DANFORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DANFORTH, IL

Authenticity It's not photoshop, no clever tricks - IC1000 is actually back in its white sill stripe after 17 years. Nothing fake here, it's the real deal. I admit to being skeptical (but hopefully excited) when the leaked photos of the IC1000 came my way recently. Too good to be true, surely! But when I got the heads up 1000 was leading A407 and priming to leave town, seen with its white sill, I knew I had to go out and see it with my own eyes. Still can't quite believe it's real honestly. The yellow reflective tape has plagued the surviving IC fleet - barring a single SD40-3 up on the Iron Range - since 2007 when CN changed over the majority from white to yellow. Although it may be seen as a minor detail and a nitpicky thing, the yellow sill massively changes the appearance of the IC units - and for the worse at that. To see one of the 26 all-black SD70s get its white sill returned to it (the class leader no less! My favourite of the bunch) is just delightful. It was done really well, too - nothing partial or half-assed about it, it's the whole way around the unit and even the steps match! I have no idea why the change was made or what the story is or may be, but the fact the look of the late Illinois Central has returned just makes me a happy fella. Of course, it leading CN A407 on a bright, sunny, cloudless winter day makes shooting the thing... difficult, to say the least. Far from my finest shots, but I am just happy to have shot it already. No telling when it'll come back, or if it will stay in white - I'll take what I can! At North Ashkum, IC1000 (paired with IC1028, still in yellow sill, and IC9608 in CN dress) pulls A407 out of the siding. They had stopped to meet Amtrak 393. Coincidentally, I was far from the only railfan to snap the 1000 here as a whole little group of us met together here, including a few familiar faces I got to chat with for a good while. Though light had fallen by the time the 1000 got moving, it was still a nice way to cap off my first sighting of its "new" look.
Authenticity Credit: Leo Blackwelder

The Danforth Historical Society is a non-profit organization located in the small town of Danforth, Illinois. The society is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of Danforth and the surrounding area.

The society was founded in 1979 and has since collected a large number of artifacts and documents related to the town's history. These artifacts include photographs, newspaper clippings, and personal items such as clothing and household objects.

The society operates a museum in the center of town that displays many of these artifacts. The museum is open to the public on weekends during the summer months and by appointment throughout the year.

In addition to the museum, the society also hosts events and presentations related to local history. These events include guest lectures, historical reenactments, and community festivals.

The Danforth Historical Society is run entirely by volunteers, who work tirelessly to collect, preserve, and share the town's rich history. The society is an important part of the Danforth community and plays a vital role in preserving the town's unique heritage for future generations.

DANFORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY is a Uncategorized or General Museum in DANFORTH IL. US MID #8401700289

The museum is classed as GMU (Uncategorized or General Museums). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin).

