Illinois Central/Canadian National Champaign Branch

[OldEastRR]

The story of the Illinois Terminal is a pretty interesting one; you can look it up sometime. Quite an extensive E-W interuban ELECTRIC system, and Illinois Power Company, the utility, came directly out of the IT, through the building of power stations along the IT's open-country ROW. In some of the small towns you may still find these old power stations. You can tell they are by the big ceramic insulators built into the upper part of the walls.
In Champaign the old Illinois Power building, just west of the Transportation center, was the headquarters for the IT and also a station. And just west of Prospect avenue along  the now CN branch, that old block building (if its still there, used to be a restaurant) is another IT station.
I used to work at that concrete plant, and every once in  a while an IT diesel or 2, in that great-looking  yellow and green, were part of the Humko job. The entrance to our plant was a crossing, and the locos had to blow their horns -- IT diesels had the most beautiful airhorn chimes I ever heard, more like an organ than foghorn.
And that piece of track next to us was also very bad. Many times a tankcar or  two bound for Humko would slip off the rails and it took a rerailer frog and lots of careful train moving to coax the wheels back onto the rails.
As for the IT crossing the IC, I'm pretty sure the IT lines took the underpass beneath the IC main, in the street. There might have been a junction with the IC out west at Duncan, because as rail traffic and cars got bigger, and downtown city streets filled with cars, the IT sought alternate freight routes past city centers. Not sure where the IT swung back to its own line on the east side of Urbana; I think it switched from the IC to the Wabash downtown, running there until it diverged east off it SE of town.
As for the N&W line, it was relocated back in the late '80s to swing up directly north along the edge of Urbana, to then link into the old P&E (Conrail) yard on the east side of Urbana. (the RR crossing is on East Main St). The P&E was the Peoria & Eastern, part of the "Big 4 System", a.k.a. NYC.
Yeah, for such a small town, C-U has a lot of RR history. On the UofI campus, some of the bike/pedestrian routes run along old trolley routes through the Quad. Of course today railroading there is much reduced.
You want a fun detective job? See how many old RR stations and freight houses you can find still standing in C-U. I gave you two, already!

[BOK]

Some years ago I worked on the IC, P&E and IT in the Champaign-Urbana, Decatur, Peoria area.

If I may I would like to add a little additional information and clarification to Old East RR's comments?
After the IT pulled down the trolley wire and went totally to diesel they obtained trackage rights from all of their owner railroads (I believe there were 11 or 12 owners who either reached Peoria of St. Louis) to move them off their lighter built trackage and onto heavier rail for freight. They obtained rights to run from Decatur to Champaign (via Monticello) on the IC, Champaign to Urbana on the Wabash branch and the P&E from Urbana out to Glover to interchange with the C&EI. All of this traffic was through/interchange with no industries handled by the IT in C-U except the power shovel/crane manufacturer on the west side of Champaign where there was a couple of yard tracks called Staleys, and the freight and passenger line split to go through the city.

The Humko/Kraft job was soley IC handled with the IT merely passing through the area. As I mentioned before in the 60/70s when much of the salad dressing (Miricle whip) was going outbound by rail, the area north of the IC passenger depot where the IT, IC, P&E and Wabash all interchanged was generally plugged with RBLs and mechanical reefers of all types and colors as all the roads wanted to participate in this then profitable traffic. The IC would deliver orange, SFRC, (ATSF), PFE, cars, the P&E  yellow FGMR (Fruit Growers Express) cars and the IT/Wabash , red-orange, ART/ARMH (American Refrigerator Transit) cars. There also were some other colored RBL (Refrigerator Box Load Divider ) cars. Bearing in mind that were only three to four short, tracks to hold interchange traffic it could be quite a "choke" point for all the roads. The Humko job would always head south out of Champaign yard engine first, with usually a SW 9-12, sometimes a GP switch engine, their train (mty reefers,loaded tanks for the plant, hoppers of foundry sand, maybe some cement for the batch plant, and any boxes of lumber) and then a bright red, IC tranfer caboose at the end. They would cross the P&E and Wabash/IT mains by the tower, pull down to clear the a dual control switch/ signal by the coach yard and then reverse direction to back through the south west wye connection and shove out to Humko to begin their switching. Before shoving west, however,  they would stop at the interchange "yard" to sort through the boxes and reefers to add any mty cars ordered into the plant for loading. This was a busy job/money maker and you needed a lot of senority to hold it so young guys rarely got to work it. It's too bad the outbounds now go in reefer trailers rather than by rail but there are very few grocery warehouses who still receive by rail and most don't care how the product gets there just that it gets there when they need it.
Also the large grain silos up by the IC yard were for an A.E. Staley, soybean, mill not for Eiseners bakery/grocery warehouse as they a pair of seperate tracks into their building away from the mill.

Champaign (or West Urbana as it was originally called, once the IC arrived in the 1800s and by-passed Urbana) always had most of the railroad activity with Urbana only a little bit of business. There is still a lot of railroad activity in Champaign compared to most most towns with three Amtrak passenger trains each way a day, plenty on CN/ex IC through freight trains a bit of industry/yard switching and the NS making a turn from Mansfield into town to handle Solo Cup and Andersons unit train grain terminal but I miss the days when there was more and colorful traffic.

