Yesterday I was out for a ride, and ended up coming into Coal City IL from the south and west. I went over a grade crossing that had it’s lights covered, then looked to my left and saw the wye seems like it wasn’t finishined. After getting home, I looked it up on Maps and sure enough, it looks like a UP spur with a wye that goes nowhere. Does anyone know why it’s there?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2467493,-88.2840719,234m/data=!3m1!1e3
That would explain it, thanks! I did see a sign for something about the Inland Rail Park while I was riding, but didn’t turn around to read more.
(1) Not a wye…missing a leg
(2) Appears they got permission to cross the road from the ICC and then ran out of bucks. Looks mothballed (expensive private crossing)
(3) UP won’t serve that until a lot more happens, starting with a run-around track. IL-DOT/FRA have not issued a DOT# for the crossing yet either.
I’ll would kind of be surprised if nothing else happens there. What Maps doesn’t show is that just to the north, after turning east onto Reed Road is a brand new (sand?) loading yard with somewhere around 13 tracks. Apple Maps actually shows the land being developed for that facility, so it’s fairly new. I checked the IL ICC site and found the spur/wye was built in Jan 2016 and has a DOT # of 700188O, more data here: https://icc.illinois.gov/rail-safety/crossing/700188O/inventory