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.

Google Earth, Apr 1998

Google Earth, Mar 2005

Google Earth, Sep 2005

Google Earth,  Aug 2006

Google Earth, Aug 2007

Google Earth, Aug 2010

Google Earth, Sep 2011

Greenville, OH: Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC

Andersons Ethanol Facilities

A quote from Andersons web page:

The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC, completed in February 2008, is a joint venture between The Andersons Ethanol Investment LLC, a subsidiary of The Andersons, Inc., and Marathon Petroleum Corporation. The Andersons manages the 110 million gallon ethanol plant, the largest facility of its kind in Ohio. The plant requires 40 million bushels of corn to operate and also produces 350,000 tons of distiller dried grains annually. Ethanol, E-85, Corn Oil and C02 are available.

Satellite

The Google image is interesting because it shows that a "Continental Carbonic" facility has been built next to the ethanol facility. It creates dry ice from the CO2 produced by the ethanol facility. This squeezes more money out of a bushel of corn. Unfortunately, it does not keep the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere because when the dry ice is used, the CO2 is released to the atmosphere. (In addition to keeping products such as medicines and food cold, a major use is dry ice blasting.) The plant also creates liquefied CO2 for the beverage industry.

Update: The plant is getting a $1.2 million upgrade.

Making dry ice does not keep the carbon out of the atmosphere. It just delays its release into the atmosphere. ADM's Decature, IL plant is pumping the CO2 into the ground to keep it out of the atmosphere.

Toledo, OH: Andersons River (Kuhlman) Grain Elevator

(3D Satellite)

Andrew Severson posted, cropped
12/10/22 the Ludogorets loading up dock side in Toledo.
Dennis DeBruler shared
This is Anderson's downstream elevator in Toledo, OH, loading a salty (export).

Dennis DeBruler commented on his share
"The Andersons opened the first deep-water grain loading facility on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes."
https://www.andersonsinc.com/about-us/history/#1960s

Dennis DeBruler commented on his share
The Ludogorets can hold 38,881.3 cubic meters of grain. So how big is a bushel?
https://www.navbul.com/en/fleet/details.php?id=64
Brett Ellis: Dennis DeBruler 1.24446 cubic feet
Dennis DeBruler: Brett Ellis So it can hold about 1.1 million bushels.
Bob Summers: Dennis DeBruler so for comparison purposes a unit or shuttle train of 100 hopper cars would haul about a third of a million bushels.
Bob Summers: Brett Ellis and to convert to weight it depends on what commodity, but corn is 56# to the bushel and wheat 60# for example.

Dennis DeBruler commented on his share
The Andersons now also runs the elevator that is just upstream around the bend, and ADM has a big one across the Maumee River.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.6309637,-83.5296139,399a,35y,270h,39.3t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

Wyatt McCarley posted
Saginaw unloading at Anderson’s in Toledo, Ohio this morning. 06/24/23
Dennis DeBruler shared
A classic Laker as well as a big grain elevator.

Dennis DeBruler commented on his share

 

Kate Stoiber posted
I used to watch many ships come to my hometown of Toledo. They would come down through the St. Lawrence seaway through Lake Ontario into Lake Erie, and down the Maumee River to the port of Toledo to load grain from the Anderson Grain docks on the Maumee River. They also loaded Jeeps to transport to other countries.
Clare Gilbert: Mid States elevators on this side of the river and Anderson's on the far side. The pond behind Anderson's is all filled in (Now Kuhlman's (sp) dock. Cargill is our of the picture to the left. Loaded many load in Toledo.
[The elevator by the railroad bridge became this elevator, and the elevator in the foreground became the ADM elevator.]

An older version of this grain elevator is in the background of this photo.

Gregory Molloy posted
04/09/1964.  Chesapeake & Ohio's "Sportsman" crossed the Maumee River moments after leaving Toledo Union Station on its run from Detroit and Toledo to Columbus and, ultimately, Newport News, Virginia.  The "Sportsman was discontinued as a separate named train in 1968.  My photo.
[The train is on the NS/NYC Bridge.]

 

Brain R. Wroblewski posted
Here's a shot from Toledo that shows some of the "alternate" grain storage options besides a traditional elevator. They have a typical concrete elevator that's older, but you can also see modern grain storage domes & even large steel bins. Those could be cheap & nasty options for ADM to replace the Great Northern.

