It's been a while since I have posted. I have been pretty busy with life in general since the last op session. The end of the school year is typically like that for our family.
The past two weeks was spent on vacation visiting family. While there, I had the great opportunity to visit some Ex-ROCK sites as well as some general railfanning. I have been wanting to see these areas in person for a few years now since I began my quest to model the Rock Island. Little did I know, I would truly fall in love with the railroad and it's history. I'll be posting photos and hopefully a little history (as I have learned) over the next few days as I work through everything I photographed. Hope you enjoy.
Chillicothe, Illinois
After eating breakfast with some family in Peoria, we headed north on Highway 29 picking up the Bureau-Peoria branchline about halfway between Peoria and Chillicothe. The depot is located at MP 142.6 just south of the ATSF Chillicothe Division Crossing. This is 18 miles north of Peoria. There is a museum inside the station, but it was closed today. We could have called some of the club members to see inside, but I had an extremely tight schedule to keep today if I wanted to see as much as possible. Maybe next time. This is only about 2 1/2 hours northeast of my wife's family's home in Meredosia, IL.
Chillicothe Railroad Museum - http://chillicothehistorical.org/
I snapped some photos of the ballast in a few places to give me some ideas of how to ballast the line on my model railroad.
We continued traveling north following the mainline. I found myself daydreaming of trains led by those red and yellow Rock Island locomotives roaming across the green countryside. It brought a smile to my face. I only wish I could have seen it in person.
Henry, Illinois
We followed Highway 29 fifteen miles north to come across Henry, IL. The station is located at MP 127.7 at 3rd Street / Highway 18. There is a siding south of the station. To the north in the days of the Rock Island was the Goodrich Spur with two plants to the east of the mainline: BF Goodrich and W.R. Grace. BF Goodrich Polymer Chemical Division is still present, but W.R. Grace is now Poly One Corporation.
Looking south from 3rd St / Highway 18 Road Crossing.
Looking north from the 3rd St / Highway 18 Road Crossing.
I'm not sure what industry this was back in Rock Island times. If anyone knows, please message me.
I'm not sure if this is the original Rock Island depot or not. It appears to be age appropriate for the end times of the Rock Island, but doesn't match any of the architecture of other stations. This is a small farm community, so maybe this was an exception or something happened to the original depot and this was a cheap replacement. Anyone with additional information, please message me.
We continued heading north on Highway 29 following the RI mainline. It is all farm country out here except when the line passes through the small towns.
Just south of Putnam near MP 123, we came across some old telegraph poles. The photos below show these as well as giving you an idea of the countryside in this area.
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