20161006-07 US45 Grain Elevators, Sperry Car, IC Historical Society, Centralia Museum, Coaling Tower

My intent for this southbound trip in I-57 was to get off at Gilman and take US-45 to Rantoul to get pictures of grain elevators and any remaining railroad infrastructure that I could find. As a bonus, I ended up chasing a Sperry car.

For the first time I have gotten off in Gilman, the crossing gates were active. (I get off rather regularly going north because it is "last call" for cheaper gas.) I new there was an Amshack parking lot next to the tracks, so I pulled into it. You can see that I did not bother to properly park the van before I jumped out to get pictures. BTW, the pickup left after the Sperry car went by. You can also see a cut of hoppers are being loaded by Cargil.

I took quite a few pictures because this is the first time I have seen a Sperry track inspection unit and I wanted to increase my odds that I got some good views.

When I saw another pickup parked at a crossing, I turned on the next road, which was marked "no outlet." I didn't care about the "no outlet" because my intent was to turn around and park. Soon it came and I caught this video.
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When I saw this concrete block corn crib, I turned on a creepy (gravel, narrow) county road to get pictures of the south and north sides. Fortunately, enough corn had been harvested that I had a clear shot of the north side.

I took a picture of these four bins because each had their own dryer.

Approaching Paxton.

This is from the parking lot of the towns police station. Unfortunately, the corn is still standing and you can see just the tops of their two switching engines.

I went back to their entrance, but I had to stay near the road because they had a fence with barbwire around the facility! I was trying to find better views of the switchers, but I also took pictures of the parade of trucks and tractors plus grain wagons that were coming by.

Three unloading bins, no waiting. Plus they had scales on both sides of the office building. The left scale weighed incoming vehicles and the right one weighed them on their way out when they were empty.

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I'm glad I was forced to find a parking spot in Paxton to chase the Sperry unit because my wife spotted this building. I then remembered that the national headquarters for the IC Historical Society is in Paxton, IL.

It is at the north end of their downtown.

They have three static display items.

You might notice that I'm more interested in freight cars than passenger cars.

Ludlow, IL does not have an I-57 exit for the IL-9 road. So Ludlow Co-op's main elevator is the one we saw north of Paxton, IL. This was obviously their first elevator.

I wonder what the road speed of a grain wagon is when pulled by a pickup instead of a tractor. When you see a commercial for a pickup and they specify the towing capacity, I wonder what percent road grade that rating assumes.

Actually, the tall wood building would have been their first elevator. I wated for the line at the scale to empty out so that I could get a picture of what was probably the IC depot. Streetview to the rescue concerning the initial elevator building. It is now probably where they store seed and other farmer supplies.

I assume those two grey things on the end are grain dryers. In hindsight, I see I never got an overview shot of the west side. I guess space was at a premium between the silos and Chestnut Street is why the dryers are on the end. Also, the design of the dryers is rather unique.

We stayed in Salem, IL so that I could take pictures of the CN/IC coaling tower with a morning sun. But on the way there, my wife spotted a museum. We stopped and I took some pictures.

Then I realized I was loosing my morning sun so we went down and I got pictures of the roundhouse and coaling tower.

I even put on the telephoto (up to 200mm) lens.

Then we went back to the museum to take more pictures.

My wife was particularly interested in the exhibit on the coal mine accident.

I assume this is a typesetting machine. I have never seen such a compact unit.

I checked out their "dental chair" exhibit to see if it includes a rope driven drill. It had one complete unit. And pieces of others?

My wife noticed there were cars on the railroad bridge. This is the first time we have actually seen a train on the several bridges we go under in southern Illinois. When I zoom in with the photoviewer, they look like coal cars. I'm glad to see there at least some coal trains still running.

When I cross the Ohio River, I try to take grab shots of Dam #52 so that I can later study what is happening at the dam. It looks like the wickets still exist and are in the raised position. It also appears there is a tub in the lock.