BNSF 9769 leads a southbound coal train up Main 1 as it approaches Tomah Rd. on the outskirts of Castle Rock, CO.

After passing up the previous two trains, I unexpectedly stumbled onto this one, and this is what I spent chasing the rest of the morning down to the Air Force Academy.

Why? Because I've been trying to catch a MACe on the point since they first came out several years ago. With only 20-something of them on the roster, I figured my chances were pretty slim. Now, granted, they have been showing up more frequently on the Joint Line lately, but it was nice to actually catch one up front.

The H3 paint scheme is interesting on these as it seems to be a lighter shade than the other H3 units and lighter than the H4 on the SD75s...not sure why. Regardless, it's something different and was something worth getting geek'd over!

Also, the entire train is in the shot. It's hard to see, but you can barely make out the heat shimmies of the DPUs on that ridge in the background.

Fresh out of the CSX Huntington SD70MACe rebuild program, CSX 4714 leads manifest freight M692 as it heads north on the Big Sandy Subdivision. The train is passing the C&O signals at the Marrowbone control point in Marrowbone, Kentucky as it heads towards Shelby Yard for a recrew.

====Info====

CSX Big Sandy Subdivision

Marrowbone, KY

CSX M692-20 (Manifest; Waycross, GA to Russell, KY)

CSX 4714 SD70MACe Ex. CSX 4714 SD70MAC Blt. 2003

CSX 5342 ES40DC Ex. CSX 5342 ES44DC Blt. 2006

A pair of BNSF 70Macs leading Q-ROBCHI from the KCS interchange in Robstown, TX.

BNSF SD70MACe rebuild No. 9729 and former Burlington Northern SD70MAC No. 9675 make a sweet duo leading a southbound loaded coal train towards Sedalia, CO.

E CEJBTM with an SD70MACe on the Beardstown Sub.

CSX 4560 splits the B&O CPL's at Troy, OH with a lengthy, heavy Q507 bound for Cincinnati.

A southbound BNSF coal train led by an SD70MACe bound for Donie, TX rolls into Castle Rock, Colorado on a pleasant morning.

I have another recent offering for you all today. Yipeeeeeee... On Labor Day weekend, CPKC actually produced something of interest when I wasn't busy. Based on the photos you see, you'd think CPKC were a powerhouse of cool trains. But what no one tells you is that only the "good" stuff is being posted. Anyway, 255, CPKC's workhorse junk freight that makes all the stops between Bensenville and Tracy, was majorly delayed in Chicago. This was likely caused by WSOR T004 hitting a vehicle in Glenview. An added bonus was that it had a MACe leading. Last year, these were primarily being used on ballast trains. This year, not so much. But a few have been floating around in general service. With the new T4 GEVOs coming online, I wouldn't be surprised if these were on short time. Who knows. I certainly don't.

Here we see 255 at the classic (cliche?) Milwaukee location where CPKC's Watertown Sub crosses under UP's Milwaukee Sub and Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa. At this point, they're part way up the hill that climbs out of the Menomonee River Valley. UP's route was constructed by the CNW around 1911 as a freight belt line around Milwaukee. This coincided with the construction of the Adams Cutoff west of Milwaukee, which provided a shorter and lower grade route between Chicago and the Northwest (e.g. Twin Cities and the Dakotas) compared to their original mainline via Madison and Elroy. The freight beltline also coincided with a reconfiguration of the five C&NW owned routes leading into Milwaukee, resulting in the junctions of Wiscona and Saint Francis on Milwuakee's north and south side, respectively. I could go into more detail here. But I simply don't have the energy right now.

BNSF 9769 leads a southbound coal train through the U.S. Air Force Academy, CO.

Sometimes the most obvious spots are overlooked and you miss the shot. It's not until you finally see how it turns out do you realize it's not a bad place. I don't mind shooting from 25th street, but when everyone's doing it, and you've shot there countless times over, it gets boring.

This is Grieves Street, down below, taken on the edge of the retaining wall. The light was in the right place to get the nose and nearly the whole train on the straightway.

Fresh out of the CSX Huntington SD70MACe rebuild program, CSX 4714 leads manifest freight M692 as it heads up the Big Sandy Subdivision. The train splits the pair of C&O bracket signals at East Point, Kentucky as a tiny hint of sun tries to break through the clouds.

