Railfanning Pine Junction. Gary, Indiana's Hotspot. 1/3/09.

When you take the exit off of Interstate 80, that is about the time to roll up the windows and lock the doors. A short drive through one of the Midwest's worst ghettos takes you to the best railfanning location in Northern Indiana, Pine Junction. This particular location is fairly safe since it's out of the way from the rough parts of town. When you arrive, you will see several tracks running North To South in a fairly small amount of space. To the East, the EJ&E Eastern Subdivision crosses over a factory access road. Kirk Yard is just south of this. Just West of the bridge is the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line. NS has a small yard just North of the crossing. Right by the NS line is the CSX Barr Subdivision. The majority of the trains run here. Also next to the CSX line is the EJ&E "City Branch." This line sees about 2 trains a day (if your lucky) and is basically the connection between the EJ&E and CSX. So I hope you have some idea on the layout of the tracks through here. It could be kind of hard to picture if you've never been here before.

So sit back and enjoy the show. The variety out here is great. I gotta come back when it's not as cloudy!

Train 1-Northbound Manifest Departs Kirk Yard.
EJ&E SD38-2 #654
EJ&E SD38-2 #670
EJ&E Eastern Subdivision.

Train 2-Northbound Loaded Coal Drag.
BNSF ES44AC #5861
BNSF SD70MAC #9497 (Ex. BN)
NS Chicago Line.

Train 3-Southbound Manifest.
BNSF C44-9W #4503
BNSF ES44DC #7518
CSX Barr Subdivision.

Train 4-Southbound Container Intermodal.
NS D940CW #9200
NS C40-8 #8782
NS Chicago Line.

Train 5-Southbound Manifest.
CSXT ES44DC #5214
CSXT SD60I #8737
CSX Barr Subdivision.

Train 6-Northbound Manifest.
IHB GP40-2 #4014
IHB GP40-2 #4015
NS Chicago Line.

Train 7-Southbound Amtrak Wolverine 352.
P42DC #31
NPCU #90225
NS Chicago Line.

Train 8-Southbound Container Intermodal.
NS SD70 #2517
NS Chicago Line.

Train 9-Northbound Container Intermodal.
CSXT ES44DC #5215
CSXT SD70MAC #4501
CSX Barr Subdivision.

Train 10-Southbound Container Intermodal.
CSXT ES44DC #5271
CSXT ES44DC #5287
CSX Barr Subdivision.

Train 11-Southbound Loaded Coal Drag Into EJ&E Kirk Yard.
UP AC4400CW #5694
EJ&E Eastern Subdivision.

Train 12-Northbound Container Intermodal.
CSXT C40-8W #7314
CSXT C40-8 #7543
CSX Barr Subdivision.

Train 13-Northbound Unit Coke Train. (Jingle Bells on horn?)
CSXT AC4400CW #415
CSXT SD70MAC #4702
EJ&E "City Branch."

Train 14- Southbound Container Intermodal.
CSXT SD70MAC #4554
CSXT ES44DC #5277
CSX Barr Subdivision.

Thank you for viewing.

(c) 9th Street Productions.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• NS
• CSX
• CSXT
• EJ&E
• AMTK
• Norfolk
• Southern
• Elgin
• Joliet
• Eastern
• Amtrak
• Railroad
• Train
• Manifest
• Mixed
• Freight
• Coke
• Intermodal
• Container
• Gary
• Indiana
• Chicago
• Steel
• Mill
• USS
• Hotspot
• Railfan
• Foamers

[peckparkmike]

dont need the musicintro

[BoxcarFrank]

I'm sorry, whose video is this?

[larry84988]

CSX 5214 has a great horn!!! Nice job Frank, and I totally agree on that area being the worst ghetto ever, mainly cause I live in that region.

[BoxcarFrank]

Right here wasn't exactly "bad." It was mainly industrial and out of the way from the ghetto. But man, I'd hate to take a wrong turn down some side street late at night in downtown though...

[MattBNSF1991]

that EJ&E train was sure short.

I love those CSX GEVOS horns they are really cool

what trains all go through here?

[BoxcarFrank]

EJ&E has a double track mainline as well as their lightly used City Branch just East of it. NS and CSXT both have double track mainlines through here where most of the traffic is seen.

[trainboy94]

This reminds me of Keddie Junction in Stockton, CA

[staintedcards]

found a dead body LOL was it anybody we know? prolly a homeless guy I sneaked into proviso yards a few times back when i was a teen never got caught except the time i was takin a leak in the woods G damn cook county sherrif fking got 3 days in the pokey

[AmtrakBoys]

how many trains can you get on a weekday?

[BNforever2009]

i been coming to that hotspot when CR was running all the time back in the mid and late 90's

[parkman35]

@storrs19 Unfortunately due to the lack of proper saftey procesdures that other railfans have demonstrated, everyone has to be inconvienced. I agree with you, but others have not followed the rules correctly. Throw Homeland Securithy in and it's double trouble :(

[BurgerChefGuy]

One idea, ....just in case,....keep a big bag of doughnuts with you. HeHeHe!!!!!

[admydragonch2]

It's right in the title... Pine Jct., Gary, IN

[storrs19]

This is a great place but I hear that now (as seems to be the case more and more these days) the police are cracking down on railfans at Pine Junction :( I'm so sick of everybody being scared of their own shadow these days. If I am sitting in my car or am not near the tracks what am I hurting trying to film trains? I was up here in 1997 and saw a ton of trains in just two hours. It is very busy for sure.

[willowtree9222]

dude can you tell me where this is because it looks like a good place to railfan!!!

[123chinch456]

looking north, is it the chicago line, barr sub, ej&e?

[ELLBeans]

If you check out my channel, I have railway video from Pine Junction, Northwest Territories, Canada... Just got a good chuckle out of seeing the name of this video! LOL! Great Footage!

[EJE665]

Mike, I have to agree, I hardly ever go to Pine anymore too. Security being hard on railfans there is a understatement. Now with CN and their "zero tolerance" trespassing policy, Pine won't be any easier to access. I'm sure you can go there without a problems, but with the EJ&E SDMs stored, I hardly see a point of going there anymore. I could see everything else that goes through there at other locations.