Dan Nelson -> Toledo Area Railfans

Across the Maumee River from the ADM elevator is Andersons River Elevator. The big boat in Dan's picture is docked at Andersons. This was the first deep-water grain loading facility on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes. (History, 1960s)


From Seaport Terminals, I learned:

• Seaway draft of 26.6 feet
• Can accommodate vessels up to 1000 feet
• 7,000,000 bushel total storage capacity
• Can off-load through Kuhlman facility
• Served directly by NS rail with 65 car track loading capacity

Nick Dombi -> Toledo Area Railfans

Nick Dombi caught a view from across the river while he was photographing the CSX rail service for the ADM elevator.

See the end of NS/NYC Bridge over Maumee River for some more pictures of boats docked at the elevator in the background.

Bird's Eye View

Randi Parton -> Toledo Area Railfans

Update: Randi was taking pictures of NS's Veterans and First Responder (911) lash-up, but he also caught another angle of Andersons on the left. This train is approaching the Maumee River Bridge.

William Littrell -> Grain Elevators of North America

Michigan Film Photographer Karl Wertanen posted

The Robert S Pierson off loads grain cargo at the Andersons K Elevators in Toledo Ohio.

A 40 minute ride from my home in Monroe MI...

...down to the Maumee River in Toledo affords me this photo of light and an industry...

...which has been a way of life for people on the Great Lakes for well over a hundred years.

We take for granted many of the goods we receive and use in our daily routines.

The people that work on these massive ships sacrifice their family life for 3/4 of the year or more to support their families and to keep our economies flowing...

...transporting food, building materials and other essential goods that we use and take for granted every day.

Here's a 'thank you' to all the home sick sailors out there.

Photo taken with Mamiya 7ii, 80mm on Kodak Ektar 100 Color Negative Film

I got the "Kuhlman" name from this post. And the vantage point for this view is was given in a comment as a driveway at Fassett Street.

Nick Dombi -> Toledo Area Railfans

Dave Hickcox posted two photos with the comment:

Andersons is a Toledo, Ohio based grain company with operations in various Midwest locations. Its largest facility is in Toledo on the Maumee River. This large elevator is just part of their complex. Loading grain for export is the salt water ship Eider, owned by Canadian Forest Navigation or Canfornav for short. This facility is across the Maumee River from the elevator I posted yesterday. 2008.

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Ken Sabin posted
Dennis DeBruler Looking at the south end of the Andersons elevator with the NS/NYC bridge on the right.

Jason Artz posted
My second home. The Andersons Kuhlman elevator in Toledo Ohio on the Maumee River.

A Flickr photo of Manitoulin clearing the swing bridge with a load of soybeans from Andersons elevator.

Shattuc, IL: Junction Tower and B&O Route Shutdown

Interactive Map

(Satellite) Update: Rich Jacobson's posting indicates CSX wants to put the segment from Flora, IL to Aviston, IL out of service. [O'FallonWeekly] Evidently the Surface Transportation Board told CSX to fix the rail cuts they did in July, 2015 (see below). It is too bad CSX won't sell this former-B&O route across Illinois to a shortline operator. At least they did sell their former-L&N route across Illinois to Evansville Western Railway so those towns now have improved rail service. It is interesting that CSX still has the old L&N route on their System Map.

Sally Smith -> RAILROAD HISTORY BUFFS OF ILLINOIS

Sally's comment:

Kenny sez: thanks for the ad...been shooting trains in Illinois for many years now, hope to post some shots you will like, and it also looks like plenty of sweet material to browse...thanks again...Ken...photo by Ken Smith...the CSX former B&O facing west in Shattuc Illinois...track no longer used, the tower gone, the BNSF still uses the North South track that crosses at the tower...

CSX shutdown this B&O segment in July, 2015, by cutting the rails in Flora and Caseyville, IL.

Update: I didn't read the whole page that is referenced by this link, but it seems that Belleville and Illinois paid for a Venita Drive overpass soon before it became unneeded.

