Webster, IL: Junction: TP&W vs KB&S/Milw/CTH&SE

(Satellite)

TP&W = Toledo, Peoria & Western
KB&S = Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern
CTH&SE = Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern

Jesse Berryhill Flickr 2011 Photo of a TP&W SD40T-2, still with its SP livery, waiting for the KB&S snow plow train to clear the diamonds. At the end of the train was KB&S' wedge plow on a Milwaukee tender that they got when they bought segments of the CTH&SE route. Clicking through some of Jesse's photos, the TP&W train was also throwing snow. Sometimes the old SP was plowing quite a bit of snow.

1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

It is not much of a "tower. " I've seen this type of structure called a cabin.

Brian Knight posted
Webster Illinois 1991
Brian Knight posted again

Junior Hill posted two photos with the comment:

A TP&W plow Xtra is seen blazing drifts at Webster, IL, after the blizzard of 2011. The second pic shows the TP&W waiting on a KB&S plow Xtra at the Webster diamond.2/2/2011

1

2

Sam Carlson posted
Webster, IL Tower 5-10-19
Dennis DeBruler

Webster IL doesn't have any railroads. (Both Google Maps and USGS show this location for Webster, IL.) But I've found a couple of other posts that call this location Webster, IL.

40°27'59.4"N 91°00'01.0"W

But the crossing of TP&W with KB&S/Milwaukee/CTH&SE is one of the junctions in Illinois labelled Webster by the 2005 SPV Map.

40°46'20.1"N 87°36'11.8"W

So I presume that is where these photos were taken.

Joseph Tuch Santucci: There was an operator there and it was a train order station. Used to be acquainted with one of them and have some train orders issued from Webster. You don’t really need a tall or large building as it is a one man operation with no complex interlocking, just a crossing at grade. Wyton in Central Illinois on Conrail was about this size.

Sam commented on his post

The cabin replaced a more traditional tower.

Grayson Warbritton shared DonsDepot photo with the comment: "Milwaukee Road Crossing the TP&W at Webster IL." [I forgot to record the "shared" link.]

David Smith posted
Manifest freight led by SD40-2’s 187 & 189, crossing the TP&W at Webster, IL. Date unknown, but prior to 1979, Photographer unknown, from my collection .
Fred Hyde: The SD40-2s started showing up on the Southeastern in October, 1979…. Before that the trains were powered by GP20s.
Phil McCall shared

Ed Mrowiec commented on Phil's share
Great pic. Same location from a few years ago

Brian Knight posted
Eastbound crossing over the KB&S at Webster Illinois in 1990.

Jesse B. Hill posted
Ground Hog's Day Blizzard of 2011.
This was at Webster looking east, Webster is just west of Sheldon, IL. The TP&W was using these old SP Tunnel Motors at the time on their RR. The KBS plow is seen running on their old Milwaukee Road line, note the old Tower, it's still here to this day, albeit long-abandoned.