TRAINNUT
Well-Known Member
These pictures were taken A few days ago around the area of Sorento Il.
I started my journey in just a mile outside of the town itself, this is looking east. Notice the out of service siding this line has been out of shape ever since the Hillsboro Il mine stopped most coal traffic.
Same siding looking west now the signal only has two displays, Red and Yellow, and there's a reason the line used to continue into Glen Carbon Il, but some time in the Norfolk Western or NS era the line was eliminated, and now only has one way to go and that's onto the BNSF Beardstown Subdivision.
Seeing telegraph poles still standing is always a treat most still have the glass insulators on too.
I moved away from town heading east where I came across another crossing.
Look how hard of a drop off it is, its insane that any train made it up this grade, Im starting to realize why the line was partially abandoned, surprisingly though I believe Norfolk Southern partially use this but I can only guess how long it'll last. In the distance something looked off I went to investigate.
Down a dead-end road I found this plate grider bridge, jt says a lot about what type of traffic this line saw, heavy and long coal traffic. Steel bridge supports and concrete, the bridge looks heavy duty and also not terribly weathered as if it had been replaced (last 20 years or so) The lines history is hard to pinpoint but the Nickel Plate owned it until the merger that became Norfolk and Western, I cannot find any pictures of the line when they used it, I later fell under ownership of Norfolk Southern and not much to say about it, it continues into Coffeen Il, where it ends before the main road through there.
I started my journey in just a mile outside of the town itself, this is looking east. Notice the out of service siding this line has been out of shape ever since the Hillsboro Il mine stopped most coal traffic.
Same siding looking west now the signal only has two displays, Red and Yellow, and there's a reason the line used to continue into Glen Carbon Il, but some time in the Norfolk Western or NS era the line was eliminated, and now only has one way to go and that's onto the BNSF Beardstown Subdivision.
Seeing telegraph poles still standing is always a treat most still have the glass insulators on too.
I moved away from town heading east where I came across another crossing.
Look how hard of a drop off it is, its insane that any train made it up this grade, Im starting to realize why the line was partially abandoned, surprisingly though I believe Norfolk Southern partially use this but I can only guess how long it'll last. In the distance something looked off I went to investigate.
Down a dead-end road I found this plate grider bridge, jt says a lot about what type of traffic this line saw, heavy and long coal traffic. Steel bridge supports and concrete, the bridge looks heavy duty and also not terribly weathered as if it had been replaced (last 20 years or so) The lines history is hard to pinpoint but the Nickel Plate owned it until the merger that became Norfolk and Western, I cannot find any pictures of the line when they used it, I later fell under ownership of Norfolk Southern and not much to say about it, it continues into Coffeen Il, where it ends before the main road through there.
Attachments
Last edited:
