02-22-2011, 04:20 AM
Here's a little info that I've gathered about the EFRR
Effingham Railroad (EFRR 288) started operations in mid/late 1996 using the existing 206 foot "Beer Track" at the Effingham Industrial Park. How's that for a railroad you could model in its entirety! A 206 foot spur with one tiny structure - the TQW crossdock! Within about 8 years, the EFRR constructed a total of about 3 miles of new track along and within the industrial park.
Initial customers on the EFRR were Total Quality Warehouse (TQW), Mid Illinois Concrete, Bunge Foods, Irving Paper, Fraser Paper, Pactiv (food packaging products such as Hefty Bags), and Stevens Industries. I assume that Irving, Fraser, Pactiv and Stevens all receive their shipments at the TQW warehouse. Primary commodities hauled by the EFRR were/are: crushed stone, printing paper, lumber, particle board, wheat flour and vegetable oil. They may also now receive some steel and TQW is set up to handle cold storage.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts constructed their facility on EFRR in 2002. Plant was shut down effective Dec 20, 2007 - but sold to Harlan Bakeries of Avon, Indiana. Bunge Foods is no longer located on the line, but that facility has been taken over by Hodgson Mill. Harlan and Hodgson are the only customers, other than TQW, that have their own spurs.
On my last trip by the EFRR (June 25, 2010) it appeared that some of the track was being used for car storage, mostly tank cars. There were a couple of covered hoppers outside the Harlan Bakeries plant and of course couldn't see what may have been inside the TQW warehouse as the rail doors were closed. Nothing at Hodgson Mill. The conveyors used for unloading rock by Mid-Illinois Concrete were stored by the TQW crossdock and didn't appear to have been used in quite some time. There were several cars sitting at the CSXT interchange point, tank cars and covered hoppers, which I hope were either coming on line or moving off line from EFRR customers. Also some cars at the CN/IC interchange on the south end of the line. It's an interesting operation and nice to see a "new" railroad in this era. Small short line/switching railroads like the EFRR are my thing! The smaller the better.
I hope that at some point, they can get their Illinois Western http://www.illwestern.com/ operation going too, but doesn't look promising for now, as the proposed industrial park in Greenville only has two facilities - only one of which can receive rail cars (United Stationers Supply).
The entire ILW line currently consists of a 2400 foot spur with a switch to nowhere located about midpoint on the spur. Google Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.88...5&t=h&z=17. On this trip, I also stopped by the Vandalia Railroad and the ILW. Nothing at all on the ILW and no indication that the spur is being used. Note that when the aerial view was taken, there were two cabs at the end of the spur - but the spur was clear when I checked it out last year. No sign of the ILW Geep which had been at Effingham a year or so earlier.
The ILW web site used to have a good map of the proposed industrial park and rail line running from Greenville along US 40 to a proposed connection with BNSF, but now only shows an aerial view of the proposed development. Would also make for an interesting industrial railroad with two connecting lines and who knows what industries.
Charlie Barenfanger, President of the EFRR and ILW originally operated the nearby Vandalia Railroad, before selling the line to Pioneer Rail Corp.
Off Topic: Regarding problem with PDF files. David, are you using Firefox? I've been having problems with it displaying PDF files the past day or so for some reason. Usually end up with either just a black or white screen. Don't have that problem using Safari or Chrome and no updates to Firefox. Weird....
Effingham Railroad (EFRR 288) started operations in mid/late 1996 using the existing 206 foot "Beer Track" at the Effingham Industrial Park. How's that for a railroad you could model in its entirety! A 206 foot spur with one tiny structure - the TQW crossdock! Within about 8 years, the EFRR constructed a total of about 3 miles of new track along and within the industrial park.
Initial customers on the EFRR were Total Quality Warehouse (TQW), Mid Illinois Concrete, Bunge Foods, Irving Paper, Fraser Paper, Pactiv (food packaging products such as Hefty Bags), and Stevens Industries. I assume that Irving, Fraser, Pactiv and Stevens all receive their shipments at the TQW warehouse. Primary commodities hauled by the EFRR were/are: crushed stone, printing paper, lumber, particle board, wheat flour and vegetable oil. They may also now receive some steel and TQW is set up to handle cold storage.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts constructed their facility on EFRR in 2002. Plant was shut down effective Dec 20, 2007 - but sold to Harlan Bakeries of Avon, Indiana. Bunge Foods is no longer located on the line, but that facility has been taken over by Hodgson Mill. Harlan and Hodgson are the only customers, other than TQW, that have their own spurs.
On my last trip by the EFRR (June 25, 2010) it appeared that some of the track was being used for car storage, mostly tank cars. There were a couple of covered hoppers outside the Harlan Bakeries plant and of course couldn't see what may have been inside the TQW warehouse as the rail doors were closed. Nothing at Hodgson Mill. The conveyors used for unloading rock by Mid-Illinois Concrete were stored by the TQW crossdock and didn't appear to have been used in quite some time. There were several cars sitting at the CSXT interchange point, tank cars and covered hoppers, which I hope were either coming on line or moving off line from EFRR customers. Also some cars at the CN/IC interchange on the south end of the line. It's an interesting operation and nice to see a "new" railroad in this era. Small short line/switching railroads like the EFRR are my thing! The smaller the better.
I hope that at some point, they can get their Illinois Western http://www.illwestern.com/ operation going too, but doesn't look promising for now, as the proposed industrial park in Greenville only has two facilities - only one of which can receive rail cars (United Stationers Supply).
The entire ILW line currently consists of a 2400 foot spur with a switch to nowhere located about midpoint on the spur. Google Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.88...5&t=h&z=17. On this trip, I also stopped by the Vandalia Railroad and the ILW. Nothing at all on the ILW and no indication that the spur is being used. Note that when the aerial view was taken, there were two cabs at the end of the spur - but the spur was clear when I checked it out last year. No sign of the ILW Geep which had been at Effingham a year or so earlier.
The ILW web site used to have a good map of the proposed industrial park and rail line running from Greenville along US 40 to a proposed connection with BNSF, but now only shows an aerial view of the proposed development. Would also make for an interesting industrial railroad with two connecting lines and who knows what industries.
Charlie Barenfanger, President of the EFRR and ILW originally operated the nearby Vandalia Railroad, before selling the line to Pioneer Rail Corp.
Off Topic: Regarding problem with PDF files. David, are you using Firefox? I've been having problems with it displaying PDF files the past day or so for some reason. Usually end up with either just a black or white screen. Don't have that problem using Safari or Chrome and no updates to Firefox. Weird....
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"