Leo,
All I can say is WOW and thank you! I was not expecting such a fantastic
recollection of the activity in Rochelle. This information is invaluable to
the history and accuracy of what was happening out there. I especially liked
the information about the tallow car going to Rockford to be weighed. I have a
follow-up questions about the industries. What kind of cars would show up in
town? I am expecting a ton of 40' box cars and BRE cars. Probably some
gondola for scrap tin from the cannery and some coal for the power plant. I am
gearing up to get equipment ready for the model and I just trying to plan a
shopping list. Once I have the plan finalized I would be happy to post it so
you (and the list) can take a look at the ideas for the model.
Once again thank you so much!!
Jon
On Sep 6, 2011, at 8:44 AM, qutlx1@aol.com wrote:
> Jon,
>
> Questions about Rochelle,IL:
>
> Here's a lengthy answer from first hand memories and conversations from
> the distant past. I did work at Rochelle for several weeks in 1973 and 1974.
> If I find anything more specific in the files I'll let you know.
>
> The engine assigned to Rochelle would have been a NW or GP7 based out of
> either Eola or Cicero. It would shuttle on the secondary thru trains or the
> wayfreight when due for inspections/maintenance. Generally it was parked
> on House 1 when not in service. All through the 70s it was a GP-7.
>
> The Rockford wayfreight continued to run each night but turned at Flag
> Center. It brought cars down to Flag where they were picked up by east and
> westbound runs and it took the Rockfords s/o by the through trains. Only
> occasionally did the Rockford wayfreight come downtown after the road
> switchers
> were put on. It went from a long winded OT job to an early quit.
>
> As to how the work was organized at Rochelle. Road switcher(s) with limits
> of Steward Jct and Flag Center. I believe it started as one and became two.
> When first proposed it was going to cover Rochelle,Oregon and Mt Morris
> and as far east as Shabbona. It didnt happen that way.
>
> Day road switcher-the west side of town,Del Monte and the can plant(2
> switches),Stockley,the C&NW transfer,etc. The job switched its cars out of
> the
> s/o on the pass and storage on the east side of town and then spent the
> balance of the day on the west side of town. Came back downtown late in the
> evening and placed it's outbound cars on the pass. They did a really nifty
> gravity drop on their cars using the mainline and can plant yard tracks. It
> was a thing to see. They would also occasionally make a drop right in front
> of the depot into the passing track or pocket.
>
> Night road switcher-The east side of town: Carnation,Swift,New
> City,Rochelle Furniture,Caron Spinning,Standard Oil,etc,etc. Switched its
> cars out of
> the pass and storage and made up the outbound pickups on same for the east
> and west through trains. Carnation was an absolute bear to switch. 4 tracks
> and I recall 8 spots each and every car had a spot. By that I mean a car in
> the Carnation yard would be assigned to 'A' track spot 4. You had to make
> up 32 cars in exact order each night. If Swift had an outbound tallow car
> it would have to go Rockford to be weighed. The night job took it to Flag
> and the Rockford wayfreight took it and returned it on another night. The
> night job switched all the 199s out of the s/o's and delivered them to 199.
> This was usually one of the first things done as it cleared a lot of track
> space.
>
> Of course either job could be found covering for the other if something had
> delayed service. Some times the exchange between the day/night job was
> literally a step on/off at the depot. Both jobs worked large amounts of OT.
> The day job was Monday-Sat and the night job Sun-Fri.
>
> 199-Was on a yearly revolving basis between the 3 RRs. When it was the Qs
> turn the jobs engine was tied up on the west end of the Kennedy track and
> the job spent almost its entire time on duty down in 199. Whoever was
> switching 199 made up cuts of cars for each RR to come down and pull out of
> the
> 199 yard.
>
> Milw: Had trackage rights Davis Jct to Steward Jct. and from that there
> was agreement that they had a crew based at Rochelle. Their engine was always
> on the Kennedy across from the depot. They switched Carnation during the
> day and Std Oil. The Milw leased UTLX tanks and had large numbers of them in
> diesel fuel service. I seem to recall that they took their cars to Rockford
> as I dont recall any Milw wayfreights picking up or setting out at
> Rochelle. The Q men were always watching to make sure the Milw didnt get any
> more
> work than had been agreed to .
>
> All the Q/BN units were fueled by a local oil company and the Rockford
> mechanical man would come down and inspect the units.
>
>
> Leo Phillipp
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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