound for industries across the U.S.
Thanks to WR for the photo concept, and the weather for cooperating; I got CF-ed last time I tried this; and the friendliest crew on CN. Always a smile and wave every time I saw them...must be ex-IC guys.
A trio of EMD products, all of the SD70 variant, had left Global III and were heading eastbound through Rochelle with stacks in tow.
UP 8860
UP 4387
UP 8934
With an IC SD70 leader, CN G889 rolls through Seward, Illinois, a town of about 200 located halfway between Rockford and Freeport. The town dates back to 1887 when the Illinois Central was building a new mainline between Chicago and the original charter line in Freeport. The wooden depot was presumably built in 1936.
The IC trio stuck on the BLE clears MD North on its southbound trip to North Bessemer. With the arrival of two SD70M-2s and another pair en-route to the BLE, this scene may no longer be repeated daily like it has for several years. For now, the trio can still be seen rather reliably every morning departing Greenville around 0600 heading to Conneaut and back south to Kremis, where a second crew takes the ore to North Bessemer and empties back to Greenville for the night.
Canadian National train L572 rolls south on the former Detroit Toledo & Ironton at Penford Junction in Southgate, MI. The concrete arches are evidence of Henry Ford’s failed attempt to electrify his railroad in the late 1920s. Two former IC SD70s have been the regular power on this job for a while now and are seen here pulling a large train back to Flatrock from the NS interchange at Melvindale.