Road-Railers, Fallen Flags, and a WHOLE LOT MORE in Decatur, IL!

In todays video, we see a little bit of everything! From one of America's rarest freight trains, to excavators moving railroad tracks, along with fallen flags, and a rebuilt ALCO! Not to mention all the neat, vintage railroad infrastructure in the surrounding area.
Official Discord Server: / discord

[@45Deere9500]

Will sometimes see the RoadRailer trains in the fall, going through Sidney, IL, while waiting to cross the track to take grain to the elevator.

[@KaidsTrains]

The crane a 5:00 could possibly be used for loading large loads on railcars, wreck recovery, or track laying.

[@FIAFY111]

I worked as a carman for NS in the 90's until Conrail was broken up and split between NS and CSX, which caused me to lose my job after 10 years. The crane is, if it's the same one, was used by the wreck crew. As best as I can remember it consisted of the self-propelled carne, a couple flat cars, a box car for equipment and a sleeper car with a kitchen for the carman during the recovery.

[@beeble2003]

@@FIAFY111 These days, wrecks are usually recovered by specialist contractors (Corman and Hulcher are the main ones) using side booms.

[@ICJAKE0923]

The crane was used to knock down the former Walrus Manufacturing building.

[@Kansas-Trains]

This brings back memories of a conductor and I taking the first Roadrailer train from NS Calumet in Chicago to the CN/GTW Intermodal facility in Harvey IL ad employees for the CN/GTW. But soon got phased out to the price of using them and they all left for CN in Canada.

[@yogiperogy]

The road-railers were news to me: never seen them before! Interestingly, I live near the CN mainline in Winnipeg MB, have for almost 50 years, and no road-railers. CN runs coast to coast so they must have been used elsewhere, or perhaps just on CN’s American lines.

[@zackman86]

The road railer train symbols are actually NS 256 and 255. I see them all the time east of Decatur. There were rumors that NS was going to shut down the Road Railer trains at the beginning of the month, but I don't know if that actually has happened or not.

[@railfan_brady]

They were supposed to end at the end of June but the contract was renewed. Theres also a rumour that NS is working with Wabash to create new Roadrailers

[@CP_N503]

Gotta love the sounds of the diamonds when train pass over them. and great catches

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

For sure! Thank you!

[@GTKCF2023]

@@Southern_Plains_Railfanthanks for telling me what a difference between an SD70ACE And A SD70M-2

[@seanwallin4698]

Working on a rail gang, laying ribbon rail we used one . Pull a flat car with various supplies. Crews road out to work sites on them . Also used to pull rail straight down, taking out slack .plus we had electric magnet for picking up old scrap ,tie plates,spikes etc.

[@bowserjrrules8162]

Greetings from the Alaska Railroad. I'm a "gandy dancer" as I believe you called us. 5:00 we've used are rail crane to shunt wagons around Seward yard, as well as delivering and unloading large culvert pipes to our job sites.

[@gamingwithlukeJToH]

0:49 That's actually an SD70M-2, these were retired by NS a while ago, but they've recently brought some of them back. I believe there are only 50 of these. Edit: Just realized you saw a second one and noticed it.

[@JacksonTheRailfan]

CN Has tons of them so it wont go away anytime soon.

[@alexander1485]

I call them Fake Aces (DC version)

[@frankierailfan4014]

For those of you who watched AJ Railfan, who got nostalgic when the music after the intro played

[@JDevine687]

Nice! Haven't started the vid yet, but that Triple Crown rail roader train passes through Lafayette Indiana a lot behind NS power.

[@WabashAndWesternRails]

Its NS 256. :) 7:47 Only NS 255 WB and NS 256 EB

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Ah, my bad. Thank you.

[@JacksonTheRailfan]

10:33 we have the same slug thing on the switcher pair at irondale, but this one actually runs except for the one shown here

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

I am a bit confused by the term "fallen flag". I haven't seen a flagpole strapped to any of the trains in that video. Someone mind explaining that to me?

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Lol, it’s a metaphorical railfan term that refers to any railroad company that doesn’t exist any more. For instance, Santa Fe, Kansas City Southern, and Chicago Northwestern would all be considered fallen flags.

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

@@Southern_Plains_Railfan i see. Thanks for the explanation.

[@AnupamVipul]

07:47 is so shocking and confusing

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Lol

[@Cnw8701]

Seaboard System was even more shortlived. That railroad lasted only 4 years; from 1982 to 1986.

[@LewisMarien]

Great video from my hometown

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@LakeMichiganRailfan]

nice video

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thanks!

