First, I went up to Arnold Street. Saw a cop at the end of the street, right where I'd planned on parking (it was my second time being there, and I wasn't sure where else I could park). So I went over to the CN office over near Olivers. Saw NS 3031 (GP40-2, former CR- the paint's not too good in a couple spots) and NS 3547 (D-8 40C). Also saw a long cut of loaded lumber cars and a few boxcars. And a GT crane.
Drove up to the NS line, but saw nothing. Wound up back at Arnold Street, but the cop was still there. Almost left, when I saw a headlight coming out of downtown. NS 9543 and NS 5444 (?) led a double stack train. Locomotive numbers might be wrong, as I only got one shot and the numbers are a bit blurry.
Since I wasn't comfortable hanging around Arnold street on my own, and because I was hungry (it was lunch time for me), I headed for Elkhart. Stopped at a McDonald's on the way, and found 33G sitting at 429.1W on the way. NS 9525 and NS 9416 were the power. Didn't see anything else until I got to the yard. I think there were at least 3 trains sitting waiting to go west throughout the yard. I went to the depot and sat for a while, but saw nothing. For a while, I thought something was coming, but nothing did. So I headed back to South Bend, where I figured I'd see something, even if it was on CN.
When I was leaving Elkhart, what I later learned was 33T was just leaving. Two new CP (Gevos?) were leading what appeared to be a complete intermodal train. Well, complete except for containers...it was completely empty, unless there was something in the bottom of the container wells. Thanks to traffic lights and speed limits, (and the fact that I'd pretty much paced the train at about 40 mph), I figured there was no way I'd make it back to South Bend without at least one train going through the plant after 33T before I got there. By taking the bypass instead of Lincolnway across town, when I got to Arnold Street, the cop was gone and 33T was stopped.
I wound up parking there for a while, and met one of the local railfans who said the cop was just sitting there watching the trains too. I guess he must do paperwork or something there, 'cause the one other time I've been there, he was there too. Listening to the scanner, I gathered some interesting information. Evidently there were a lot of dead trains around the NS today. Chicago East was arguing with B09 at one point, because B09 wanted to work west, but only had 'til 6 until it went dead. The dispatcher said that unless there was something hot that needed to be done, they'd be dead or dying train number 9 when he went off duty. I also gathered that train 13 Apple (13A?) with 4300 feet was dead at 466 or 462. I think there was another train he was gonna put there as well.
About 2:10, 23Z came through the plant headed west.
NS 9865
NS 6655
35J
NS 9158
NS 8951
A while after 35J went through, I heard some conversation about an unbalanced load. It turned out to be N&W 138717, which they set out at Rolling Prarie.
CN ???
CN 5659
CN 5712
This train had a covered gondola, a couple autoparts boxcars and a long string of loaded autoracks (I think).
NS 205
NS 7562
NS 8xxx
NS 91xx
NS 26N
NS 2758(?)
NS 256x
3PM
CN 396?
CN 8018
GTW 4903
GTW 4618
CN ???
CN 5712
CN 5625
NS 36J
BNSF 4565
BNSF 4621
NS 8684
NS ????
FURX ???? (H1 Pumpkin)
W6J
NS 2582
NS 2572
NS 10R
Heard it calling signals from several miles west until it got to Elkhart- never saw the train. Don't know what it had for power or what it was pulling, but it was about 4 miles behind W6J and never came by (which is impossible, but...)
CN ???
CN 5610
CN 5367
This might've been 459, as 459 needed about an hour to work at Olivers, but Chicago East didn't have an hour for 459 to tie up the plant.
CN 149
CN 5508
CN 5512
149 was the last train I saw, as I was cold and tired of sitting and staring at a whole lot of nothing. Additionally, the reactions of the locals walking by while interesting (some of 'em thought I was a railroad employee!) were getting old too.
So, home I went. All in all, for 5 hours or so, it was an interesting day...and I'm pretty sure I saw more trains than if I'd sat in Elkhart all day.
EDIT: I've included some of my shots from the day, BUT due to the time of morning when I linked 'em in, chances are I might've switched the url's such that if you click the big picture, you'll see the thumbnail...I'll fix 'em soon.
