CFE FWLI Chase with ex-SP Tunnel Motor leader plus other CFE trains

Filmed: 3/19/2020
Usually I don't like to upload videos about the same railroad this close together, but I felt like this was a special situation (more details about that at the end of this description). On a Thursday afternoon in mid March, I was given notice that the CFE's sole tunnel motor on the roster would be leading the Fort Wayne to Lima turn job back east toward Lima. I hadn't ever really chased the tunnel motor before, nor had I chased any CFE train east of Fort Wayne period, and with nothing going on that afternoon I decided that that was how I was going to fill my day. I started my chase in Monroeville, and thanks to many slow orders along the rails that day, I was able to get to almost every shot that I had planned on getting between there and Van Wert, OH before heavy rain moved in later in the day. I probably could have gotten more shots than what I did given how slowly the train was moving most of the time, but since I had never taken much time to map out a course of the CFE to Lima before this, I settled with what I knew was out there. Along with the Lima train, I was also treated to the Van Wert local working on the VWT (ex-Cincinnati Northern trackage), and the Decatur local as the rain began to pour down on my way home. Little did I know at the time, but this would be the final "spur of the moment" outing that I would go on until that summer, as the dreaded pandemic put us all under lockdown not even a week after this was shot.
As of last week, due to C40-8Ws and C44-9Ws incoming from GE being snatched up by many of the larger G&W subsidiaries, many of the locomotives on many of these properties are being moved to other locations or sold. The CFE 3316 is unfortunately part of this great migration, and was picked up by NS last Thursday to be taken to its new home on the TP&W in Peoria. A unit that served the CFE under RailAmerica and G&W ownership has now found a new home, and hopefully it will lead many more trains to come.
Enjoy!

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Remember when cfe acquired former csx c40-8w on the railroad

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❤