First Car for New Hitchcock Scrap Yard Canton (IL) Property (Updated 2X)
Hitchcock Scrap Yard received the first railcar today at its new Canton property.
Early Thursday afternoon, a westbound Keokuk Junction Railway train dropped SOU 63029, an empty gondola, on the short siding adjacent Hitchcock's newly-leased property.
Last October, the Canton-based scrap metal processing and recycling firm entered into a lease with the City for property on the south side of the former International Harvester Company property. An article in the Fulton Democrat was the basis for this blog post.
The gondola parked adjacent Hitchcock property will probably be dismantled for scrap. That is because the car was built in March 1968 (see below).
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) restricts railcars manufactured before July 1974 to 40 years in interchange service unless rebuilt. Cars exceeding 40 years can still be operating in captive service on one carrier, however.
Hitchcock may be planning to use is new property to receive retired rolling stock for dismantling then ship the scrap by rail when there is sufficient material and a willing buyer. That way, they aren't duplicating the main facility south of town off Rt. 78. The main facility probably will have the option of hauling scrap metal from truck for railcar loading at the newer facility. Additional photos below.
A new area rail user is great news. Last time one operated in Canton itself was brief - March 2009 to early 2010 to be exact. That is when Agridyne LLC handled steepwater shipped by tank truck from the Riverland BioFuels LLC ethanol plant to Canton. Tank cars for this business were spotted on the same siding now used by Hitchcock. But while Agridyne's operation was strictly for transloading, Hitchcock actually has a rail-served facility. The last time anyone did that in Canton proper probably goes back to late 1983 when International Harvester ended factory operations.
UPDATE: This may have been the second car for Hitchcock's new Canton property. Today's was the first I'm aware. I'll confirm if and when I can.
UPDATE 2 (Feb. 13): Three Norfolk & Western-marked gondolas were dropped off this morning by the westbound Keokuk Junction Railway local. It appears that these three, as well as the first car, were quickly loaded with shredded metal and billed to a customer on Norfolk Southern.
- David P. Jordan
At one time didn't Hitchcock have a facility at Bryant that possibly used rail?
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe they did. Not sure if they used an old elevator track or BN-owned siding, etc.
DeleteThey were SW of Bryant sandwiched between the BN rail and Illinois 100. To my knowledge, they never utilized rail service at that location. It's now just a large grassy area between Bryant and Wright Rd. I had wondered for years why they never built a spur line into their Route 78 location off the BN line running north from Skyrocket Junction. There are double rails laid there for adequate gondola car storage. With the addition of the spur across IL 9 from the old TPW line (now KJRY) that runs through Breeds and Rawalts, they would have access to that site. It's a shame the ethanol plant failed. That would have kept the spur line open and used instead of coal car storage.
DeleteAmeren built that spur across Rt. 9 to the KJRY at Rawalts without filing for a construction and operating exemption from the Surface Transportation Board. Apparently, a filing wasn't required because Ameren intended the spur to remain a private railroad, serving only as access to its Duck Creek Station. If Pacific Ethanol found a use for its idled Canton ethanol plant, and required rail service, BNSF would have to serve it. If the plant sought service via KJRY present Duck Creek Station owner Dynegy would have to be persuaded to petition the STB to change the status of its spur to Rawalts. Even then, traffic moving via common carrier to and from the plant would have to move via Duck Creek plant trackage, so I don't see it happening.
DeleteFulton FS has the grain elevator I think. Sad they don't ship grain out of there by rail It would spare the roads in the area the constant beating given them by the semi's.
DeleteAmeren spent a ton of money to put that rail spur in and it is yet again just another example of their inability to manage money very well.
The Andersons leased that property to start, which makes you wonder if they considered building rail loading facilities.
DeleteI think it was before 1985 or before i was even born. Why didn't they use BN across the highway when they built off Hwy 78 whatever year that was? Like build a spur to it?
ReplyDeleteRail service wasn't considered in 1995 when they located down there. I can only speculate that this was because Hitchcock's scrap supply came from the general area (including Peoria) and that most of its customers were in the region (some exports used ocean containers). Short hauls like that were more suited to trucking. I believe they transloaded scrap from trucks to gondolas a few times at Canton on the TP&W in the late 1990s.
DeleteI haven't seen any cars here in a week I wonder how soon more will be brought in?
ReplyDeleteHard to say. Business will probably trickle in at first then pick up.
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