Shattuc, IL: Junction Tower and B&O Route Shutdown

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(Satellite) Update: Rich Jacobson's posting indicates CSX wants to put the segment from Flora, IL to Aviston, IL out of service. [O'FallonWeekly] Evidently the Surface Transportation Board told CSX to fix the rail cuts they did in July, 2015 (see below). It is too bad CSX won't sell this former-B&O route across Illinois to a shortline operator. At least they did sell their former-L&N route across Illinois to Evansville Western Railway so those towns now have improved rail service. It is interesting that CSX still has the old L&N route on their System Map.

Sally Smith -> RAILROAD HISTORY BUFFS OF ILLINOIS

Sally's comment:

Kenny sez: thanks for the ad...been shooting trains in Illinois for many years now, hope to post some shots you will like, and it also looks like plenty of sweet material to browse...thanks again...Ken...photo by Ken Smith...the CSX former B&O facing west in Shattuc Illinois...track no longer used, the tower gone, the BNSF still uses the North South track that crosses at the tower...

CSX shutdown this B&O segment in July, 2015, by cutting the rails in Flora and Caseyville, IL.

Update: I didn't read the whole page that is referenced by this link, but it seems that Belleville and Illinois paid for a Venita Drive overpass soon before it became unneeded.

Steve Goaring's posting
Chessie Steam Special eastbound passing the tower at Shattuc, IL. 1981. Steve Goaring photo.
[Notice that, once again, the fireman is creating a lot of black smoke because that is what railfans want in their photos. I'm glad Steve did not skunk the tower with the locomotive. That is one advantage of having to take a more distant photo of a locomotive in order to catch all of the smoke.]

Jich Jacobson posted
It's May of 2014.
SD80MACs off the CSX roster.
Shattuc tower, razed to the ground
West end of B&O.......out of service.

CSX opened up the closed route long enough to store a bunch of CSX cars on it: (Full YouTube page with comments)


Kenny posted six photos of the tower with the comment: "A few shots I took of the now gone tower at Shattuc Illinois...the east west CSX is no longer in use..."
Zachary C. Gillihan Check out: www.rrsignalpix.com/shattuc_tower.html

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Zachary C. Gillihan commented on Kenny's posting
Shattuc was a fun tower to take apart. There's a lot of history with that tower. The lever machine is made of spare parts the B&O had. A box car wiped the original depot out in 1920's so they built the tower on railroad ties. The tower sank causing them to close off the internal stairs and raising the floor in the tower itself.

Jeff Heinie posted
Posting a throwback from Feb. 2014. Here is an eastbound CSX freight on the former B&O line that crosses the BNSF here. I was in the right place at the right time to catch the train. Sometime later, CSX took this line out of service in favor of the former PRR line that was acquired from Conrail. I believe the tower is now gone as well. It would difficult to recreate this scene today.
Joe Tarantine BNSF also tore out the diamond here as did CN at Odin.
Thomas Dyrek Shattuc Tower was torn down in 2015. Old photos indicate that there may have been a depot building attached to the tower at one time.
Nathan Jones I was probably on this train. Worked this line until they quit using it. Used to have to stop because the signal at the diamond had problems... rarley saw a bnsf train.. the shattuc tower was sold to a collector and moved, not torn down

I'm researching the B&O's Ohio & Mississippi Railroad and came across a posting that references this posting. That is kinda good for the ego.

Please consult ILsubdivision for the latest news concerning service across central Illinois. I see they temporarily repaired a cut rail so that they could store cars on part of this subdivision. (Lots of oil and coal cars became surplus thanks to unsafe oil cars and cheap natural gas displacing coal cars.)

