Norfolk Southern Geometry Train, ***Heavy*** D49 8-7-23

No sooner did a get home from work that I checked railfan social media and learned that not only was Norfolk Souther local D49 still at East Peoria, but that a geometry train had turned around at East Peoria and was heading east (timetable south). I didn't know where it was when I left, so I headed to Goodfield and waited. 

I didn't wait long. 

CAPTION: A Norfolk Southern Geometry Train is shown late-afternoon Monday, August 7, 2023 after turning at East Peoria. NS 9755 has NS 99 ("Belford," a former DL&W car) and NS 34. The train was re-crewed at Good Yard in Normal and ran to Bement.

I figured I'd have time to backtrack west for D49, so I set up at N. Main Street just outside Morton and waited, and waited and waited. As distant, faint horn blasts were heard, and eventually growling from a quartet of EMD standard cabs as it struggled to pull its 94-car train up hill, I realized the 55 grain empties brought into town for loading at ADM's Hilliards elevator were likely on the head end. 

Sure enough, they were. 

Besides that was a block of 39 manifest cars. I would say this was regular D49 traffic but not completely. A total of 13 Iowa Interstate covered hoppers (blocks of seven and six) were probably loaded with some organic grain. The empty Incobrasa covered hopper was odd. Fourteen cars from the Keokuk Junction Railway included two organic grain loads from Burnside, Illinois. 

This train's crew would reach its hours of service at 6:00pm, so they were racing after battling the hill up to Crandall. Moments after I made it to Carlock, I heard the horn and saw the headlight. The train probably held the main by Good Yard but another crew will have to put it away and build D36. 

Those 55 grain loads were brought up here empty on Tuesday. As for the block of 39 manifest, the Incobrasa covered hopper (which is empty) was odd to see, and those Iowa Interstatecovered hoppers (seven behind the Incobrasa and six more on the rear have me scratching my head. Obviously not a regular grain movement; I'd guess this is some kind of organic grain traffic from western Iowa. There are 14 cars from the KJRY, which includes two organic grain loads from Burnside! 

CAPTION: Norfolk Southern Railway local D49 struggles uphill at the N. Main Street crossing outside Morton, Illinois late-afternoon Monday, August 7, 2023. The train is shown racing through Carlock 35 minutes later. NS 6343, NS 3266, NS 6173 and NS 3360 have 94 cars (55-car grain shuttle, 39 manifest). 

David P. Jordan