Bluford, IL: 1960s Aerial photo of IC Railyard and Coal Tower

Yard: (Satellite)

Coaling Tower: (Satellite)

Turntable: (Satellite)

Reservoir: (Satellite)

Billy Hammond III posted
An Old print I have owned for years of a Birds eye View of IC's Bluford Yard. Looks to be from the 1960's. Unknown Photographer
Dennis DeBruler: I could not find Bluford in my 1928 Railroad Atlas. So I looked in my 1973 atlas and realized that this is on the Edgewood Cutoff, which wasn't built until 1928.

That was a rather big yard for being out in the middle of nowhere.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Billy's post
1941 aerial photo from https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/.../00aq2b100.jpg via http://maps.isgs.illinois.edu/ilhap/ I included the town of Bluford to give some perspective on the size of the yard. That seems to be a rather big yard for being out in the middle of nowhere.

Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook posted

On a sunny day in April, 1963, a handful of Illinois Central GP's take a rest near the roundhouse in Bluford,  IL.  Until the early 1920's Bluford was just farmland along the Southern Railway's line between Louisville, KY, and St. Louis. That changed in the early 1920's when the IC drafted plans for the Edgewood Cutoff, a 169 mile line route between Edgewood, IL, and Fulton, KY.  This new, single-track line would be 22 miles shorter than going via the original route.  Not only would the new line be shorter, but it would bypass the congested Ohio River bridge at Cairo, IL, plus a number of curves and hills in southern Illinois.  The new line would cross the Ohio River at Metropolis, IL, on the Paducah & Illinois Railroad bridge, opened in 1918 by the CB&Q and NC&StL.

At Bluford the IC planned to build a new 12 stall roundhouse, machine shop, blacksmith shop, two story office building, a car shop, concrete coaling tower with a capacity of 500 tons, plus an icing station for reefers.  A reservoir was to be built just south of town to provide a dependable supply of water to refill locomotives.

There were the usual legal challenges at the beginning of the project.  But the biggest obstacle facing the cutoff was the terrain.  In order to keep grades and curves to a minimum, three long tunnels had to be bored in southern Illinois, and numerous cuts and fills were necessary. The Kentucky segment of the cutoff opened on April 4, 1927, and the Illinois segment opened on May 7, 1928.  

From the beginning the cutoff  has been freight-only, except for the occasional passenger train detour.  As built, there were no highway grade crossings along the cutoff, but over the years a few have been added.  The cutoff sees a steady flow of trains, but after the arrival of diesels, there was little need for the mechanical facilities at Bluford and the buildings were abandoned.  However, the town of Bluford remains, the reservoir outside of town is still there, and there is still an Ice Station Road leading to the old ice plant.

Brenda M. Bailey photo, Cliff Downey collection.

Paul Jevert shared
I.C. Bluford Ill.
[I provided the above satellite links for the tower and turntable in a comment.]

Michael Wright posted three photos with the comment: "Old coaling tower near Bluford, Illinois. Nature is slowly taking it over."

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Russ Wielt posted
Old coal chute in Bluford, IL

David Cantrell posted
Along the Edgewood Cutoff facing towards the former Bluford Yard on the CN/IC railroad.
Donald Tapley I remember that long straight track going to Mt Vernon.
David Cantrell Marilyn Thompson Rick McKinney, This is my page for Bluford Yard. Have aerial photos and maps. Would like to post some of the railroad yard too. https://www.mayberrytownship.net/icdepots/18.html
Don Wagoner My Grandfather left shops in Palestine for Bluford when it opened @1929

In the 1941 aerial, the dam across Four Mile Creek is more obvious than in today's satellite image.

1941 aerial photo from https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/.../00aq2b100.jpg via http://maps.isgs.illinois.edu/ilhap/