GRW 317 and 307, both SW1200's, are hard at work shoving a cut of coke cars into the plant at Gary Works. Coke dust fills the air on this nice morning just off Lake Michigan.

Right at home! GRW 460 and 323, both of former EJ&E heritage, work a cut of steel cars at Gary Works. Kirk Yard is right next door, a location where both units spent plenty of time. SW1500 ... (more)

A little Rail & Sail on Memorial Day! A trio of the finest at Gary Railway shove hard on a loaded pet coke train. Led by Delray Connecting Railroad Company SW1001 #459, USS SW1500 #352 and ... (more)

A Gary Railway slug set, led by former EJ&E SW1200 #321, loads molten steel bottle cars at one of Gary Works' blast furnaces.

Feeling hot hot hot! At a scorching 2,300 degrees, a Gary Railway bottle car is pulled out of the blast furnace at the massive Gary Works steel mill.

Home rail Santa Fe GP60 169 leads BNSF 1740, 1436 and 2042 east through Lemont. The nice lash-up is in charge of a late running M GALCHI bound for GM Yard in Hodgkins.

With a KCS SD70MAC in charge, an eastbound weed sprayer train passes through the small town of Stillman Valley, IL.

Hoffman Transportation's veteran SW8, HTCX #2000, shuffles cars around at their transload facility in Channahon, Illinois. Old Glory waves in the background. Smoke from the Canadian wildfires is e... (more)

The BP Whiting Refinery recently had a new contract service take effect and Rail Switching Service (RSSX) was the chosen one. GP15-1 #685, formerly of Missouri Pacific heritage, is seen shuffling ... (more)

I don't think anyone was expecting a lash-up like this out of Galesburg today! KCSM AC4400CW #4555, still in its classic grey ghost scheme, leads a pair of Ferromex locos through Hodgkins, closing... (more)

A vintage SW8 spends its days shuffling cars around the Stepan Company plant in Elwood, Illinois. Labeled as the SCLX 2001, this unit's past is a bit of a mystery, but I'm always open to hearing i... (more)

The south side of Chicago is full of treasures when it comes to trains. On the list of treasures is Maryland Pig Iron of Illinois' veteran Conrail SW8. Still in virtually untouched Conrail big blu... (more)

A treasure in Chicago's south side is Reserve Marine Terminals' former Santa Fe F7A #342L. Now leased by Horizon Rail as a rebuilt CF7, the 70 year old veteran (04/1953) is hard at work bringing a... (more)

Y JOL202 hustles west over Elwood's Jackson Creek with Bluebonnet SD40-2 #1755 looking sharp on the point.

In 2020, newly appointed Watco outfit Elwood, Joliet & Southern (EJ&S) assumed operations of "The Phoenix Line" from Canadian National. One of the various industries served is BL Duke Sc... (more)