A UP Kind of Morning on CN

It was just coincidence that the first two Canadian National trains I saw while railfanning the Champaign Subdivision on Nov. 7 were led by Union Pacific motive power. UP units are, in my experience, not unusual on this stretch of CN although I don’t see them during every visit to the former Illinois Central mainline.

In train in the top image was following Amtrak’s southbound Saluki. The train in the bottom image was the first train I photographed on this outing. In both instance a tree next to the tracks made a handy way to work some fall color into the images.

The top image was made on the west side of the tracks and the bottom photograph on the east side in Pesotum, Illinois.

The Saluki and a Colorful Tree

My quest for fall foliage continued last Sunday with a trip to the Champaign Subdivision of Canadian National, the former Illinois Central mainline between Chicago and New Orleans.

I found some colorful trees next to the tracks in Pesotum, Illinois, and worked with them.

Shown here is Amtrak’s northbound and southbound Saluki, which operates daily between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois, and is funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

For more than a year the Saluki has operated with Superliner equipment and due to a CN-required minimum axle count carries more cars than does the Capitol Limited.

Although the southbound train is shown in the top image, it was the second of the two trains to pass my position.

Charging Past Some Lingering Fall Color

I didn’t expect to find any fall foliage still in its glory during a mid November excursion to east central Illinois.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find some trees in Pesotum, Illinois, on the Champaign Subdivision of Canadian National still boasted peak seasonal color.

Show is Amtrak’s northbound Saluki headed to Chicago from Carbondale, Illinois.

On the point is a SC-44 Charger locomotive owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which also funds the operation of No. 390.

The Siemens-built Chargers are standard motive power on Amtrak’s Midwest corridor trains.

Within a couple years Chargers will replace the GE-Built Genesis units that pull Amtrak’s long-distance trains.

The Saluki these days is operating with Superliner equipment made “surplus” by Amtrak’s reducing the frequency of operation of its long-distance trains to tri-weekly.

It Just Looks Like Fall

My day of railfanning in east central Illinois was winding down as I drove north on Interstate 57.

As I crossed the Canadian National tracks at Pesotum I looked to the north and saw a headlight of a southbound in the distance on the former Illinois Central mainline.

There was time for one more train. I got off the interstate and drove into town, parking next to a former IC passenger station in a park that is bisected by the CN Champaign Subdivision.

There was still some fall color left, although much of it was muted. Still, that color combined with the fallen leaves gave the appearance of autumn.

Being late afternoon, the some sunlight was being blocked by a line of trees on the west side of the track that resulted in shadows being cast over the rails.

Yet the resulting shadows in their own way showed that it was late day and created visual tension in the scene.

The image above showed the most sunlight on the nose of the lead CN locomotive.

The muted colors, the light and shadows, the leaves on the ground all combine to say “it looks like fall.”

Had this been my last image of the day I would have been quite pleased with it.

But it would turn out that I still had one more train to catch and it would yield what might have been my favorite photograph of a day that had been, overall, quite productive and enjoyable.

You’ll see that image tomorrow.

IC ‘Heritage Units’ on the Former IC

My first glimpse of IC 1027 came at Paxton, Ill. My eyes must have lighted up at the site of the IC “death star” logo on the nose.

I don’t know how many locomotives still exist that wear the Illinois Central’s Spartan black and white livery with the “deathstar” logo, but judging by what I read on railfan websites that number is small and shrinking.

The IC was acquired by Canadian National in 1998 and a year later CN began integrating the IC into its network. For awhile the term “CN-IC” was used in daily operations, but that term seems to have fallen by the wayside and it’s just CN today.

You might think that the former IC mainline between Chicago and New Orleans might be a good place to be if you wanted to see former IC locomotives still wearing IC “colors.”

But that is not necessarily the case. On my last couple of visits to the former IC I saw nary a locomotive in IC “colors.” I put the word “colors” in quotation marks because, truth be told, there is nothing colorful about the IC locomotive livery.

But the IC is and always will be my favorite railroad so those locomotives look beautiful to me. But fact I rarely get to see, let alone photograph, them only makes me covet them all the more.

Earlier this month I made a pilgrimage back to my home state to do some research and get in some railfanning along the former Mainline of Mid-America.

I could have chosen a better time. The weather was lousy nearly all the while that I was there with overcast skies and frequent rain.

But I did get lucky in one regard. I would see two locomotives still wearing the IC “deathstar” livery.

I was sitting at Paxton, Ill., listening to the scanner when the Desk 2 RTC Homewood dispatcher spoke with a southbound about to leave Gilman. The conversation revealed that the lead unit was the IC 1027. That got my attention big time.

So when that train came through Paxton my eyes must have widened at the sight of the lead unit with the white “deathstar” logo on the nose.

I thought that would be the end of it with the 1027, but later that day I was pulling out of a Culvers in Champaign when a southbound went past with the 1027 in the lead. The chase was on.

I managed to get this train at Pesotum and Mattoon. The latter happens to be where I grew up and hence getting an IC locomotive passing the former IC passenger station was special, very special.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

About to cross beneath the foot bridge in Paxton.

Part of the passenger station at Pesotum is visible at right. This is a nice place to hang out and watch trains the former IC.

The southbound is passing beneath the Richmond Avenue bride in Mattoon on Track No. 2. Note the remnants of the passenger platform in the lower right-hand corner. The New York Central’s St. Louis line use to cross over the IC on a bridge that used to be in the foreground of this view.

IC 1027 and train pass the former IC passenger station in Mattoon, which is still used by Amtrak. This was the money shot of the sequence in my view.

The IC 1004 was the third unit in the motive power consist but for me there is no “trail equals fail” when it comes to IC locomotives. It is shown in Neoga, Ill., the day before I captured the IC 1027.