While in Champaign recently, by complete happenstance I spotted Norfolk Southern's Urbana Local heading east on the old P&E Branch through town toward Urbana, and gave chase. Two things were pretty unusual- first, this job does not normally run on Sundays, and second, six-axle power almost never uses this line. The two SD70M-2s sent out to on this run to rescue a GP38-2 and its train which had some sort of mechanical problem and was sitting in Urbana Yard.
This NS line is a section of the former New York Central Peoria & Eastern line from a connection with its former Wabash Gibson City - Decatur (via Bement) line at Mansfield, Illinois. It runs from there through Champaign and Urbana, crossing CN's Illinois Central at Champaign. A connection allows NS traffic to interchange with CN at Champaign Yard, though not all trains on the P&E do. Usual traffic levels on the P&E are maybe around 4 or 5 trains per week, and fewer, maybe 2 or 3 per week, the last couple of miles to the end of track in Urbana. These numbers are higher by a couple west of Champaign during harvest season. The Peoria & Eastern was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York Central, and passed from the NYC to Penn Central and Conrail, then finally NS. Until it began being abandoned in chunks by Conrail, it served as a bridge route between the multiple Class 1 and shortline connections at Peoria, through Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, Danville and Crawfordsville, to Indianapolis. The line survives under CSX ownership from Crawfordsville to Indianapolis, and is the route of Amtrak's Cardinal/Hoosier State in that segment.
The diamond crossing seen in the first and last parts of this video is of the rare OWLS (One Way Low Speed), or flange-bearing type, which allows traffic on the more heavily-used route to proceed across at higher speeds, with trains on the less-trafficked route riding up and over the rail heads of the main route on their flanges. This also reduces wear and tear (and maintenance) on the diamond itself.
Негізгі бет Chasing NS's Urbana Local on the P&E, Champaign-Urbana, IL, 01.13.13
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