Union Pacific LSF54 2-14-22

Although out of our immediate area, I'm sharing this encounter because it is a good news story.

I went to Bloomington-Normal after work this afternoon hoping to intercept Norfolk Southern's eastbound local, D49, before it arrived Good Yard. But I did catch Union Pacific's southbound Joliet Subdivision local, LSF54, rolling by Uptown Station in Normal as daylight was fading rapidly. 

UP 1066, an ex-Southern Pacific GP60, and UP 1498, an ex-Cotton Belt (St. Louis-Southwestern) GP40-2 resplendent in Armour Yellow, have 26 cars from three local industries up north. 

All were empty. The first three cars last contained grain products (gluten feed pellets, soybean meal, gluten meal, etc.) and were pulled from Prairie Creek Grain Co's Elwood elevator, which receives these products, transfers contents from railcars to ocean containers then drays them to are intermodal terminals (such as Union Pacific-served Joliet Intermodal Terminal) for export. 

The next two were tank cars pulled from DuPont's foam plastic sealant plant north of Wilmington. Haz-mat placards display "UN 3082" which denotes these cars last contained a hazard, environmentally hazard liquid, probably pesticide.

Finally, the last 21 cars were pulled from G&D Trucking Inc./Hoffman Transportation LLC's Coal City plastic transload site. This 270-acre facility can hold up to 800 railcars and features 420,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space. Until it opened in 2018, Union Pacific locals working north from Bloomington were typically short, usually less than ten cars. A growing volume of plastic shipped from various petrochemical plants throughout North America swell these locals to between 30 and 50 cars on some days. 

All 26 cars on Monday's returning train will be forwarded south on Tuesday's MBNAS (Manifest, Bloomington IL to Alton & Southern). 

Union Pacific's Bloomington-based local runs north as far as the Joliet Intermodal Terminal and back Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, it makes a Lincoln turn, primarily to switch International Paper Co's corrugated box plant on the city's southwest side. Prior to running north, it switches Cargill's soybean processing plant on Bloomington's west side. 

- David P. Jordan