My trip home and IN-IL short line/regional railways

[gabe]

I drove home to central Illinois today from Indianapolis so I could be with my family. As is usually my practice—when given the opportunity—I turned a 3:15 minute drive into an 11:10 minute drive by checking out many railroads on the way home.

I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to track maintenance, but I think I can tell the difference between fairly well maintained track and poorly maintained track. Let me tell you, I was really impressed with the quality of track I saw.

As some of you may know, I really like regional and short lines railways, and the lines I saw all really seemed to have some well-maintained track. (unfortunately, my only train action weas one NS local, 2 NS manifest freight, NS heavy yard action in Lafayette, a UP on Illinois Central’s main line, and IC grain train on IC’s main, a BNSF coal drag on the I&M, and a single TPW engine (not much short line action).

I first saw the KBS. Its Lafayette, IN – Kankakee, Illinois Line looked really well maintained. Its Lafayette, IN - Danville, IL line looked not quite as well but very good.

There was a very interesting branch line off the Lafayette - Danville KBS line that I was hoping someone could shed some light on. It is the old Pensy line (interestingly, there was—new—a sign that said "Pennsylvania RR LIC no trespassing." It was incredibly well maintained and was roughly 12-14 miles in length—heading due south. However, it only seemed to have two fairly small grain elevators that it served. I was wondering how such small amount of business could maintain track so well (I realize the rail was there all along, but the rail seemed to be a very heavy weight).

The TPW was its usual self. I was very disappointed not to get a train, but the line looked to be in fair condition—perhaps not as well as the other lines I looked at though.

The Chicago Illinois and Midland (now Illinois and Midland) looked best of all. Not only was the line perfectly level, it seemed as though a lot of the bridges have been replaced with new concrete, as opposed to wood, bridges. I was really impressed with how well maintained this line was.

The lines discussed above really interest me, so any comments would be welcome.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Gabe

[mudchicken]

KB&S Shefff to Free? or NYC/ Swannington to Sheldon Lease line? (Ex- Illiana/PC/PRR?

[jabrown1971]

Gabe.......Really want to make it an interesting trip-dip south through Bloomington and Linton and follow the INRD to Robinson and Newton. There is always something to see, if nothing else catch the CSX at Sullivan-always a great show..........I have a great INRD cab ride story from there. Not sure what parts of Central IL you hail from-Springfield Region comes to mind though. Sorry the TPW and KBS didn't offer a whole lot of trains. When I go home to St Louis, I rarely see any trains on the CSX from Terre Haute on in to St Louis, I always tell myself to take 40, but then my wife always reminds me-I want to get there.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

I'm not too surprised at the level of maintenance on the C&IM/I&M since it always has been a major coal hauler from its inception. It would be interesting to compare the level of maintenance on this line with other GWI shortlines.

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jabrown1971

Gabe.......Really want to make it an interesting trip-dip south through Bloomington and Linton and follow the INRD to Robinson and Newton. There is always something to see, if nothing else catch the CSX at Sullivan-always a great show..........I have a great INRD cab ride story from there. Not sure what parts of Central IL you hail from-Springfield Region comes to mind though. Sorry the TPW and KBS didn't offer a whole lot of trains. When I go home to St Louis, I rarely see any trains on the CSX from Terre Haute on in to St Louis, I always tell myself to take 40, but then my wife always reminds me-I want to get there.

I usually alternate trips home. My other trip home is the way you suggest. I go through Linton, etc. then cut down to Newton, Il then up to Centralia, and finally home to Mt. Olive, which is half way between Springfield and St. Louis.

Gabe

[jeaton]

Gabe
Good thing you left town when you did. Looks like it would have been 11:10 getting through the snow, another 11:10 chasing trains and then another countless hours explaining the second 11:10 to the wife.

How about: "The guys on the forum are always talking about terrible truck congestion on the Interstates, so let's try this other route." [8D][8D]

Jay

[MP173]

Gabe:

You sure do take the long road home.

I drove to Indy on Tuesday, the TPW had some activity at the Hoosier Lift at Remington.

