On Sunday, March 6, 2022, while in the Carbondale and Marion areas, my buddy who works for the Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railway informed me of a rare and special Sunday run to the BNSF interchange to pick up a couple centerbeam cars. What makes this particular move so special, you ask? COER is back in the lumber transloading business for the first time in decades! There's a new lumber company on the east side of Marion at the eastern end of the COER that is now doing business with them. The centerbeam cars y'all see in the video were actually the first lumber cars for the new facility, so this was a pretty historic day for the COER, to say the least.
For the actual chase, I would've gone to the BNSF-COER interchange, but I was more focused on the wig-wag crossing at 4th Street since it is one of, if not THE, last wig-wag crossing in revenue service in the U.S. It may have a standard e-bell, but the crossing still functions as it should. At least for now. It's due for an upgrade soon, but I'm unsure as to when it will be cut over and replaced, so this made it even more of a treat to see in action. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy!