Ashkum, IL: IC Interlocking Tower

20141013 0094

While taking pictures of grain elevators in some of the towns along US-45, I discovered a railroad tower that is still standing in Ashkum. I took this overview picture to include the signalling bridge because it will shortly be history because of the government mandated installation of Positive Train Control. That little "SOUTH ASHKUM" signalling shed and colored lights is what replaced the tower and mechanically controlled semaphores or searchlight signals.

I got some closeups of the north side and confirmed that any signalling rods going from the tower to the signals and switches had long since been removed. There used to be an outside staircase (more info below) that went up to the door in the northeast corner of the second floor.

Northeast corner

Northwest corner (trackside)

I didn't get a closeup of the south side because, as I can show from this overview of the depot, elevator and tower, the south side was just one big window in the second story.

Normally, towers are at junctions where one railroad crosses another. Why would there be a tower out in the "middle of nowhere?" When I found the following reference, I got an answer --- the tower controlled crossover switches for the mainline.

Excerpt from PDF from Signalling Documents (search for "ashkum" to find this PDF's link)

Excerpt from PDF at 25%

(I spent some time looking at the details in the PDF. In addition to the outside stairwell excerpt on the right, you see the roof was slate, the gutters and downspouts were zinc (won't rust), concrete mixes of 1-2-4 and 1-2.5-5, maple flooring that is 13/16" thick, how the signalling rods left the building, two 3.5" rods for telegraph cables, etc.)

But, as is typical when doing research, when I find some information that answers a question, more questions arise. In this case, For example, was the turnout to another track on the east side for another passing track? And I'm still surprised how big the tower is given that it is controlling just a few turnouts and some diverging road signals. It not big because they just built a standard size. The PDF indicates a detail design was drawn for this location. But the design does reference standards for such items as the cove moldings.

A close-up of  the signalling heads in the picture at the top.

The crossovers still existed when they upgraded from tower control to remote control because you can see that they just sawed off the masts that held a second signal for each track. Two signalling heads are used to display the status of the through track and the status of the diverging route. (I noticed that the order of the colors in the signal head is opposite of the order in a traffic light.) I looked at a satellite image to confirm that the crossover switches are now gone.

Satellite

To my surprise, the double track main becomes just one track south of the tower. The double track main extends north for just over a couple of miles.

The "passing track" on the above location plan is now a service track for the elevator.

(Facebooked)

Update:

Mike Sypult posted
The long inactive Ashkum, Illinois interlocking tower on the former Illinois Central Chicago District. Electric interlocking was installed in 1924, tower was closed in 1951 and replaced with CTC installation at the Gilman station. October 3, 2019.
Mike Sypult photo
Mike Sypult From Trainorders: In the early 1920's the IC had 3 main tracks as far south as Otto which was 60 miles from Chicago. Between Otto and Gilman there were two main tracks. To increase capacity of the two main track section the IC built 4 interlockings at approximately 5 mile intervals. Those interlockings were located at Otto, Chebanse, Clifton, Ashkum and North Gilman. Between interlockings both tracks were signaled in both directions.

Mark Hinsdale posted
Its an overall nasty, cold, wet winter day at Ashkum IL, as the sleet falls and Inland Steel empties head south. 12-29-81

Noah Haggerty posted two photos with the comment: "North of the depot at Ashkum sits the old Illinois Central tower, taken on April 14, 2026. This tower was built in 1924. IC eliminated tower operators between Otto and Gilman in favor of Centralized Traffic Control (CTC), the second floor became dormant while the first floor held the code equipment. I am not sure if that continues into present day, still amazing to see it standing. The tower at Otto also still stands."

Richard Fiedler shared

1

2

5 photos after the Darth Vader signals were installed

Ashkum, IL: Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

(This was originally written in October, 2014, in the Industrial History Blog.)

An overview of the grain elevators looking south.

20141013 0093, Ashkum, IL, looking South

The equipment on the north side is obviously the newer stuff. Here is a closeup of the storage facilities south of the newer concrete silos.

