Connecting the two halves, and going for the coal.
The Midland sub is an interesting piece of trackage. Some of it sat long dormant in the woods of long spoiled coal land, rails with old trees growing between them, after Peabody shut down operations. Found and purchased by the INRD it was rehabilitated to permit easier connection to the CP. The southern section may even be a more rare phenomena then reactivation of a dormant line. The southern section south of GLEN is almost entirely impressive new build railroad, with extremely impressive grading.
The sub has two functions, the northern half north of GLEN connects the Chicago Sub with the Indianapolis Sub, while the entire line funnels the all important black diamonds towards their various destinations
Starting at Bear Run you have the radio switch to the Loop. An extremely impressive facility for flood loading entire trains. The line winds towards Glen on impressive graded fills, that make for great photography. Amazingly Bear Run is extremely accessible for a Mining operation as a lot of the public roads are still open in about the area the Railroad Runs through. Just pay attention to the signs and be mind full around the places the coal haul roads cross.
North of Glen, Remains of Peabody’s interesting crossing protection can be found. In a couple places the unique lights still work. The line ends near Midland IN, where a double connection to the Chicago Sub can be found.
Recently the line has been upgraded for GCOR Rule 10 (CTC) operation, with an intermediate signal between the home signals at Hiwatha and Glen
Many more pictures and descriptions of the connections can be found on other guide pages
