The Chase of the Illinois Railway's 9238, an EMD SD45T-2

The IR's EMD SD45T-2 is up front of a 12 car silica sand train. The train ran from Ottawa to Streator, Illinois where the dozen cars where interchanged with the Norfolk Southern. It later returned to Ottawa with one car.

The crew was Engineer Kevin and Conductor Matt. (    / mattbnsf1991   ) Thanks to Matt for the tip.

0:15 The train departed Ottawa at about 11 am where it crossed the Illinois River lift bridge. Check out the EMD ice crusher. The tracks were coated with about a quarter inch of ice from the freezing rain event a couple of days prior. Throughout the video you'll see ice spraying away from the front wheels.

3:45 South of Ottawa, the "baby tunnel motor" decides to take a break after Kevin places the throttle in notch 7 to start upgrade. The engine hadn't been run for nearly a week. A few minutes later the black EMD is back online and Kevin eases the engine along. There were no further engine problems.

6:08 The train continues over a wooden bridge north of Grand Ridge, Illinois.

6:53 As it nears Streator, the train weaves its way through a couple of curves, spraying crushed ice as it rolls along.


Certainly not a high speed train chase. In fact, most of the time it was a waiting game. But fun anyway.