The Lazy Railfan

05/30/2026

Found this clip from 2023. Eastbound train with a pair of NS units leading the way. Chicago ,

05/28/2026

05/28/2026

Up in NY State, SB CSX train heading towards New Jersey

05/26/2026

For a change we are not in West Chicago. Going to visit a couple of friends out east. Wanted to see this railfan spot at Fostoria Ohio. Been here maybe 15 minutes and saw two trains

05/11/2026

Eastbound stack train with I think are empty Amazon containers. Every time the train crosses the diamonds they have a hollow sound to them. Guess going back for a refill. tower # west Chicago # trains

05/05/2026

Well I missed the head end of this train, had like 3-4 engines up front, found these two as distributed power tho. So video not as long.
tower # west Chicago # trains

04/28/2026

This kinda goes with my last video. The set of diamonds that the train is going over looks like it might be due to be replaced. Just my speculation but those diamonds take some SEVERE punishment . I think the set that is current there has been in I think 2-3 years. This photo show what might be the start of building a new set of diamonds.

I think there are over 100 trains a day going over this crossing. I’ve heard (I might be wrong) that about 100-200 mega ton miles cross these diamonds annually. (A ton mile is moving 1 ton of freight 1 mile for those who might wonder what I’m talking about.)

Where one railroad crosses another such as this video showed just how labor intensive they are to maintain and upkeep them for the speed that is allowed over them. As I pass this location on a daily basis I am always seeing the maintenance of way folks working on them.

04/28/2026

Hello everyone

Looking for some opinions here.

Do you guys like it when I post a video of the entire train?

Or would you guys want me to keep the videos shorter.

My reason being is I’m usually looking to see if these trains have distributed power either in the middle or end of the train.

For those outside the USA trains here exceed 2 miles in length and at 30 mph it takes train 4 minutes to pass a location.

Your thoughts please

04/28/2026

Here’s a northbound CN train crossing the UP mainline. As you can see as the train makes its way over the crossing it makes a loud racket. When they go over the three diamonds I can hear it from my home 2 miles away.
Also this train is approximately 2 miles in length. As the video is 7 minutes long. I believe the speed over this crossing is about 30 mph.

04/27/2026

Eastbound scoot passing JB Tower heading for downtown Chicago

# JB Tower Pacific Trains