After being in the area the day before to shoot the hydrogen unit, I found myself back at Brant again chasing another unique unit on CP.

Power: CP 3747 (EMD SD9043MAC) - CP 6302 (EMD SD60-3)

Union Pacific train AROAS is just a few miles away from arriving at Minturn CO for a crew change. UP SD9043MAC 8124 is just a few weeks old here, and Union Pacific will close the Tennessee Pass line by the end of August, three months after this image was captured.

5-17-1997

Not much motive power variety remains on the NS anymore. So fortunately I had my gear along when I was taking my truck in for its annual state inspection as this freight 12Z was passing through town. Leader SD70ACU number 7263 peaked my interest into a short chase. The 7263 was rebuilt from a Union Pacific SD9043MAC (UP 8034). Yep, getting pretty desperate in this day of locomotive fleet reductions account the PSR craze!

About a year ago. I shot an eastbound work train at this exact spot with a pair of SD40s. Here we are a year later except this time we got a rough-looking SD9043MAC on the helm from UP.

I can't believe CP had the actual audacity to buy these from UP, but I guess anything is possible now.

With two maroon SD9043MAC sisters awaiting delivery at Wales, are these nice recently washed blue CEFX MACs on borrowed time?

Just west of the Illinois route 1 intersection, INRD 9004 leads the NTHW 15 towards Palestine yard where it will drop off some freight before finishing the trip back to Hiawatha. This was a neat train because it's the new and the old coming together to work this train.

INRD 9004 East - INRD NTHW 15

INRD Indianapolis Sub - MP 127.3

Robinson, IL

June 15, 2023

Thanks in part to increased track speeds on INRD and road construction between Bargersville and Morgantown I beat the SAHW here by about 45 seconds before he was poking out of those trees. Some dude standing just left of the shot make it even more challenging for an already rushed shot that I had never been too, but all in all I'm okay with what I got here.

A random group of locomotives have been serviced and await assignment in the joint Union Pacific - Utah Railway yard in Provo on Oct. 5, 1997. The spectrum includes UP C41-8W No. 9456, SP AC4400CW No. 137, UP SD9043MAC No. 8104, BN SD40-2 No. 7887, and GWRX GP10 No. 1045.

An overnight storm has cleared, revealing colorful oak brush as a Union Pacific coal empty rolls eastward through Spanish Fork Canyon at Castilla, Utah on Sept. 22, 1998.

Union Pacific coal empties and loads meet at Kyune in Utah's Price Canyon the afternoon of Nov. 17, 2001.

No better spot on the railroad to show off 5 locomotives on the head end of SAHW than Tulip Trestle.

A westbound Union Pacific potash train emerges from 1,828-foot Hermosa Tunnel on UP’s Sherman Hill crossing on the Laramie Subdivision in Wyoming on October 29, 2008. Powering the westbound is four EMD SD9043MACs, along with a GE AC4400CW-CTE and a GE AC4400CW.

During the peak of autumn color at Tolland, Colorado, on October 2, 2008, westbound Union Pacific MNYRO rumbles west with eight locomotives. Two EMD SD70Ms leads a GE AC4400CW, a EMD SD9043MAC and four more GE AC4400CWs.

A trio of EMD SD70Ms, an SD9043MAC, and a GE AC4400CW power UP's Salt Lake City to Denver manifest, symbol MRONY, aka "Macaroni", emerges from the Thistle Tunnels on June 27, 2008.

Union Pacific removed through manifest trains between Salt Lake City and Denver from the line up on Dec. 8, 2018. The loss was a consequence of the adoption of Precision Scheduled Railroading.

Indiana Railroad's Tulip Trestle, AKA the Greene County Viaduct was the scene on a typical overcast winter day as the Santa Train crossed the big bridge originally built for the Illinois Central.

SD9043MAC 9025 was powering the train and had been recently painted to honor the Indiana's 25th Anniversary.

Thanks to Covid-19, the Indiana Railroad recently announced that the 2020 edition of the Santa Train will not run.

NSM's morning train that departed Babbitt around 0730 is nearing the end of its trip at Silver Bay as fresh snow blows in a stiff wind.

