Updated April 20th, 2014.
Infrastructural Elements and Signals
Basic Format - Track Profile and Diagram
Northern Yard
The northern yard is the only existing Illinois Central yard in Kankakee, IL. The yard starts in Bradley, IL and stops right before the northern diamond at the KX crossing where the Illinois Central crossed the 3I/NYC. The yard was home to an expansive roundhouse for the IC that was located where a bunch of houses are currently. The yard currently sees many freight cars coming in from the CN-operated R-960 and R-961 Kankakee Locals which pick up cars from the surrounding industries. Below, you'll see an older aerial that shows the yards original layout.
Southern Yard
I can't say much about the southern yard as most of the tracks are gone. It is currently used as lead tracks for industries adjacent near South Tech Road. Jeffery Street grade crossing, according to the track profile, would have been right in the middle of the yard. The crossing did not exist when the track profile above was published.
Bridges
Brookmont Boulevard Bridge
The bridge uses concrete-caste block sections made from standard forms used by the IC. The bridge sees tons of car traffic and is always supporting the weight of the north yard cuts and cars any day of the year. The bridge is quite old
Water Street Bridge
Another product of Illinois Centrals concrete block design bridges, painted white by the city awhile back. The bridge see plenty of road traffic and is one of two bridges for cars south of the Kankakee River in Kankakee and is immediately south of the Kankakee River Bridge.
Gar Creek Bridge
Unpainted, and similar to a smaller version of the bridge over Rock Creek, this bridge crosses the creek whose name is marked by the railroad and earned a title across the relay cabinet nearby.
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Kankakee River Bridge
The bridge was originally made with steel girder approaches and steel/iron truss middle segments on a stone abutment design. The current bridge design that was installed in the 1930s is a concrete-caste design that uses beautiful arches right along the dam which is parallel to the bridge and used by the City of Kankakee to generate hydroelectric power.
Hawkins Street Bridge
A bridge similar to that of Water Street, but featuring much thicker side walls and a sinking middle support. Hopefully the city and railroad will work and fix this bridge. The bridge still works and allows cars to travel, grade crossing free.
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Grade Crossings
Chestnut Street
Like many crossings, Chestnut was once a larger, 4-track, crossing that now is the funneling tip of the passing siding and the yard down to one track, the first switch is not more than 30 yards north of the crossing.
Hickory Street
Hickory is much like Station Street, but unique. It's higher up lights and fading LEDs set it apart, but it is just a residential block down from Station and also has several tracks at one point.
South Tech Road
South Tech is named after the company that resides along it, and is one of the few, if not only, crossing in Kankakee that retains all the count of tracks it likely had when the IC first graded it. Busy with trains, trucks, and occasional switching at the BASF Chemical plant, this crossing gets more use then Chestnut.
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Station Street
Rightfully named as it passes directly next to the station, Station Street crossing was once several tracks long as the IC has many more tracks in front of the station. Currently, through years of slow track removal, only one track is protected by the signals here.
Jeffery Street
Jeffery is the only crossing on the old IC here in Kankakee on a curve, and is the only one that has had a car hit by a train at it recently. You can tell because the pick-up hit took out one of the signals, now replaced. Jeffery, once being a keeper of more tracks, also has a fairly large surrounding R.O.W. landscape.
Kensington Avenue
Originally installed by the Illinois Cetnral railroad, it now operated by the BASF plant.
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Abandoned Grade Crossings
The Kankakee State Hospital (now the Samuel H. Shapiro Developmental Center was serviced by the Illinois Central Railroad. It took in coal for the boilers, people, and miscellaneous commodities needed.
Additionally the current Aqua Illinois building and lake in Kankakee was once a quarry serviced by Illinois Central. As shown on the track profile as "Old Quarry Spur". It has been remove many years ago.
Additionally the current Aqua Illinois building and lake in Kankakee was once a quarry serviced by Illinois Central. As shown on the track profile as "Old Quarry Spur". It has been remove many years ago.
Signals & Junctions
"KX" - Kankakee Interlocking w/ Norfolk Southern
Originally a tower-operated interlocking with the 3I/CS&I, Big Four, and IC; the interlocking currently only consists of the Norfolk Southern crossing two tracks of the CN/IC with a terminating mainline of the KB&S. Originally, two separate diamonds existed owned by NYC. One of Big Four origin, the removed diamond where the KB&S would have crossed, and the other of 3I or Chicago and Indiana Southern origin, the current NS diamond. The majority of traffic comes from the CN/IC side of things rather than the NS. The tower operation kept up until it was fully cut over to CTC after many years is some unknown year, around the 1980s or late 1970s. This junction is marked as "Kent" on the Norfolk Southern. Refer to the track profile chart above to see the two separate diamonds over the IC. Below are pictures of the junction and its signals. A southern gantry signal has been removed for awhile, the concrete bases still remain.
Defect Detector Mile Post 56.7
This defect detector was installed by the Canadian National railroad, and it examines trains for anything from dragging equipment to hot bearings. It's a clean installation and finds itself just north of Jeffery Street.
Signals and Whatnot
I know it seems like a generic title, but the truth is that Kankakee used to have a few odd parts. Take this for example. This old signal base was likely used for a gantry signal base that was once installed here spanning all the tracks that used to extend from edge to edge. It was a common practice of the Illinois Central Railroad to install gantry signals, as there used to be two mainlines and a few side tracks in Kankakee.
See Track Profiling Below for Gar Creek.
What's Left - Track Profiling
The above chart is a shocking reminder of how much track has been removed from the Kankakee area. The entire southern yard is pretty much gone, and any remains of the hospital is gone besides the hospital itself. In red are the remaining rails regardless of owner. Gar Creek pretty much is the start of anything being close to how it used to be. Before that, the yard is northern yard is pretty much half gone and the tracks are so narrow nowadays that trains are usually waiting in Kankakee for clearance to Gar Creek. The only signals remaining are home signals at Gar Creek, and the KX signals. The only gantry set left are the northern ones I pictured above at KX. The Big Four diamond and track has been removed. Below you see two images. One on the right is from the American Freedom Train visiting Kankakee in July 1975, and to the left you see a picture of the Kankakee Switcher as of April 2014. The second track from the station is the only one that remains today. To be honest, the image from 1975 isn't original either. The 4 track layout was common after a few track had already been removed. As you see, the fourth one from the station is on its way out.
Team Track
Currently the only surviving used pieces of track from the conglomeration of rails that used to reside in Kankakee, the track is used primarily for storage of the Kankakee Switcher power and any extra cars. The Santa Train used to pull into this spur when it stopped in Kankakee. Since 2013, the Santa Train no longer stops at Kankakee, IL. Below are pictures from the 2012 Santa Train and of other various dates of the team track. Note the motivational sign.
Gar Creek
Gar Creek is currently used as a way to access industries south of Kankakee. Gar Creek is bridged over and is labeled on the track profiles, now it is a siding and passing track for any trains waiting to pass through Kankakee. Also, Gar Creek was once the location of a water tower for the Illinois Central, it has been demolished for quite some time, but the concrete blocks remain.
Believe it or not, there is more to come!