Elevator: (Satellite)
There were some quarries in Kankakee, but quarrying moved west of town where they had room to grow.
This quarry helps explain why CN has retained ownership of the Kankakee & SouthWest (K&SW) branch from Otto Tower to Herscher, IL.
Vulcan has their own hoppers.
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| Street View, Oct 2008 |
But they use a lot of other hoppers as well.
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| Street View |
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| Golden Optic, Aug 2018 |
Adam Elias posted three photos with the comment: "Vulcan loading some gondolas for the CN in Limestone, IL on November 18th. I had never seen gons on the property here before until this day. Was my first time also seeing them move cars to the interchange."
Jack Olejniczak: Any idea when CN typically makes a run there? Or is it random?
HalstEd Pazdzior: Jack Olejniczak I think it's done overnight a lot.
When Adam said he was surprised to see gondolas, I thought that he meant he was surprised to see rail service instead of trucks. But when I looked at the street views, I quickly realized he meant that he was surprised to see gondolas instead of hoppers.
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When Adam said he was surprised to see gondolas, I thought that he meant he was surprised to see rail service instead of trucks. But when I looked at the street views, I quickly realized he meant that he was surprised to see gondolas instead of hoppers.
In addition to the big quarry east of IL-28, I spotted five tipples west of IL-28.
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| 1973 Herscher and 1964 West Kankakee Quads @ 24,000 |
The comments about CN surprised me because the railroad north of the facility is NS/NYC/Kankakee Belt. Then I remembered that CN still has a remnant of an IC branch that went west from Otto Tower. Sure enough, the north/south route that goes past the quarry connects with the CN/IC on the south side as well as the NS/NYC on the north side.
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| USGS and 1964 West Kankakee Quads @ 24,000 |
I'm surprised that the loop for FS Grain connects to just the NS tracks. If they connected to the north/south tracks, they would have had the option of shipping with CN as well. Maybe the threat of being able to connect to CN is enough to generate competitive shipping rates. The elevator was built after the street view car passed by in Oct 2008. Google Earth shows that they had started construction in Mar 2015 and it looked like it was done by May 2015. This elevator's web site quotes prices for live cattle and lean hogs as well as corn, soybeans and wheat. [FSgrain]
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| Satellite |
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| Tracy Pralle, Oct 2017 |
Limestone, IL, itself is interesting. Note how the boundaries zig-zag across the state. It was incorporated in the 21st Century (2006) and had a population of just 1,598 at the 2010 census.
The reason for the zigzag is that, when they incorporated, they needed at least two square miles with sufficient density to qualify for tax revenues. [TheVillageOfLimestone-about]
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| Satellite |
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