a lucky railfan might be faced with a westbound SIIC turn in some juicy evening sunlight. Also, an ICSW local job may operate east toward Wilton to work the industries just outside of town after all the traffic has cleared. If fan- ning the Quad Cities area, be on the lookout for the SISW terminal switcher to be making a run or two to Rock Is- land yard and back via the BN Indus- trial Track. From personal experience, the westbound SISW runs mid-morn- ing after BICB’s departure.
Now moving east toward Blue Is- land, things are a little different. On an average day, schedules and call times can easily change. In a perfect world, CBBI from the west will operate over CSX trackage and get into the Blue Is- land area in the wee hours of the morn- ing. A third trick (overnight) BISW crew will usually hop onto the train, set out the intermodal traffic, and forward what usually amounts to the entire rest of the train to the Indiana Harbor Belt via BI Junction. Due to possible severe congestion down on the Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB), this move may take until daylight hours to complete. Extra east- bounds like ethanol moves or second sections of a CBBI are usually on duty at Silvis around midnight, leaving the train to work its way east overnight and, if all goes well, getting near the Metra trackage around daybreak. This is all as needed and sometimes random, but it is entirely possible to find an eastbound IAIS move in daylight on the east end once or twice a week. A good place to check for an east- bound at daybreak is in Rockdale, Ill., just west of Joliet near the end of CSX ownership. The train will hold there for permission onto Metra, and wait for a CSX bridge tender to lower the lift bridge (Bridge 407) across the Des Plaines River and into Joliet proper. In Blue Island, there are 3 local
crews that are utilized throughout the day. The overnight job is symboled CBIHB, comes on duty after midnight, and switchs out the east train when it arrives forwarding all the Council Bluffs (CB) traffic to the IHB. The first day time job is symboled BIIND and
TOP: Class unit of the GE’s, IAIS 500 leads a string of empty ethanol tanks on BICB, seen departing Burr Oak Yard in Blue Island, pho- tographed from the Western Avenue overpass on July 20, 2009. MIDDLE: Train BUSW is headed home from Peoria with loads of grain from the Tazewell & Peoria as the pair of 700’s glide through the small town of Putnam, Ill., on IAIS’ Sub 2 on April 17, 2010. RIGHT: At the Tazewell & Peoria’s yard limit in Peo- ria, Ill., an empty CRPE coal train has just ar- rived. The TZPR is utilizing an old Ilinois & Midland SD18/GP10 combo to pick up the empty hoppers while IAIS’ GP38-2’s hold in the clear on November 24, 2006.
32 JUNE 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
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