Active Ancona on the Santa Fe Transcon

July 3, 1996 and C. R. is south of Streator, IL and near a grain elevator/few homes called Ancona.
Things get interesting with the variety of equipment and use of the crossover.
1) ATSF 677 and 636 C44-9W head east towards Chicago with a stack train.
2) Meantime all westbound traffic is taking the crossover as are ex Santa Fe bluebonnets 5080 & 5159, now MKM leased SD40-2s, leading a westbound auto train.
3) Dash 9s 674, 634 and 637 roll a long double stack west across the crossovers
4) The reason for the crossover shows up on the south track while SD45-2 5812 (MKM) 8159 a C30-7, and Conrail SD 60 6849, glide west with a TOFC train.
5) ATSF 513 (B40-8W), MKM 5372 SD45u, MKM 5931 a F45 accelerate from a dead stop, through the crossover with a really long mixed freight.
6) Santa Fe (MKM) 5264 an ex-Amtrak SDP40F and SD40-2 5063 park on the north track to wait for
7) The Southwest Chief first seen in the distance then banging across the road crossing
8) 5264 received permission to move closer, at a crawl then stops for
9) Dash 9 warbonnets 919, 944 and three other Dash 9s eastbound with a very hot TOFC train
10) 5264 finally receives permission to take her short stack train west but stays on the north track.
11) GP60s 104 & 134 and 7435 B40-8 AND 7435 and a worn B40-8W # 503 will guide their hot TOFC WB train to the south track and quickly meet a Southern Pacific train
12) Cotton Belt B40-8.8088, SSW GP 60 9706, CSX C30-7 7029, 5814 CSX B36-7 head east with a stack using trackage right on the Santa Fe.
13) ATSF 5829 A SD45-2u, another former Amtrak SDP40F 5250.and SD40-2 5191 (all MKM) have a handle on a long eastbound mixed.
14) ATSF 2941 GP35u. ATSF 6374 B23-7 running the local like a hotshot .
Credits: C. R. Miller Archives. All rights reserved.

[@robadams8057]

I like how the camera followed the locomotives. The blue and gold ones have always been my favorites.

[@christophercarey3232]

The Yellowbonnets? Yeah

[@DannyTOG]

@@christophercarey3232 freightbonnet. Yellow bonnet was only on F units

[@Don10003]

The blue and yellow trains are called bluebonnets

[@soarinskies1105]

God Santa Fe locomotives were so cool with the red and grey paint

[@GooseinTheCabooseProductions]

The glory of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. Long live Warbonnets!!

[@chuckmiller4871]

+Jacob Oliver Long live the Warbonnet!

[@christophercarey3232]

Long live the Leslie S3L!

[@GooseinTheCabooseProductions]

Christopher Carey​ Yep, that too!!

[@brok3nD1am0nd45]

Jacob Oliver Agreed

[@robadams8057]

Haven't they all been converted to orange and black BNSF by now?

[@ACLTony]

Good clip. How ironic at 8:00 seeing the Amtrak train passing SDP40F (or SDF40-2) #5264, a former Amtrak locomotive. I miss seeing those fast giants running at the head of the Silver Meteor and other long distance passenger trains.

[@andrewbethune5]

The Amtrak even gave it a Shave and a Haircut horn salute

[@corneliusadeola7261]

Yeah that is pretty ironic and also I think the engineer did it out of respect because he may have been on one of those

[@LandonMac32]

@@andrewbethune5 Like a rookie saluting to a veteran

[@dinocalmes8144]

I really wish for those old days when there were 15 class A railroads

[@danielboone3770]

I love this Santa Fe action here. I too love how the camera followed the locomotives.

[@chuckmiller4871]

Thanks, Dad was keen on panning. He loved it out there.

[@wurlitzer1538]

Love this area and the Santa Fe especially in the 90’s. Thanks for sharing!

[@chuckmiller4871]

We had fun. Thanks.

[@davehughesfarm7983]

Love the 6 mail cars.....Days before email got popular...

[@guyname8760]

I wonder: What if Burlington Northern and Santa Fe never united?

[@alexpaumen3937]

16:25 I caught a very similar sounding K3 last year ironically on another Geep but it was ex-BN and in BNSF colors. 3013 was the number. Funny how horns are swapped sometimes.

[@atsf4life183]

3:04 and 3:49 I love Warbonnets more than the classic blue and yellow colored locomotives😉

[@andrewbeadle3660]

Both were solid paint schemes IMO, best were the red and silver though!

[@Trainbros_]

Those horns are so fine

[@ORANG_BIASA411]

When I was little, the SDF40-2 locomotive was very scary for me

[@pooleandrew]

Love the RS3L's!

[@robscott8296]

Man I love the locomotives and the horns

[@chuckmiller4871]

We had a good time that day.

[@Templar_king_2001]

The warbonnet is my favorite theme

[@RailsOfTheSouthProductions]

That Chief was flying!