Steve Goaring's posting
Chessie Steam Special eastbound passing the tower at Shattuc, IL. 1981. Steve Goaring photo.
[Notice that, once again, the fireman is creating a lot of black smoke because that is what railfans want in their photos. I'm glad Steve did not skunk the tower with the locomotive. That is one advantage of having to take a more distant photo of a locomotive in order to catch all of the smoke.]

Jich Jacobson posted
It's May of 2014.
SD80MACs off the CSX roster.
Shattuc tower, razed to the ground
West end of B&O.......out of service.

CSX opened up the closed route long enough to store a bunch of CSX cars on it: (Full YouTube page with comments)

Jim Pearson Photography posted

May 1, 2005 - Blast From The Past - BNSF 2819 heads past the old interlocking tower at Shattuc, Illinois on BNSF's Beardstown Subdivision as it crosses over the Illinois Subdivision. 

From what I gather from the web, CSX closed the Illinois Subdivision through here at one point and used it for car storage, but then I find references to the line being used now by The Prairie Line, a shortline out of O'Fallon, IL (I'm now told the shortline hasn't materialized yet). BNSF still owns and uses the Bardstown Sub. I'm also told that the diamond was removed in 2019, at least temporarily. 

In the past this tower controlled the movements of trains on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad along with the B&O Railroad. It was closed sometime in the 1980's and from what I can find on the web it was torn down in late 2014. I've also found reports where it was bought by a collector and moved. Whichever is correct, this picture isn't to be replicated again today since the tower is now gone.

If you'd like to read a great piece on the tower, check out this article on The Trackside Photographer by Tom Gatermann, who visited the tower the same year as me.

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/tag/shattuc-tower/

Photograph the towers when and where you can as they continue to disappear from the railroad landscape.

Tech Info: Nikon D100, Sigma 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/8, 1/800, ISO 400.

https://fineartamerica.com/.../2-bnsf-2819-heads-past-the...

Kenny posted six photos of the tower with the comment: "A few shots I took of the now gone tower at Shattuc Illinois...the east west CSX is no longer in use..."
Zachary C. Gillihan Check out: www.rrsignalpix.com/shattuc_tower.html

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Zachary C. Gillihan commented on Kenny's posting
Shattuc was a fun tower to take apart. There's a lot of history with that tower. The lever machine is made of spare parts the B&O had. A box car wiped the original depot out in 1920's so they built the tower on railroad ties. The tower sank causing them to close off the internal stairs and raising the floor in the tower itself.

Jeff Heinie posted
Posting a throwback from Feb. 2014. Here is an eastbound CSX freight on the former B&O line that crosses the BNSF here. I was in the right place at the right time to catch the train. Sometime later, CSX took this line out of service in favor of the former PRR line that was acquired from Conrail. I believe the tower is now gone as well. It would difficult to recreate this scene today.
Joe Tarantine BNSF also tore out the diamond here as did CN at Odin.
Thomas Dyrek Shattuc Tower was torn down in 2015. Old photos indicate that there may have been a depot building attached to the tower at one time.
Nathan Jones I was probably on this train. Worked this line until they quit using it. Used to have to stop because the signal at the diamond had problems... rarley saw a bnsf train.. the shattuc tower was sold to a collector and moved, not torn down

I'm researching the B&O's Ohio & Mississippi Railroad and came across a posting that references this posting. That is kinda good for the ego.

Please consult ILsubdivision for the latest news concerning service across central Illinois. I see they temporarily repaired a cut rail so that they could store cars on part of this subdivision. (Lots of oil and coal cars became surplus thanks to unsafe oil cars and cheap natural gas displacing coal cars.)