Canadian Pacific intermodal 143 ended up with quite the unusual pair of lead units in the form of a pair of Central Maine & Quebec SD40-2F's as it made it's morning run into Buffalo over the CN Stamford Sub and on to CSX. The train is crossing the Black Rock Canal and I-190 on the Harbour Draw swing span of International Bridge, and will slowly make their way through the US Customs scanners as they head on to CSX.

====Info====

CN Stamford Sub

Buffalo, NY

CP 143 (Montreal, QC to Buffalo, NY)

CMQ 9020 SD40-2F Ex. CP 9020 Blt. 1988

CMQ 9022 SD40-2F Ex. CP 9022 Blt. 1988

CP 8013 AC44CWM Ex. CP 9518 AC44CW Blt. 1995

CP 7023 SD70ACU Ex. CP 9128 SD9043MAC Blt. 1998

INRD power lays over outside the Merom Generating Station near Sullivan, Indiana after bringing in loads from Oaktown the previous day. The power will shuttle empties to Bear Run Mine later that day.

A pair of SD40E helpers are on the head end of loaded trash train 63V as it descends the West Slope grade of the Alleghenies in Lilly, Pennsylvania and rolls under the PRR signal bridge at milepost 546. This was the last winter that these signals stood guard over the Pittsburgh Line before being removed.

====Info====

NS Pittsburgh Line

Lilly, PA

NS 63V (Trash Loads; Oak Island, NJ to Mingo Junction, OH)

NS 6333 SD40E Ex. NS 5407 SD50, CR 6713 Blt. 1983

NS 6311 SD40E Ex. NS 6516 Blt. 1984

NS 9565 C44-9W Ex. NS 9565 C40-9W Blt. 2000

NS 7270 SD70ACU Ex. NS 7270 SD9043MAC, UP 3482, UP 8042 Blt. 1996

A pair of INRD 90Mac's hustle Merom empties back to Bear Run Mine for another load of dinosaurs to keep the lights on. The train is seen passing a lake that has former due to the many reclaimed strip mines in the area. On the North side of the tracks here once resided the now ghost town of Caledonia, IN, long gone since the early 1900's.

The official low temperature the night before at Pocatello was -6°F, but it was even colder at American Falls, Idaho, the morning of January 21, 2013. A westbound Union Pacific freight crosses the impressive Snake River Bridge below American Falls Dam. Leading the train is UP 6942, a former GE AC6000CW, now labeled a plain AC4400CW, with a Canadian National SD75I, a UP SD9043MAC and a former Southern Pacific AC4400CW trailing. Steamy fog rises off the icy cold river into even more frigid air around the partially frozen falls.

Union Pacific's "Dirt Train" local out of Helper, Utah was most famous for running former Rio Grande SD40T-2 "tunnel motors" until the last unpatched unit (DRGW 5371) was retired in April 2008.

On October 17th that same year, I caught the LJP45 "Dirt Train" climbing the Sunnyside Sub near East Carbon City, Utah. This was the only time I saw an EMD SD9043MAC working the local. It appeared there was plenty power that day to pull seven loads up the 1.5% grade to the ECDC landfill rail/truck transfer yard.

Led by Southern Pacific GE AC4400CW No. 340, an eastbound Union Pacific coal train descends the two percent grade between Clay and Rocky, Colorado on April 13, 2002. The head en is approaching the west switch of Rocky siding, and the two DPUs on the rear of the train are above and just crossed over the east switch of Clay siding, while a lone mid-train DPU is circling Big 10 Curve out of sight to the left.

A rainy morning in Ottumwa, Iowa finds Canadian Pacific's train 261 tied down just outside of the yard, the crew having run out of hours before they could yard the train. On the point of the Kansas City to St. Paul manifest is Norfolk Southern's Interstate heritage unit leading three other CP locomotives.

====Info====

CP Laredo Sub

Ottumwa, IA

CP 261 (Manifest; Knoche Yard - Kansas City, MO to Pig's Eye Yard - St. Paul, MN)

NS 8105 ES44AC Blt. 2012

CP 8518 AC44CW Blt. 1998

CP 8063 AC44CWM Ex. CP 9540 AC44CW Blt. 1995

CP 7046 SD70ACU Ex. CP 9148 SD9043MAC Blt. 1999

A trio of Union Pacific EMD SD9043MACS power a westbound UP coal train through the snowy curves approaching the siding at Crescent, Colorado, on a very wet April 23, 1999. The former Rio Grande Moffat Tunnel route through the Tunnel District can receive a good snowfall when conditions are right.

