Rochelle Railroad Days 2013

Although I'm a frequent visitor to Rochelle, I had never attended the city's annual Rochelle Railroad Days, now in its eighth year. That record speaks volumes for the city of Rochelle and Union Pacific who support the event. The Rochelle Tourism & Visitor's Association organizes the event, which draws people from throughout the U.S. and Canada, with the help of the city and UP. The railroad provides display equipment, this year Southern Pacific-painted heritage unit No. 1996 and a new EMD SD70ACe. In the past, the railroad has even offered tours of its nearby Global III intermodal yard, too.

One surprise on Sunday made the day much more exciting. Norfolk Southern's Illinois Terminal-painted heritage unit, No. 1072, rolled east through town on a loaded crude oil train. Even though the locomotive wasn't leading, it still elicited quite a response from the audience. And No. 1996 made an appearance at the park about 6 p.m. on Sunday as it was moved from the display track near Main Street out to Global III for return to regular service.

Throughout the day, BNSF and UP provided near constant entertainment for the fans. Coal trains, intermodal trains, and crude oil trains just kept rolling through town. Even as a seasoned train watcher I still find the number of crude oil trains on BNSF surprising. It seemed that every other train was an oil train!

In spite of the naysayers, railroading is alive and well in 2013, and Rochelle railroad days proved that. The trains were long and plentiful, the locomotives new and exciting, and the railfans came out to see the grand spectacle of modern railroading. But, in the end, Rochelle Railroad Days is about the people, the railfans, and we always enjoy meeting our subscribers, readers, and contributors when we're out trackside!