====Info====

CSX Big Sandy Subdivision

East Point, KY

CSX M692-20 (Manifest; Waycross, GA to Russell, KY)

CSX 4714 SD70MACe Ex. CSX 4714 SD70MAC Blt. 2003

CSX 5342 ES40DC Ex. CSX 5342 ES44DC Blt. 2006

After a fairly dead afternoon, M209 sneaks across the diamond with less than 4000 Ft of cars.

M209-17 (Toledo, OH - Louisville, KY)

CSXT 911 ES44AH

CSXT 4563 SD70MACE

CP 281, essentially 381 and a Ford Fast combined today, crawls through the Milwaukee Intermodal Station with BNSF 9748, an SD70MACe, as the only motor pulling the nearly 10,000 foot train

CSX SD70MACe 4535 leads Q576 north through Smiths Grove.

CSXT 4761 and a GE lead CN G875 westbound at Beth.

Yes, this is the same power that was on that empty ethanol train in downtown Cedar Rapids less than a week earlier.

Yes, the line of clouds did in fact bomb the money shot, much to everyone's dismay.

Yes, some older local gentleman drove up to us on his ATV and just sat and stared at us for 5 minutes in total silence before the train arrived.

And yes, the title is a double entendre which I will not elaborate on.

Taken on the CN Dubuque Subdivision on 8/19/25.

In the wake of the recent computer meltdown at the CPKC, have fun fixing that Kansas City bullshit…

In this image, two KCS SD70MACe’s are on the head end of this Herzog GPS train, which is dumping ballast on the Galt Sub between Guelph Jct. and Orr’s Lake. After some confusion over the radio about work authorities and who had track time where, the WGA crew finally got the work authority they needed and the onboard Herzog crew began to work their magic in the area of expertise of ballast dumping and so the chase was on. I believe about ten to twelve foamers were on the Hwy 6 overpass waiting for this guy.

Trains man trains!

CN G887 emerges from underneath McCormick Place behind a pair of KCS Bellles, the leader being a rare ex-TFM SD70MAC. It is about to come to a stop at the end of double track at Kelley. The gothic building in the background is the R.R. Donnelley Calumet Plant, one of the few historic buildings in the South Loop that has survived redevelopment. It was closed by Sears in 1993.

BNSF’s U-EOSSEE0-02T with BNSF 9730 and 798 on the headend coasts out of Keenesburg, CO in the late afternoon.

BNSF 9734 leads CP 674 at LeClaire, IA.

BNSF SD70MACe brings in the C-WTMAMH0 54A coal train southbound towards Denver passing Barr siding under the ramp from E470 to I-76.

CSX L79011 hustles northward in evening light with a 3 engine consist fronted by SD70AC #4546. ES44AH #951 and CW44AC #159 trail.

C729 heads south at IC King with a mac in the lead and coal loads from the leftover stockpile at TVA Bull Run, which has been decommissioned.

After sitting around an hour waiting on opposing traffic, manifest NS 126 gets going again at control point Crockett on the Pulaski district. A nice looking BNSF SD70MACe leads the charge toward Radford where there will be work in the yard for them before heading to Roanoke to terminate.

4-5-2023

72Z rolls through Paint Rock, Alabama on the Memphis East District with a SD70Mace leading 124 loads of coal.

With coal loads from Grafton bound for Brice, North Carolina CSX C760 heads south on the Big Sandy Subdivision behind an AC4400, SD70MACe, and AC44CWM. As the train rolls south of Louisa, Kentucky it crosses the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River just north of RB Cabin.

====Info====

CSX Big Sandy Subdivision

Louisa, KY

CSX C760-25 (Coal Loads; Grafton, WV to Brice, NC)

CSX 327 AC44CW Bllt. 1998

CSX 4529 SD70MACe Ex. CSX 4529 SD70MAC, CSX 729 Blt. 1999

CSX 7023 AC44CM Ex. CSX 137 AC44CW Blt. 1996

With an overhauled SD70MACE on the point, M252 knocks down the BC 33.1 intermediate at Dillsboro. While not part of last months cutovers, this signal already has a replacement mast standing next to it, with an anticipated cutover in October. The remaining stretch from Milan to Lawrenceburg is the last bastion of active B&O intermediate signals, as the Toledo Sub and most examples on short lines only include control points. With the fall of the remaining signals on the Indiana sub, B&O intermediates will be all but extinct.

An impressive helper set on the CKCWE consisting of a KCS SD70MACe, a Grey Ghost AC44 and UP 1982 at Asbury. The two KCS units were added to the train at Pittsburg.

