It's the Little Things that Count. DREI 200 Serves a Rarely Visited Customer.

On my way back from finding 101 on January 2nd, I noticed while passing by that DREI job 200, the Tuscola/Ficklin local switcher had picked up a cut of box cars in Tuscola from UP and was spotting them on one of the storage tracks in the little yard just west of there. Box cars, or any cars other than hoppers and tank cars, look somewhat out of place on DREI, since the vast majority of their customers are agricultural (ADM, Priment, and Cargil, being the big three with a dozen or so smaller customers).
Figuring I'd get a quick shot of them rolling light back towards the industries in Ficklin with the box cars in the background, I set up at the crossing between the yard and industries. To my surprise, my friend was at the controls, and I soon learned that they would be making a run to Pierson (Pierson Station on Google Maps) to pick up a single tank car from the local fertilizer dealer there. This is a rarely served customer and I've ironically seen it being served twice, and with the same engineer. This little run I think epitomizes the shortline railroad of rural America--providing rail service to tiny customers that class 1 railroads would ignore.
Of note to anyone in the horn department, 3896, while still equipped with a K3LA now has one of the Narrow-Font 2 generation compared to the Raised Letter it had before, courtesy of HLCX 4212. To the horn enthusiast, it sounds slightly better than before I think, though most others wouldn't bother to notice a difference. It also has a the bronze bell it came out of the factory with which is cool. The synchronized ditchlights however still very much bother me.
Nerd Stats:
DREI Train 200; Tuscola/Ficklin, IL Local
WB/EB DREI Decatur Subdivision
WAMX 3896; EMD GP38-2
- Ex PRLX 5020, NS 5020
- Built As SOU 5020, 02/1972
- Nathan K3LA

[@crlaw75]

Love these short line railroads. They keep the line active and serves the customers (possibly add new ones to).

[@paulbergen9114]

Luckily the old Wisconsin and Southern ways still live on with WATCO ownership. One knows they didn't make money on this move but if you blow off a small customer a larger customer may hear about it and there goes your credibility. Nice timing and also the extra horn salutes

[@ericzerkle8486]

Conrail was an EXPERT at ignoring small customers.

[@jimikrentkowski4073]

Really cool to see this . Appreciate the small things in life - rural towns , small RR. Keeping it simple . Good video . Wish this line was still active to St. Louis

[@MarcelosalivaTRENESArg]

Awesome capture my friend Excellent video 💯💪🏻 Like 👍🏻 fantactic Capture Greeting 🙋🏻

[@OutdoorsSC]

We love our train videos in Clemson SC, Go Tigers! Keep it up

[@reho7387]

My stepfather was an engineer on what was Great Northern Railways. Based out of Havre, MT which also served as a repair facility. I would ride with him on a switching engine in the yard when he was assigned to do that. Other times, in the cab of the diesel locomotives used for long hauls.

[@user-lq4mo8dw1p]

Same here ....my father worked on the BN out of Cicero and eola....I'd ride locals and freight, 1991-1995....he hired on the ROCK ISLAND in 74 then CNW 1980-1991.

[@beeble2003]

OK but now we need to crowdfund new railroads EINS (Evansville, Indianapolis and Somewhere) and ZWEI (Zion and Waukegan Electric Inc.).

[@wfvideos4099]

Evansville, Indianapolis, and somewhere basically describes the Indiana Southern Railroad 😂

[@mrjoel59]

I caught a tank car or 2 of Bromine coming throught Paris IL jate one night about 10 or 15 years ago

[@zoomboy-jx9vd]

Love the use of Porcupine Tree as the intro music!

[@wfvideos4099]

The particular song is quite fitting I think!

[@ericzerkle8486]

Someone wrote Chessie System on the approach sign.

[@richharris9489]

Cool engineer 😎

[@Beechnut985]

Where is this?

[@ffjsb]

Central Illinois.

[@wfvideos4099]

Between Tuscola and Pierson Station, IL to be more precise . Exact locations are in the top right at the beginning of each clip

[@rgj8044]

Boy that track looks bed! My opinion.

[@wfvideos4099]

In the siding and around the storage yard yes, the rest of the subdivision is in pretty decent shape though. Most of it is rated for 25mph.

[@macmedic892]

I’ve never seen a locomotive with simultaneous-flashing ditch lights! Alternating or steady-burn, but never like this! Edited to add: That’s because it’s not compliant. 49 CFR 229.125 (e) Auxiliary lights required by paragraph (d) of this section may be arranged (1) to burn steadily or (2) flash on approach to a crossing. If the auxiliary lights are arranged to flash; (i) they shall flash alternately at a rate of at least 40 flashes per minute and at most 180 flashes per minute, (ii) the railroad's operating rules shall set a standard procedure for use of flashing lights at public highway-rail grade crossings, and (iii) the flashing feature may be activated automatically, but shall be capable of manual activation and deactivation by the locomotive engineer.

[@wfvideos4099]

Yes they are broken and it bothers me. They've been like that forever though.

[@thomasfrench2012]

I love the video, but I hate the intro. I am sure you spent a lot of time on it and are very proud of it, which you should be. But my time and everyone else's time is valuable. Spending almost 30 seconds on an intro is time a viewer could have spent watching new content. As a rule of thumb, I don't care how much I like a video, if the intro is more than 5 or 6 seconds, I go back and block the channel. Best of luck to you.

[@wfvideos4099]

I feel the same way with intros, sometimes, especially poorly-made ones that last for 3 minutes which take forever to skip through. I've kept mine to just under 30 seconds for this reason. A few double taps or clicks and you're past it. Most of my videos actually have just a title screen and sound which about 10 seconds, if that. I am proud of the intro though and plan to keep it for my longer videos. Thanks for your input though.

[@TevisC]

I skipped it. The guy is right. Brevity is key. Not much point in an intro people will skip.