~*~PLEASE COMMENT!~*~ MUST SEE!! An outstanding day of railfanning! Tons of goodies! 10/10/2009

Title:
~*~PLEASE COMMENT!~*~ MUST SEE!! An outstanding day of railfanning! Tons of goodies! 10/10/2009

Description:
~*~PLEASE COMMENT!~*~ MUST SEE!! An outstanding day of railfanning! Tons of goodies! The night before this day, I got word that the Illinois Central E9(A)'s were sitting in Markham Yard (CN's yard in Homewood, IL.), coupled onto three IC passenger cars. The Fighting Illini were playing the Spartans in Champaign the following day, so chances were extremely high that the E units were going to be making a trip south to Champaign. It happened, indeed. I woke up at 5:45 A.M. and got on the road, headed south. I came into Clifton, IL., just before 7:00 A.M. According to scanner chatter, the football special was to depart Homewood after the departure of the southbound, Amtrak Saluki 391 (scheduled arrival into Homewood at 8:56 A.M.). The Amtrak arrived into Homewood on time, so things were going as planned so far. After hearing that, I knew that I had a while, so I just kicked back and waited for any train to come my way. I wasn't there long when I heard the horn of an approaching northbound. NS C40-9W 9068, with a stellar P5, and veteran NS C40-8 8307 lead a northbound NS run through train, through Clifton, IL., on the CN Chicago Subdivision. I really like the CN detector in town. Hearing "Have a safe trip." is just really cool. The Saluki ended up losing time between Homewood and Kankakee, most likely because of CN's speed limit drop from 79 to 60. On time percentage for the southbound Saluki is down to 3%. He made it into Kanakee about 45 minutes late. Amtrak P42DC 57 leads the southbound Saluki through Clifton, IL., on the CN Chicago Subdivision. The football special was right behind it and by right behind it, I mean three minutes after that Amtrak cleared, the IC headlight appeared down the tracks. Illinois Central E9(A)'s 100 and 101, along with three Illinois Central business cars, head south through Clifton, IL., on the CN Chicago Subdivision, making its run to Champaign for the Fighting Illini football game! Very cool! Love the P5 as well! My main objective for the day was achieved, but more railfanning was still on hand! Before the Amtrak and football special passed through, I heard scanner activity regarding the Gilman Local (L55391 10) departing Gilman after the passage of Amtrak and the football special. As soon as the football special cleared Clifton, I got on I-57 and made the fifteen mile southbound trip to Gilman. From the interstate, I didn't see anything train related at all, so I bypassed Gilman and went further south to the town of Onarga, IL. As soon as I was pulling up to the tracks in town, I saw a headlight approaching. It was, indeed, the Gilman Local. Classic EMD power in the form of CN GP38-2 4705 and IC GP40R 3102, highballs through, passing the Onarga town sign. After Onarga, I began to head back north. While passing through Gilman, I heard scanner activity about a southbound NS train in Ashkum, that would be taking the wye in Gilman and getting on the CN Gibson City Sub. I got off of 57 in Gilman and headed down to the tracks. There was a headlight slowly approaching. I set up at the classic IC signal bridge in town. NS C40-9W 9412, NS C40-8W 8440 and NS hi-hood GP38-2 5190 (rare catch!) prepare to take the wye in town, for a trip to Gibson City. I then continued north until I reached Kankakee. I've never actually explored too much around Kankakee before, so I hopped off 57 and did just that. More scanner activity was going on and I heard the end of a conversation between a train and the RTC. "6401" was all I heard. Not really knowing what that was at a time, I took a drive down near the CN yard and spotted GTW (CN) GP40-2 6401 and IC (CN) GP38-2 9626 switching around. 6401 has its good looking Operation Lifesaver logos! This was the Kankakee Local and it would eventually depart, southbound for Gilman. I then left Kankakee and started to head home to Joliet. I was home for a while and then decided to head over to the EJ&E (yeah, CN). Southbound M342 was nearing and was instructed to take the siding at Turner to wait for southbound JSW1's passage. M342 rolls south through Joliet, with CN ES44DC 2291 and CN C44-9W 2587. With M342 tucked away in the siding, the southbound JSW1 highballs through Joliet, almost home to the yard. SD38-2 656 is in charge. Nice sound as always! Before the JSW1 reached Turner, the M342 had switched over to the main and advanced up to the lift bridge. JSW1 slowly rolls south through Crest Hill, down the siding. 656's Leslie is really nice! With the fall colors really starting to pop, a southbound mix of autoracks and stacks pass Turner, powered by BNSF ES44DC 7613 and Santa Fe SD75M 8200. Many thanks for watching! Filmed on 10/10/2009.

Author:
NicTrain35

Tags:
~*~PLEASE, COMMENT!~*~, MUST, SEE!!, An, outstanding, day, of, railfanning!, Tons, goodies!,