I mainly did the Aurora Sub for my backyard photography growing up. That meant getting C30-7s wasn't too common for me. Those units mainly stayed on coal trains and, for me, were on the Southern I... (more)

Looks like coal power that went to Peoria is now in other duties as assigned. The power is heading back to Galesburg on an X97 with freight out of Peoria. The train passes the old elevator at Maqu... (more)

E9As 9913 and 9902 stabled after the evening commute.

Loaded taconite train crosses the Wisconsin Southern at Crawford, south of Prairie du Chien. These SD60Ms were common thru the 90s on these heavy trains bound for Granite City. Scanned slide from ... (more)

A Conrail unit helps out of BN SD40 as they hustle down the Aurora Sub south of Lynxville. Scanned negative from October 1992.

The morning Chicago to St. Paul hotshot is less than 20 miles from the next crew change at LaCrosse. The train skirts the Mississippi River as they pass thru Genoa. The Genoa power plant is in the... (more)

The BNSF leased alot of junk power after the merger. The railroad needed alot of power to help thru the struggles they had moving freight. Some of the leasers were these ex-ATSF C30-7s that came f... (more)

The BN ran quite a few St. Paul to Chicago intermodal trains each way along the Aurora Sub daily. The trains were neat to get cause you never knew what they would come with. Hail as an "Exped... (more)

An eastbound intermodal train heads for Chicago during a winter storm with 3-4 axle units. The train is passing thru East Dubuque on the Aurora Sub in the late 90s. Scanned slide from January 1997... (more)

The BN ran 2 intermodal trains to Denver out of Chicago. One ran early morning into Galesburg, and the other one at night. The night one has stayed thru the BNSF era. Train 65 was normally the day... (more)

Th BN tested 4 SD60MAC's and then later in 1993 they placed an order for 350 SD70MAC's. The SD60s were the test bed to what became a huge investment in the coal power fleet with the purchase of th... (more)

An empty coal train from the Brookfield Sub swings around the corner and out the Waterman way towards Graham for another trip back to the coal fields. By 1996 AC power was getting to be common. Sc... (more)

Man, I think these SD70 looked great brand new. BN really got the use out of them the past 30 years. Here, a pair of MACs head south out of Galesburg for coal bound for southern Illinois. The coal... (more)

The BNSF merger was getting closer to reality by May 1995. Galesburg was about to become a major hub in the east with this merger. Lots of things would change, but for now the BN was as is with th... (more)

In the early 90s, my mother and I made a lot of trips to Galesburg for railroad days. It was some of the 1st places we went and seen major train action. The BNSF merger would make Galesburg the hu... (more)