Eastern Railroad Discussion > A morning with the Kankakee Beaverville & Southern.

Photographing the Kankeakee Beaverville & Southern has been on railfan bucket list for a LONG time, and with the class ones hardly worth my time right now, I decided to dedicate this year to shortline action. With the fall grain harvest and a week of vacation lining up perfectly, I decided it was time to make the trip two and a half hours west and spend some time with the KB&S.  On Thursday afternoon, I contacted their office at Iroquois Illinois and found out that the only train they had running on Friday would be the movement of a 50 car cut of loaded covered hoppers from the elevator at Free, on a stub of the old NYC Danville line to their interchange point in Lafayette IN.  I was a little disappointed to hear only one train was running, BUT, the Lafayette run was one I was the most interested in, so I decided to head out early Friday morning.  I was told the train was scheduled to take off around 10AM Indiana time, but I was a little late getting getting there, so when I showed up, the train had departed Free and was heading north to Sheff, the former junction of the Danville line with the NYC's Chicago-Indianapolis line.  The diamond there is long gone, but there is a connection track in the SW quadrant to connect the Free Line to main.  There is also a connector in the NW quadrant that connects a short northern stub of the Danville line which is used by Appalachian Railcar services. The train was pulled north from Free through the SW connection and to the west with two engines, and then two more engines waiting at the junction were tied onto the east end of the train for the trip to Lafayette.  Soon the train departed, and I went along for the chase.

1) Here the train is northbound from Free, about a quarter mile south of Sheff.

2) Waiting for the train at Earl Park, I took this shot looking east towards Lafayette.

3) Here the train is climbing a small grade and emerging from a woods on the east side of Earl Park, 2.6 miles southeast of Sheff.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/20 09:17 by junctiontower.

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Thanks for posting these photos!

The KBS is a short line that has intrigued me for years. I’ve told friends the name just sort of “sings”.

Posted from iPhone

4) Rolling past the elevator at Fowler, 6.6 miles further east.

5) Past the ADM elevator at Swanington, another 2.9 miles.

6) Rounding the curve at Templeton, where the NYC Chicago line meets the Nickel Plate (LE&W) line to Peoria. (8.9 more miles)  From here east to Lafayette, the NYC and NKP shared trackage into Lafayette. Today, both line are operated by th KB&S.  When the train got here, they cut the engines off the rear of the train, pushed some of the cars up the NKP line, cut them off, reconnected the rear engines and proceeded to Lafayette.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/20 09:19 by junctiontower.

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7) The rear engines cut off at Templeton.

8) Looking eastward from Montmorenci.

9) Climbing the hill into Montmorenci.

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10) creeping down the hill towards the Wabash River at West Lafayette.  Yes, that hill is steep!  In steam days trains had to be pushed uphill both ways out of Lafayette to Summit to the west and Altamont to the east.

11) Crossing over South River Road in West Lafayette. Purdue University lays to the north and the west of this location.

12) Around the curve at the bottom of the hill, ready to cross the Wabash River.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/20 09:20 by junctiontower.

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13) Crossing the bridge.

14) On the Lafayette side of the river.

15) Disappearing around the corner.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/20 20:27 by junctiontower.

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After the conclusion of the run, I took off to photograph old railroad depots, which is a whole another story, ( I am actively trying to photograph every existing railroad depot as well as other railroad structures in the state of Indiana).  I ended up at Iroquois Junction Illinois (just north of Iroquois), the home of the KB&S.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/20 09:21 by junctiontower.

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The old KB&S caboose and the ex-MILW wedge plow stored at the elevator at Iraqouis Illinois.

The KB&S and TP&W diamond in downtown Sheldon Il.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/20 09:24 by junctiontower.

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Very interesting, thank you

Jonathan Fischer
West Seattle, WA

Thanks for the guided tour of this line, one that I am interested in visiting myself. Appreciate all of the photos and information.

Enjoyed the tour.  Don't see many postings for this line.

 Excellent photographs and coverage! No doubt that's a former "J" (EJ&E) caboose.....

ghemr Wrote:
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>  Excellent photographs and coverage! No doubt
> that's a former "J" (EJ&E) caboose.....

 You may be right.   The number 548 seems to fit the series from the EJ&E and i think i see orange paint bleeding through.  

Well  done.  How we  miss the    JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY!!

Fantastic series!

Great series of photos Bob. Glad you were able to capture these images, and thanks for sharing them with the rest of us.

Kim Heusel