Lucas,
You have done a good job of researching your subject town. Prophetstown was the largest and busiest station on the Mendota-Denrock branch. One proof is the new beautiful brick depot the town received. You can find pictures of both the wood and brick depot in the photos section of the members only portion of the BRHS web site and the smug mug site.
For decades there were two passenger trains a day on the branch each way. By 1951 there is no passenger train.The steam trains were replaced by the motor cars. Then when passengers stopped riding the way freight became a mixed. This simply usually meant that the rare passenger was accommodated in the waycar. I worked with Conductor Lew Peshia who was the Conductor on the Moonlight job on the branch in the 1960s. He told lots of interesting facts about the job. They still had a small space in the waycar for express even in the 1960s. One of his favorite stories was about unloading oranges at the Prophetstown depot at Christmas time from the waycar. In the 1950s the wayfreight would have handled the LCL at each depot unless it was on a Burlington lines truck route. That’s another whole subject to research. The LCL would have been in a boxcar from the Mendota freight house. I could spend many paragraphs on LCL. Just think of it as the RRs version of UPS and parcel post handed off and picked up at each station.
I have been working on an article on #69/64(shown on your timetable) but dont want to get into too many details outside the article. #69/64 was always referred to as the “Moonlight Job” because it operated each way at night and was rarely seen in daylight. It handled the implement/farm equipment business to and from the Quad Cities. It was a very early inter divisional run that tied up at either Barstow or Rock Island depending on the time period. In the period your modeling it was a through train that did no station work on the branch. I have an employees time book from the 1950s. They routinely had an O5 or S4 steam locomotive. Imagine those big locos on that cinder and gravel ballasted light rail branch. In the mid and late 1950s the jobs origin point was moved from Cicero to Eola and then Mendota. Upon being based at Mendota it was a way freight westbound and through train eastbound once it had the loaded farm equipment cars. I have union files showing the job working 16 hours a night and having to be towed in by the Mendota switch engine.
The way freight shown in your timetable was based at Mendota. There would not be a limit to the number of cars it would handle. The reason there was 25 car limit in the 1970s is that was considered the maximum tonnage for a GP7 or SD7 and I believe management did not want to pay for doubling hills with heavier trains. And there were hills on the branch but that’s a different additional story. In 1951 the way freight would have had either a steam engine or an end cab loco (commonly referred to as switch engines). These were widely used on locos before the development of the GP7s that years later became the widespread branch line locos. A locomotive assignment sheet may help answer that specific point.
Now about the industries at Prophetstown, the stock yards would be busy in the fall. Fall or late winter was when the stock came off the western range and was fed/fattened on Midwest farms. Then when the stock was market weight the stock yard would be the loading point to send it to the packing plant. But even by the early 1950s those movements were often by truck.
The coal yards would be busy in the fall for the winter heating season. Grain elevators in the fall were busy with the harvest going to market. In the early 1950s the winter/spring inbound fertilizer business was not yet really what it became later. Much of the farms fertilizer was generated on the farm by that stock. Lumber yards would receive cars year round. But it would be sporadic as a box car held a lot of lumber. if you want to research an interesting but seldom talked about part of lumber. See what you find about “stop over cars” . I once handled a car of lumber split between the Plano and Sandwich lumber yards. Each unloaded a portion of the car after we spotted it for them. The big lumber consumer was at Walnut with GBH way homes in the 1970s on the Denrock branch.
The oil dealer/distributors would get a handful of cars a year to serve their local area.
Think heating oil and gasoline for service stations. An interesting movement that Lew Peshia spoke of was cars of gasoline loaded at Rochelle at Standard Oil that would take a week to be delivered to the towns on the Denrock branch. Study your Aurora Division map to see the different routes cars could take to get from Rochelle to Mendota and onto the way freight. Generally wayfreights were small trains but as you can tell from the above discussion with seasonal business it would vary. Part of that seasonal business was the empty boxcars for the grain elevators. The wayfreight Conductor was god. He decided how many cars an elevator received. There was an unspoken understanding between Conductors and elevator owners. One old brakeman used to tell of having to be careful when getting back onto the waycar leaving a town in the fall as there would be payoffs on the back steps. The payments were either cartons of cigarettes or bottles of booze. At a certain rate per car spotted at the elevator.
Elevators also received things like clay tile,fencing wire and posts,etc,etc. Some of this may have been in the LCL cars.
You will need to work with the Prophetstown H.S. About how much activity there was at the lawn mower plant. There would be steel,etc inbound and maybe finished product out if the trucks hadn’t already captured it. Maybe a rare gondola of scrap outbound.
As further info. By the 1970s to my knowledge the lawn mower plant was gone. But the Prophetstown Casket Company was there as well as a good sized feed mill that generated the most business in town with a fair amount of switching.
Thanks for being a Conductors club member of BRHS. if you havent yet found them, you will probably enjoy watching the presentation videos on the members only section of the BRHS site as you’ll gain insight into many more details about operations and many other aspects of the Burlington.
Leo Phillipp
BRHS Board member,etc,etc
On Mar 13, 2025, at 10:27 PM, Lucas Barnlund via groups.io <lbarnlund=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
I am looking for information on Prohetstown IL. I am looking to model the town in the first half of the 1950's. My desire is to model the town to scale in HO. I know it would make for a big layout, approx 29' from east to west switch. Right now I am renting but hope to buy a house in the next couple of years. One of my musts for a new house is room for a layout.
I am a member of the Burlington Route HS and have found what I can on the town. I have found quite a bit of information this group page. I have emailed the Prophetstown Historical Society and have received excellent photos to reference for modeling.
Specific questions I have.
How many freight cars, or a range of cars, would be on a typical train? I found a post by Leo Phillipp saying he picked up 25 cars in Mendota for a run from Mendota to Denrock. This was in the 1970's and 25 cars was the limit. Was there a limit to the number of cars allowed in the 1950's?
Timetable 34 from 1951 (I included a photo) there was an eastbound and westbound mixed train. What would that look like in terms of freight and passenger cars? How would this train be switched when it pulled into town. Would this be an F3, GP7??? Would you see steam on this line in the early 50's? Would a Doodlebug be used on this line?
I have Prophetstown 1923 Sunborn maps. There a a lot of industries for the small town in 1934; 3 oil companies, 2 lumber yards, 2 elevators, Stock yards and the biggest industry is Eclipse Lawn mower company in the middle of town with a foundry and wood shop on the west end. Is there a way to tell how may cars each industry used on average? How about Eclipse Lawn more company; what would be derived and how many cars a day would go out with new lawn mowers?
I have actually looked for years using Sanborn maps and track charts for the perfect town to model for me that gives me decent switching that isn't too small or too big that I can do with little or no compression.
I will probably have many more questions as I hopefully get answers. Thank you all for your time and information.
Lucas Barnlund
Kenai, Alaska
PS: You are probably asking how did someone in Alaska get involved with the BRHS and the Q. I grew up in IL and MN. Spent summers in the 80's on the family farm that was 1/4 mile from the KBS railroad and the old ALCO's they used to use. I love Grainger railroads and the midwest. Moved to Alaska in 1993 and love it. Miss the midwest but love it up here. I've been an armchair modeler for almost 30 years. Build a small temporary switching layout last year using KATO unitrack and I'm ready to start working towards something more permanent.
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