A lot has happened here at the Rochelle Railroad Park since I had visited three weeks before. The old signals are gone with the exception of one that UP left next to the Whitcomb locomotive and the CNW bridge is still up. With the new signals in place, the kinks are still not wrung out and probably won't be until a month or so. The signals were malfunctioning to where a yellow was on the UP just like a train was going into Global 3 only there wasn't anything. This blocked the BNSF for a half hour to an hour at a time so two to three came through at a time once they had a green. The UP gates were malfunctioning so UP had workers sitting there to stop traffic. The Union Pacific was only down to one track due to MOW vehicles fixing a damaged rail and wasn't brought back to two until late afternoon. Otherwise still a successful visit, so much so I had to use my phone camera after my flipcam ran out of battery life. I have a second part that will be up later so this video was all done with the usual flipcam. There was a pair of CSX oil trains on the BNSF both meeting each other with one led by a Tier 4. I also saw a couple of fakebonnet BNSF dash 9s and two H1 dash 9s recently brought out of storage among plenty other catches. I also stopped near Steward, IL just south of here to catch a handful of BNSF trains backlogged due to the signal problems. Enjoy and don't forget to comment or subscribe!!
0:00 A westbound Union Pacific ethanol train led by UP 6038 (AC44CWCTE built?) and 8117 (ES44AC? built unknown), arrives at the Rochelle Railroad Park and stops for the BNSF. It would continue west at 7:26.
1:57 A eastbound CSX oil train led by CSX 979 (ES44AC-H built 12/2011), 908 (ES44AC-H built 7/2008), and BNSF 6810 (ES44C4 built 10/2011), meets a westbound CSX oil train led by CSX 3363 (ET44AH built 2016?) and 4728 (SD70MAC built 2003) at the Rochelle Railroad Park.
13:09 A westbound Union Pacific mixed manifest led by UP 4914 (SD70M built 4/2002) passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park.
17:18 A westbound BNSF mixed manifest led by BNSF 7831 (ES44DC built 3/2010) and 4127 (C44-9W built 10/2002) passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park.
20:36 A westbound UP stack train led by UP 5745 (AC44CWCTE built ?), 4362 (SD70M built 4/2001), and 6608 (AC44CW built 4/1997 DPU), passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park. Note all the UP traffic was restricted to one track and the yellow signal that was up despite no trains.
25:29 A eastbound BNSF stack train led by BNSF 4133 (C44-9W built 10/2002) and 5520 (C44-9W built 8/2004) meets a westbound BNSF stack train led by BNSF 3839 (ET44C4 built 2015), 5225 (C44-9W built 8/2004), and 776 (C44-9W built 9/1997), at the Rochelle Railroad Park. I haven't seen many fakebonnet dash-9s since many were in storage until recently.
30:48 A handful of Union Pacific MOW vehicles move west to just past the diamonds just as a westbound Union Pacific empty coal train led by UP 6613 (recently repainted AC44CW built 5/1997), 6556 (AC44CW built 3/1997), and 8764 (SD70ACe built 2012 DPU) passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park. The train according to the abbreviations on the cars likely came from Sheboygan, WI.
42:28 A eastbound Union Pacific mixed manifest led by UP 5453 (AC45CCTE built 4/2005), 5499 (AC45CCTE built 6/2005), 4986 (SD70M built 7/2002), and CSX 522 (AC44CW built 4/2001), passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park.
46:40 More Union Pacific MOW vehicles head west
48:31 A eastbound Union Pacific stack train led by UP 2583 (ET45H built 2016), 4957 (SD70M built 6/2002), 3878 (SD70M built 1/2003), and 8582 (SD70ACe built 2007?), passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park.
52:51 A westbound BNSF stack train led by BNSF 8494 (SD70ACe built 2014), 716 (C44-9W built 7/1997), and 4399 (C44-9W built 4/1999), passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park.
56:19 A eastbound Union Pacific intermodal train led by UP 9007 (SD70AH built 2016?), 5694 (AC44CWCTE built 2004?), and 2603 (ET44AH built 2015-16), passes through the Rochelle Railroad Park.
58:28 A eastbound Union Pacific stack train led by UP 7894 (AC45CCTE built 4/2008) and 7156 (AC44CW built ?) slowly comes out of Global 3 yard. A FRA officer from what it appears was leading the train through each crossing in town making sure the recently fixed track is safe enough for traffic. It went back to the two track operation after this train passed!!
