Railfanning Whiting, Pine Junction / Gary, and Dyer, Indiana, 10.04.12

An evening/afternoon of roaming Northwest Indiana with a couple friends yielded some crappy weather (which did, however, make for a couple atmospheric shots), but several great catches on the rails, including former Illinois Central and Grand Trunk Western power, and some private varnish on Amtrak's Cardinal. Train descriptions following:

Train 1:
Amtrak's Michigan Service 'Wolverine', train #353, makes a station stop at the Hammond-Whiting station. P42DC #30, "Dirty Thirty", (so-nicknamed for its peeled logos and propensity to be constantly filthy) leads the usual consist. Number 30 has a dead bird stuck in the plow, and is spattered with mud- pretty typical... P42 #33 trails.

Train 2:
P42s #32 and 127 bracket the consist of train #364, the 'Blue Water', bound for central Michigan and the US-Canada border at Port Huron.

Train 3:
Now we are at Pine Junction in Gary, where CN's EJ&E climbs out of Kirk Yard and the lakefront steel mills, and loops up and over the parallel NS and CSX main lines. Not one, but TWO Illinois Central SW14s, #1497 and 1506, chug up the hill with a cut of cars from Kirk Yard.

Train 4:
On the NS Chicago Line, a rather short local freight, probably a transfer from Burns Harbor, approaches westward with two Dash-9s in command.

Train 5:
As the IC SW14s drift down the hill in their continuing switching duties, former GTW GP9Rm #4610 and ex-IC GP38-2 #9602 work on switching Kirk Yard as well.

Train 6:
NS C40-9W #9234 and SD70M-2 #2713 bring a stack train west on the Chicago Line.

Train 7:
On CSX's Chicago Line, AC4400 #366 and C40-8 #7529 race west with an intermodal train.

Train 8:
Coming up the EJ&E Hill Track is CN GP40-2LW #9590 with an 8-car local.

Train 9:
Cars #27 and 108 bracket South Shore Line train #15 as it speeds through Gary's west side at Durbin St, headed for South Bend.

Train 10:
Later that night, Amtrak's train #50, the 'Cardinal', makes its station stop at Dyer, Indiana. Several passengers board here. Two private varnish cars are on the rear- anyone know who owns them?