[@trainchaserlouisvilleindia7096]

I’ve never seen those hoppers before on the first train in the video

[@beeble2003]

Me either. It seems they're Trinity's new-ish TrinFlo design. The point seems to be that it allows larger gates for faster unloading.

[@stephenfritz7493]

I think the crane car is used for building bridges. But, I'm in a completely different industry

[@beeble2003]

Those are usually built with non-rail-mounted cranes. With a rail-mounted crane, you could only build a bridge over a railway.

[@microbusss]

D&ME is no longer owned by CP its now owned by G&W & is called Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad as of 2014

[@BMTRAINMASTER]

I saw some where that a bnsf railroad crane was still being used has a pile driver.

[@anthonyeveler4820]

Great video lots of good catches nice captures if the fallen flags.

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@Chase.9000cat]

Union Pacific Big boy 4014 is the best locomotive pulling passenger cars

[@mijicalmagiemance8014]

Great vid

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thanks!

[@fleetleader1013]

So cool 😎

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thanks!

[@sparkythedetroitdoggo8281]

Blue box car @3:00 is a Grand Trunk Western or GT . Not many of those left on the rails sadly . That's my home town railroad ! Cheers from Detroit !

[@StormySkyRailProductions]

Fantastic catches and video. Great action and enjoyed watching. have a wonderful rest of your Friday.(Steve)

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you! You do the same!

[@StormySkyRailProductions]

@@Southern_Plains_Railfan Your welcome and thank you also.

[@hurr1c4ne]

Great video as always!

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@marcusfountain1694]

Thanks for reminding me I have two complete sets of NS road- railers from deluxe Inovations I've never run .

[@kens.3729]

Apparently Railroad Cars are Required to Retire some where between 45-50 years of age. Not sure if this is still the case and how it is monitored. Thanks! 👍

[@trumpeteer4792]

Tell that amtrak. 😂

[@brownpcsuncedu]

@@trumpeteer4792 The age limit applies to freight cars only (although the FRA administrator can grant exceptions even for those). The age limit doesn't apply to passenger cars (Amtrak, as you said) or locomotives (which is why there are a few diesels from the 1940's still out there earning their keep on industrial or shortline railroads). The limit also apparently doesn't apply to maintenance-of-way equipment-a few ancient scale test cars, at 100 years old or even more, are probably the oldest equipment still in service in the U.S. on "regular" railroads (as opposed to tourist or historical railroads). @kens.3729 Since about 1980, the age limit for freight cars has been a matter of FRA regulation, so they're the ones doing the enforcement.

[@trainfan4014]

Amazing video

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@TracksideSam]

great video!!!

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thanks!

[@positionlightproductions6187]

Keep up the good work! I love your editing style and the quality of your videos!

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you so much!

[@AlexTheRailfan]

0:52 You realize that’s an M-2? Those are coming back to NS!

[@lawrencemahalak6824]

Usedto see Triple Crowns all the time on the “Rathole” in Lexington, KY back in the early ‘90’s.

[@anf_8310_ab]

1:40 they way to differentiate AC44C6M and AC44CW is easy actually. The way i see it, if you look from the front, AC44C6M's front door is located on the left of its nose just like a GEVO would. While on AC44CWs, their doors are at the right side of their nose Edit: Some GEVOs do have their doors on the right side of the nose, but as far as i know, they usually the DC variant of the GEVOs

[@CoSpringer]

Great video and cool catches

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thanks!

[@brendenw.7312]

I'm from central South Dakota. I remember seeing ICE and DME locomotives for most of my childhood. It's been a really long time since I've seen the blue and yellow locomotives, with most of them now being painted in the relatively recently formed RCPE livery. I miss seeing those blue locomotives, they were the first trains to get me interested in rail transportation.

[@evanj2400]

i miss road railers so much in my area

[@YuhChorp]

I was born in 2002 and spent a lot of time visiting my grandparents in savanna, IL along the Mississippi River and stopping in Rochelle, IL on the way there- saw a ton of ICE trains and had no idea they were so rare.

[@alexander1485]

Ive always wondered if that was his natural voice... or edited to sound like that.

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

It’s natural. I don’t use any voice changers whatsoever.

[@EdwinsTrains]

I believe there are some ICE locomotives on the Florida Gulf Coast and Atlantic in Pensacola, Fl.

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Interesting, that’s pretty cool

[@EdwinsTrains]

​@@Southern_Plains_Railfan There is only one, and I think it is being leased to the railroad.

[@SRTWill111]

Love the content

[@thedesigner00]

Why did you not go to the Scrap yard as they tend to scrap old NS SD40s

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@1829entertainment]

Hello from Decatur Il.

[@UrMomsChauffer]

You've got some fascinating trains to look at out there. I've never seen a RoadRailer train in real life.

