Western Railroad Discussion > TPW consist near Watseka, IL

By chance, I caught a five unit TPW locomotive consist near Watseka, IL headed west to the grain processing and ethanol plants at Gilman. It was headed by GP38-2, followed by three SD40-2s. The trailing unit was by far the most interesting: an SD18 lettered for Illinois & Midland and numbered 60. How many SD18 units do you see running around these days? The third photo shows the train crossing CN/IC at Gilman.

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Some background info from the Diesel Shop:

2105: ex-NS, SOU 5050
3441: ex-ICE 6415, UP 3048, CNW 6884
3440: ex-ICE 6403, UP 3630
3442: ex-BCOL 757
60: Chicago & Illinois Midland 60



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/18 08:53 by calumet.

nice catch!

An earlier thread on this very interesting town and rail crossing.


https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2492349,2492592#msg-2492592

Excellent shots. I never seem lucky enough to catch them when I'm in the area
Joe

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> An earlier thread on this very interesting town
> and rail crossing.
>
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11
> ,2492349,2492592#msg-2492592

One of the respondents in the linked post said:

"Unless I'm mistaken (and I readily admit that I could be), the far North/South track in the photo, belongs to CSX. The near North/South track in the photo, belongs to UP. IIRC, when the MP (prior to being merged into the UP) fully absorbed the C&EI, the ICC mandated that they had to sell the C&EI line from the Chicago area (Dolton?) to the Ohio River and beyond, to CSX's predecessor (SCL/L&N). So, I don't believe that UP owns both N/S mains through Watseka, IL. I stand to be corrected on this point."

Both tracks are jointly owned by UP and CSX, with UP dispatching and maintaining them. The double tracking extends from Chicago to Woodland Jct, about 6 miles south of Watseka, where the route splits into separate UP and CSX routes. The writer is correct in saying that the ICC ordered Missouri Pacific to sell the Evansville route as part of its takeover of C&EI. It also ordered MP to grant half ownership of the double track north of Woodland to the buyer of the Evansville route. That buyer was L&N, which is why CSX is now the half owner.

I'm pretty certain that joint ownership of the double track extends from Woodland north to Dolton Jct, where CSX trains can access the CSX's Barr sub and head to Barr Yard. North of Dolton, it's owned solely by UP.

It's my impression that UP and CSX run about the same number of trains on the double track north of Woodland.