I remember the days of the Illinois Central RAT trains (rent a train) which were grain trains destined to New Orleans. Those trains would usually have 5 or 6 old GP8/10's.

The CIM seems like an interesting operation. Do they originate any coal on line or is it all inbound? Gabe, dont know if you are into towers or not, but Ridgely and Lennox Towers are still in operation, both about equal distance from your home.

Can anyone describe the INRD operations? Dont know much about it.

thanks, and happy holidays.

ed

[Anonymous]

Gabe,

In Danville, the KBS line ends just north of Brewer yard where I work. The KBS has a few yard tracks called Newell just northeast of Danville where they set cars out for us to take south. We probably close to a 100 cars a week with them. Usually they give us KBSR covered hoppers loaded with corn which we send south, and then return the hoppers empty.

[gabe]

Jeaton:

I totally screwed up. I left my wife at home to drive to South Bend on the following day. When I heard how much snow we got, I felt so bad. She doesn't seem to hold it against me, but hearing that she had to shovel the drive way just to get out of it made me feel pretty bad. I better pay closer attention to the weather in the future.

Ed:

I know MANY old mines are on the CIM (now IM). However, I would be willing to bet that their Kincaid and Peoria power plants constitute the vast majority of their traffic. Peoria is served by BNSF coal trains and Kincaid is served by UP coal trains.

INRD opperations are very interesting. They have much originating coal traffic. I have always wondered why Indiana Southern and them don't merge. It seems to me much could be gained.

n_stephenson:

Thanks, very valuable information.

Gabe

[MP173]

Gabe:

You made it out of Indy just in time, from what I hear.

We got a little snow up here too...20 inches Sunday and about 8 inches yesterday.

So, do you go with your wife to South Bend? Your interest in shortline/regionals would be rewarded with the South Shore. Not only is the passenger operations interesting, but they handle quite a bit of freight. I recently saw them down in Kingsbury, switching the old ammunition plant....now that is an interesting place.

I think SS picked up the old NKP line to Michigan City which gives them access to Kingsbury.

Plus the Chesapeake and Indiana is now running grain from Wellsboro to Malden and North Judson on the old C&O line.

and if you get bored, there are always the CN coal trains on Valpo hill.

ed

[Anonymous]

>I know MANY old mines are on the CIM (now IM). However, I would be willing to bet >that their Kincaid and Peoria power plants constitute the vast majority of their traffic. >Peoria is served by BNSF coal trains and Kincaid is served by UP coal trains.

Actually, the Powerton and Kincaid plants get coal trains from UP origins. Havana gets trains from both BNSF and UP (Havana might be all-BNSF soon). No coal originates on the IMRR - at least from any coal mines. The Southern Coal Handling facility at Havana loaded (from trucks) coal for two NIPSCO plants on an experimental basis in 2001.

[jabrown1971]

As far as I know Lennox is still active, I haven't been there in a long time. INRD operations, at least when I worked there, were as follows: A Bloomington, In to Linton, IN local, mainly to handle the CSX traffic originating at Mc Doel; a Palestine, Il to Linton, In. local that took all northbound shorts from Palestine and also picked up empty equipment at the CSX in Sullivan, In. These two would meet in Linton or Dugger, In, swap cars and head back the way they came. PALI always went to CSX at Sullivan. There were a pair of daily Robinson switchers-the morning train worked the Marathon refinery at Robinson and the evening job went to the IC at Newton also working at Palestine Robinson Oblong and Willow Hill as needed. A pair of rad trains for IPL originated at Indianapolis and at Linton, In, would meet in Bloomington, usually with crews swapping there and returing north or south. CIPS trains and Hoosier energy trains were also run along with a switch job at the Indy yard. It's been a long time since I worked there and don't know how operations of changed. I always found working there to be interesting and for the most part satisfiing. Gabe hope you had a good time in Mt. Olive, been through there many a time as I grew up in Edwardsville. As for me I made it out of Indy midday on Thursday and spent the weekend in Belleville and Edwardsville. But had to shovel when I got back here last night.