[@JF-lt5zc]

I happened to see a set of Swift road railers back in the 90s on the SP in Oregon. More recently, I caught a few glimpses of them visiting family in Indiana. Very neat to see in person.

[@dennisfox8673]

I love your videos, the footage is great but the the explanations take things to the next level.

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you so much!

[@IGuessIDoThings]

9:42 that unit looks like it has camo on the front stripes

[@victormioduszewski4729]

Great video and info..Nice location.. I miss the old days with our factories and industrial might and how the railroads supported that..Thank you...

[@tueypjr4823]

Im gonna miss triple C if their going to be abolished, glad we had a loading facility here that did serve triple C (even if it sat at a crossing all day) but I'll miss them. Btw I think the train numbers are 255 and 256 not 225 and 6.

[@Cemi_Mhikku]

2:50 Hahaaaaaa, yeah, I see a lot of this kind of thing just a mile or three from my house. Tracks coming north from the Chicago Heights Ford assembly plant go through one of my normal routes to the state line. Lots of car carriers and... I think the last train that I caught I counted no less than nine separate fallen flag liveries? 12 cars total if memory serves, and a number of which predated me and I'm almost 40 now, lol.

[@tylerallen6995]

Triple Crown used to be headquartered here in Fort Wayne, and we’d see those trains all the time.

[@johnmarris2965]

Hey, you have a mark on your camera's sensor. Really obvious at about 1:30, above the wooden pole. Not sure what camera it is, but there should be options for doing a sensor clean. I've had this myself before and bought a kit from a photo store to sort it.

[@Railfan_4235]

Nice seeing you in decatur

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

You as well!

[@TheArizonaRailfan]

I love your channel man!

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you, I appreciate that!

[@TheArizonaRailfan]

@@Southern_Plains_Railfanno probelem!

[@alcopower5710]

Excellent content 👍

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@johnkramer54]

i love your videos!

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@IdahoRailfan]

Here, about a month ago, on the UP, they used a rr crane to repair/repace a bridge.

[@calebvalder6855]

Random question for you real rail fans. I saw a CSX train yesterday and all 3 locomotives were rolling some serious black smoke as they chugged by me. I don’t usually see that from class 1 locomotives. What type of locomotives do you think I saw??

[@beeble2003]

Too vague to answer. For future reference, the easiest way to find out is to note down the locomotives' road numbers and look them up online.

[@BellTexRailfan_2256]

Awesome Video!

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@BellTexRailfan_2256]

@@Southern_Plains_Railfan Np!

[@BlueMoon69307]

I see them moving rails from trucks to flat cars for maintenance trains

[@benmullins2443]

IC&E locomotives are in fact very rare to find since most of them have fallen to the fate of the scrappers torch.

[@hlcx2330]

07:46 It’s actually NS 256, not 226

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Ah ok, my bad. Thank you.

[@hlcx2330]

No problem! I enjoy watching the content a lot 255 is Detroit - Kansas City and 256 is Kansas City - Detroit

[@Nderak]

9:26 dunno how true this is but i was told that semi-trailer frames werent up to the stresses of being tensioned by hundreds of tons of trailer and the slack action caused premature fatigue.

[@rc4lifebnsf]

Greetings from antioch Illinois!

[@itsrylan138]

should come to streator some time have 2 yard a diamond BNSF/NS 60-80 trains a day

[@hillbillyrailfan]

Roadrailrailer is 256 Eastbound and 255 Westbound. Enjoy you content.

[@adahop7663]

That yard slug is a pos. We use it for remote but it hardly works

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Lol, what’s wrong with it?

[@kelvintorrence5994]

Was that railroad crane, the wabash,as my ship was called,uss wabash aor-5,is it a display or used?

[@triplecrown-3219]

The two Roadrailer symbols are 255 and 256, not 226.

[@tysouthernrailfanner3668]

The first train you saw which is that NS Grain train it had an SD70M-2 Trailing which NS is Reactivating

[@mytruckownsit]

Those cranes are used mostly where roads are not.

[@doggo7]

hi from southeast asia

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Hello from the Midwestern USA!

[@Thunderbolt_1000AT]

Hello from the southwestern USA!

[@MinnesotaRailProductions]

Hello from Northern USA

[@rocklandbusguy]

Hello from Southern NY, USA lol

[@williamflowersrailfannerpr3808]

Hello from Gainesville Tx

[@PhantomoftheHeadShop]

They still use em on wrecker trains in the northern US

[@BNSFrailfan01]

Where does the Roadrailer originate?

