Keokuk Junction Railway Switches Hitchcock Scrap Yard - 6-4-18!
Finally, I caught the Keokuk Junction Railway switching Hitchcock Scrap Yard Inc's new Canton transload facility!
Monday's regular westbound local left Mapleton with two loaded gondolas consigned to Hitchcock. They were placed on the rear of the short train to make dropping them easier and to avoid blocking Rt. 78.
This was the first time I've ever watched a railroad switch an industry in Fulton County's largest city! Of course, there is a good reason for this - for decades, Canton has had no railroad-served industries.
When International Harvester Co. closed in late 1983, it seems that there were no others left that required rail servicde. Freeman United Coal Mining Co. closed its nearby Buckheart Mine in 1984 and Burlington Northern closed its freight agency that year. The railroad continued local train service (Train No. 13815 out of Galesburg) for several more years to deliver lime to Central Illinois Light Company's Duck Creek Station and retired locomotives and rolling stock to Hitchcock Scrap Yard's operation in Buckheart Mine property, but these were outside of town.
Another railroad, the Toledo, Peoria & Western, operated daily freights through town and stopped to interchange with BN, but that business was dying off. At the end of the 1983, TP&W would be absorbed by its owner, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which continued running daily East Peoria-Kansas City (KS) freights in each direction.
There have been only two rail-served industries I can confirm that have operated in town since IHC's demise. Both did so only briefly. Hitchcock is said to have transloaded scrap metal in Canton in the late-1990s, probably related to the post-fire IHC plant demolition. In 2009-2010, Agridyne LLC trucked steepwater shipped from the short-lived Riverland Biofuels LLC ethanol plant south of Canton and loaded it into tank cars.
Hitchock's operation would have been served by the Toledo, Peoria & Western, reborn after Santa Fe sold its Peoria Subdivision (save the LaHarpe-Keokuk Branch) on February 3, 1989. Presumably, it the same siding using for the present operation was being used then as well. Agridyne's operation used the same siding, by then owned by the Keokuk Junction Railway. I photographed tank cars spotted there for loading, but never caught KJRY switching them.
Fast forward to October 25, 2017 when the Fulton County Democrat reported a lease agreement between the City of Canton and Hitchcock Scrap Yard Inc. for a rail-served scrap metal transloading operation. The first railcars were reported in February 2018, and after a lull in actvity, regular service has been noted since mid-May.
Hitchcock appears to be receiving junk, such as discarded auto parts castings. Most gondolas spotted for unloading at Canton carry OMNX reporting marks, which belong to Fort Wayne, Indiana-based OmniSource Inc. Shipments are received from Norfolk Southern at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. OmniSource operates numerous NS-served scrap yards and contract scrap shipping points in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
Scrap metal may be loaded here as well someday. Hitchcock is known to be regularly shipping scrap metal to Amsted Industries' Griffin Wheel Div. at Keokuk and Keystone Steel & Wire at Bartonville. Hopefully, this new operation will be deemed successful, and will provide KJRY regular traffic for many years to come.
Another railroad, the Toledo, Peoria & Western, operated daily freights through town and stopped to interchange with BN, but that business was dying off. At the end of the 1983, TP&W would be absorbed by its owner, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which continued running daily East Peoria-Kansas City (KS) freights in each direction.
There have been only two rail-served industries I can confirm that have operated in town since IHC's demise. Both did so only briefly. Hitchcock is said to have transloaded scrap metal in Canton in the late-1990s, probably related to the post-fire IHC plant demolition. In 2009-2010, Agridyne LLC trucked steepwater shipped from the short-lived Riverland Biofuels LLC ethanol plant south of Canton and loaded it into tank cars.
Hitchock's operation would have been served by the Toledo, Peoria & Western, reborn after Santa Fe sold its Peoria Subdivision (save the LaHarpe-Keokuk Branch) on February 3, 1989. Presumably, it the same siding using for the present operation was being used then as well. Agridyne's operation used the same siding, by then owned by the Keokuk Junction Railway. I photographed tank cars spotted there for loading, but never caught KJRY switching them.
Fast forward to October 25, 2017 when the Fulton County Democrat reported a lease agreement between the City of Canton and Hitchcock Scrap Yard Inc. for a rail-served scrap metal transloading operation. The first railcars were reported in February 2018, and after a lull in actvity, regular service has been noted since mid-May.
Hitchcock appears to be receiving junk, such as discarded auto parts castings. Most gondolas spotted for unloading at Canton carry OMNX reporting marks, which belong to Fort Wayne, Indiana-based OmniSource Inc. Shipments are received from Norfolk Southern at the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad's East Peoria Yard. OmniSource operates numerous NS-served scrap yards and contract scrap shipping points in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
Scrap metal may be loaded here as well someday. Hitchcock is known to be regularly shipping scrap metal to Amsted Industries' Griffin Wheel Div. at Keokuk and Keystone Steel & Wire at Bartonville. Hopefully, this new operation will be deemed successful, and will provide KJRY regular traffic for many years to come.
- David P. Jordan
Odd thought but it would be ironic that some of the car parts on my old car eventually get scrapped here and shipped off via rail. I'd laugh. Good read.
ReplyDeleteThose car parts may be melted down to make locomotive wheels, engine blocks or wire rod.
DeleteWell at least the heap of junk would finally have a useful purpose. 😁
Delete