This is the southernmost storage unit, and it is no longer used. The building on the right is the old train depot. Looking at the 1940 aerial photo below, I don't think the round silos had been built.

This other old unit is still used to mix dry and wet batches of soybeans to achieve an average moisture of 13% or less. Looking at the 1940 aerial photo below, the steel covered structure is present. But I don't think the two round blobs to the north are the round silos that we see today. So in 1940 the storage capacity of Ashkum was just a couple of  rectangular buildings.

By studying a satellite image, I determined that the service track for the elevator extends 3/4 mile north and south of the loading zone. I wonder if 3/4 mile is long enough to handle a unit-train of 65 cars.

ILHAP

Turning our attention to the newer facilities. The yellow rail is a fall protector. A bracket with a rope rolls along the rail. When someone is on top of the cars to open and close the hatches, their safety harness is attached to the rope.

You can see stages of expansion beginning with the track side concrete towers and ending with the huge steel bins. The "wall" in the foreground with blue fans attached to it is ground storage. Grain would be heaped up inside those walls and covered with tarps that were probably weighed down by old tires. They haven't used it for a few years since they built the steel bins. The total capacity is now 4 million bushels.

To complete our view of the ground storage, here is an inside view. You can see that there are black plastic ducts attached to each fan to help get the air circulation to the middle. They may have to use the ground storage again this year because corn is still left over from the 2013 bumper crop and because this years (2014) crop is supposed to be even better. It is predicted that the amount of corn that is supposed to be harvested is more than the total storage capacity in the United States.

The need for visitors to register at seed plants and grain elevators seems to be a USDA regulation. As if terrorists who plan to poison the food supply will register. (The camera was straight, it is the sign that is crooked.) I did check in at the office, but I didn't have to sign anything. There were no trucks at the elevator even though October 13 was in the middle of the harvest season. The reason is that rain storms were blowing through the area, and farmers can't combine when it is raining. I was lucky to have just clouds, no rain, most of my trip. And the staff did not mind talking to me since they were not busy. If there was a line of truck drivers waiting to unload, I would have been reluctant to join that line to explain why I wanted pictures and to get permission.

After I took pictures of a southbound train, I got the following overview of everything except the southern most unit, which I mentioned is no longer used. The brick building you can see below is the office.

I went up the access road between the track side silos and the additional phases of expansion. In the foreground is one of the truck unloading pits. The skinny towers are grain dryers. They use natural gas instead of propane, so they were not impacted by the propane shortage that hit the country last winter. I assume there are two legs so that one can deliver grain from an unloading pit to a dryer while the other can move the dried grain to a storage bin. (Update: There is enough redundancy of connections between the two legs that I now think there are two legs so that both unloading pits can transfer grain to a wet bin at the same time. When not unloading a truck, they can use either leg to transfer from a wet bin to a dryer or from the dryer to one of the big storage bins in the back.)

On Dec. 9th, 2014, after the harvest season was over, I did a quick stop off of I-57 to see if they had used their old ground storage facility since all of the elevators were supposed to be full in 2014. They had not. I think there was corn left in the fields later than usual in some areas. That is, leaving the corn on the stalk longer than usual provided more storage for the crop.

Marty Bernard posted
ICG SD20 2040, SD20 2011, and SD40A 6014 and train on March 17, 1990 at Ashkum, IL.
Marty Bernard shared

Marty was a lot farther South than I got.

Street View

And I didn't get an angle that included the IC depot.

1 of 4 posted by Brad Brown, cropped

I used Google Earth to determine when this elevator built some big metal bins so that they could quit using their ground pile.

Apr 1998

Apr 2005

Aug 2007

Aug 2010

Toledo, OH: Mondelez/Kraft/Nabisco Grain Elevator and Flour Mill

Bird's Eye View

SeaportTerminals reports that "Mondelez International receives wheat by vessel, rail and truck to support operations at their Toledo Flower Mill." From Google Maps, I learned that it had been a Kraft facility. From the Bird's Eye View, we learn its history includes Nabisco Brands.

