NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING

URBANA, IL

Wild in Wildlife Unique, rare, or otherwise odd leaders can be found on any train on any railroad, really, but there are few times when something special appears on the last of the roadrailers. NS256 is one of only two surviving roadrailer trains, and it is almost always headed by NS AC44C6M rebuilds, however this time we got something a bit special. The BNSF Fakebonnet 751 took the charge of the eastbound roadrailer, which was a real treat. With the longevity of these two roadrailer trains heavily in question these days, getting a fun leader like this made for a nice change of pace. The faded red and purple henbit in a field near Sidney are a nice change of the usual black and white of the NS-led Triple Crowns. A fine treat for sure. — Wild in Wildlife Credit: Leo Blackwelder

The Natural History Building, located in Urbana, Illinois, is part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a prominent landmark of the campus. Built in 1896, the building has been home to a variety of functions over the years and is currently the home of the Illinois Natural History Survey.

The building is a three-story structure with a gable roof and a large central tower. The building is constructed of limestone and sandstone, and the gables are decorated with carvings depicting various natural science themes. The building is surrounded by a large courtyard and has a number of ornamental features, including a large bronze bust of John Wesley Powell, an explorer, geologist, and director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

The building's interior is home to a variety of laboratories and research facilities, as well as classrooms and lecture halls. On the first floor, visitors will find the Museum of Natural History, which houses a variety of artifacts from the natural sciences. The building is also home to the Institute for Genomic Biology and the Illinois State Geological Survey.

In addition to its academic and research functions, the building also serves as a meeting space for students and faculty. The building is particularly popular for its large lecture halls, which are used to host lectures from prominent speakers. The building is also a popular venue for student organizations and events.

The building is an important part of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, and its unique architecture and rich history make it a popular destination for visitors.

NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING is a Natural History & Natural Science Museum in URBANA IL. US MID #8401700112

The museum is classed as NAT (Natural History & Natural Science Museums). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin).

The Little Things NS 50G hauls its Gibson City grain loads south past the old Wabash H5 dwarf at Lodge, IL. These dwarf signals were installed originally as just the single H5 head on the ground, but later on were retrofitted with the HC-33 lamp atop it. This allowed the signal to display a lunar, making some very interesting indications you can still see today - though not commonly. Today, it's dark as nothing is on the siding, but it's a wonderful piece of Wabash history on this old line.

Resurgence NS 256, the Detroit-bound roadrailer, surprised us with a nice fakebonnet-styled treat not long ago. We were also treated to CN dispatch taking over the Tolono diamond for a few trains, forcing the 256 to stop on the west side of said diamond. Enough time for me to head east and find a spot for a photo, and enough time for a buddy to come down and join me for it.

At CP Unity on the Lafayette District, BNSF751 leads our ever-elusive roadrailer through empty fields and the shattered remains of codeline. The henbit that cover some of the fields make for an interesting contrast with the very out of place fakebonnet unit to say the least!

Lost Connection CN A407 is still very consistently handled by the former IC SD70s, and that was no exception when I happened upon them in Tolono. I was on the search for roadrailers that day, in actual fact, but I couldn't resist another opportunity to snatch some more Illinois Central power. IC1038 and IC1036 have the honours today. Our sightline here is from the now cut CN-NS connector at Tolono. NS still stuffs cars on these tracks sometimes, but no longer can either company transfer cars or power using this connection. It's been like this for a while now, but it's always a shame to see infrastructure get torn up. Even though traffic doesn't necessitate the connector now, maybe one day in the future it will. Who knows.

Second Choice Hayes old grain elevator makes for an interesting sight beside the CN 8952, the Grand Trunk heritage unit. This elevator hasn't been used in many decades, but still manages to stand proudly in the fields. It's a treat to still be able to shoot it.

Originally, our plan with 8952 and E271 was to shoot it at Pesotum, however thanks to its work in Champaign, long shadows were eclipsing our shot. Not ideal, so we bailed on that and decided to go for Hayes. I toyed with various angles at the elevator, but finding something I was happy with was a struggle, though I've got ideas for future shots here for sure. The tight frame may not be the best for this spot, but I decided to give it a go anyway. Good learning experience here anyways.

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Dusk at Dawn Sometimes things line up nicely. After coming off yet another venture to the Bloomington District, I found myself wandering over to Tolono just to see what was going on. D91 was working industry near CP Dawn, and some stuff was moving around on CN and NS alike, so I had a little look around. I initially thought to just sort of watch and wait, put down the camera and just see some things move. We, as photographers, end up watching trains move primarily through our camera viewfinders, or rearview mirrors as we speed away to the next spot for a photo. Sometimes it's good to take a step back and watch.

Yet, when I turned up at CP Dawn, there was no way I could put down my camera. The sunset was blossoming into a brilliant orange fireball, and with NS sending a westbound train my direction, it was shaping up to be a wonderful view. Timing really is the crux of it all.

NS 181, chock full of classic big 86ft autoparts boxcars and led by one of the new UP repaints, heads off into the sunset at CP Dawn on the NS Lafayette District. Many of these boxcars are reaching their 50 service life date, so many may not last all that much longer in operation. But then who knows? Either way, they're a cool sight for now, as is a classic sunset. A very nice way to end a very nice day out.

Blown A southbound movement on the Bloomington District paired with incoming tornado-watched storms made for an interesting combination. I haven't gotten the classic Goembel signal-codeline shot in a long, long time, so with clouds incoming I decided to give it a whirl. Little did I know that as D36 sped past, some of the storms to my southwest were going tornado warned - I wound up going after those rather than the SD60E duo, though that didn't amount to much. One day, though! Even though the storms that were up on the Bloomington District here weren't nearly as strong as those to the south, the formations in the clouds were fairly dramatic at times, a fun sight.

Although our power was just a pair of SD60Es, what was pointed out to me after the fact was that I had inadvertently shot the two former OCS units. NS 7034 and 7035 were re-geared for 79mph operation in 2021 to replace the then-recently sold F-units and handle the office car train, but fairly recently the two units were re-re-geared and put back into freight service. Takes a pair of uninteresting motors and makes them slightly more interesting to see, anyway.

Contact NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING

telephone: 2173332360

NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING
1301 W GREEN ST
URBANA
IL
61801

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NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING Information

MID #	8401700112
Name	NATURAL HISTORY BUILDING
Alternate Name
Classification	Natural History & Natural Science Museums, , Midwest
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)
NTEECC
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM)
INCOME	0
REVENUE	0
LAT/LONG	40.110406, -88.225818
CODES	FIPS State Code: 17 FIPS County Code: 019 US Census Tract: 005900 US Census Block: 2003