An SD70MACe is on the point of BNSF train Q-CHIPHX6-31V rolling through West Holliday on the BNSF Emporia Sub. EMD's aren't very common leaders for intermodals on the Transcon, especially a rebuilt SD70MAC. 4/1/21.

BNSF SD70mace 9771 shoves H DENPVO up the grade at Rocky toward little ten and big ten curve. The train has a few hundred more feet to gain in elevation on the front range before reaching the Rockies.

Racing into the sun at Holton, M252 heads east for Cincinnati with an overhauled SD70MACE up front. Directly behind me is a new Safetran vader mast, waiting to be cut into service as modernization work progresses along the Indiana Sub.

A BNSF SD70MACe leads the C-BKMDON0 17A southbound through Sedalia, Colorado at first light.

BNSF 9749 and 9938 shove away the southbound coal load out of Castle Rock as some late spring thunderstorms show in the background.

A pair of SD70MACe units sit just outside of Knoche Yard at Kansas City beneath the fading evening light.

An SD70MACe leads BNSF's Dodge City, KS to Denver autorack train through Palmer Lake not long after the passage of an ominous thunderstorm.

BNSF SD70MACe 9757 rests at CP McConaughey in Coal City, IL for a recrew with a Westbound stack train.

Right before the sun goes down, a lost BNSF SD70MACe and H2 MAC duo lead BNSF's Lincoln, NE to Denver, CO mixed freight.

LaFox, IL

CSX I191 heads west through Riverdale Illinois on the Barr Subdivision with a KCS SD70MACe leading a UP C44ACM

A duo of BNSF SD70s bring an empty coal set through Merrill, MS and across the Pascagoula River on CN’s Beaumont Subdivision. This train is northbound off the Mississippi Export in Evanston, now running as C705 to Memphis on the return trip to the Powder River Basin.

I116 emerges Sand Patch tunnel with a clean SD70MACE rebuild

With an SD70MACe and ES44AC on the point, CSX intermodal train I141 has just gotten on the LCL Subdivision after departing from Cincinnati. Rolling through Erlanger, Kentucky as it heads southwest, the train crosses the bridge over the Bullock Penn Creek valley as it climbs away from the Ohio River.

====Info====

CSX LCL Subdivision

Erlanger, KY

CSX I141-28 (Intermodal; Northwest Ohio ICTF - North Baltimore, OH to Duval Yard - Jacksonville, FL)

CSX 4582 SD70MACe Ex. CSX 4582 SD70MAC, CSX 782, CR 4137 Blt.1998

CSX 3239 ES44AC Blt. 2015

BNSF 9769 lugs a southbound coal train up the grade at Spruce, CO at the sight of one of the old main line crossovers.

This crossover was removed 102 years ago, but the abutments still remain.

As for the MACe, it was a long-time coming before I caught one on the point, and with only 20-something of these things on the current roster, if BNSF doesn't choose to continue to add more, I wonder if in 20 years or so people will only have a vague recollection of them ever existing...

KCS 3919 heads east through Minneiska on CPKC's River Sub. These KCS SD70MAC's have been rather tricky to catch this year, fortunately this ballast train happened to run at the right time of day.

Blue Island, IL

KCS LNO335 heading to Baton Rouge from NOLA across the spillway. This old wooden trestle from the 1930s is 1.8 miles long across the spillway and has been downgraded to only 10mph within the last 10 years.

After working the yard in Huntington, CSX local L212 is on the final leg of its journey towards the yard in Russell. An SD70MACe leads a trio of GE's as the train rolls through Kenova, West Virginia after passing under the signals at KV Cabin.

====Info====

CSX Kanawha Subdivision

Kenova, WV

CSX L212-26 (Local; Clinton Forge, VA to Russell, KY)

CSX 4583 SD70MACe Ex. CSX 4583 SD70MAC, CSX 783, CR 4138 Blt. 1998

CSX 890 ES44AC Blt. 2008

CSX 7021 AC44CM Ex. CSX 129 AC44CW Blt. 1996

CSX 998 ES44AC Blt. 2011

There's been a good bit of rebuilt SD70MACs trickling their way down south to my delight. Here's CSXT #4719 leading Birmingham, AL bound coal train C351 south through Smyrna, GA after meeting I197.

The Illinois Railway departs Wedron IL with an extra sand train with a solo BNSF 70Mace for power.

CSX C748 heads south at Auto 31 on the River Sub past Tilcon's quarry at Haverstraw, NY. This would be one of the last loaded Baltimore coal trains to traverse this route via Selkirk, and it was graced with an SD70MACe leader.