Two days after we chased after the Heritage Trio through Illinois my buddy Eric and I found out that one of the few remaining unpatched Southern Pacific SD40M-2’s where headed our way on the QNPCH. The SD40M/M-2’s where former SD40/40-2’s that where re-built by Morrison-Kunudsen in the mid 1990’s for the Southern Pacific. That night we made plans for the chase. The next day we where headed westbound on US 30 through Iowa and off to our right (north) we saw SP 8621 racing east! We quickly turned around and headed back east after it, we beat it to Low Moore, IA., where they stopped because there was no room for their train in the Clinton Yard. They held there for more than an hour before they got permission to head into the yard, during that time we saw a former SP SD40T-2 (GECX) #8548 heading west on a mixed freight, also on this train there was a Bombardier Bi-Level commuter car headed to Utah for the new ‘Front Runner’ commuter line of the Utah Transit Authority. After the crew change in Clinton, IA. we caught back up with SP 8621 in by the old C&NW depot. The lead unit was UP 8381 (SD70ACe), ICE 6433 (SD40-2) and SP 8621 (SD40M-2), this made for a colorful consist! After shooting them in Clinton we headed east once again, this time we shot them at the Acker Rd. crossing in Illinois. Then we shot them in Morrison and Sterling, IL. Then just east of Franklin Grove, IL. we both shot pace video of SP 8621. After the pace my buddy decided to head back to Sterling to watch a few train and then head home, we continued on to Rochelle, IL.
About 30 minutes after arriving in Rochelle SP 8621finally makes an appearance, but she came with only six cars! Then it hit me, they where headed for the interchange spur to drop the cars, meaning that the SP would lead on the trains return! Something both my buddy and myself have always wanted to see! So my mom and I headed down to the interchange spur, when I got there they where just starting to back the cars into the siding. As I was standing there I said to myself, “jeez there are a lot of reefers on that spur!” I called my buddy telling him what was up and he said he would be there in about 30 minutes, he was back in Sterling. The crew lined the switch and backed the cars onto the siding, but the couplers would not line up! They tried about a dozen times and blocked the mainline for 45 minutes in the process! Finally the DS told them to “Highball It”. So they headed back to where they dropped their train and coupled on, the sun was perfect, the only problem was that there train was out in the middle of a field, so I decided to walk a half mile across the field to shoot it where they where stopped, and I’m am VERY happy I did, while out there I got the best shots of it! After shooting for about 15 minutes they headed out, my mom drove out into the field to pick me up and then we raced to back to the Rt. 38 crossing, where my buddy was waiting to shoot it. There I shot it one last time in a 100-mile chase!! We sat and relaxed in Rochelle for a while then headed back to Clinton to catch the evening fireworks display for the 4th. It was a spectacular display, a fantastic finish to a awesome day railfanning!!
It was a fantastic day, something I will never forget!
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoued!
