CNW 6831 and mates have attached to a string of trailers on flat cars that will soon leave Wood St. Yard, Chicago as 2nd-245, The Falcon on a 12 hour race over the 500 mile C&NW mainline to the UP at Fremont, NE. I joined for the ride to the first crew change point, Clinton, IA and our crew kept the train pegged at the legal maximum speed of 70 mph a good portion of the run across northern Illinois. The line is not flat, nor is it always straight, and it was exhilarating to experience a ride on our premier train, that only 5 years earlier required 16 hours to reach Fremont.
