Rare and one of the last trains of the BNSF Yates City Subdivision
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This morning a friend gave me a heads up of a very rare move on the BNSF Yates City Subdivision. He informed me two BNSF units had the permission to head up the Yates City Subdivision to retrieve Baretable cars that had been sitting up by Saint David for months. I go check out Saint David first and take a few shots of cars they will take.
St. David:
A brief history on the line goes back to the 1860's when C.B.&Q built the line from Buda down to Rushville. It once provided passenger trains in the steam era, and freight of various kind. By 1980 and the 80's abandonments occurred from Buda to Elmwood and the Rushville branch. The only thing remaining was the Yates City Subdivision from Yates City to Vermont, Illinois. By 2017 track was abandoned and pulled up from Canton to south of Yates City. The only thing left active and intact was from Dunfermline to Vermont where coal trains went to the Duck Creek Power Plant. The power plant closed down in 2019 and the line has been inactive since other than storeage. Today BNSF sent two units to pull any cars stored and this could be the last or one of the last trains on this line. If BNSF will use the sub for further storeage is yet to be known. Either way probably provided a shock to locals that witnessed it.
I sat and waited for the two units on the north edge of Lewistown:
Then waited at Bryant:
St. David:
Locomotives couple to string of baretable cars and connect with the rest at a crossing cut. An hour or so later they depart towards Vermont.
Bryant:
Lewistown:
Ipava:
Vermont, Illinois:
Chase video and full train filmed at Bryant:
The train then pulled on a siding and switched power to the other end of train and headed north probably Galesburg bound.
Vermont:
Also took pictures of what remains of the CB&Q/BN Rushville branch which was abandoned in 1980 or around there. BNSF uses it to store track equipment and years back had a gondola shoved back there.
Vermont:
According to the friend who gave me the heads up that this old structure used to be the water tower for the steam engines. So this is a former CB&Q water tower for the Steam locomotives.
Coal train from several years ago I filmed at St. David:
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
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
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