RANTOUL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

RANTOUL, 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 Rantoul Historical Society was established in 1978 and is dedicated to preserving the history of the village of Rantoul, Illinois. The Society works to research, collect and preserve historical artifacts, documents and photographs related to the rich and diverse history of the village. The Society also works to educate the public about the village’s past, present and future.

The Rantoul Historical Society is housed in a beautiful red brick building located in downtown Rantoul. The building was formerly a train depot and has been restored to its original condition. Inside, visitors will find a variety of historical artifacts, photographs and documents relating to the village’s past.

The Society offers a variety of educational programs and activities for adults, children and families. These programs include lectures and presentations, museum tours and school field trips. The Society also hosts an annual summer event called “A Day in the Past” which features a variety of activities to honor the village’s history.

The Rantoul Historical Society is committed to preserving the history of its village and educating the public about it. Through their efforts, the Society ensures that the history of Rantoul will be remembered and appreciated for generations to come.

RANTOUL HISTORICAL SOCIETY is a Historical Societies, Historic Preservation in RANTOUL IL. US MID #8401700419

The museum is classed as HSC (Historical Societies, Historic Preservation). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin).

Meet n' Greet The ever elusive NS roadrailers, the 255 and 256, always have to meet somewhere on their treks between Detroit and Kansas City. It's fairly common for them to meet somewhere between Decatur and Lafayette, though it's always hard to predict where. Sometimes, however, you get a little luck.

NS 256, eastbound to Detroit, was put into the hole at Unity-Siding siding. A westbound manifest passed by shortly after, and then we were treated to the westbound 255 passing as well. To our surprise, the 255 began to slow way down and then came to a halt at Unity on the main. What a treat.

Naturally, as the 255 slowed, we had to snatch some glamour shots of the two sets of Triple Crown trailers side by side. The location and timing was just perfect, and boy did we take that to our full advantage. Here, 255 is still moving, but very slowly to be sure. It would stop just a few more trailer lengths later. Not a photo opportunity you get to have often! Lots more out of this set to come later.

Come Together If there's ever anything I've ever learned, it's that timing is one of the most important things in life. I'd just picked up a buddy to join me in shooting some stuff in the local bubble when an eastbound over Tolono popped up on ATCS as we headed south - we shot ahead to Philo to spot it with crossed fingers. Roadrailer! The 256 was a treat - and exactly what we'd been looking for. It was also slowing down! Unusual to be sure, so we kept following.

To our surprise, 256 came to a stop over at CP Sidney, placing its last trailer just a few trailer-lengths away from the crossing in the middle of the Unity-Sidney siding we had met it at. We had a westbound manifest pass by, and when 256 still didn't move on, we knew there was only one thing they could be waiting on. What else has the kind of priority to put a roadrailer in the hole these days, eh?

NS255, with Dash 9 NS9928 on the head, came rounding the bend on the curve into Sidney. Plus, a little hole in the clouds for some sunlight that we had missed out on earlier. Talk about timing! How much more can you ask for? We weren't even asking for more, but yet we got it when the 255 rolled to a stop literally right there in front of us. For just about 5 minutes, 255 and 256 were just sat there occupying all of Unity-Sidney's main and siding, unmoving. It may not sound like much, or even a bit silly, but man that is not one you get every day! Truly, all the pieces to a great afternoon on the Lafy came together at the perfect time.

Timing. All about timing, I tell ya.

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!

Entrapment After having sat on the switch blocking Springfield Avenue for a good 10-15 minutes, CN's Humko job gets a move on. The few-times-a-month shove back here lets the local drop off limestone loads at Prairie Material, and occasionally it works Plastipak as well. Today, they're just setting out some limestone cars. They'll pull forward and go back to grab their caboose, then they'll be off to go work the Kraft plant. Our pair of Grand Trunk units are out of place here, as these rails are former IC. These tracks were formerly the Havana District, although what remains of the tracks were taken out of service by CN about a decade ago. All tracks east of Seymour are gone, abandoned in the 80s - except for what MRYM got to keep!

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Unusual Suspects Most traffic on the Bloomington District is either one of the daily pair of locals or random grain shuttles. This was no exception, except for the exception. This train was not the usual D09 or D12 or 17 or 21 or what have you - today, NS 50G greeted us on the District, with grain loads coming from Gibson City itself. Not a symbol I'd heard before, but you always learn something new.

Thanks to a friend having been following them since Gibson City, I was able to join the fun a little late after taking care of errands back home. This pair of GEs had actually shoved their train from Gibby down to Osman and ran around it there - not the usual way things tend to go here!

Evidently, this train spent the better part of a solid hour to get from Gibby to Goembel after spending a couple hours pulling cars out of Gibson City. I rolled up as the power was approaching Osman to run around the train, and then the chase was on. Scanner traffic and my friend having run into a manager here and having a chat gave us the info that this would head to Bement, power would wye in Decatur, and then it would go east. Though power wasn't unique, this train certainly was a little different than normal, even when it isn't.

At Osman, NS4290 and NS4702 haul 50G south towards Bement. Where it goes after this... I don't know. Georgia, apparently?

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 RANTOUL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

RANTOUL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1011 PACESETTER DR
RANTOUL
IL
61866

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RANTOUL HISTORICAL SOCIETY Information

MID #	8401700419
Name	RANTOUL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Alternate Name
Classification	Historical Societies, Historic Preservation, , Midwest
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)	237427984
NTEECC
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM)	201112
INCOME	0
REVENUE	0
LAT/LONG	40.295307, -88.152454
CODES	FIPS State Code: 17 FIPS County Code: 019 US Census Tract: 010300 US Census Block: 1054