Closed Havana Power Plant and out of service tracks

 In 2019 Havana, Illinois lost it's biggest employer the Havana Power Station when it closed down. This now leaves a vacant power plant which the fate of the property remains unclear and now out of service railroad tracks. However there are empty coal hoppers on the power plant property tracks. Illinois & Midland may retrieve them one day or may not. 

The power plant opened in 1978 and barges from the river delivered coal up until 1996. Chicago& Illinois Midland started hauling coal trains in 1996 to the plant. The line in area probaby served other businesses prior as I once seen a rail from the 1950's. God knows there was alot of old warehouses alot has since been torn down along that line. I was never able to catch a coal train on film on this line however from 2000 til 2001 I seen several either on my way to work at nearby Intermet Havana Foundry or watched them roll by the foundry property when i sat out on lunch break smoking on third shift.  I never seen the power through just the coal hoppers rolling by. If there is a good memory from that foundry it is that.

Vista announced they would close their power plant at Havana and other locations due to changing regulatory environment and bull shit. In 2019 the plant closed as we as the last train to hit those tracks. While not abandoned its out of service.

Its to be noted my friend told me the original generator at the area was opened in 1948 as the Illinois Power Company. An interesting piece of Havana history.

2021 power plant and track pictures:










































2017 Pictures of BNSF power which IMRR used sitting at the plant.














Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulton County, Illinois Ghost towns Part 1

Image
Ghost towns are abandoned villages that since disappeared or are no longer the population they were in their hey day after an economic down fall, disaster or whatever.  For me I consider a ghost town a town that no longer exists but may or may not leave traces behind of it's existence.  Fulton County has a lot of old historical towns like Canton which was founded in 1825 and Lewistown which was founded  years before Canton.  These towns are example of towns that managed to make it despite economic disasters and natural ones. Former towns which have signs marking their location like Civer between Canton and Cuba and Tuscumbia around Bernadotte are examples of towns that didn't make it and ceased to exist and into oblivion of history.  The only thing that is exists is those two signs that mark the location.  It's sad in a way but it is what it is and people who lived in these areas did what they had to for survival of the time period so if they moved to other communities can
Read more

Middle Grove- Rapatee Coal mine

Image
This subject is about the coal mine at Middle Grove and Rapatee areas. I basically just know the years and also what Railroads served them but i did get to photograph the area of this so there is a general idea of this.   The Midland Electric Coal Company has several strip mines within Fulton and Knox Counties from the years 1933-1963 ( Fulton County, strip),1963-1967 (Knox County strip), and Peabody Coal Company which  opened in 1968 and closed around that time or 1969. The mine would open once again and be the Middle Grove-Rapatee mine in 1975 or 1976 under the Midland Coal Company I think.  It ran until 1988 but the last rail shipment was in or around 1986 by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.   Another company nearby or in this vicinity would be the Midstate Coal Company  which was a strip mine and operated from 1989-1996.  Over the decades it used the area railroads before 1960 it was the M&STL would would ship their coal and after it was Chicago & Northwestern.  The
Read more

Buckheart mine of Dunfermline

Image
East of Dunfermline and southeast of Canton was a pretty good sized coal mine at one time that area old timer's either worked there or knew people  who did and this mine was known as the Buckheart  mine.  It is situated  in an area around Buckheart creek and in Buckheart township hence the name.  The United Electric Coal company ran mine #17 from 1937-1975.  In 1976 not  too far from the area Duck Creek Power plant was built. In 1975 the mine became the Freeman United Coal company.  Other than the dates and that it was pretty good size for a mine in this county I don't know alot about it.  But this area had mines in the vicinity for a good 100 years on and off.  The Saint David area was really a jackpot with many mines coming and going over the years and this area i'm talking about is no different there was mine here for a while even before United electric in 1937.  Now a days is  strip mine lakes, the power plant and i'm sure still traces o
Read more