Western Railroad Discussion > Big Locos Through Ladd Illinois

The Illinois Railway LaSalle-Zearing branch (ex-BN) has seen 6 axle power recently with the Frac Sand business booming. The QSP plant on Peru, Illinois' North side is sending and receiving 100 car Unit Trains that come down the branch from the BNSF Mendota Sub with 2 x 1 (and most recently 4 x 2) sets of locomotives. Another plant is being constructed to go on line in 2018 and this last weekend, the IR Job 105 (LaSalle-Zearing turn) brought in 6 flats of rail. Quite a change in the 15 years I've lived with the tracks running parallel to our backyard on Ladd's East side. where a pair of CF7's and the original GP20 demonstrator (GWR 5625) once were the only power moving 3 to 4 days a week. Now, the big GEVOs pass at least once every 7 to 9 days and with the Ladd grade crossings just to our West, there is usually the time to run out in the yard for photos. The tracks are to the South of us, and a curve wraps the trains in shadow most of the year. The "side mirror" photo is from an occasion where I drove the 2 minutes to get to a crossing.

Happy Holidays! -Mark



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/17 09:50 by northernilrailfan.

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Did BNSF sell this line to Illinois Railnet or lease it to them? Do IR crews move the trains from Zearing or is it BNSF crews?

Thank you in advance.

Hi. It is leased from BNSF as is other IR/Omnitrax operations in N. Illinois; the Montgomery to Ottawa to Streator line, Flagg Center to Rockford and Beloit, WI and in Oregon.

Railnet crews are in charge of the trains down the branch.


-Mark

Thank you. It is amazing how a small sleepy branch can come to life.

Nice photos, one and all. Thanks for posting.

The plant that originates these frac sand trains is actually located on the only remaining segment of the original LaSalle & Bureau County Railroad.

When the original LS&BC (not the Chicago-area operation bearing the same name, now Chicago Rail Link) was abandoned in 1986, the city of Peru wisely purchased the section within their city limits, had it re-connected to BN's Zearing-LaSalle branch and established an Enterprise Zone on the land adjacent. The end result was "Peru Rail" secured several new business that used rail service. The city of LaSalle, not so wise, allowed the LS&BC (which passed right through their industrial park) to be torn up and since then not one new business of any magnitude has come to their fair city and several existing ones have left or gone out of business completely.

A few years ago, the city sold Peru Rail to OmniTrax, so it is the only portion of the Illinois Railway network in the area they own outright, versus leasing from BNSF.

Just for snicks, here's a photo of LS&BC Baldwin #8 clearing the line of stored cars in the Spring of 1986, just before abandonment. The location is the former ICG interchange at Midway in the north end of LaSalle. The bridge in the background is the now-filled-in I-80 overpass. The remaining active trackage would begin about 3/4 of a mile behind the locomotive.

NZ

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