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

The EB originates in Kansas City (probably at some intermodal facility) and the WB originates somewhere in Detroit

[@BNSFrailfan01]

@@Southern_Plains_Railfan ok

[@pigletshut]

So this explains the strange attachment points at the back of those Triple Crown trailers I see on the highway. I'm just your run of the mill highway truck driver.

[@oubrioko]

9:00 While en-route, bad order *RoadRailers* are indeed removed and set out on sidings. Happens every once in a while. Copy and paste the following text in the KZbin search box to view a vintage CSX employee instructional video that describes the process: _CSX Roadrailer Operation Historical Video_

[@flembag32]

Cheers from Trenton Ont, home to a CP switching yard and a CN yard just down the road in Belleville. Busy line here, thanks for posting Southern Plain 👍

[@flembag32]

Oh and I subscribed 🎉

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thank you!

[@coryburris8211]

Weird seeing the Komatsu equipment. They could have ordered from Caterpillar and shipped it right there from Peoria on the CN line.

[@lukenolts4]

5:05 I've seen BNSF use a pair to repile a bridge

[@jimmydesouza4375]

What are the road railers used for if they're obsolete? What company is still using them and what makes it worth their while using them over containers?

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Well, they haul large, lightweight auto parts like chassis and body panels. There must be a dang good reason for NS and Triple Crown to keep perpetuating their contract, but I'm not sure what that reason is. Maybe hauling the autoparts by intermodal would be problematic, or maybe NS keeps the road-railer around just to give customers more options.

[@1829entertainment]

You missed a few other RR’s

[@HudsonDeaconPlace]

You also caught a thundercab on an SD70ACe if i'm correct, number 2765 at timestamp 0:52. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Thundercab, yes, but it’s an SD70M-2 not an SD70ACe.

[@HudsonDeaconPlace]

Ah, I must have not noticed that.

[@ER_ProductionsRailz]

Roadrailers kinda remind me Piggyback cars...

[@BNSFTrains10]

it's stupid for the CSX Dot Tags to be Patch by DREI cause of the blue color Patch

[@josepantoja5033]

road railers i don’t think i’ve seen it

[@Southern_Plains_Railfan]

Merch, anyone? okieprint.com/SPR/shop/home

[@treos17]

railroads- even if it is broke, dont fix it

[@Markus_Teltschik]

Hi from Germany. I am an lokomotive-engineer here and when I see in which state the traks are over there. In Germany the yard yould be closed and probaply be torn down and completly rebuild.

[@schinbone0]

Hello, I have been an engineer here for 30 years. It appears those are industry tracks. Not much regulation on them from what i have seen over the years. If something derails, then they fix it. LOL. Some of the short line rail roads have very poor track conditions but they go very slow, 10 mph or some times 5 mph.

[@DominicMazoch]

I think Road Railers still could work. Use ",REA" or passenger car trucks, they could be more stable and run at higher speeds. I think there a market for such express trains. Has RR been marketed to Brown or FedEx? Or USPS,? RR advantage would be you can have a siding, put down some gravel, and have an intermodal yard. Maybe it is time for the railroads to divide there operators into two companies: 1. ROW and Dispatch 2. Trains and transportation The first would convert the ROW into a toll road. You have a train. You want to go from A to B. You pay for the slot. You get a contract service level. If, say, Brown wanted a RR train, and paid the toll, they could run. Or a stacker....... The owner railroad does the same with it's trains. Open access with a toll for the access. Now the owner RR can run it's trains over the tracks it owns. But again they have to pay the toll, which goes back to a railroad's company. With more skin in the game, this could make a lot of money for everyone.

[@sharkheadism]

A big reason why they didn't catch on was that the trailers needed a lot more metal in them to handle the forces of being in a train as opposed to normal truck trailers. That reduced their payload capacity, and was probably a reason why FedEx and UPS never used them.

[@beeble2003]

@@sharkheadism And, despite the extra weight, they're too fragile to mix with other cars in a train, so they can only be run in dedicated services. And it's not really possible to switch them, so they can only be run point-to-point. So, as well as the low capacity, they're also operationally very inflexible.

[@beeble2003]

Your "toll road" concept is how railroads already run, except they do it at the level of individual freight cars, rather than whole trains.

[@johnsonwilliam1023]

Triple crown isn’t going anywhere they haul to much for top companies

[@F4productions4072]

The thumbnail is jut not the same no more it looks cursed to my eyes but it is what it is now 😢

[@trainlover123trainsrock]

I wish there wasn’t voiceover on this video, I want to hear the diamond

[@reginaldwilkinson6019]

Why not show the entire train? I would love to have seen ALL the boxes-uninterrupted! Geez!

[@Madman12.]

calm down. use it as a suggestion pls ty