A Union Pacific coal empty emerges from the Thistle Tunnels on a misty Sept. 22, 1998 morning.

A wide view of empties working upgrade out of the Lake Superior Basin headed back to Babbitt.

Another SD9043MAC leads a southbound loaded train through the S curve south of Antelope.

UP 3643 (SD9043MAC) crawls along with empty oil cans as it closely follows CP train 499 that is going through the siding at Loretto a mile to the west.

INRD SAHW crosses the infamous Tulip Trestle Bridge on a crisp fall evening with a pair of SD90MACs.

This was a shot that was on my bucket list for a while and was worth the trip. Especially since the SD90MACs will get phased out eventually on the INRD

CP 7045 passes under the classic signal bridge at Hoffman Avenue as it departs from the crew change at St. Paul, Minn.

As the morning fog burns off, the North Shore Mining Railroad's matched SD9043MAC pair brings the morning train from Babbitt down to Silver Bay, Minnesota while Missabe Road and I lens it up from the overpass.

Unlike McDonald's, UP offered a good looking MAC today on MYCAS. Here we see UP 3642, an EMD SD9043MAC, as it gets ready to make a large setout at Villa Grove.

Four macs and a GP lead a short SAHW south through Bargersville IN enroute directly to Jasonville on this night which made me loose a few shots but it was still a good day of fast chasing.

INRD Merom empties roll eastbound near Sullivan, Indiana at the site of the long-lost town of Caledonia, vacated by strip mining.

Several miles east of Dalton on the Wisconsin Adams line at Ingle - Union Pacific EMD SD9043MAC #3726 is leading UP train ADBU on a snowless December 31st, 2014. ~~ A Jeff Hampton Photograph ©

On a beautiful summer day in British Columbia, a westbound Canadian Pacific freight crosses the bridge at Ottertail led by EMD SD9043MAC No. 9151 on June 27, 2006.

An Indiana Railroad GP38-2 leads two SD90MAC's as SAHW cruises through Bargersville, Indiana at a brisk pace, passing along the grain elevators that tower above the flat landscape south of Indianapolis. A long train is in tow on this Sunday afternoon, with a block of intermodal on the head end and manifest freight behind it.

====Info====

INRD Indianapolis Sub

Bargersville, IN

INRD SAHW (Senate Avenue - Indianapolis, IN to Hiawatha Yard - Jasonville, IN)

INRD 3803 GP38-2 Ex. HLCX 3830, CR 8255 Blt. 1978

INRD 9001 SD9043MAC Ex. CEFX 123 Blt 1999

INRD 9007 SD9043MAC Ex. CEFX 9007 Blt. 2000

CP 3747 continues the slow drag into Vulcan, AB. I failed to mention in the previous post, that the train was limited to 10mph south of Ensign after being snagged by a detector.

Power: CP 3747 (EMD SD9043MAC) - CP 6302 (EMD SD60-3)

Chicago and North Western 6934 led a Union Pacific SD60M and an SD9043MAC on a westbound freight in Fairfax, Iowa in 1996.

The 6934 was painted with an Operation Lifesaver logo which was one of only a few so adorned.

Running with a usual pair of INRD SD9043MAC's, the southbound freight from Indy blasts west through Linton, IN, on the way to Palestine, IL, on the last evening of May 2020.

NS Doublestack Train 23E/KCS I-ATDA-2 departs Meridian, MS. headed for Dallas, TX. from Atlanta, GA. after making a crew change.

Vibrant scrub oak brush adorns the steep slopes of Loafer Mountain as a coal empty rolls eastward through Castilla, Utah on Sept. 22, 1998.

A late running HWSA meant that instead of shooting a cloudy blah shot, I could breakout the flashes. With no stacks in tow HWSA passes Redbird state recreation area and ORV trails in Dugger IN. The crew will swing hard left in about a mile and head east to Switz City to meet the SAHW and swap trains.