Satellite

Bird's Eye View

I include another Bird's Eye View because the plant is on a seam between two satellite images and the Bing algorithm is challenged to stitch them together into a consistent view. I was trying to determine if flour is shipped by rail as well as truck. I assume the building on the northwest side is the "flour bin." There is a flour truck at one end of that building.

Bird's Eye View

Bird's Eye View

They have at least two industrial switchers.

Update: Ron Bialecki shared an album of 25 pictures of the Mississagi unloading at Nabisco.

Second photo posted by Jeff Rahla
B Tupper Upham: Hocking Valley docks adjacent to I-280/Craig Memorial.
[The top of this photo shows a couple of ships docked at this elevator.]

1 of 6 photos posted by Andrew Dean Detroit
Manitoulin unloading in Toledo last Sunday morning.
Andrew Russell shared

Toledo, OH: Andersons K/Cargill Grain Elevator

Bird's Eye View

(Satellite)

This facility is owned by Cargill, but it is operated by Andersons, which has their own river facility nearby.

From Seaport Terminals, I learned:

• Can accommodate vessels from 800-900 feet
• Seaway draft
• 5,900,000 bushel total storage capacity
• Served directly by NS rail with 100 car track loading capacity

Google Maps labeled this as "Andersons Grain & Ethanol", but I don't see any ethanol facilities. Maybe that is what occupied the big grassy area. The ethanol plant was probably removed when more efficient facilities were built such as their own plant in Greenville, OH. This allows all of the storage capacity in this facility to be used for transloading from rail to ocean-going ships.

Stephen Kellogg -> Toledo Area Railfans

I learned from Stephen's posting of his August 1986 picture that it has its own Alco S6 locomotive. It is still there, but Andersons repainted it black with a grain logo.

The following aerial view shows this elevator in the lower-right, Andersons on the left, and ADM across the river.

SeaportTerminal

Bill Kalkman posted
The Andersons Grain & Ethanol. View is from N/B I-75. 4:43PM on 8-12-18 in Toledo, OH.

Craig Hensley Photography posted

Monochrome Monday

A westbound Norfolk Southern intermodal train creeps across the Maumee River [on the NS/NYC Bridge] as they slowly work their way into Toledo, eventually coming to a stop just shy of the Toledo Amtrak station. The Chicago line was beginning to back up with westbounds and the Toledo dispatcher was trying her best to keep them all moving. 

Toledo, Ohio - October 2023

View the high res version here:

https://www.craighensleyphotography.com/Portfolio/Railroad-Photography/i-CgCLkRL/A

[A new view of the Andersons grain elevator.]

Jason Artz posted
My third home. The Andersons (Edwin) elevator in Toledo on the Maumee River. At both elevators while loading ships we average about 41,000 bushels an hour.
Bob Summers From my perspective as an "inlander" I think it would be very interesting to have more posts on barge loading elevators on the rivers as well as port elevators on both the great lakes and ocean ports. Waterfront views would be most interesting.

Jazon Artz posted

Jason commented on his post
"Loaded soybeans earlier today [Sep 19, 2019]."

Jason commented on his post

Michigan Film Photographer Karl Wertanen posted

The Robert S Pierson offloads grain into the Anderson K Elevators on the Maumee River in Toledo during the drizzle of a September evening back in 2012.

11 minutes @ f/11

Mamiya 7ii, 80mm on 6x7 Kodak Ektar 100 Color Negative Film

Thanks for sharing if you choose and have a great Friday! Cant believe April is literally a day away!

#greatlakes

#toledo

Michigan Film Photographer Karl Wertanen shared
[I wonder which grain is being unloaded. And from where it came from. I expect Toledo to be loading freighters, not unloading them.]

A timelapse video of a boat going upstream past Anthony Wayne Bridge. It is hard tofollow after it turns around and goes backward, but I think it is docking at this elevator.

3D Satellite