Bloomer Shippers Connecting Railroad

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Bloomer Shippers Connecting Railroad
logo_filename=Bloomer_Line_logo.gif
logo_size=
old_gauge=
marks=BLOL
locale=Central Illinois
start_year=1985
end_year=present
hq_city=Gibson City, Illinois

The Bloomer Shippers Connecting Railroad (or Bloomer Line) Reporting mark|BLOL, headquartered in Gibson City, Illinois, is a Class III railroad serving agricultural communities in east-central Illinois.

History

In June 1985, the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG) sold a portion of its circuitous route between Kankakee and Bloomington to a new spin-off railroad company which called itself "The Bloomer Line" (after the ex-Illinois Central Railroad division it had purchased). Specifically, the Bloomer Line purchased the right-of-way between Herscher and Barnes. The railroad has since taken the line between Herscher and Kempton and Barnes and Colfax out of service.

At Chatsworth, the Bloomer Line makes a connection with the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway. In May 1990, the railroad purchased from the Norfolk and Western Railway its ex-Wabash Railway line from near Risk south to Gibson City. Connections to N&W successor Norfolk Southern and ICG successor Canadian National Railway are made at Gibson City.

Operations

The Bloomer Line is owned by Alliance Grain Company, which owns the eight grain elevators served by the railroad. It is primarily a grain transporter, shipping carloads of corn, soybeans and wheat from these silos to the connecting railroads, but also serves several other industries, including a soybean processing plant in Gibson City.

Bloomer Line locomotives are painted bright red and labelled in a font which looks very similar to that used on the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

Locomotive maintenance was conducted at Chatsworth until shops were constructed at Gibson City after that line was purchased.

External links

* [http://www.alliance-grain.com/contents.asp?id=3731 Alliance Grain] Official Bloomer Line Website
* [http://dhke.com/schs/schs106.htm Bloomer Line Map and History site]
* [http://www.daylightimages.com/trackside/bloomer1.html The Bloomer Line: Geeps in the Heartland in Chinese Red]