Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS SD40-2s Mainline Action

Yesterday (Saturday) I was passing through Bloomington, IL so I stopped by Good Yard (the NS yard) to see if there was any sign of PREX 1611, a gp-16 that was taken out of peoria the previous day. I lucked out, and the crew was just boarding their train when I went by, so I decided to follow the train as they left Bloomington headed to Decatur. I've never railfanned that line before, so this was new territory for me. The NS takes a very roundabout way from Bloomington to Decatur. They head due east over to Gibson City, then cut south to Bement, then back west into Decatur. My treck yesterday followed the train to Gibson City, where they had some switching to do, so I decided to head on home rather than wait around. I was surprised to find that the track speed on this line is pretty good. I'd estimate there are points when the train was doing 45mph.

Attached is a video with the footage I got from the chase. Captions show locations. First scene shows the whole train. Note the Rock Island hopper toward the end of the train!
Enjoy!
   -Caleb

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Photos from the chase below:

1. Rounding a bend in Bloomington after crossing the diamond with the UP.

2. Just east of Bloomington, passing a farm and the countless wind turbines that have been built in the area.

3. Wide shot of the entire train dwarfed compared to the size of the wind turbines.
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4. Passing another wind turbine. 

5. (Out of order) Passing the Bloomington IL water tower on the east side of town.

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