Norfolk Southern 64D loaded ethanol blasts uphill on what was once a helper district on the Nickel Plate Road. Steve Smedley photo

The crew of train D09 occupies Oakland Avenue as they call the approach distant signal for BN Target on Friday afternoon. Steve Smedley photo

Crews from RJ Corman Derailment Services of Caseyville use two side boom tractors to lift a locomotive so a bad traction motor wheelset can be removed, at Union Pacific Railroad yards off West Ch... (more)

Crews from RJ Corman Derailment Services of Caseyville use two side boom tractors to lift a locomotive so a bad traction motor wheelset can be removed, at Union Pacific Railroad yards off West Ch... (more)

A former Colorado & Southern Railroad SD40-2 leads Norfolk Southern train D36 through Front and Olive Street crossings in Bloomington, Illinois on Tuesday, January 27, 2015. The unit is one of sev... (more)

Emerging from a cold winter fog is a southbound Illinois Central Gulf “slingshot” piggyback train led by Gulf, Mobile & Ohio GP35 No. 637. The train is rattling over the diamonds past BN Targe... (more)

A pair of Geeps, including a Cotton Belt GP60, await assignments at the south end of Bloomington Yard.

Southbound freight #29 led by two Gulf, Mobile & Ohio SD40's #905 and #911 near Bloomington, Illinois April 14, 1971.

Gulf, Mobile & Ohio RS-1 50 (ex-Alton 50) switches in Illinois Central Gulf's former GM&O Bloomington, Illinois, yard on August 26, 1973. Kodachrome II

Gulf, Mobile & Ohio F3 885A, 811A and Illinois Central GP10 8227 in Illinois Central Gulf's former GM&O Bloomington, IL yard on August 26, 1973. Kodachrome II

One degree above zero at 23:16 as the inbound and outbound crews trade out with Union Pacific Heritage locomotive CNW 1995 outside the Bloomington, Illinois yard office . Steve Smedley photo

Illinois Central Gulf GP30 No. 2275 rests at ICG’s Bloomington, Illinois, engine facility in May 1984. The locomotive is a former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio unit (equipped with Alco trucks from a tra... (more)

An unpatched SP GP60, along with a patched SSW GP60, lead UP MBNAS out of Bloomington, IL.

Amtrak's southbound Texas Eagle passes what is left of the former Alton/GM&O yard at Bloomington, Illinois. Illinois State University's dormitory buildings can be seen in the distance.

Two very different GM&O F-3A's are sunning themselves outside the ICG locomotive shop.