CSX is removing 700 cars from storage on this route because Prairie RR is supposed to take over Jan 1, 2018. [IndianaRailroads from posting]
Scott Nauert It's a rumor until the filings are made with the STB
Lukas Irons Its not official but this outfit is out of O'Fallon Illinois dubbed the Prairie Line. If that's the case, these guys appear to be as startup as they come. I hope they aren't a scrub outfit looking to scrap the track. http://theprairieline.com/
Scott Nauert Bill Broyles has a pretty extensive history in the St. Louis rail scene, including serving as President of the TRRA for several years, founding the West Belt Railway (now Patriot Rail), founding Foster Townsend Rail Logistics, etc. My guess is, taking on a monumental project of restoring full service on a long-neglected 200+ mile railroad would require the financial resources of a group of investors, which he may, through his connections, have conceivably assembled.
Michael Dickerson Customers would come if you had dedicated local actual service. I don't recall whom, but one fellow had went all along the line and found customers who would be viable.
Scott Nauert Michael Dickerson - During the Chessie years in the late 70s / early 80s, a co-worker ran monster daily locals out of Cone Yard in E. St. Louis. Some things have obviously changed, but the agricultural business is still there as well as a few dozen manufacturing and distribution centers out there. Getting acceptable rates from the class 1s would be the challenge, but since this line connects/crosses with almost everybody, such an operation could be very beneficial for shippers.
Steven Gilroy Michael, do you mean my map? 😃http://cilrrc.contrains.net/map.html

Stored CSX Railcars Being Moved Out (source)


Lucas Irons posted the comment: "So a piece of rail was reinstalled on the CSX Illinois Sub in Caseyville Ill. This can be done so CSX can remove the remaining storage cars on the west end of the line on April 13th. Beyond that, who knows what. http://indianarailroads.org/board/index.php?topic=19186.280"
Steven Gilroy It was about a month ago that it was reinstalled. No idea why they're delaying so long in removing them.

From the the IndianaRailroads thread:
CSX10020: "Should be April 13th. They were granted 150 days from the approval date (November 13th)."

NEWS FROM O’FALLON CITY HALL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POSTED ON: MARCH 12, 2019 - 11:58AM
O’Fallon, Illinois - The City of O’Fallon was notified by CSX that they plan on using the train tracks in O’Fallon this week to retrieve some of their rail cars which have been stored on the tracks near Aviston, Illinois.
Here is what we were told to expect:
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, between 9AM and 10AM
- A single locomotive will be travelling eastbound through town at 10 MPH. Every crossing will be staffed by a CSX Police Officer and CSX Flaggers.
Thursday or Friday (Unknown Time)
- A locomotive will be transporting approximately 210 rail cars westbound through town at 10 MPH. Once again, every crossing will be staffed with CSX Flaggers and CSX Police. This second trip will likely cause delays of 10-15 minutes per crossing.
We are not sure the exact times or date for the return trip but will be in constant contact with CSX. We will post again when we know further details.

(new window)

mmonken: "I followed this move earlier today east of O'Fallon and was also surprised they only sent out 1 unit to retrieve all 200+ cars."

mmonken: "I'm hearing that there will be another eastbound single engine movement tomorrow morning. CSX determined that the single SD40-2 sent out yesterday will not be sufficient enough to remove all 200+ railcars in both Shattuc and Aviston. So there should be two trains tomorrow; the eastbound movement then the whole train westbound."

mmonken: "Well they ended up not sending out a 2nd unit. Train is currently in Trenton headed west but has nearly stalled out several times. I can't see how they will be able to make it much further going 10 mph and a lone SD40-2 pulling this whole train."
CSX_CO: "Doesn’t help Roselake is the “end of the line” as far as CSX is concerned. Any power for this move would have to come from power they get fed. With the UP’s issues around there, they’re awash in EB traffic that gets dumped on them. Giving up a big engine to clean out the line means something else sits."

[The train didn't make it. They had to update O'Fallon with different days that they would be coming through. They did use more power.]

mmonken: Nobody knows for sure what the end game is at this point. There's been lots of rumors floating around in the past couple of months. Some reports have been that the line is being prepared for a sale but as of now it is not officially on the block. In the past year however, CSX has given hi-rail tours of the line to BNSF, Watco, KCS and The Prairie Line.

scraphauler: Flats are all TTX cars that I’ve heard TTX was none too happy about being parked. Evacuation of cars is to appease TTX as well as legal rumblings from on line communities. Had to get FRA waiver to retrieve cars as line has discontinuance of service on it and all signals have been deactivated. One of the key officials tasked with network strategy and line sales is a frequent poster in face book. He says NOTHING changed. It is NOT being abandoned, sold, or return to service at this time. Continue status quo for now.

[I read to the end of the thread and the last posting I saw indicated there were still 50 cars on the route. I assume CSX met the Apr 13 deadline, and there is now nothing left on the track.]