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[SD80MAC]

Well, yes, also that!

[David Collins]

Big four before the storm by David R. Collins, on Flickr

A quartet of BNSF GE's lead a lengthy eastbound mixed freight under the West Naperville signal bridge, the dark clouds pictured was from a severe thunderstorm that missed us by 10 miles, but some rain showers still did get us in Naperville.

"The ghost train" by David R. Collins, on Flickr

While Katie and I were watching a loaded steel slab train get recrewed at North Baltimore, a pair of CSX SD40-3's came out of the yard with a cut of intermodal cars. As the engines passed, Katie told me that this train was a ghost train! I asked her what she meant, and she said she didn't see anyone in the cab.

The 4297 (and the SD40-3 behind it) are both remote controlled locomotives. These are used in yards for switching jobs and can be differentiated from normal locomotives with the orange strobe lights on top of the cab.

Hoytville Hotshot by David R. Collins, on Flickr

CSX Intermodal train I010 races east by Hoytville, Ohio with two CSX ES44AH's leading a cut of Perishable, UPS, Fedex and Amazon intermodal traffic at track speed. The giant CSX North Baltimore intermodal yard is right behind me.

First responders by David R. Collins, on Flickr

NS 5642 is sitting at the Toledo crew change pad next to Union Station with the Operation Awareness and Response train in tow. Later that day, the train would leave for Michigan for OAR training. For some reason, SD60E #911 was not on the train.

An old friend by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Back in 2018 (during my early years of filming and taking pictures of trains), I shot an NS MoW camp train heading north by one of my spots in Charlotte, with an SD70ACU leader that I remembered for the longest time because of the stellar K5LA horn it had. #7243.

Fast forward to May of 2023, on my Pennsylvania trip. An unassuming helper set was gliding into Altoona, and to my surprise, the trailing unit on the helper set was the 7243! It looked a lot different compared to when I had last seen the unit in 2018. Now with a helper-link box on the walkway and low ditchlights.

The ACU's have an uncertain future at NS. Most have been sold off because of their unreliability post rebuild due to NS completely half-assing the program...but some have stuck around, including the #7243. Most are in helper service based out of Altoona helping trains up and down the Allegheny Mountains.

[SD80MAC]

The ACUs NS kept don't have an uncertain future at all. They kept the good ones that weren't problematic (the group they actually rebuilt properly) and sold the rest.

[David Collins]

The ACUs NS kept don't have an uncertain future at all. They kept the good ones that weren't problematic (the group they actually rebuilt properly) and sold the rest.

Noted, I’ll change that.

[SD80MAC]

NPR GP9 #1761 by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Northern Plains Railroad #1761 is a GP9 built in 1954 for the Union Pacific. The locomotive has been through a myriad of owners since then, most notably the Kyle Railroad, whose paint still adorns the Geep. Now owned by the NPR, the unit has called the Twin Ports home for the last several years, working briefly on the North Shore Scenic before heading across the river to Superior. The locomotive now is stationed at the Superior Refinery and appears to be the backup unit for the GATX GP15 that is also leased there. 6/8/2023

High Sun & Backlit by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

But, the subject matter is worth posting. L326-29 is seen heading east through Trowbridge in East Lansing with a former Conrail SD60I leading an ES40DC and a 3GS21B. I always thought the SD60s wore YN2 quite well. 4/30/2010

Blisland by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern's FWCH pulls into the IHB's Blue Island as a CSX transfer from Barr prepares to head for home rails. A mix of CSX, NS, and Harbor power sits off to the right. 10/1/2023

Storage Extra by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

A warm June evening in 2009 finds Mid Michigan #24 trundling east on the old GTW Grand Rapids Sub with 50 Bethgons for storage. The Grand Rapids Eastern ultimately stored about 250 of these cars that year. 6/23/2009

Reflections Of A GP38-2 by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Great Lakes Central #398 sits with sister #397 outside the former Pennsylvania Railroad engine house in Cadillac after a day of work. 6/19/2019

