NS Danville Secondary Highland St.

[chuck geiger]

So Ron Wesolowski posted some pictures of a small 2-track spur at 23707 Highland St, Schneider, Indiana. This is becoming highly considered for Wilson St. Becomes Highland St.
I posted the 1x2' plan on Smallwood Country, SG's FB page, and he posted some pics and said this reminded him of this 2-track spur. It's now NS, but was: Conrail and before that,
Penn. I think we're going Indiana. (insert R. Dean Taylor song).

GOOGLE EARTH PHOTOS

[Point353]

[OldEastRR]

Wonder why those mill gons are there. Too bad you can't include the diamond just north of there.

[wm3798]

You gotta include that boat trailer.  You just gotta!

Lee

[garethashenden]

Wonder why those mill gons are there. Too bad you can't include the diamond just north of there.

Some of the street view images, from 2013, show them unloading steel sections. The sort you would use for a retaining wall.

I find it interesting and a bit odd that they would choose to maintain a diamond for access to this industry rather than reinstate the existing third leg of the wye. But I'm sure they have their reasons.

[chuck geiger]

https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/2022/04/schneider-in-carb-rite.html

Just because something looks like a grain elevator, that doesn't mean it is. But I labeled these notes as "grainOld" because it was probably originally built to store grain. Now it evidently has been repurposed to store a carbon product.

"Carb-Rite Co is mostly involved in Nonclay Refractories." [finduslocal] "Carb-Rite Co is located in Schneider, Indiana, and was founded in 1988. At this location, Carb-Rite Co employs approximately 14 people. This business is working in the following industry: General chemical wholesale. Annual sales for Carb-Rite Co are around 3,036,000." [allbiz]

[chuck geiger]

Wonder why those mill gons are there. Too bad you can't include the diamond just north of there.

That track is dead now. In 2013 went all the way back to Carb Brite's main buildings.
Their actual business is in the industrial / carbon/chemicals/refractories domain.

[chuck geiger]

When Boomer Dioramas built his first shelf layout, GLOVER ROAD, he wanted to see how far he could go without spending any money, using only the components he had. I am trying the same project concept with The NS Danville Secondary, formerly Conrail and Pennsylvania. Kaiden Roberts on Abandoned Railroads took this great shot, and several posters on the page said this begs to be modeled. I was sent pictures of it from Kris Rumbut through Ron Wesoloski. This is my first entry into modeling Midwest/East railroading since 1999, when my HO layout was Pennsylvania. This marks the beginning of the Highland Street module/diorama in Schneider, IN.

Thanks to @ednadolski for the pieces of C-55 ME and Atlas. I have never used Atlas on an N Scale layout. Boy, are they fragile. wobbly and just plain getting used to.

The goal is all kitbashed and scratchbuilt buildings. Maybe modeling the dead turnout to the right that used to connect the main lines. The fun part is the research on the little town of 259 people and the railroads that have served and now serve it.

[chuck geiger]

Wonder why those mill gons are there. Too bad you can't include the diamond just north of there.

Got me thinking...and the turnout to the old wye.

[chuck geiger]

Today

Today, the Norfolk Southern operates the Kankakee Belt Route (ex-Conrail, ex-NYC, Kankakee Belt Line). The Kankakee Belt Route sees around eight to ten trains daily, from the BNSF (old AT&SF main line) at Streator, Illinois to Norfolk Southern Railway interchanges and facilities in Indiana. It still serves as a Chicago bypass.

The north-south portion of the Kankakee Belt Line (Gary, IN to Danville, IL) acquired the name "Danville Secondary" when the line was under ownership of Conrail. South of Schneider, where this N-S line crosses the current Norfolk Southern (ex-Penn Central/NYC) line, down to Danville was abandoned ("out of service") in 1994. The abandoned portion of the line measures 76.2 miles.[1]

The west end of this Norfolk Southern Line now ends at the former Illinois River bridge east of Depue, due south of Seatonville. This Illinois River swing bridge at DePue has an interesting history. The bridge was hit by a barge in the 1960s, caught fire and the bridge tender killed. This swing bridge was removed in the early 1980s, and much of the track from Illinois River to Ladd was removed. Illinois Railway acquired old-NYC trackage between Depue and Ladd. In 2004, Illinois Railway acquired trackage between the Wye (“Y”) with BNSF at Zearing, thru Ladd and Spring Valley to LaSalle.[2]

The east end of the Kankakee Belt towards South Bend is unused except for the local trackage around South Bend. NS operates the local trackage of the Kankakee Belt in South Bend in conjunction with their operations of the former New Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois Railroad, a Wabash subsidiary, and the Vandalia line, a former PRR route from Logansport. Since the demise of Studebaker and Singer, these lines are lightly used with no more than five customers total. The track between here and the NIPSCO plant in Wheatfield was removed in 1983.

[chuck geiger]

I am loving this research, Ed I just need a Conrail Geep.

[chuck geiger]

Wonder why those mill gons are there. Too bad you can't include the diamond just north of there.

Just saw a Youtube video where they found a CRDX gon that had been missing for ten years. It's sitting on the main next to the Carb-Rite plant just south of the diamond in Schneider In. There's an NW MOW flat car parked a couple of hundred feet from it that probably has been there for a number of years too. They're going to recover the gon, it still looks like new, but it will need serviced from sitting for so long. They'll have to move the flat out too to get the gon out.

This is getting modeled!

Lee the boat too.

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[chuck geiger]

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580944512319

[nkalanaga]

That missing gon sounds like some of the stories from the late PC era in the Northeast.  Once Conrail took over there were several reports of not just cars, but entire tracks with cars, that had been lost in the woods. 

How do you lose a spur?  Let the vegetation grow up to hide the cars on it, decide it doesn't go anywhere, and remove the turnout!

[eja]

You gotta include that boat trailer.  You just gotta!

Lee

I know my eye sight is not what it used to be ..... but where is that boat trailer?