Towns and Nature: Olney, IL: CGB Grain Elevator, Rewritten

Friday, November 27, 2015

Olney, IL: CGB Grain Elevator, Rewritten

I first published about this elevator and its locomotive on 12/17/2014. This post rewrites that post.

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CGB is a grain elevator of particular interest because it has its own shortline railroad. It is also note worthy because it uses "ground storage." (Update 2019: ground storage was noteworthy in 2014. I've noticed a lot more grain elevators now use it.) These photos were taken Dec. 12, 2014.

Satellite

The overview photos below were taken from point A on the satellite image from north to south.

The following was taken from point B on the satellite image.

In the first overview, you see the ground storage unit depicted by the number 1 on the satellite image. Below is unit 2 taken from point C, and unit 3 taken from the east side of the tracks.

When I got out of the car to take pictures, I could hear that there were fans running in the ground storage units to circulate air through the grain. I wondered if these units were added to help handle the bumper crops we have had the last two years, so I looked at the Bing satellite image (Update 2019: Microsoft has broken their 3D images), which tends to be several years old. All three units are shown as being full in that view as well.

The above photos are from the Dec. 11 visit. When I pulled in Nov. 8, it was full of trucks, and I turned around and left.

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The only overview shot I got that day was from the road. Unit 2 is in the foreground, and you can see just a little bit of unit 1 past the lineup of trucks.

I asked the manager what the capacity of the silos and bins is vs. the ground storage. His answer was "we are licensed to store 4 million bushels." First of all, I did not know an elevator needed to be licensed. Secondly of all, I noticed he avoided my question. Comparing the silos and bins of this elevator to that of the one in Ashkum, which has a capacity of 4 million bushels, I'd say the bins and silos can hold 4 million bushels. So does that mean the 3 ground storage units are unlicensed storage? As I indicated above, the Bing maps indicate that they have been around for at least several years. (Update 2019: "licensed capacity" does exclude ground storage. Ground storage can be used for either grain that is owned by the elevator or "delayed priced" [Jeremey Frost comment] Delayed priced means that it will be sold in 2-4 months, so spoilage risks are low. [FarmersTrading])

The reason the elevator was full of trucks during the Nov 8 visit was that it was loading a train and that means the elevator again had room to accept loads.

The farmers still had corn standing in the fields because of two years of bumper crops. The following overview is from the east side and it shows part of the train that was being loaded.

This train seemed to me an "emergency unload the bumper crop train" because it was kludged together with whatever hoppers CSXT could scrounge up, including a couple of "fallen flags."

On my Dec 11 visit, they were also loading a train. This time the hoppers were all modern CSXT cars. On this trip between Evansville and the Chicago area, I saw just one field that still had corn. During the Nov 8 trip, I saw several fields that still had corn.

Dennis DeBruler posted that this segment is not abandoned.
Dennis DeBruler posted about its rail operation.
A duplicate share to a different group about the operation.

I used Google Earth to determine when the ground piles were built. I discovered that the ones they used today were built (around 2005) before the three really big metal bins were built (around 2010-11). An older ground pile facility was present in the first image available, 1998. Unlike the grain elevator in Ashkum, IL, this elevator continues to use its ground piles.