NS' Chicago Line: A Railroad Superhighway Part 2

ELKHART, INDIANA - PART 2 OF 3
The Norfolk Southern Chicago Line is a railroad with an esteemed past and exceptionally bright future. Since it was built for New York Central predecessors, it has been one of the nation's most important corridors, funneling traffic into an out of Chicago towards the eastern seaboard.
Always at least double track, and with over a dozen miles of triple track added in the last few years, growth continues for this railroad of giants. We'll take a look in this series of the entire line across Indiana, from Butler to the Chicago River.
Don't forget to check out the other parts to this series!
Part 1: Butler to Elkhart: • NS' Chicago Line: A Ra...
Part 2: Elkhart to Porter: • NS' Chicago Line: A Ra...
Part 3: Porter to Chicago: • NS' Chicago Line: A Ra...
Thanks for watching! Make sure to leave a like and subscribe, for more from the Thornapple River Rail Series! Your support keeps this channel rolling - don’t forget to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Also like TRRS on Facebook! / thornappleriverproduct...
Videography Equipment:
Primary: Sony FDR-AX53 4K Camcorder
Secondary: Sony HDR-PJ790V HD Camcorder
Aerial Platform: DJI Phantom 3 Advanced Drone
Radio Scanner: Uniden Bearcat BC125AT
Edited with: Cyberlink PowerDirector 16
Created by Alex Christmas. Copyright 2018, as the Thornapple River Rail Series, All Rights Reserved

[@UnitedRailfan]

26:30 That’s where those steel coil trains go! I always see them at Chesterton, Indiana and always wondered where they go. Very informative! Well done!

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

There was a time I wondered that for years, too! Then I made it to New Carlisle and the mystery was solved.

[@TheWanderlustvan]

thank you for showing Elkart from above, because of this, I now know there are 2 (yes 2.) NYC 'mohawks' 3001 in Elkart, and 2933 in St.Louis....

[@larrysierens1029]

This has to be one of my favorite rail videos to date thanks for all the effort that went into the making of this

[@spaceghost8995]

Laporte, IN is my hometown. Been watching trains blast through since I was a boy. NYC, PC, CR & NS.

[@railsofsoutheastmichigan8254]

Awesome coverage of the Chicago line!

[@iusetano]

I enjoyed watching your video Alex. Excellent as usual.

[@Chasingrail]

Amazing as always!

[@Bhil3]

Another informative video full of train action. Just loved it. There is a grade crossing near where I used to live that we always wished was a silent crossing. With 10 giant lights 4 gates and dinging bells there was no logical reason for horns.

[@Roadhogg24]

Again, outstanding!!! Grand slam!! Love the new birds eye view , thanks to the drone, also enjoy the camera put on very near the track!! Keep up the excellent work! Thanks

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Glad you enjoy the variety of camera angles! Thanks, Saul!

[@BenWillKing]

These are very well put together, I enjoyed it very much.

[@rogerhillberg7235]

I really like your series. Informative

[@nobodyshome758]

Just fantastic!

[@maccomando111]

Just Fantastic.

[@lindsaymoore7232]

Hello Alex, I really enjoyed this series of videos. Keep up the good work!!

[@paullindberg9230]

Love your presentations. Truly. coverage. from the. Rocky mountains. To coast to coast in the lower 48

[@Ohio_Photographer]

25:20 best shot of the video. Looks like I can squeeze that on the list.

[@TheOneTrueDragonKing]

More foreign power! Oh, what a lovely sight, to see railroads cooperating.

[@RyanFRails]

Great video! You also mentioned the Sunset Route early in the video. You should totally do a documentary of that line. I live along the UP Dallas Sub, which is kind of on the same corridor that the Sunset Route runs on although it’s on the opposite side of the state from El Paso, and I think it would be very interesting to see a Sunset Route documentary of some sort. Love your videos! Keep up the good work!

[@miked5020]

Hey, new subscriber here. Your videos are excellent and I am soooo happy to have found your channel!

[@Georgiarailvideos6325]

this is cool u should do the csx florida funnel from waycross georgia to jacksonville florida

[@everbladesplm895]

Programming at it's finest👍🏾

[@rudolffabrie3233]

Excellent!

[@CNTrainMan5762]

Otis is where the Monon Michigan City Branch crossed over the Chicago Line before it was abandoned in the 1980's.

[@michaeljudge860]

Are there any remnants left?

[@CNTrainMan5762]

@@michaeljudge860 There isn’t anything left sadly.

[@PTL17]

I love how a majority of trains in this video are dash9s

[@EvoStarIX]

golden era for NS

[@irvinklugh8858]

LIKE IT

[@peterjhillier7659]

Great Video, looks like you must have had some cold Hands on those snowy Days.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Especially in the early mornings! The snow scenes between Porter and South Bend were particularly cold but probably the best day of the bunch in terms of scenery!

[@ErikMatthWoodrYT]

i have have train sim world and i smashed your like button

[@denisetindall1487]

I like train videos videos on KZbin 👍

[@norfolksouthernguy9350]

great video

[@tedvdw1975]

Really enjoying your videos. I'm a bit curious why trains get marshalled certain ways. In some intermodal trains there may be empty cars up front or in the middle of the train. It would seem like the possibility of the light weight at those locations could cause the light cars to lift through curves. Perhaps these mainline curves are subtle enough. I know this has happened up on former BC Rail trackage where empty centre-beams popped off the rails due to their location in the consist. The curves are probably much sharper through most of that line.

