TRAIN WATCHING HAS BECOME MORE INTERESTING.

For years, only locomotives equipped with Chicago and North Western's intermittent Automatic Train Control would appear on the Geneva Subdivision.  When Union Pacific took ownership, that remained the case, leading to Amtrak detours over the years being led by Metra diesels, some of them otherwise relegated to work train service.

With the coming of positive train control, that legacy signal system has been retired, and all sorts of power might show up.

That's the DeKalb coal wharf, with the Troy Grove branch diverging at right.
Undated Joel Kirchner photograph retrieved from Trains.

The lead unit is one of Norfolk Southern's predecessor railroad diesels, apparently if you take a ride on the Reading, you get to pass Geneva and collect $200 in rental.  Canadian National power has appeared regularly on the former Burlington from Minnesota for years, now they show up on Union Pacific, and if they're properly configured, they can lead on the return trip.

On June 1, 2022, Union Pacific retired its cab signal system on a large segment of its remaining lines so equipped east of Cheyenne, Wyoming. This means that from now on, any locomotive from any railroad with PTC installed can be cut in to lead trains on these mainlines. Prior to June 1, PTC was already in use on these lines, though a Union Pacific cab signal-equipped unit was still required to lead the train. The crew would setup and test the cab signal system then cut it out prior to departure. It would only be cut-in and used in case of PTC failure enroute.

Until recently, Union Pacific had three types of in-service cab signals systems on various lines across its system, with only the Automatic Cab Signal/Coded Cab Signal system remaining after June 1 west of Cheyenne. Along with Union Pacific’s ACS/CCS mainlines east of Cheyenne being retired, former Chicago & North Western lines with Automatic Train Control were eliminated on June 1, with C&NW lines featuring the Automatic Train Stop system in the Chicago area phased out in 2019.

This leaves only Union Pacific’s Evanston, Laramie, Rawlins, and Portland subdivisions, along with a handful of other freight lines across the country still equipped with in service cab signals. They are among the last stretches of mainline that one can visit and be guaranteed to see a home-road locomotive leading all trains passing by.

If these lingering wintry conditions ever go away, perhaps I'll be able to head to trackside and see the variety in paint on otherwise under-the-metal very similar diesels.