(This construction hasn't shown up yet on a satellite image. Mar 2020 Update:
Satellite)
David Jordan
posted two photos with the comment:
No wonder I didn't see that TP&W westbound road freight...it turned out to be the Indiana Local tying up at Gilman for the night. I drove to Chenoa then headed back west toward home. But the trip wasn't wasted. I took these views of the new Prairie Central Coop elevator and rail loop between Meadows and Chenoa. Looks like the elevator is nearly complete while part of the loop has been laid.
I asked another group [source]: the crane is a Manitowoc 2250, 300 tons. I'm amazed how big steel bins have become. I wonder what the bushel capacity of that bin is.
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Prairie Central Co-op decided to go with steel bins for their new elevator. The initial capacity is 2.6 million bushels and it will accept just corn. It will take a couple of years before it shows up on satellite images. Compared to elevators that I looked at along the CN/IC of 2,
4, and
8 million bushels; 2.6 is rather small. But with a rail loop and plenty of land, perhaps they intend to significantly grow this elevator.
I learned of the above newspaper article from a Lucas Irons
posting:
BIG expansion in little Chenoa Illinois. The country elevator that David Jordan was referring too. I assume the TP&W will be taking this grain in multple directions? This is Prairie States brand new elevator.
When construction started, talk was that TP&W would originate grain trains for CSX destinations. Now I'm thinking corn will go to NS destinations (via East Peoria). The elevator might ship to area processors such as Incobrasa Industries at Gilman, ADM at Peoria and Pacific Ethanol at Pekin.
Will this new elevator at Chenoa affect nearby elevators on the TP&W?
Dennis DeBruler: I received the following comment on my blog:
As someone who lives 4 miles away from the new elevator and have been to all and own some shares of PC Co-op, i can safely say: They are keeping all their Railway Accessible elevators. Meadows has become a bean only elevator, the new one is corn only. Weston is kept too, for one its one of the largest and has much room for expansion and it is also one of the two original elevators that merged to form PC. Fairbury is getting more business after PC closed McDowell and tore it down, and now they have torn down the old Chenoa in town. They filed Wind Damage Claims on both, made a lot of money from doing so, and tore them down.
David Jordan: Dennis DeBruler I noticed Incobrasa cars at the Weston elevator Dec. 31.
David Jordan: Back in summer 2020, 90-car unit trains were being loaded here and at the recently-rebuilt Grainland Coop elevator at Cruger on a weekly basis using CSX power and cars. Wind turbine components trains were being unloaded at the Chenoa facility as well. Very busy time!
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Dennis DeBruler commented on David's comment
A satellite image caught a unit train of blades being unloaded. |
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Agrinews-pubs, provided (source)
Prairie Central Cooperative’s new 2.6-million-bushel elevator and rail-loading facility will be open for the 2018 harvest. The elevator was designed with efficiency in mind to keep truck downtime at a minimum. There is 8,000 feet of rail track circled to the east that’s designed to hold up to 120 cars.
2.6 million bushels is not big, but three truck dumping lanes is. I'm sure the farmers appreciate an elevator that is designed to minimize waiting in line during their busy harvest season.
The line was so big at the CGB elevator in Olney, IL that I could not capture it in a photo. The line in the foreground goes a ways to the left and curves around as the two trucks we see to the left of the blue trailer.
Building with just two big storage bins rather than a bunch of smaller silos is a testament to herbicides and modern combines. Grain used to be graded and one of the criteria was the cleanliness of the grain. Several different bins were needed to store several different grades. Also, the Midwest used to grow wheat, oats, and barley instead of just corn and beans. I wonder if this elevator is just corn and they will use their older elevators for beans. |
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| To be fair to CGB, it occurred to me that this lineup of trucks was in Nov. 2014. That was the first year of the big bumper crops and storage was full. You could still see corn standing in the fields in November. CSX had cobbled together a grain train from any old hopper that they could find. While they were loading that train, CGB must have gotten the word out to farmers that they had some more storage room. So the farmers waiting in this line were not busy harvesting. They were removing grain from their own bins so that they could do more harvesting. |
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| Dennis DeBruler To be fair to CSX, on a Dec 11, 2014 visit, a CSX train had just new cars. On that trip, I saw just one field that still had corn in it. |
David Jordan
posted three photos with the comment:
Sunday [Oct 21, 2018], I checked Prairie Central Co-op's new Chenoa elevator for the first time since it went into operation. First view looks west from the 900 E. crossing. Second view looks southwest from 900 N. The third view, which shows the mainline-to-rail loop connection, looks east (note I-55 bridge) from County Road 2550 E crossing. Hopefully, TP&W will get a lot of corn and soybeans loaded here for many years to come.
Joshua Sheehan I have to wonder if loading at Fairbury, Weston and Meadows will be greatly reduced..
David Jordan Joshua Sheehan I expect it to be eliminated, at least at Weston and Meadows. Of course, track conditions are poor at Fairbury, so that might cease as well.
Josh Clark Do you think any NS grain trains will pay visit to the TPW this season?
David Jordan Josh Clark I understand the track expansion was for NS grain trains, so hopefully, we'll see them more often in the near future.
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Sam Carlson posted
April 17, 1981 at Chenoa, IL |
The wood grain elevators are gone, but there is another elevator south of the junction.
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