Street Running Caterpillar Loads Chase on Norfolk Southern, Elwood Indiana

Asking most railfans in June 2026, "What's your Holy Grail?", most would say BIG BOY! My Grail, my Quest from Day One has been to catch Caterpillar Loads on the fast street running at Elwood Indiana on Norfolk Southern Train 123. I've caught Caterpillar's behemoth machines at Tipton, and at New Castle, but never Elwood. Due to derailments, Train 123 was spotted at Hobbs, in the side track. There is sat, and once I saw it, the Quest was on! One thing I've learned is that if you really, really want a particular locomotive, or car, or load, you can set yourself up for anxiety and frustration. Oh, I had both! Day after day, I returned to Hobbs only to sit for hours while 123 continued to sit, and nothing else moved on the Frankfort Subdivision. At last, on the 5th day, trains started moving, including Train 123. There were five Caterpillar loads- one giant front end loader, and four D11 bulldozers. These were the largest Cats I'd ever seen. It's common to see D4's, D5's, and D6's on construction sites. Sometimes a machine as large as a D9 can be seen on a massive project with major earthwork needs. I've seen many D10s on the Frankfort Sub. Never had a seen a D11. Now I'd seen four! Other highlights: A ballast train with curious panels on the hopper cars and an NS Dash 9 leader. Every train had both NS and Union Pacific locomotives. Is someone at these railroads assuming the merger is a done deal? Luckily, when I slipped and fell, I did so off camera. Well, maybe y'all would have enjoyed to see that too. 0:00:00 Intro 0:00:49 Norfolk Southern Train 123, Day 1 Sighting, Sitting at Hobbs Indiana 0:02:21 Drone Footage, Caterpillar D11s, Side Track 0:03:43 Norfolk Southern Train 123, Day 2 Sighting, Sitting at Hobbs IN 0:04:30 Norfolk Southern Train L85, Tipton IN 0:07:04 Norfolk Southern Train L85, Tipton Yard 0:12:50 Norfolk Southern Train 123, Day 3 Sighting, Sitting at Hobbs IN 0:13:52 Garbage Truck, C Street, Elwood Indiana 0:14:48 Norfolk Southern Train 123, Day 4 Sighting, Sitting at Hobbs IN 0:15:48 Street Running - Norfolk Southern Train 122, Westbound, Elwood IN 0:21:18 Street Running w Caterpillar Loads - NS Train 123, Eastbound, Elwood IN 0:25:24 Norfolk Southern Ballast Train, Eastbound 0:27:11 Recap 0:28:25 Maps 0:29:44 Outro #caterpillar #trains #drone #norfolksouthern #unionpacific #streetrunning https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... REMOTE PILOT CERTIFICATE NUMBER 5281719 Any use of this content without expressed, written permission is prohibited. For licensing and other usage, please contact [email protected] Copyright 2026 Michael Kole, all rights reserved.