[@TobyPasman]

The steam locomotive at 5:50 is New York Central L-3a Mohawk #3001, the last surviving NYC Mohawk. 4-8-2 steam engines built for the NYC were called Mohawks because the NYC once ran along the Mohawk River.

[@DASCO2136]

What about the other one at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis?

[@EdEddnEddyonline1]

I see that steam locomotive with the headlight on over on Virtual Railfan's Elkhart cam

[@MikeInPlano]

Like the segment on the quiet zone in Mishawaka. Makes it pretty clear why local residents want them along a busy stretch like this. Anybody know the stats as to the difference in accidents at grade crossings like these in a quiet zone vs. same kind (no 4-quadrant gates) along regular zones?

[@ohboy3622]

MikeInPlano going by the crosses along the tracks to Chicago, Mishawaka has most of them. Laporte is probably next in line for the most accidents.

[@bobpaulino4714]

When we would visit my grandmother and other family in Germany we often rode the trains or went to watch them. Oddly, as I recall, the crossings were either completely gated or just had cross bucks. I was amazed at how fast the European trains travelled. The crossing guard would lower the gates when one could just make out the mass of the locomotive. Even back In the 60's they all sported 2 and 3 headlights. Most had pantographs and seemingly travelled at the speed of light, occasionally a Krauss Maffei diesel hydraulic unit would smoke up the horizon --- as the American military convoys did on the Autobahn. My older cousins and I would stop and buy some fresh, hot pommes frites, and find a convenient place to watch the assortment of freight and passenger trains rush by.

[@paullasko2023]

Is that black contraption at 12:16 an automated switch deicer? It appears to have a gas regulator attached to a gas pipe emerging from the ground and there is a propane tank in the background.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Yup it's the switch heater to keep the points from freezing up in winter

[@spaceghost8995]

What? No shot of downtown Laporte and running by the old New York Central passenger depot?

[@midmichiganrailproductions5819]

Hey Alex! Great content here. This has definitely been one of my favorite routes to shoot over the past few years. Do you think I could take a few of these clips and make a little music video??

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

As a policy, I do not grant requests for use of footage. Sorry.

[@Bhil3]

Interesting how NS seems to put all engines at the front while CSX often has a centre and/or rear train helper.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

This was shot a few years ago, before both CSX and NS started using mid-train and rear-end distributed power. They're both doing it a bit nowadays.

[@electric7487]

Why do NS like their locomotive centre lights on top? They have a nice livery, but IMO their horse-and-whiskers livery is the only livery here in North America that looks better with the lights like this. On wide-cab engines, all the other railways' liveries look much better with the centre light mounted on the nose. 52:40 That train is heading towards Southeast Michigan, as can be seen on one of those coal wagons showing a DETX reporting mark, indicative of DTE Energy. Also, were you having problems with the audio? I'm hearing an odd comb filter effect in all three of these videos.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Yeah I was working with a new audio setup when I made these and hadn't fully nailed things down. I've since dialed it in. Basically my Rode Microphone didn't play well with the camera unless I took the camera off automatic volume adjustment, and put it on a single setting. This applied to both field shots (hence peaking with horns) as well as when I recorded the narration. It's too bad I cannot go back and really fix these. I don't think it is too terrible, at least.

[@thebusterdog6358]

Do you have any videos in and around the Grayslake Illinois area? Or along the old Chicago- Northwestern line from Chicago to Milwaukee? Grew up in that area at the end of the Steam era.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Nope

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Nope

[@oobs35]

Is there a reason why there are just 2 engines pull massive weights?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

The rolling resistance is very low and the locomotives are putting out over 4000 horsepower each!

[@tylersebring8045]

2:15 what are they doing to the two main tracks are they abandoned or what?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Yes due to the realignment there at CP 421 that half-mile segment of the original mains was "abandoned". They were removed a short while after I shot that footage.

[@rleeAZ]

That is one sad Amtrak station.

[@ReviewerKid90]

Shout out to Buffalo NY :D

[@irish00011]

Alex; Hmm, only four comments including my own. Knowing how time-consuming and expensive it is for your out-of-pocket funding, I'm thoroughly surprised how well these documentaries/exposes turn out.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

The KZbin partner program really does make it possible for creators like us to do these things without blowing our wallets out. I seriously appreciate everybody's support, and I'm glad that my work is found to be enjoyable by others.

[@buckstarchaser2376]

Amtrak train 12 hours late and dropping off 2 passengers... The power of government aid.

[@ttvdevildog0326]

You missed literally 3/4 of the Chicago line in Ohio is most of it

[@peteyblack8890]

I love you videos but for The Quiet Zone isn't it better for the for the trains to honk their horns for awareness for people and drivers because without the horns people are more careless. So the public nuisance is more important I don't even think the gates and lights make any noise either if anybody could tell me why that regulation passed all over the country

[@timdailey2690]

22:20

[@damaliamarsi2006]

The only good part of this video was the part where the train was going by, and the information. Only 54 minutes and 16 seconds of it is watchable. I wouldn't recommend watching it more than three or four thousand times.

[@mikediffley2042]

You never showed trailer's being loaded or unloaded or how train operations work.