CSX 7539 (C40-8) at East Auburn
CSX 7539 makes an appearance on a westbound Stampede Pass train at East Auburn, Washington, in January 1998.
CSX 7539 is a GE C40-8.
Photo by David Cooley.
Rock Island heritage unit in action
I just ran into a nicely shot video on YouTube by Nick of Joliet, IL. It features the Iowa Interstate’s Rock Island heritage unit on an ethanol extra running eastbound from Minooka towards Blue Island, IL. The unit is striking in red and black trimmed with white striping. It’s a far cry from the same-old-same-old out here in the land of never-ending BNSF orange and UP armor yellow.
Listen carefully at 02:30 for the engineer’s crack about photos of the classy unit being twenty bucks a shot!
While watching, I grabbed my copy of Sonrisa’s Illinois Railroad Maps to get better acquainted with the lay of the land. The video takes place on CSX’s New Rock subdivision, which fittingly is former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific trackage. Here’s a snippet of the map as it appears on page 23:
I must admit, I have to keep from snickering at 04:12 and 05:54 when Nick describes how the train slows to battle two “hills.” I understand that railroad grades are very slight compared to highways and hiking trails, but somehow it doesn’t look like much of a struggle when the landscape is so, well, flat. Oh well, I guess I am just spoiled by the likes of the Cascades, Sierras and Tehachapis out West!
(Reposted from original blog)