Winnebago by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

METX F40PHM-3 #206 arrives in Western Springs with an out-bound Dinky. A pedestrian strike a couple of miles east of here on track one had everything using mains two and three. 4/21/2024

Oh Look, More Leasers! by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

CSX had so many units leased in the mid 2000s, often times it seemed like they had more of those than their own power! Here an HLCX SD40-2 and a CEFX SD40M-2 are going all-out with Q335 as they fight their way out of the Thornapple River valley at Fox. 4/21/2006

Staging Point by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Essexville coal empties E945 are parked on the main at Fox awaiting a new crew to take them on to Chicago. Fox was a spot where west-bound trains on the Plymouth Sub would often either die on HOS, or be staged since it was one of the longer sidings and there were no crossings that would be blocked. Recrews became so common at Fox that CSX even installed a staircase (yellow, at left) for crews to easier climb up and down the steep fill. Pairs of SD70MACs were still the norm on these trains back then, but the influx of thousands of new ES44ACs and SD70ACes over the coming years would change that quickly. 2/23/2007

Marquettish by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Z151 is now on CSX rails at it knocks down the SAS at Fuller behind 3 SD40-2s and a GP38-2. 6/20/2024

Michigan City Arrival by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Amtrak P42DC #37 arrives in Michigan City with train #958, Southern Pacific 4449's excursion consist running from Portland, OR to Owosso, MI for Train Festival 2009. Close-clearance issues on the Norfolk Southern between Union Station and East Chicago forced the #4449 to detour via the IHB to CP 502. Rather than tie up the busy NS main with reuniting the steamer with its train, the decision was made to run #4449 light engine from Chicago to Michigan City earlier that morning, while the assisting Amtrak unit would handle the train along Amtrak's usual routing solo. The P42 that had accompanied the #4449 from Oregon to Chicago was swapped out for #37, one of the Michigan Line-assigned units equipped with ITCS. The daylight would rejoin the train here and then it would be a sprint for Durand, MI. 7/19/2009

Patient Daylight by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Southern Pacific #4449 simmers in Amtrak's small yard at Michigan City as it awaits the arrival of its train. Close-clearance issues on the Norfolk Southern between Union Station and East Chicago forced the #4449 to detour via the IHB to CP 502. Rather than tie up the busy NS main with reuniting the steamer with its train, the decision was made to run #4449 light engine from Chicago to Michigan City earlier that morning, while the assisting Amtrak unit would handle the train along Amtrak's usual routing solo. The P42 that had accompanied the #4449 from Oregon to Chicago was swapped out for #37, one of the Michigan Line-assigned units equipped with ITCS. The Daylight would rejoin the train here and then it would be a sprint for Durand, MI. Unfortunately, I was using a cheap used 24-105 USM lens that day which didn't always focus sharply. 7/19/2009

[David Collins]

A short distance from home by David R. Collins, on Flickr

One of CP's script lettered heritage units, #7019, slumbers away in CSX's Rougemere Yard on a cool Sunday evening. This unit had come up on M510 a few days prior along with a gammit of power, and would leave later on the day this photo was taken on the CPKC interchange back to Canada.

[SD80MAC]

Fishin' On The Flat by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

A fisherman tries his luck on the Flat River as Mid Michigan #24 backs a cut of wheat hoppers across the old wooden trestle leading to King Milling. Once part of the Pere Marquette's "Turkey Trail" between Saginaw and Elmdale, by this point the western part of the line had been truncated to Greenville-Lowell. The last customer in Greenville had shut down a couple of years prior, and the once busy Mid Michigan was more or less consolidated with the connecting Grand Rapids Eastern (former GTW). GP9 #24 was the assigned unit on the GRE for the better part of a decade, having previously spent many years on the eastern half of the MMRR (Alma-Saginaw), and even a brief stint on the Michigan Shore in Muskegon.