CSX is removing 700 cars from storage on this route because Prairie RR is supposed to take over Jan 1, 2018. [IndianaRailroads from posting]
Scott Nauert It's a rumor until the filings are made with the STB
Lukas Irons Its not official but this outfit is out of O'Fallon Illinois dubbed the Prairie Line. If that's the case, these guys appear to be as startup as they come. I hope they aren't a scrub outfit looking to scrap the track. http://theprairieline.com/
Scott Nauert Bill Broyles has a pretty extensive history in the St. Louis rail scene, including serving as President of the TRRA for several years, founding the West Belt Railway (now Patriot Rail), founding Foster Townsend Rail Logistics, etc. My guess is, taking on a monumental project of restoring full service on a long-neglected 200+ mile railroad would require the financial resources of a group of investors, which he may, through his connections, have conceivably assembled.
Michael Dickerson Customers would come if you had dedicated local actual service. I don't recall whom, but one fellow had went all along the line and found customers who would be viable.
Scott Nauert Michael Dickerson - During the Chessie years in the late 70s / early 80s, a co-worker ran monster daily locals out of Cone Yard in E. St. Louis. Some things have obviously changed, but the agricultural business is still there as well as a few dozen manufacturing and distribution centers out there. Getting acceptable rates from the class 1s would be the challenge, but since this line connects/crosses with almost everybody, such an operation could be very beneficial for shippers.
Steven Gilroy Michael, do you mean my map? 😃http://cilrrc.contrains.net/map.html

Stored CSX Railcars Being Moved Out (source)


Lucas Irons posted the comment: "So a piece of rail was reinstalled on the CSX Illinois Sub in Caseyville Ill. This can be done so CSX can remove the remaining storage cars on the west end of the line on April 13th. Beyond that, who knows what. http://indianarailroads.org/board/index.php?topic=19186.280"
Steven Gilroy It was about a month ago that it was reinstalled. No idea why they're delaying so long in removing them.

From the the IndianaRailroads thread:
CSX10020: "Should be April 13th. They were granted 150 days from the approval date (November 13th)."

NEWS FROM O’FALLON CITY HALL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POSTED ON: MARCH 12, 2019 - 11:58AM
O’Fallon, Illinois - The City of O’Fallon was notified by CSX that they plan on using the train tracks in O’Fallon this week to retrieve some of their rail cars which have been stored on the tracks near Aviston, Illinois.
Here is what we were told to expect:
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, between 9AM and 10AM
- A single locomotive will be travelling eastbound through town at 10 MPH. Every crossing will be staffed by a CSX Police Officer and CSX Flaggers.
Thursday or Friday (Unknown Time)
- A locomotive will be transporting approximately 210 rail cars westbound through town at 10 MPH. Once again, every crossing will be staffed with CSX Flaggers and CSX Police. This second trip will likely cause delays of 10-15 minutes per crossing.
We are not sure the exact times or date for the return trip but will be in constant contact with CSX. We will post again when we know further details.

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mmonken: "I followed this move earlier today east of O'Fallon and was also surprised they only sent out 1 unit to retrieve all 200+ cars."

mmonken: "I'm hearing that there will be another eastbound single engine movement tomorrow morning. CSX determined that the single SD40-2 sent out yesterday will not be sufficient enough to remove all 200+ railcars in both Shattuc and Aviston. So there should be two trains tomorrow; the eastbound movement then the whole train westbound."

mmonken: "Well they ended up not sending out a 2nd unit. Train is currently in Trenton headed west but has nearly stalled out several times. I can't see how they will be able to make it much further going 10 mph and a lone SD40-2 pulling this whole train."
CSX_CO: "Doesn’t help Roselake is the “end of the line” as far as CSX is concerned. Any power for this move would have to come from power they get fed. With the UP’s issues around there, they’re awash in EB traffic that gets dumped on them. Giving up a big engine to clean out the line means something else sits."

[The train didn't make it. They had to update O'Fallon with different days that they would be coming through. They did use more power.]

mmonken: Nobody knows for sure what the end game is at this point. There's been lots of rumors floating around in the past couple of months. Some reports have been that the line is being prepared for a sale but as of now it is not officially on the block. In the past year however, CSX has given hi-rail tours of the line to BNSF, Watco, KCS and The Prairie Line.

scraphauler: Flats are all TTX cars that I’ve heard TTX was none too happy about being parked. Evacuation of cars is to appease TTX as well as legal rumblings from on line communities. Had to get FRA waiver to retrieve cars as line has discontinuance of service on it and all signals have been deactivated. One of the key officials tasked with network strategy and line sales is a frequent poster in face book. He says NOTHING changed. It is NOT being abandoned, sold, or return to service at this time. Continue status quo for now.

[I read to the end of the thread and the last posting I saw indicated there were still 50 cars on the route. I assume CSX met the Apr 13 deadline, and there is now nothing left on the track.]