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...
Fulton county is literally a jackpot if your thing is abandoned railroad lines as well as local history of them. Most of the railroads here that were abandoned ceased operations well before I was born so I never got the chance to watch them in action. Long gone are the days train whistles would echo through the air and a train would pass by onto where ever it was going. The steam engiene days are long behind us as well as the coal mine days to which this county relied on for employment back in the day when Fulton County was known for something before the Spoon river drive thing would take off. I will mention some old railroads I have either visited or plan to look into one of these days that at a time gave hope to some communities or the very least gave some people something to watch when they were out doing whatever. The most well known abandoned railroad in this county was the Fulton County Narrow Gauge which will briefly mention since i...
I have had interest in local coal mines ever since starting genealogy around 1999 and 2000. Well that's when it started because I would often read about little mines or see names of relatives that worked here and there at mines not including my Dad or great Uncle (by marriage who was a coal miner). I have seen listed a mine that has intrigued me but have yet to find much about it other than it was a brief mine in the mid to late 1930's by the name Billings & May. I have found the Billing's name of Arthur Billings but have no luck with the May. Since I have linked every May in this county and is buried here but two as all related it was no doubt a relative of some sort but whom I have yet to find. Anyways that mine was down by Saint David and not the mine I'm going to discuss. A small town north of Canton off route 78 sits a small town of Norris which is situated on the former CB&Q/BN/BNSF railroad tracks which are now long gone since 2017 ...
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