Credit goes to my good friend Jon Hall for asking the fisherman to take a few steps further out into the river to help bring this wonderful shot together. 3/30/2007

Durand Jungle by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

CN's vegetation control for much of the 2000s was...lacking, to say the least. A pair of tired Illinois Central SD40-2s, the leader's hood doors flapping in the wind, are heading around the Chicago Wye to head down the Holly Subdivision. 9/16/2006

Incorrect Leader by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

One of the worst-looking classes of power on CSX leads L303 east out of Grand Rapids. 6/11/2024

Trio of Classics by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

CSXT #8467, CEFX #3126, and CSXT #8870 pull out of the even yard in Grand Rapids with a heavy S334 just after sunset in June of 2006. A little further east, I set up and shot a video of these SD40s screaming as they worked uphill out of town, but sadly the file has been corrupted. 6/16/2006

Approach Slow Watson, Wait, No by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

A quartet of EMDs leads Marquette Rail's south-bound Z151 past the site of the former Watson St interlocker in Grand Rapids. Chessie searchlights guarded this interesting but no longer needed junction until 2017. 6/20/2024

The Rocket by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Central Michigan had been merged into Rail America's Huron & Eastern a little over a year prior, but things were still looking pretty much the same as train 702, "The Rocket", arrived in Durand on a cold December Day in 2005. GP40-2W #9712 and B30-7AB #2002 are seen leading the train around the Port Huron Wye, taking head room before backing into the yard. This would be the one and only time I would see 9712 in its CMGN lettering, as it was patched for HESR the following year. As of June 2024, it had just recently departed the HESR for the NECR as HESR #3036 after nearly 30 years of working in the Mitten. 12/3/2005

Lansing by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

A stopped CN west-bound is awaiting a recrew near the BWL plant in Lansing. The smoke stacks are known to the local Lansingonians (Lansingites?) as Winking, Stinking, and Ned. Leading the train is CN 5400, the very first SD50F. 2/22/2007

MQT Recrew by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

In the early days of Marquette Rail, the trains were long, but the track was still good for 40 in most spots. Even with being able to run that fast, the amount of switching on the trip to Grand Rapids and back would often be too much for the Baldwin-based crews to do in a 12 hour shift. Recrews were common, and Comstock Park was a spot they would frequently park the Z151 for the next crew. On this evening, the new crew was just coming on duty and was in the process of firing up GMTX 2648, GMTX 2676, GLLX 3001, and GMTX 2652. The bulk of their train was still south of the North Park crossing, which they would shortly back up to collect.

GMTX #2648 was built as Penn Central GP38 #7727. All 5 of MQT's GATX Geeps were returned in 2011 after they purchased 5 ex UP GP38-2s from GATX. 9/6/2008

Chatsworth Stop by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Tired Metrolink F59PH #862 leads a north-bound commuter train into the station at Chatsworth. The train were switch directions here and head back to Los Angeles. The F59PHs provided many years of service for Metrolink, but as of last word they had all been stored or outright retired by new EMD F125s, save for the 7 that had been rebuilt to F59PHRs.

Heavy-haul commuter rail has always fascinated me. Having grown up being most familiar with Chicago's Metra, SoCal's Metrolink, with its fleet of F59s and Bombardier bi-levels, seemed very foreign to me the first time I encountered it. And sure, I know electrics are more efficient, but there is something just plain awesome about watching a cowled EMD blast off from a station stop with a train of commuters in tow. 3/9/2011

Cold, But Sunny by Jonathon Leese, on Flickr

Rolling south along the old New York Central is Huron & Eastern 702 on bright February day. A trio of former Central Michigan motors do the honors on this day. GP38AC #8804 was originally built as a B&O GP40, coming to the CMGN from Helm Financial after a rebuild in 1988. C30-7 #5086 and B30-7 #5492 are both former Burlington Northern units, the latter originally being from the Frisco. Today, #8804 soldiers on as HESR #2026, while the GEs have been scrap for over 10 years now. 2/8/2011