BNSF Switches Seneca Foods at Princeville, IL 9-4-23

Labor Day 2022 was a little overcast and rainy, so I didn't go up to Princeville to see BNSF switch Seneca Foods Corp's cannery. My previous encounter with this action had been on Labor Day 2017. I knew there was a chance to see it again on this holiday, but figured it would be raining. I don't know how many raindrops fell, but BNSF did switch Seneca Foods that day. I didn't see it, but learned about it later. 

Fast forward to Labor Day 2023. Although BNSF switched Seneca Foods early evening Friday (I was close at Edelstein, but found out too late, the third time this year on a Friday such as happened), I wondered if there would be a repeat on Monday. Initially, I planned to stay home. But in late-afternoon, I just decided to chance it. I'm glad I did because I arrived the crossing just east of the cannery and started shooting stills of the boxcars at the plant...

...and then the eastbound local pulled up.

I believe many (if not all) of these pumpkin loads are going to Foxboro Terminals Co. in Foxboro, Massachusetts (CSX east of Chicago), though there is some mystery as to whether the rail-served facility is still operational. Reportedly, this isn't canned pumpkin but vats full of pumpkin pie filling. Some carloads may also be going to another Seneca facility in Payette, Idaho, which would be routed BNSF-Denver-UP. 


CAPTION: BNSF Railway train L-CHI104 (Local, Galesburg IL to Willow Springs IL) stops to switch pumpkin loads and spot empties at Seneca Foods Corp's Princeville, Illinois cannery early evening Monday, September 4, 2023. Newly-built siding and switch to Seneca's facility this spring was a good predictor of increased railcar loading there in the late-summer/early-fall canning season. BNSF 7439 and BNSF 6599 left with 66 cars.  

David P. Jordan

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