Barry

[nscalemike]

Wow, this is really cool stuff.  Always knew there was more, clearly, I need to study up a bit on my local history.

One site I've visited a few times has some old pics of Champaign.  This one: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vyrXbElz5DE/UXiw3dbXURI/AAAAAAAAD3c/zMclJgC-98Q/s1600/1921_Downtown+Champaign+Between+1921-1924.jpg shows downtown Champaign looking west in 1924.  Now I believe this is not that same coach yard as what BOK was referring to since this depot gets moved north a few years later.  You can see what I assume was the IC freight house with several tracks next to it also.   

This pic http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u9ejSgzvKVo/UXiw2wcW3pI/AAAAAAAAD3Y/_RBPcuf9GMc/s1600/1967+Champaign+Aerial+2.jpg is a bit newer, 1967.  The big parking lot bottom left is now the police department.   

Compare that pic with this Google Earth screen shot from today:



The freight house is still there, the tracks are all gone.  The depot was moved north a couple hundred feet and a new one built in its place (a newer one was built around 2000 just south there.)  The IT traction station is just out of view on the left. The main is down to one track and obviously no more coach yard.  An approximate 90 year time span, so much different, so much the same.  I am looking for a pic of the interchange yard as I'm curious exactly where that was at.  Again, thanks so much for all this information!

Mike

[OldEastRR]

The picture from 1924 shows the tracks at ground level in front of what was first station. But the city eventually made the IC move the tracks and put them on a raised main from just north of this station to all the way past the UofI power plant, with underpasses for the highways. All the cars next to the freight station are team tracks, possibly even some for produce vendors. I don't know where the coach yard was.
The cars in the 1967 photo are parked on the former mainline, by then a set of dead-end spurs. There were steam and water attachments at the bumpers to service passenger cars parked there for pick-up by passing trains. In the mid 70's a 2 car Highliner Amtrak Champaign-to-Chicago passenger train parked there overnight. As a footnote, that big building to the right of the freight  station (partly on where the team tracks were) was Plastipak's original CU plant.
Yeah, I don't know if anybody ever wrote a book about the railroads in Champaign, but it would be an interesting one.

[BOK]

Great pix mike, thanks for posting them. Let's talk a little about how things grew and what they were used for.
As the previous poster indicated there have been three IC stations in Champaign including the current one.

The first was the north one which looked like an old fashioned depot and served the IC well until they raised the mains, passenger tracks and built a new sprawling passenger station just to the south of the old one. When that occurred the first depot became the express/baggage office and the lower, original tracks as seen in the 67 photo became the coach yard. Champaign like Carbondale both had small coach yards to handle express (Railway Express, mail and newspapers) as well as having extra coaches on hand to originate "student specials" for the U of I and SIU student to go home to Chicago.
In the 1970/80s after Amtrak took over most passenger trains the IC no longer needed a large building and it was sold I believe to the city for offices. Amtrak then either purchased or leased the old Illinois Power/IT building to the south of University Ave. and began using it for it's passenger business. In the late 80s and after the IC/ICG/new IC and then CN many of the tracks were re-moved and I think there are only one maybe two main tracks which cross the old P&E now NS where the old tower once stood. I also see that the CN in the last year or so removed the southwest leg of the wye and now must be using the old P&E transfer track to reach the Hack Line and get to Humko. I never can understand why railroads remove tracks which can make operations more effecient like keeping that leg in service so the could turn an engine or car. They probably did it to avoid un-necessary track expense.
Regarding the down town interchange tracks. The P&E had two tracks in the northwest leg of the wye one for receiving IC traffic and other for delivering to them. These tracks were usually used only for interchange, or occasionally a derailment detour move but the IC sometimes turned football specials backing up from the UI power plant, around their south west leg of the wye, past the Wabash/IT depot to reach the Havanna (Hack Line) branch and then reverse direction and head east using the P&E main and their northwest leg of the P&E transfer to gaining IC track north of the diamond. Speaking of mail sevice the IC in the 60s used flexi-van containers (think Walthers HO models) to handle mail to Champaign on the head end of a passenger train. Upon arriving Champaign a switch engine (I remember them calling the job the "city job") would pull a pair of these cars off then spot them in the coach yard for a local trucker using an IC tractor to actuate a built in turntable, on the flat car rotating it to the side so a pair of truck axles could then be slid under the container. After hooking everything up the trailer/container was then driven to the post office to unload then re-load and put it back on the flatcar to be picked up by the next train. I watched the trucker do this a few times and the he was fast, effecient and safe. Quite a sight.
The IC used a portion of the Wabash branch to connect their southwest leg of the wye to the Havanna Branch (it ran to Havanna, IL) which also led to Humko/Kraft. The interchange between the IC and the Wabash consisted of one or two east west tracks along the Wabash branch west of the diamond and east of the Wabash depot. I believe the IT and IC may have interchanged out at Staleys on the west end of town and the IT-P&E interchanged in the P&E Urbana yard on track four if I recall when I worked there as a switchman one summer. I can't recall any direct interchange between the P&E and Wabash in Champaign.
If I can somehow figure out how to post diagrams and pictures I can scan information I have which would make it easier to understand.

