Sun, Apr 26, 2026 thru Sat, May 2, 2026
Sun, Apr 26, 2026
Running EB Mixed Freight 5A Sequence Train #6.1
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| Running through Proviso Yard |
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| Under 12th Avenue Overpass |
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| Dropping off 6 cars at the Industrial Park Transfer Track (IP TT). Four cars will be spotted at four manufacturing plants and two spotted at Grain Elevator. |
Mon, Apr 27, 2026
Train Day!
w/Rob Fair 6-8pm 2 hrs.
Jordan Osborn 6:15-7:15pm 1 hr.
Oh what a night!
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| Rob & I started the night doing some Yard switching. |
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| We had to move three cars from PYCNW yard to PYUP yard. |
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| Next up? We switched the full coal loads from the Powder River Basin East Yard to the West Yard |
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| Only a couple mishaps. |
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| Jordan joins the crew at Central Control Tower. |
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| After switching the full coal loads we prepared the train for a return trip to the Melrose Park Power Plant |
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| Unit Coal Train 2A-P7a in route. |
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| Waiting for Unit Coal Train Arrival from the Powder River Basin |
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| Rob is the main engineer tonight. |
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| Finishing up for the night... ...switching off his locomotive. |
Tue, Apr 28, 2026
No train activity today.
Wed, Apr 29, 2026
Some switching at the Industrial Park...
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| Taking the 6 cars on the transfer track. Separating the covered hoppers for the Grain Elevator from the 4 cars to be dropped off in the Industrial Park |
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| Dropping off the first two cars at Industries 1 & 2. |
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| After dropping off the last two cars at Industrial Park Industries 3 & 4 it's time to drop off the two Covered Hoppers at the Grain Elevator. |
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| All set! Time to put the loco to rest and call it a day! |
Thu, Apr 30, 2026
Running EB Unit Coal Train with full loads to Melrose Park Power Plant
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| Here's the front of the Coal Train (top left corner) and the rear of the Coal Train (below water tower) |
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| Next movement will be a crossover from EB running on WB Track 1 to EB running on EB Track 2. |
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| All cars put into Melrose Park Power Plant Yard. Waiting to return main power back to CNW Engine Facility. |
Fri, May 1, 2026
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| Installing a new switch for traffic lights instead of the old way I was doing it. |
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| The switch in action! |
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| I also installed a similar switch for the traffic lights at Melrose Park downtown and in the Industrial Park |
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| I turned on the power 50 minutes ago, but started the project 40 minutes before that. 1.5 hrs. total. |
Sat, May 2, 2026
PULLMAN days at Illinois Railway Museum, Union IL
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| At the Entrance of IRM |
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| This is the sign that was on the top of a building in downtown Chicago. I'm going to try to find a Google picture which shows where this used to be mounted. |
[Save this spot for that picture]
Before we begin our visit to the IRM, we took a side trip to...
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| A hobby store which had this amazing O scale layout inside. Also a large HO and several small N, Z, another HO and another O scale layout. |
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| Down the street was the CNW historical society building. Here is a map of Proviso Yard... |
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| ...and the control panel from the yard tower. |
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| A model of a C44-9 and an interesting story to go with it. |
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| A plaque for a GE Diesel Electric Locomotive DASH 9-44CW Nov 1993 4380 HP Erie, PA USA |
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| Historical displays were excellent. Good read! |
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| This is the PULLMAN Coach train which will leave every hour on the hour. But first... |
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| We're visiting a Passenger Train "Barn" to look around... |
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| We've made a complete loop and heading out. |
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| Here's our crew coming down the final ramp. Present: Tom, Al, Don |
Now it's time to ride the PULLMAN Coach Excursion Train
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| Here's the notice of when the train departs. |
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| A porter gives us some safety lessons. Sit, no arms outside, that kinda lesson. |
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| Here's Don, and a picture of the UP mainline which parallels the IRM tracks. |
To see action from this train ride see the Weekly Layout YouTube video at the bottom of this blog
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| The conductor came to give us some more information. |
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| Then the porter returned to finish his history lesson. |
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| CNW GP-9 #1518 was the main engine on the Pullman Coach Train (I have the model of this on my layout) |
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| After the train ride we departed and will go back inside to take a look at the rest of the train which we didn't see during the ride. |
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| Another view of the GP-9 |
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| This is the view out the back of the train. |
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| And a picture of our crew... Alan, Don & Tom. |
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| Alan is about to make a speech. |
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| In the passenger depot was this very large picture I captured for Rob Fair who is a big Pennsy fan. |
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| Leaving the premises I took this photo of the hobby shop and CNW historical society building. |
Later that day...
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| ...we had special guests come to our home. l. to r. Jorge, Mia, April & Angelica. |
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| Checking out Union Station. |
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| Getting a closer look at Chicago Terminal |
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| Jorge checks out the side view. |
Thank you for coming!
to view
Weekly Layout Update on YouTube
Duration: 12:09 min/sec
Description:
What's ON Track this Week?
Lots!
*Sequence Train #6.1 EB Mixed Freight 5A
*Unit Coal Train 2A-P7b
*Switching cars at Proviso CNW Yard
*Unit Coal Train arriving Melrose Park Power Plant
*New facia toggle switches installed for traffic lights
*Field Trip to Illinois Railway Museum (IRM)
*Pullman Days Sat, May 2, 2026
*Thanks for watching!
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