Railfanning CN's new Matteson Connection, 04.06.13: With IC and BCOL Power

Trains 1 and 2:
Canadian National C44-9W #2690, SD70M-2 #8822 and CN/IC C44-9W #2722 (one of several Dash-9s purchased by Illinois Central but delivered after the merger with CN, hence the sublettering) haul a long manifest off of the EJ&E (CN's Matteson Sub), past CP Lowe and up, around and over the "J' onto the Illinois Central main. The train here loops up and over itself on the new connection. Midway through the loop, the train meets a manifest coming off the IC and onto the "J" eastbound. CN SD70M-2 #8920, ES44DC #2235, C44-9W #2828 and BC Rail C40-8M #4624 bring their train gingerly down the curving connection, heading east for Kirk Yard. The last car in the first train appears to have had a bit of a spill recently! In these shots, the steep grades of the connection tracks is obvious.

Train 3:
Passing the Metra Electric storage yard between the Richton Park and Matteson stations, a northbound manifest comes off the IC (here, it is CN's Chicago Subdivision) and moves eastbound onto the EJ&E / Matteson Sub; its destination is also Kirk Yard in Gary, being reshuffled there before moving on to Detroit and Toronto. Prior to the huge construction project that created the double-tracked, double-wye interchange here, this track was the only connection between the IC and the "J". The southernmost wye of the new connection took up enough room that the "J" main line had to be kinked to the south a bit, resulting in the reconstruction of this connector track on an even sharper alignment than before! Brand-new ES44AC #2824, one in CN's first-ever order for AC-motored units, leads the train slowly around the curve. So far, most of these engines have been in service on the formerly electrified territory in British Columbia- I'm not sure what this unit is doing in the Midwest. SD75I #5649, Dash-9 #2651 and C40-8M #2401 round out the lash-up.

Train 4:
Having uncoupled from their train, left on the main between here and Homewood, SD75I #5709 and C40-8M #2410 are wyed on the south end of the connection... I'm not sure why this was done, but it did put the cowl unit in the leading position! They recouple to their train and head around the loop, onto the Matteson Sub westbound with train Q193, a hotshot intermodal bound for Vancouver, routed over the former "J", WC and DW&P into Canada, thence, at Winnipeg, the rest of the way to the West Coast on the CN transcontinental line.

Train 5:
South of Matteson by a few miles is University Park, the southern end of the Metra Electric main line, and on the CN, a holding point for trains waiting to access the single track of the IC main to the south. Having come off the Matteson Sub from Kirk Yard, Illinois Central SD70 #1022 and CN SD75I #5670 come to a slow stop at University Park, passing the Metra Electric yard there. This train sat out the following two, described next.

Train 6:
I missed the power on this one.. oh well. Intermodal train Q194 zips along southbound on the Chicago Sub, headed for Memphis and New Orleans.

Train 7:
CN (ex-ATSF/BNSF) C40-8W #2143 and SD75I #5691 bring their train to a stop on the Chicago Sub, awaiting clearance into Markham Yard to the north.

Train 8:
Two Dash-9s bomb through on the EJ&E below the parked manifest with a rather long local for Kirk Yard.

Train 9:
Illinois Central SD70 #1015 and CN C40-8M #5527 in the "North America" scheme roar through Matteson past CP Lowe and under the IC with a long manifest heading for Wisconsin and eventually Winnipeg.

~Thanks for watching!~