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Have you ever had one of those days as a railfan when everything seemed to fall perfectly into place? Nicholas S recently experienced such a day, and luckily for us, he not only captured it on video but has shared it for us to enjoy in the Railfan Video of the Day.

Norfolk Southern has provided railfans in the Eastern United States a fleet of specially painted locomotives to break up the monotony of NS’s black and white scheme and competitor CSX’s blue and yellow. There are Heritage locomotives honoring many of Norfolk Southern’s predecessor railroads, special locomotives honoring first responders and military veterans, commemorative locomotives denoting special rebuilding programs, and more. In today’s video, Nicholas S no less than four of these special locomotives in a single day!

He writes,

I wasn’t expecting to catch three NS Heritage Units that day because the main heritage unit I was going for was NS 8099 leading NS 255. I went out to Cerro Gordo, IL to wait for NS 255 to show up. While waiting I did hear NS D38 call out a signal, I walked to the tracks and looked to the left of me and I could see the head lights. I zoomed in with my Nikon camera to see what the leader was and when I saw the red and white nose on the engine it was NS 911 The First Responders Unit on the point.



Cerro Gordo is just east of Decatur, Illinois on the former Wabash main line between Detroit and Kansas City. At Decatur, Wabash’s line to St. Louis branched off from the main trunk. The Wabash was merged into the Norfolk And Western, which itself merged into Norfolk Southern’s extensive rail network. Today, as then, this line is a very busy railroad.

Next, our videographer moved west to Decatur to catch the westbound NS 255 with Southern Railway Heritage unit #8099 leading the way. The Southern Railway represents the “other half”, along with the Norfolk And Western, in the Norfolk Southern system. #8099 recall’s the Southern’s classic green passenger scheme.

Thinking he had finished a great day of railfanning, our videographer headed for home, but on the way, he received a text informing him that another Heritage unit was in the area. He then drove to Centralia, Illinois, located along the former Southern Railway line connecting St. Louis and Louisville, Kentucky, to catch locomotive #8105, the Interstate Railroad Heritage locomotive known to railfans as “the Creamsicle”. As an added bonus, NS SD70ACe #1111 was the third unit on this train. While not truly a specially-designated locomotive, railfans refer to #1111 as the “barcode” unit because of the way the numbers appear on the cab.

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All in all, a spectacular day by the tracks. Enjoy!





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Now, go watch some trains!

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