[@nickygaming1911]

True fact: GP60M ATSF and the new GP60M BNSF are still on the rails GP60M ATSF is now a BNSF locomotive today and are yet rare

[@awesomevillevlog5798]

9:18 I swear that the 4th locomotive just showed BNSF on it

[@cbolanz1]

I saw it too

[@BigSmokeRailfanning]

Yeah it seemed like it said BNSF

[@mOOsechuck]

Great footage Chuck! Thanks for sharing

[@chuckmiller4871]

Razzy Moosechuck I'm just the editor. Thanks for watching!

[@anb740]

Warbonnets and searchlight signals. Those were days. Now it’s nothing but orange paint and “vader” signals everywhere.

[@chuckmiller4871]

Change isn't always good.

[@STrains2705]

Long live the santa fe

[@MrBnsftrain]

I'm from Kansas City, so I've become quite familiar with Warbonnets and ATSF yellow and blue bonnets! But I'm too young to remeber seeing SDP40Fs, any Dash7s, or any Santa Fe engine wihout BNSF below its cab number! 6:30 so apparently those two engines were purchased by MKM, but i couldn't find any record of them owning 5951 (or a few other engines shown)! 7:46 Nice to see two dash 8s behind a P40 in "proper" phase III! (the third car is also a former santa Fe coach!) 9:17 that 4th engine is probably the first BNSF lettered engine through here! 14:29 nice to see SSW and CSx engines here! I've only seen one Sp gray on the front of a train in person, and that was in 2013! I miss hearing Leslie horns and Nathan three chimes echoing in the distance! Now all I hear 20 years later are K5HLs and K5LAs!

[@acl109]

The TOFC at 09:00 was hauling the f*** mail! Looked like 78-80 mph

[@chuckmiller4871]

Lots of horsepower!

[@haroldbenton979]

You want to know what is ironic the Santa Fe owned more wide cab B40 and GP60s than they did standard cab models of the same model. Of the B-40-8 they had 40 regular cab models and 80 Wide cabs of the GP 60's they had 40 Regular and 63 wide cabs and then another 23 B units.

[@chuckmiller4871]

They kept things interesting, that's for sure.

[@vthome78]

awesome video love it

[@chuckmiller4871]

That's all dad's work. Thanks!

[@atsf4life183]

9:18 dash 8 40cw look carefully there’s a BNSF logo

[@corneliusadeola7261]

Yeah I just noticed it

[@alexpaumen3937]

I actually caught 637 in 2016 as you can see in my first video she still has her RS3L.

[@trainjack16]

I wish the Santa Fe was still around

[@robscott8296]

John Vanwiel me too I was born after the Santa Fe marged with the BN

[@ronnied9330]

Great Great Video.. I've Got 3 Santa Fe Engines in N scale KATO One is a SD40-2 5753 Non Sound on DC & I've Got 2 D.C.C. Sound KATO's There Both SDP40F's with Lok Sound sound Decoder.. It's really Fun listening to these Engines Run like the Real prototypes.. And having 15 Horn choices the Leslie RS3L sounds pretty close to the Horns I heard on the Video.. The SL-4T is the Default Horn that is programmed into the Engine at KATO's Kobo Shops.. My 2 KATO's have the ( E.S.U. Lok Sound 90861Sound Decoder ) This Decoder was Factory Installed @ KATO U.S.A.,...

[@rnrailproductions5049]

It saddens me to see that those former SDP40Fs don't have their signature S4T/SL4T horns and got replaced by RS3Ls...

[@therookie9276]

trainsRcool The best one is the RS5T-RRO.

[@rnrailproductions5049]

trainsRcool SL4T's had a sound close to the Nathan K5L it was a good horn, and it was the signature sound of Amtrak!

[@coasternamegenerator5611]

R&N RailProductions they were maintenance nightmares though.

[@cristopherlove3865]

All the more saddened that they're all gone but the Maresk painted one!!!

[@christophercarey3232]

@@rnrailproductions5049 the first signature sound before the K5LA.

[@evanstair1262]

What program did you use to stabilize this video. You did an excellent job!

[@johnpower9929]

Ancona is where the branch line to Pekin,Il used to join the main line.

[@chuckmiller4871]

Yup!

[@trainjack16]

Was it filmed near Cameron Il

[@chrishinnant3924]

BNSF done replaced Santa Fe's old horns. Wish they had kept them. I still think the Leslie horns is the king of all horns.

[@Maximilian7992]

It’s a shame they don’t make cowl-bodies anymore. Would be cool to see some modern ones with BNSF.

[@l.hefner8872]

This locomotive is so wide lol 8:20

[@robadams8057]

Yellowbonnets at 4:15 and 8:20.

[@BigSmokeRailfanning]

I think those are just the bluebonnets

[@bensmall6548]

what horns did the wide cabs have?

[@chuckmiller4871]

I don't know. Perhaps others will inform us.

[@cristopherlove3865]

K3LA

[@corneliusadeola7261]

It depends on TheRailroad this one mainly S3L RS3L and K3LA

[@christophercarey3232]

The Dash 8s had Leslie RS3Ls and the GP60Ms had K3LAs.

[@timpriddy349]

Now they have faded pink noses with HCLX painted out of place for the ones still alive

[@DannyTOG]

None of them are HLCX lmao