Friday, February 7, 2020

Kankakee, IL: Tower KX: CN/IC vs. NS/NYC vs. KB&S/Big Four

(3D Satellite)
NorthAmericanInterlockings:   photo   diagram

KB&S = Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern Railroad

Steve Drassler posted
Just came across this photo of KX Tower in Kankakee, ICRR and NYC RR crossing. The low brick building still stands, watching over the same diamond, the same steel, just different railroad names—CN and NS.
Dennis DeBruler This higher resolution photo shows that the tower controlled traffic for the Big Four as well as the NYC Kankakee Belt.
http://northamericaninterlockings.com/.../kxILichissociet...
Dennis DeBruler This is where the Big Four from Indianapolis connected with the IC for access to the Chicago market.
http://northamericaninterlockings.com/.../kxILdiagram.jpg...

Steve Drassler posted
Charlie DeWeese I worked third trick there in the summer of 1958 or 1959, in the brick building, not the two-story building; it was gone.

Steve Drassler posted
Dick Bidwell shared
Rich Westerman Right behind the cameraman in this photo is the 'wye' interchange track from the NYC. When I worked swing shift pickle clerk I had to walk the wye to confirm deliveries from the NYC and I would stop by for a cuppa with the operator. Can't recall his name now. factoid: somebody once took a shot at me from the east side of the tracks one night. they missed but put a hole in a boxcar full of dogfood from GF. From then on I walked the west side of the wye.
Billy Irvin Rich Westerman I remember my first trip to East St Louis as a student conductor. We were getting ready to climb off the engine and tie the train down, So I naturally flipped my lantern on. The guy I was training with asked what the hell I was doing turning that light on. He told me the locals liked to take pot shots at the lights. I happily set handbrakes in the dark!
Charlie DeWeese When I worked third trick at KX the summer of 1958 or 1959, the office was in the one-story brick building and the tower was gone, except for the foundation as I recall.
Jon Roma I have heard that an employee at "KX" was held up at gunpoint during third trick in the Seventies or Eighties. I think that led to the railroad putting up a locked chain link fence around the brick "tower".
"KX" was closed and the plant converted to remote control in the mid Eighties. Its demise came before the single-tracking project that preceded the closing of the rest of IC's string of towers in central Illinois.

Rob Sutter posted, Facebook resolution
[IC called these track charts Condensed Profiles.]

Jon Roma commented on Rob's post

Jon Roma commented on Rob's post


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