Authenticity It's not photoshop, no clever tricks - IC1000 is actually back in its white sill stripe after 17 years. Nothing fake here, it's the real deal. I admit to being skeptical (but hopefully excited) when the leaked photos of the IC1000 came my way recently. Too good to be true, surely! But when I got the heads up 1000 was leading A407 and priming to leave town, seen with its white sill, I knew I had to go out and see it with my own eyes. Still can't quite believe it's real honestly. The yellow reflective tape has plagued the surviving IC fleet - barring a single SD40-3 up on the Iron Range - since 2007 when CN changed over the majority from white to yellow. Although it may be seen as a minor detail and a nitpicky thing, the yellow sill massively changes the appearance of the IC units - and for the worse at that. To see one of the 26 all-black SD70s get its white sill returned to it (the class leader no less! My favourite of the bunch) is just delightful. It was done really well, too - nothing partial or half-assed about it, it's the whole way around the unit and even the steps match! I have no idea why the change was made or what the story is or may be, but the fact the look of the late Illinois Central has returned just makes me a happy fella. Of course, it leading CN A407 on a bright, sunny, cloudless winter day makes shooting the thing... difficult, to say the least. Far from my finest shots, but I am just happy to have shot it already. No telling when it'll come back, or if it will stay in white - I'll take what I can! At North Ashkum, IC1000 (paired with IC1028, still in yellow sill, and IC9608 in CN dress) pulls A407 out of the siding. They had stopped to meet Amtrak 393. Coincidentally, I was far from the only railfan to snap the 1000 here as a whole little group of us met together here, including a few familiar faces I got to chat with for a good while. Though light had fallen by the time the 1000 got moving, it was still a nice way to cap off my first sighting of its "new" look.
Sign of the Times I think it may be close to time to retire this flag at Iroquois Junction... Though maybe if you're into symbolism you could take it to represent the political divide in the country that we are all no doubt feeling in some way. Or maybe it just means they need a new flag. Man, high school English teachers would probably love this sort of thing... KBS701 & 702 lead fifty grain loads south on the ex-NYC, passing by their own shops and signage. The KBS scheme is simple, but sharp. Well-matching colours and pretty clean, especially compared to a lot of other shortlines and Class 1s, to be sure. Pretty handsome, all told. When I first arrived at the junction a little earlier that morning, there was no sign of activity - all quiet, no power sitting outside. I was a little concerned and checked out some of the nearest towns, wondering if maybe they were already picking up their grain from somewhere else, but still nothing. I returned to the junction at 7:30am on the dot to find two pairs of GP38M-2s pulling out of the shed. That was a relief, I hadn't missed a thing! Turns out when they say to show up at 7:30 to see what's going on here, they really mean show up at exactly 7:30am. Can't complain about that. And now, we head off to Sheldon - the real reason I have wanted to shoot KBS for so long now!
Cobbled Together In a surprise twist, I managed to get out of the house early for once. Thanks to some helpful heads-ups, I was finally treated to my first ever viewing of the Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern railroad. The KBS is a unique little shortline, shaped sort of like a funky triangle. The railroad is formed of tracks from the former New York Central, Milwaukee Road, and Nickel Plate Road. Here at Iroquois Junction, the ex-MILW crosses right over the ex-NYC. That old Milwaukee bridge sure is cobbled together out of a lot of designs... not quite unlike the heritage of all the companies trackage, I suppose. Doesn't apply to the motive power though, all six locomotives on-roster are all former NYC. Pretty neat to see ex-NYC power on ex-NYC rails. Watching these guys operate is fun. They pulled 50 loads off of the ex-MILW with two motors, lugged it onto the ex-NYC, and stitched another two motors onto the front. The four locos then got pulling and pushing alike - there was no waiting around! This is my kind of railroading right here.
23082405 Illinois Wind Farm
Still Standing At the suggestion that the signals on the Gilman sub were potentially at risk of dropping or having been dropped, I took a little trip to the Gilman sub after work. I wound up timing things just right and shooting a train at Parnell, but I decided to venture north to Roberts as well, just to confirm that nothing new was sitting nearby. Thankfully, no, none of these signals have been dropped since the set immediately west of Clinton in July last year. Parnell and Roberts still retain their US&S P5 signals. I arrived at Roberts just in time for a wonderful sunset, so I had to stop and snap a couple photos of these vintage signals. The more I look at these P5s, I start to wonder what actually is the difference between these and R2s. I'm not the expert, but they do appear about the same to me. Heads can be mounted any way - I've seen photos of P5s mounted like R2s typically are - so the mounting can't be the difference. Maybe there's some miniscule detail, maybe entirely internal, that I don't know about. Would like to know, though. Hard to find resources on that sort of thing. Anyway, ex-IC US&S P5 signals near Roberts, IL at sunset. Feel like I've done this before... hah
20220818 09 Telephone, St. Anne, Illinois
Blocked At The Last Second Upon sighting the CSX yn2 leader back in Hoopeston, we chased that thing down as best we could, eventually making our way to Watseka. The CSX train had slowed dramatically at Woodland Junction, which made it easier for us to find a nice spot to shoot the northbound freight. However, shortly after finding our spot, we heard horns - and they weren't the right ones. Then came the right one. Two trains! But what tracks would they be on? Suffice to say, it was a UP freight on the closer track (with an RSSX critter trailing, interestingly), one moving significantly faster than our CSX train. Totally SOL. I had a nice shot lined up, too! Gah, curse you, UP. That was a slightly sour ending to an otherwise mostly successful day out. Maybe we'll just have to try that way again sometime.
Wrapping Up Having left the 7561 in Charlotte, BLOL7591 becomes the leader LHF. The former Northern Pacific GP9 and the trailing GP38-2, formerly a T&P GP35, are nearing the end of their northbound trip as they approach Collum via picturesque Illinois farmland.
Luck Bearer At Chatsworth, the Bloomer Line crosses the TP&W using its ex-IC trackage. Todays northbound train saw the LTEX 3802 dropped off at Risk with some 20 cars or so, letting the BLOL7561 lead into town. The GP10, ex-CR (reblt by Paducah in '78) but whose heritage stretches back to NYC6002, passes the R2-derivitive signals that guard the TP&W/BLOL diamond. Chatsworth is home to some of the only signals on the Bloomer, though both dwarfs are a little ways out of frame. I've been trying to shoot the Bloomer for nearly two years now, but I've never had an ounce of luck with them - never knowing what's running and when, and usually if something was running, I was stuck at work. The stars aligned when I had the full week off of work to make time to bring my girlfriend over to the US from England. We had been wandering a bit aimlessly when scanner traffic suggested the Bloomer might be up to something. A little more wandering and before we knew it, we were following the train out of Gibby and northbound. I think she's my good luck charm now!
The Perfect Kiss The IC trio we'd been chasing made its way to Gilman and past the aging, and infamous, Gilman coaling towers. With the information that there was a far easier way to access the towers, Tal and I made the quick hike to the north end to catch the three deathstars pass by the towers and one very shot-up switchstand. You know, if I was funnier, I'd find some great way to make a proper pun out of the lyrics of the titular song. "Now I know the perfect kiss is the kiss of death..." ...stars. Or a joke about the bullet holes that are in the switchstand. Or something. Hey, why did the album version of TPK omit the titular lyrics? The whole third verse, actually. Seems like an important thing you wouldn't want to cut out, or, you know, the climatic ending that the whole other seven minutes of music are building towards... Not important at all, no... Oh, wait, this isn't a review of New Order singles, is it? With A407 past the towers, that was our chase done for the day. I think it made for a fine way to introduce my girlfriend into this ever-so-strange hobby I'm too deep into. Well, I mean, it must've been, or else I wouldn't have had that song pop into my head...
Sinking in the Snow The remnants of the 2022 snowstorm(s) left us some large snowdrifts along the tracks, which were still just thick enough to take on, say, the weight of one guy. Mostly. CN L585, with its captive SD70M-2, came rolling on by before too long, and it's a good thing it did, too, as my feet started to sink in just a little too much for comfort... A wise place to stand? Perhaps not. But, hey, it worked this time.

Contact DANFORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

DANFORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 343
DANFORTH
IL
60930-0343

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DANFORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY Information

MID # 8401700289
Name DANFORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Alternate Name
Classification Uncategorized or General Museums, , Midwest
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) 200397997
NTEECC A50
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM) 201212
INCOME 0
REVENUE 0
LAT/LONG 40.822861, -87.978111
CODES FIPS State Code: 17
FIPS County Code: 075
US Census Tract: 950300
US Census Block: 1160