Effingham Railroad

[rrnut282]

Did anyone else feel deja-vu while reading this article?

[JOHN RICE]

Overmod

I don't think Newton has been Ameren for nearly a decade.  Thought they sold it to Dynegy which was then acquired by Vistra.  They say 2027 unless the bottom continues to fall out of coal-fired power in the Midwest -- which I think is more rather than less likely.

None of the alternatives for the widespread 'clean power' provision needed for strategic societal electrification appear to be particularly rail-friendly.  Please correct me if that perception is mistaken.

 

 

The current owner Vistra currently has Newton running 1 of 2 boilers. The plan is to shut it down in 2027.

 

Per INDR:

 

The company says it moved 1,450 containers during its first year of operations in 2013. This year, it projects to move over 40,000 containers.

 

Per CN: Under the arrangement with INDR, the Indianapolis Senate Ave Yard is considered an official CN intermodal terminal.

 

 

 

[Overmod]

I don't think Newton has been Ameren for nearly a decade.  Thought they sold it to Dynegy which was then acquired by Vistra.  They say 2027 unless the bottom continues to fall out of coal-fired power in the Midwest -- which I think is more rather than less likely.

None of the alternatives for the widespread 'clean power' provision needed for strategic societal electrification appear to be particularly rail-friendly.  Please correct me if that perception is mistaken.

[MP173]

That is a sound idea.  How much is CN running over to Newton to interchange with INRD now?

 

I was in Effingham last month and headed thru Newton en route to my hometown.  The line looked decent.  Didnt see any indications of deferred issues, but I do not have a railroader's eye.

When is Ameren shutting down?  One heck of a fishing lake.

Ed

[JOHN RICE]

This is my reponse to the article on the Effingham Railroad in the December 2021 issue of Trains.

My request is to have the Effingham RR purchase the CN branch line from Effingham to Newton. This CN line used to be part of the PD&E (Peoria Decatur & Evansville).

Ameren CIPS is shutting down the Newton Power Plant on this line, so there will no longer be any coal drags of Powder River/Illinois Coal coming down. So the line will be down to container exchange with CN and Indiana RR to/from Indianapolis and grain hoppers from Total Grain.

The CN branch line ends exactly across the rails from the Effingham RR yard. After Indiana RR won the coal biz from under CN and built their own siding, CN has deferred maintenance on it and it caused a recent massive grain hopper derail near Wheeler.

Put two innovating railroads together (Effingham RR and the Indiana RR) and I think some very interesting business can take place. Especially on the Agricultural side.

As an example, China is willing to pay top $$ for container (not bulktainer) based high quality liquid soy. INDR already has a deal to ship Indiana soy via CN to Prince Rupert for export. Effingham would be a perfect spot to join INDR's containers with an Effingham based product for export.