Nostalgia & History > Meet at McCook, Illinois, 1986.

An eastbound Chicago and Northwestern  train on the Indiana Harbor Belt at McCook. Illinois crossing with the Santa Fe in 1986.  In the first clip novement at a good speed slows to a crawl and stops.  In the second clip movement resumes  and we see a meet with a westbound Chessie train with rare power.

Thanks for viewing.

Ron Hirsch
Springfield, Mo.

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

 Cool video from one of the best places to watch trains in the Chicago area at one time!

My guess is that was CNW Train 274 which was handed to them from the UP in Nebraska and on its way to Conrail in Elkhart, IN

Interesting power indeed on the westbound CSX train.  A GP15T leading an SD60 demonstrator.  Five years later, EMD3 would go to the BN to replace wrecked Oakway 9041 and stay there until BNSF retired that fleet in 2010.  Thanks for posting.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/20 19:30 by ntharalson.

 A guess would be the CSX run is "The Reynolds Job" which served Reynold's Aluminum about a half mile (or so) past the diamond at a hand throw switch. Perhap they'll drop the cars at that industry and later get rid of the SD60 at the nearby EMD plant.

The trains of my youth, cabooses and all...
Neat to see the PFE reefers interspersed in the eastbound CNW train.

Thanks for resurrecting memories of good times. That CNW started across the way that most traffic went by back in the 60s. The Chessie job was like the Lake Shore Hotshots LS1 and LS 11, the morning dread, trying to fit the creeping, crawling 100 car 'hotshots' across among the Santa Fe traffic. They must have been an overtime job. The B&OCT jobs never ran like that Chessie job.

The pole in the parking lot looks like the same one that was there when I worked McCook tower. I might even have a picture of my cr parked next to it. The tree next to the Santa Fe motor car house wasn't dead back then.

TAW

ghemr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  Cool video from one of the best places to watch
> trains in the Chicago area at one time!

One of the best places to work, too.

TAW

Really enjoyed these videos.  Many thanks for showing them here.
Imagine, two trains, lots of cars, and not a single one with graffitti !  Awesome !
In the first vid, saw an unusual logo on a box at 3:15 that I couldn't make out.
Also at 3:30, another unusual box with lots of vertical bracing that looks unique.
Great catch at the end of the second vid with the Vulcan Materials switcher back there.
 

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ghemr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >  Cool video from one of the best places to
> watch
> > trains in the Chicago area at one time!
>
> One of the best places to work, too.
>
> TAW

I always thought it must have been a nice job before Nick torched the tower.
The replacement trailer job was just the opposite.  It was so close to the diamonds
that we had to scatter whenever Santa Fe's came through on their "westbound" main.
Most of the switchtenders took about 30 minutes to make one lineup, and if they had
to do more than one per hour they complained.
I disliked working the trailer so much that I bid 2nd 75 just to avoid having to go there.