Norfolk Southern D49 5-5-25

I don't think D49 ran on Friday, so two days' worth of traffic plus Keokuk Junction Railway interchange  blocked on the head end explains why Monday's return trip to Good Yard swelled to an unusually heavy 58 cars. 

I was hoping that there would be at least one Caterpillar tractor load (common on Monday), and that wire rod shipments from Liberty Steel & Wire Co. would have resumed by now on this train. 

CAPTION: Norfolk Southern Railway train D49 (Normal IL to E. Peoria IL turn) is shown mid- to late-afternoon Monday, May 5, 2025 on its return leg from East Peoria, Illinois to Good Yard in Normal. First scene shows the train leaving the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad at N. Main Street in East Peoria following by the train attacking the hill at N. Main Street in Morton, rolling along the flat prairie at Deer Creek and finally crossing the Mackinaw River just east of Goodfield. NS 6401, NS 6420 and NS 6968 have 58 cars, all loads.

- David P. Jordan