An empty bottle train works back towards East Chicago. The train just came out of the ArcelorMittal steel-making plant in Riverdale, These bottle trains are loaded at 3 different blast furnaces in East Chicago area. The train is seen here at CP Holman on the IHB mainline west of Gibson. The IHB crosses the NS Fort Wayne Line near the state line.
These bottle trains run from East Chicago, south on the Kankakee Line to Gibson, then west on the IHB line to Dolton, then onto the old PRR Panhandle line to the Riverdale plant. Sounds like a long haul, but really the trains run probably under 20 miles? The cars haul hot molten iron that can weight up to 390 tons per car. That why the cars are fitted with extra axles and trucks for the added weigh. These trains are pretty interesting.
