An annual tradition since 2014, my dad and I took a "School's Out" trip to find some cool trains. I was planning on going to Shreveport to see KCS's last stand, but once we saw the record highs in the 90s in the forecast, we decided another Illinois trip was better. I decided to basically repeat last year's trip using what I had remembered to make this run better. But it's hard to put a plan into motion when you can't even make it there...
We got into Kentucky when the low tire pressure indicator came on. When we pulled over, we noticed a piece of metal stuck in one of the rear tires, so we pumped some air in and reset the indicator to see if we could make it to Paducah. We ended up at Walmart when we noticed the other rear tire was flat, so we dropped the car off and walked to lunch.
Three hours later and we finally got to our first stop on UP's Mount Vernon Sub, where we followed it between Whittington and Mount Vernon. I learned two northbounds were coming to meet a southbound at Ina, so I went ahead to Ina to get the southbound. I got a little surprise when I found a solo CN GEVO leader and boxcars of auto parts. Apparently this is MSMPB, which is transferred off the CN at Kinmundy.
I'm guessing this is the Mount Vernon Sub; I can't find timetables or anything for UP for whatever reason.
Filmed at Third St. in Ina, IL.
CN 3828- ES44AC/EF-644x (RL K5HL)
