Norfolk Southern 9905 leads Triple Crown RoadRailer train as it stretches across the southern Illinois landscape running as eastbound NS 256 outside of Sidney, Illinois under cloudy weather along the NS Lafayette District on August 17th, 2024. The RoadRailer trains will become a thing of the past as of the weekend of 24-25th of August 2024, as the service will be discontinued and transitioned fully to standard double-stack trains.
According to Wikipedia: A RoadRailer is a trailer or semi-trailer that can be hauled on roads by a tractor unit and then by way of a fifth wheel coupling, operate in a unit train on railway lines. The RoadRailer system allows trailers to be pulled by locomotives without the use of flatcars, instead attaching trailers directly to bogies.
Triple Crown, a subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Railway, remains a user of RoadRailer transportation as of 2022. However, on August 12th, 2024, they announced the last RoadRailer Trains would be running the weekend of August 24 and 25, 2024. The RoadRailer trains will be replaced temporarily with Trailer on Flat Car (TOFC) service before transitioning fully to a standard double-stack container trains.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic 3 Classic Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 220.