Reddick, IL: Junction Tower (RA): Wabash vs. NYC (Kankakee Belt) and 1979 Wabash Depot

Tower: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite?)

Sam Carlson posted
Tower RA (N&W) at Reddick, IL on June 15, 1982.

Sam Carlson posted again
Reddick, IL, though on the radio they always seemed to say it as two words. It's where the Wabash crossed the NYC's Kankakee Belt about 15 miles west of kankakee. The Wabash is gone now; as the NS decided to trade the maintenance costs on that route for trackage rights over the IC - now CN - and their shitty dispatching.
Harold J. Krewer Wasn't a branch, this was the Wabash's Chicago-Decatur main line. Crossed the Tip-Up at Forrest, then ran trackage rights over TP&W to Fairbury to reach the branch up to Pontiac and Streator.
Brian Voss I have to wonder how many hundred times NS wished they had never disposed of the Wabash main...
Sam Carlson When I was hauling crews, sometimes I'd have to go down to Otto (from Chicago) to dogcatch NS crews. Yeah, most of them bitched up a storm. But some liked it, because they could collect tow-in time, extra hours, final terminal time, and a host of other paycheck enhancing add ons. "If I was on the Wabash, I'd be running an engine now. Instead I'm getting paid big-time to sleep in the back of this van!"
Mark Egebrecht Sam Carlson
You mean Otto Junction where the IC Bloomer Line merged up with the IC New Orleans Main?
Sam Carlson Yup. Sometimes the NS trains just parked on the siding; other times they'd shove around the wye to get in the clear.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Karl Zumwalt posted two photos with the comment: "RA tower Reddick Illinois."

1, cropped

2, cropped

 

Thomas Dyrek commented on his post below

Here's a shot of the tower from John and Roger too.

Thomas Dyrek posted
The depot at Reddick, Illinois on an unknown date. John and Roger Kujawa photo, Thomas Dyrek collection.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Thomas' post
This one has me stumped. The depot and tracks appear to be perpendicular to the road, so it should be the northern crossing in the town. And it shows that the depot was on the right side of the road. But the only building I can find in the aerial is on the left side of the road. And there would be a grain elevator in the background. 1940 aerial photo
https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/webdocs/ilhap/county/data/livingston/flight1/000v7a050.jpg

Dennis DeBruler commented on Thomas' post
I could not find it in this aerial either. 1939 aerial photo
 https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/webdocs/ilhap/county/data/kankakee/flight7/0bwv03074.jpg

Richard Fiedler posted nine photos with the comment: "Reddick Illinois Wabash depot and tower. At Reddick the Wabash and II&I (New York Central's Big Four Kankakee Belt) crossed. First view 1890ish. . Second view 1955. Third and fourth about 1978 near it's demise. The tower telegraph call "RA" was in bad shape and was gone shortly too. The final view is the ROW at Reddick 1993 a few years after the rails were lifted. Depot is a standard Chicago & Strawn 18’x36” design from 1879 and the tower from 1900. All photos Robert Fiedler collection."

Richard Fiedler shared

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