Iowa Interstate-Norfolk Southern Ethanol Re-Route, Union Pacific LSF54 1-17-24

Almost ten years ago to the week that Iowa Interstate and Norfolk Southern began exchanging unit ethanol trains (and some manifest traffic) via Peoria, the two carriers re-routed one here today owing to weather-related congestion at Chicago! 

Back to the present - I wasn't sure I could see 64K, but when I saw on the Peoria, Illinois Railroads Trains & Shortlines Facebook Group that it was only getting a warrant at 1342, I figured I had a chance if I left work immediately and headed east on I-74. When I arrived, the train was paused by Good Yard before getting permission to cross the UP. This gave me time to get to downtown Bloomington...


CAPTION: A Norfolk Southern unit ethanol train rolls through downtown Bloomington, Illinois late-afternoon Wednesday, January 17, 2024. NS 7704 and NS 4180 lead 82 cars (80 ethanol and two buffers) with NS 1158 and NS 4759 as DPUs. Train was loaded at Archer Daniels Midland Co's Cedar Rapids, Iowa facilities and symboled SABI (S. Amana IA to Blue Island IL), but re-routed to Peoria due to congestion issues in Chicago. 

Before I left, I happened upon Union Pacific's Bloomington-based local, LSF54, switching Cargill's soybean processing facility on the old Jack Line remnant. I was surprised to see it working there in the late-afternoon. Usually, this work is done in the mornings before the leave on the mainline north or south. 


CAPTION: Union Pacific train LSF54 (Local, Bloomington IL to Lincoln/Wilmington IL) pulls toward the Bloomington Yard after switching Cargill's soybean processing plant. UP 1206 and UP 1498 have ten cars. Train is running on a remant of the former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railway "Jack Line." 

David P. Jordan

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