25846 South Frontage Road
Channahon, IL 60410-5222
At The Following Address Given, This Is The Site Of Ineos Nova, A Chemical Plant That Operates A Yellow/Purple Locomotive That Looks Like It Might Have Been Built In The Mid-1900s.
Note: Better To Type Address In Bing Maps, And Use Bird’s Eye View Please, Only Way To See The Locomotive The Best Way, Other Way Is Aerial On Google Maps/Earth, Which Isnt That Helpful
Actually, You Better Use Google Maps, Does Not Show Correct Area On Bing Maps, Sorry Though
Again, If You Can Not Find Where The Loco Is Located, Look Inside The Yard Filled With Grain Cars, And At The Tip Of The Yard Where The Tracks Turn Into 1-2 Tracks, The Loco Will Be Near The Railroad Crossing Pulling Grain Cars Out Of The Yard, I Saw This Loco, And Was Wanting To Give You More Info:
Smoke Was Coming Out Of 1-2 Stacks Located On Top Of Locomotive’s Hood, And It Is Just A Switcher Operated By That Company Or BNSF, Loco Has No Logo, Just Yellow Hood, And Purple Exterior Cab
the locomotive is an Alco S-2 (?) one exhaust stack and one radiator fan on the outboard end of the long hood. # RE 1009. the photographer (Michael ONeil) indicates the location as Channahon, Il. Date of picture is 08/01/1973. So it probably likely there has been a repaint an/or heavy maintenance on the locomotive since the picture was taken.
I kind of thought that the tank cars in the picture would also indicate possibly the Ineos Nove Chemical plant.[%-)]
Anyway, That’s my guess! So if I win you can e-mail me where to send the check![C):-)]
Well, in 1973 it appears to have been an ALCo S2 working for Rexene Polymers. See [link]http://www.ineos-nova.com/AboutUs/Locations/LMenu.htm[/link] and [link]http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1506132[/link] More recently, it was BASF from 1992 to 2005, when it was purchased by INEOS. Looking eastward with the Bing “bird’s eye view” of the plant on the north side of W. Durkee Rd. - labeled as Dow Chemical for whatever reason - the loco’s cab is mostly yellow - only the cab roof appears to be purple, and maybe a couple stripes along the top and bottom of the sides. Although I’m no diesel expert, it looks like it could be an ALCo S2 to me - maybe someone else can provide better info from this. In the other yard on the south side of W. Durkee Rd., the dark blue (?) loco in the middle of the southern yard ladder - as again seen looking eastward with the Bing “bird’s eye view” of that yard - also labeled as Dow Chemical for whatever reason - is clearly an EMD SW-switcher of some kind - note the characteristic ‘wasp waist’ as seen in that view. - Paul North.
With RELCO nearby in next-door Minooka, it could be anything. Factor in BNSF and its new Logistics park next door and it’s wide open.
How about some geographic coordinates if you want folks to look? Bing and Google are better than nothing, but not by much. (a lot of their GIS metadata is suspect)
Funny coincidence that Sam and I both headed to the same source to look for possible photos of the unit, and about the same time, and picked the same one - there are 2 others there as well, but not as illustrative, in my opinion.
I did a search for ALCo S2’s in Illinois on RP.net, and came back with 9 photos. None appeared to be the subject unit, but here’s a link to a photo from August 2009 that shows one still operating in Mattoon, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. It also shows some spotting features - stack, radiator grille, etc. pretty clearly-
One thing we don’t know - as mudchicken alludes to the questionable ‘metadata’ -is the date of the Bing or Google aerial and ‘bird’s-eye’ view photos . . . [%-)] I am always mindful of John H. White, Jr.'s - former Curator of Transportation etc. at the Smithsonian Institution Museum - aphorism that ‘‘The proof of good history is in its sources’’. The same is true of Internet information - and GIS info and survey data, as the MC, I, and a few others here well know.
Since no one has addressed the ‘Year Built’ question, a wild guess would be sometime in the 1940’s - 1950’s - I don’t know much about ALCo’s production history, but there are others who do. This source - usual disclaimers apply - says they were built from 1940 - 1950 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_S-2_and_S-4 There’s a roster of ‘who-built-for’ data at - http://www.thedieselshop.us/Alco_S2.HTML