Eastern Railroad Discussion > Centralia, IL 3/6

Made a trip up to Centralia, IL yesterday. Was there 10 hours and caught 10 trains all from CN, NS, BNSF and Amtrak.

1. First train of the day, NS #125 with NS #4256 and #9400.
2. Second train, possibly the crown jewel of the day. CN A407 leaves with a pair of IC twins, #1038 and #1021.
3. NS #5181, local power parked for the weekend. 

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4. Amtrak #390 makes it's 8:20 AM arrival.
5. Train number 4 is another NS, #167. #1093 and #3655 are power.
6. 167 usually operates with a mid-train DPU and today is no different.

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7. Train #5 is courtesy of the CN but you couldn't tell it is. NB empty grain with BNSF #5410 and #5285 up front.
8. EJ&E #663 and GTW #6227 work in the yard before tying down.
9. A brief stop at the roundhouse reveals some variety of power.

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10. GTW #4912 and IC #3137 were among the power.
11. Recently restored BN caboose #12063 sitting behing the Centralia Area Historical Museum.
12. Moving south to Irvington, IL where train #6, CN train A431 enters the south end of the yard. CN #3025 and #2627 are power.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/21 15:44 by bodkin6071.

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13-14. Train #7 is a BNSF Baldwin coal empty returning to BNSF rails.
15. Train #8 is CN A432, with even more BNSF.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/21 14:39 by bodkin6071.

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16-17. Train #9 is a CN empty ore train.
18.  And the last train of the day, #10, is NS #224.

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Great shots! Thank you for sharing. Just curious, any idea as to where the ore train originated and where it is heading?

Thank uou in advance.

Great coverage from central Illinois.  Regards the Ore train.  The first train was loaded on October 16th, 2020  at U.S. Steel's Minntac ( Minnesota Taconite Plant, Northern Minnesota)  with 150 cars, around 21, 500 tons.  Train is routed to Convent Marine Terminal,  on the Mississippi River near New Orleans  for export to Europe. These are test shipments so they say.  Previous taconite was shipped to Conneaut, OH.  on Lake boats, out of CN's docks in Two Harbors, MN.   then transloaded onto Ocean going ships for Europe.


PWM



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/21 17:45 by Quakerengr.

The transload route at Conneaut, OH would seem to be much cheaper, than involving the railroad to New Orleans.  

Centralia isn't perfect, but it is by far not the worst town in IL... It's my hometown, but I moved away at age 17. 

Adam

The restored BN caboose in #11, it is a mighty improvement over the very first time I saw it, on December 23, 2006, my first ever trip to Centralia.

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