A Sunny Late-Summer Day of Railfanning in Muncie, Indiana, Featuring a CSX Inspection Train!

Hello everyone. It has been a good minute since I have uploaded a video. The second half of the summer post-July 4th has been quite busy due to work, so I apologize for not uploading for almost two months. That said, I finally got a chance to go railfanning again on the last Friday of August and decided to head back up to Muncie, Indiana, with my buddy Cincy Railfan Productions. We had a solid day of railfanning out here in Muncie, and while it was not as busy as the last time we came up here, we still made it worth our while.

For reasons that we do not know, Norfolk Southern was surprisingly quiet today. Yes, Norfolk Southern did manage to run a handful of trains while we were up in Muncie, but they ran less than half the number of trains you would see here on a typical day. We believe NS was doing some maintenance on the New Castle District, as some of the regular trains one can expect to see were noticeably absent. Even so, CSX did make up for the lack of Norfolk Southern action with ten trains! For the CSX Indianapolis Line, ten trains is pretty good and was the busiest that Cincy Railfan Productions and I have seen it while railfanning in Muncie.

CSX kicked off the action with intermodal I008 emerging out of the fog. It was a surprisingly cool morning in Muncie, so cold it created fog that made the trains invisible just 100 yards or so down the track. I008 is the hotshot intermodal on the Indianapolis Line and is perhaps the most consistent train when it comes to running on time. After I008 rolled through, a surprise I007-Extra came by heading west to Indianapolis. I007 is the counterpart to I008 and has a similar configuration of intermodal stacks and trailers. This train was an extra I007 that was taking the remainder of the cargo maxed out on regular I007. After a light-engine move by Norfolk Southern with a pair of engines coming off the New Castle District and onto the Frankfurt District, we got a second unusual train with an all-dedicated westbound CSX pipe train. This train was exclusively made of pipe-filled gondolas and no other cars, very interesting.

As the fog began to clear up, the action also picked up. Norfolk Southern sent a solo Dash 9 leading the southbound local train on the New Castle District. There are less than 200 Dash 9s in service for Norfolk Southern as of this video, so catch them while you can. Over the next few hours, CSX ran the show with the occasional NS train (intermodal 29A) running south across the diamond. Surprisingly, CSX ran two M332s, regular manifest M332 from Indianapolis to Cumberland, Maryland, and X332, the extra train of the same manifest. Curiously, M332 and X332 had the same consists but were opposite in the order of consist. M332 had intermodal first, followed by manifest consist, and autoracks in the real. X332 had autoracks in the front, manifest in the middle, and intermodal in the rear. We also saw a westbound coal train making its way back to Avon Yard in Indianapolis.

After we returned from a short lunch break, we got the catch of the day in the form of a CSX Inspection Train! This inspection train featured three cars, including an ex-Monon baggage car in the front. This was my first-ever time catching a CSX Inspection Train in action, almost as good as seeing the CSX Office Car Special. Right after this train, M364 came through with a number of awesome fallen flag cars, including a pair of Missouri Pacific (MoPac) covered hoppers, some Conrail 80-Foot Boxcars, and others! M364 is typically the train on the Indianapolis Line that has all the great Fallen Flag rolling stock, along with its counterpart M363. To finish off this beautiful day of railfanning, Norfolk Southern sent manifest 189 and gondola train 61c. 189 is one of two guaranteed southbound manifest trains here through Muncie, and the other one is typically 197 which for some reason did not come through today. We called it a day after 61c as we had to head back home.

Overall, it was a beautiful and eventful day of railfanning here in Muncie. Cincy Railfan Productions and I hope to come back within the next six months, and better yet, we hope the action will be just as good. Be sure to look out for a few other videos over the next few weeks, as I have finally found time over Labor Day Weekend to go railfanning again, so keep an eye out for new uploads.

Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!

-N&W475.

-N&W475.