Sharing Secondaries in Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois has been synonymous with sleepy secondary lines and coal. The flow of coal has been reversed over the last 40 years as local mines have closed, and Powder River coal now flows in.
BNSF's Beardstown Subdivision strikes southeast from the division point of Centralia to reach Paducah, KY. Traffic sources are limited and reduced mixed carloadings to a three-times a week turn. Enough switching outside of Metropolis and delays on the shared trackage with the UP can make it difficult for the local to complete a cycle. Coal trains are also sporadic after the closure of the large power plant at Joppa.
Coal still moves down to Ohio River barge transloads. This can still be a quiet piece of railroad.
The Union Pacific's Marion Subdivison is a heavy duty branch off the Mount Vernon Sub at Benton, IL down to West Vienna, IL. Online traffic is sparse and the main lifeblood is also coal. UP serves a remaining power plant in southern Illinois (Cook) and I believe also takes coal into KY for transload. Definitely not a hotbed of action.
On this day, I had some hours to kill and found a BNSF coal load departing Centralia. I ran over towards Christopher, IL to intercept and heard 2 UP coal loads working their way to and down the Marion Sub. BNSF and UP share trackage from a point south of Marion, IL (Neilson Jct) for a dozen or so miles to West Vienna. UP no longer branches off but rather stays on BNSF trackage towards Metropolis. Thus, there is an odd section that UP dispatches and then a section BNSF dispatches. Naturally, the BNSF coal load was told to wait for both UP coal loads.
UP 6205 South - CNRIM2 26 has the 2nd Cook load at Neilson Jct - once the location of a lonely tower between the Burlington and C&EI. In the background is a dead BNSF local waits for a crew that was still a day away. Some neat trackage up and down through Goreville, IL but finding trains is the challenge.
09-27-2025
Sharing Secondaries in Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois has been synonymous with sleepy secondary lines and coal. The flow of coal has been reversed over the last 40 years as local mines have closed, and Powder River coal now flows in.
BNSF's Beardstown Subdivision strikes southeast from the division point of Centralia to reach Paducah, KY. Traffic sources are limited and reduced mixed carloadings to a three-times a week turn. Enough switching outside of Metropolis and delays on the shared trackage with the UP can make it difficult for the local to complete a cycle. Coal trains are also sporadic after the closure of the large power plant at Joppa.
Coal still moves down to Ohio River barge transloads. This can still be a quiet piece of railroad.
The Union Pacific's Marion Subdivison is a heavy duty branch off the Mount Vernon Sub at Benton, IL down to West Vienna, IL. Online traffic is sparse and the main lifeblood is also coal. UP serves a remaining power plant in southern Illinois (Cook) and I believe also takes coal into KY for transload. Definitely not a hotbed of action.
On this day, I had some hours to kill and found a BNSF coal load departing Centralia. I ran over towards Christopher, IL to intercept and heard 2 UP coal loads working their way to and down the Marion Sub. BNSF and UP share trackage from a point south of Marion, IL (Neilson Jct) for a dozen or so miles to West Vienna. UP no longer branches off but rather stays on BNSF trackage towards Metropolis. Thus, there is an odd section that UP dispatches and then a section BNSF dispatches. Naturally, the BNSF coal load was told to wait for both UP coal loads.
UP 6205 South - CNRIM2 26 has the 2nd Cook load at Neilson Jct - once the location of a lonely tower between the Burlington and C&EI. In the background is a dead BNSF local waits for a crew that was still a day away. Some neat trackage up and down through Goreville, IL but finding trains is the challenge.
09-27-2025