CHAMPAIGN HAVANA & WESTERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC

MONTICELLO, IL

Hanging onto Hayes When M396 had the IC heritage unit 3008 leading it earlier this year, my buddy and I had originally only planned to start our day at Hayes, but we decided to go find it, hence our viewing at Tuscola previously. It was a pretty easy race to Hayes thanks to the speed restrictions in and around Tuscola at the time. Hayes has been my go-to spot on the IC this year it seems like, I think I'm subconsciously making up for missing the old Lodge elevator.

At any rate, the classic Hayes elevator makes a wonderful framing device for CN3008 and CN3219 as they lead M396 north towards Champaign. They'll stop there for yard work, though we didn't follow beyond there. Something else caught our attention to the west after we saw them into town... — Hanging onto Hayes Credit: Leo Blackwelder

The Champaign Havana & Western Railway Historical Society Inc is a non-profit organization located in Monticello, Illinois. The society is dedicated to preserving the history of the Champaign Havana & Western Railway, which operated from 1899 to 1937. The railway was a vital transportation link for farmers, businesses, and residents of central Illinois, connecting Havana and Champaign.

The society was founded in 1994 by a group of railway enthusiasts who wanted to ensure that the history of the railway was not lost. Today, the society has a membership of over 200 individuals who are passionate about preserving the railway's history.

The society operates a museum located in Monticello that showcases the history of the railway. The museum features exhibits and displays that showcase the railway's equipment, artifacts, photographs, and documents. The society also maintains a collection of rolling stock, which includes a steam locomotive, passenger cars, and freight cars.

The Champaign Havana & Western Railway Historical Society Inc is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of rail transportation in central Illinois. The society's efforts to preserve the railway's history ensure that future generations can learn about the importance of this vital transportation link.

CHAMPAIGN HAVANA & WESTERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC is a Historical Societies, Historic Preservation in MONTICELLO IL. US MID #8401701323

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). Total revenue from most recent IRS 990 Form: $ 1,222 from tax period 201204 (YYYYMM).

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.

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.

End in Sight Just north of Bement, the final and southernmost searchlight on the Bloomington District can be found right beside a crossing. Based on some older track charts, this signal used to be located about a quarter mile to the south and had previously been two masts, one on each side of the track. These, installed back in 1959, were moved and apparently combined into the single-mast intermediate we know here today as the Bement Intermediate during the signal updates in the early 2000s, around 2003-04 for signals south of Mills including this. All of the intermediates remaining on this line saw similar changes around the same period.

Snapping a shot of this signal can be a tough one for southbounds thanks to how close it is to the crossing. But, careful timing and a little crop can work wonders to make sure no remnants of the crossing signals remains in-frame.

NS D36, led by 3395 and 6936, comes flying down the last miles of the Bloomington District. They'll rejoin the Lafayette District in Bement itself and head on to Decatur, where they will be done for the day.

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?

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.

Local Power Every so often, seems like once or twice a month, the CN Humko job goes back to Prairie Materials to drop off limestone loads. Up until just a week ago, the Humko was staffed by a pair of GTW Geeps - a fine combo! The two units initially shoved back far enough to clear Springfield Avenue, but then later pulled up to the switch back onto the Seymour Spur, where they would sit for a good few minutes and block up the road for a while.

Comparing GTW5846 and GTW4906 is fun - both GP38-2s, but with quite a few phase differences! 5846, a former Pittsburgh &amp; Lake Erie unit, is a 1977-built ph2a1 unit, which was acquired by GTW about 1984. The 4906, meanwhile, is former Missouri Pacific, and one of the earliest GP38-2s manufactured with a build date of 1/1972. The differences between these units are generally minor, but a few notable things are easily seen - the easiest of which are the radiator intakes, note the early phase split-intakes on the 4906 and the late phase single-section on the 5846. Plenty more details are different between units - 81&quot; vs 88&quot; nose length, handrails, pilots, even numbers of rivets on panels and louvres on battery boxes cover differ. The rabbit hole of production phases differences is a deep one, but an interesting one for the modeler especially!

Also, GP38-2s are cool, especially still painted in blue and red. Always nice to see these on the Humko.

Contact CHAMPAIGN HAVANA & WESTERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC

CHAMPAIGN HAVANA & WESTERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
604 S CENTENNIAL ST
MONTICELLO
IL
61856-1739

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CHAMPAIGN HAVANA & WESTERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC Information

MID #	8401701323
Name	CHAMPAIGN HAVANA & WESTERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
Alternate Name
Classification	Historical Societies, Historic Preservation, , Midwest
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)	611596238
NTEECC	A80
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM)	201204
INCOME	1,222
REVENUE	1,222
LAT/LONG	40.021972, -88.578143
CODES	FIPS State Code: 17 FIPS County Code: 147 US Census Tract: 954600 US Census Block: 4046