Barry

[BOK]

Mike, I forgot to add a bit about the large grocery distribution/cold storage warehouse which show s in the 67 photo north of the freight house/team tracks. This was J.M. Jones a grocery wholesale company for IGA stores which took reefers and boxes of product. there were originally atthis location and then later moved out to the industrial park east of the IC north yard. There was a long lead which went east from the yard and J.M. Jones, Wolahan lumber (original wholesale lumber yards pre-Home Depot/Lowes) and a supply yard for Illinois Power utility poles/transformers. I can recall getting reefers of watermelons off the Wabash/NW, interchange at Tolono and bringing them up to Champaign. Unfortunately like many grocery distributors this business is now all truck and all the track has been removed although south of there University Asphault used to get and I think they still do, hoppers of aggregate and tanks of asphault.

Barry

[nscalemike]

Looking for some suggestions from the group.  I have a hard time picking colors for ballast and track.  I'm a ways off on ballast but track painting will be another early project so I want to start making my selections.  Anyone have any ideas to match this:  https://maps.google.com/maps?q=country+fair+dr+and+church+st+champaign+il&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x880cd0896cc9ddbd:0xc044a825edc924f2,W+Church+St+%26+N+Country+Fair+Dr,+Champaign,+IL+61821&gl=us&ei=qT0GU8_XG8bhyQGAjoHIBw&ved=0CCQQ8gEwAA  It's not great, just a Google street view, but if the weather starts to cooperate I am going to try and get back out in the next week or so for more pics. 

Thanks,
Mike

[BOK]

Hi Mike:

The IC used a lite colored (almost white) limestone rock for ballast. I believe it came from the Vulcan quarry a lttle south of Kankakee west of Otto on the old Bloomington/Chatsworth line. If you were to drive up that way when it gets dry this spring and find a drive way where the trucking are going in/out of the quarry I'll bet you could find a big (gallon size) baggy of all the dry, road dust which would make plenty of realistic ballast. I know this works since I tried it a few years ago for an N scale layout I once built. I was the engineer on a WC (Wisconsin Central) job which switched the Dresser, WI., trap rock loader and while I waiting one time for the loader to begin operations, I swung down from the locomotive and grabbed a plastic sandwich bag of the tire dust for my WC ballast.

Barry

[nscalemike]

Oh boy,  page 3 and over 30 days old,  so much for regular updates!  Been very busy,  getting ready for my first weekend off in a month and planning on getting some model time in so a layout update will not be too far behind this.

First though, I am in need of some help.  Spring must be around the corner finally as yesterday Illinois Brick and Concrete received their first shipment of hoppers, probably about 8 of them.  They have been working around the plant the last couple weeks and I imagine it will be up very soon.  My question is, what types of hoppers are these, is there any n scale models, or any information on them.  I've tried looking around online but no luck yet.  I'll need somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 of these I suspect, probably 5 min.





Sorry, the second is not the best, my driver started pulling away before the shutter clicked!

Thanks for any help,
Mike

[Philip H]

Checking Railroad picture Archive (http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsList.aspx?id=FRKX&cid=5) it looks like the are US Steel hoppers.  I'm not aware of any N scale model

[BOK]

I imagine they are air-operated (the unloading doors) cars and look to be owned/leased to the Vulcan company probably loaded with limestone, up at the quarry SW of Kankakee.
MT made a version of these cars in the past as an example of air-operated ballast cars although I don't remember the road/owner name on the car. It might be a place to start even though they may not be absolutely correct.
BTW, where were these found, at the foundry or the concrete batch plant?

Barry 

[Philip H]

MTL made Ortenr ballast/rock cars - these are US Steel. The MTL may be a good kitbash start.

[nscalemike]

Checking Railroad picture Archive (http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsList.aspx?id=FRKX&cid=5) it looks like the are US Steel hoppers.  I'm not aware of any N scale model

  I swear I looked there last night and could not find anything,  but I probably over looked it.  Thanks for the info!

[nscalemike]

Well I've searched around and it appears I can still find the Micro Train cars mentioned.  I'm not sure if I want to get into the effort of kitbashing those to the US Steel version or not.  I may simply repaint them and call it good enough, or maybe I will just leave them in factory paint and have a different model.  I believe the prototype used to take a different style car but switched to these cars a year or two ago.  The old ones was more of a generic hopper if I remember correctly, but not positive.  I hope one day soon I can grab some better pics and see how complex it might be to kitbash or scratchbuild these,  but my instinct tells me with my limited time/expierence it will not be worth it.

BTW, where were these found, at the foundry or the concrete batch plant?

These two pictures were taken along W. Springfield, just west of Duncan.  A few hours later they were spotted at Illinois Brick, which has an unloading pit on the spur into the Plastipak.  The crew spots them near the pit, and I'm told someone comes to unload them at night and shoves them down the line with a front end loader. 

Mike

[nscalemike]

Anyone know if there is a n scale version of this car:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=449100

Thanks for any help!
Mike