On a flawless November afternoon, a westbound empty crude oil train quickly hustles through the small town of Nelson on the Geneva Subdivision with an all EMD lash-up leading the way, which includes a pair of NS SD70ACes and a UP SD70M up front for cab signal protection. This light weight, 109-car train of empty cans off the NS in Chicago originated out at a refinery somewhere on the east coast and is headed for Wyoming's Pronghorn Station, a unit oil train loading facility north of Douglas, WY owned and operated by Genesis Energy. Plenty of Chicago Northwestern RR heritage can be found in and around town here including several sets of classic searchlight signals and even the old, and now abandoned, coaling tower, which is whats pictured here. Nelson is situated at MP 104.3 on Union Pacific's busy Chicago to Clinton, IA Geneva Subdivision and MP 0.0 on the far less used, north-south Peoria Subdivision, which splits off from here just behind me, both lines being a part of the Chicago Service Unit.
