When I first arrived in Champaign-Urbana, I noticed a single-track railroad crossing Lincoln and University diagonally. I began to think of all the traffic jams that would occur from a train crossing two major roads at once; but after two years, I haven’t seen a single train. The track is there and seems relatively well maintained, the crossing gates appear to be functional, and I even saw a lone, dormant engine on the track one time. What is keeping that track going?
As it turns out, this lonely track now only has one purpose: a weekly shipment of Solo Cups from the manufacturing facility in Urbana to be shipped across the region to provide the people with the ideal containers for soda, beer, and substandard alcoholic concoctions. The Solo Cup company is directly across from the Champaign County Jail on Lierman, its rail spur traipses north to what was once an extensive rail yard but now only provides storage for a few freight cars, then turns northwest passing just north of Downtown Urbana, south of Carle Hospital, within a few blocks of the University of Illinois before meeting the main line in North Champaign.
Back in the day, this was a major rail line in Champaign-Urbana, connecting from Danville to Pekin. The 1869-built line carried freight and passengers, so much so that a depot was built along the track in Downtown Urbana in 1922 and was used until passenger service terminated in 1957. It now enjoys a second life as the Station Theater. The opening of the Interstate Highway System following World War II proved to be a fatal blow not just for passenger service on this railroad, but for much of the freight service, too.
With new, high-speed roadways providing easier connections for the light industry along the corridor, trucks became a preferred and more cost-effective shipping option for industrial and agricultural operations, who didn’t need all the capacity of railcars. Slowly, demand decreased on much of the line, and some parts of the track became completely abandoned, fewer and fewer businesses felt the need to continue shipping via rail.
Solo Cup was the exception to the rule. In 2011, they increased production (which irked a few neighbors in the process) and have shown a strong commitment to staying in Urbana. They remain steadfast in using the three-mile remnant of a regional rail line and operating their single weekly train at odd hours.
For the rest of the line? The long term plan is called to convert the right-of-way into the Kickapoo Rail Trail, a multi-use path for jogging and cycling that will someday stretch from Urbana to Danville by way of the Kickapoo State Recreation Area. The first phase, which stretches from High Cross Road and University Avenue in Urbana to St. Joseph, recently opened and funds are currently being secured to open the line it its 25-mile entirety. Eventually, the former railroad may also provide a recreation trail through Urbana and North Champaign, but Solo isn’t too keen on giving it up. Even if Solo were to stop using the track, there is no guarantee that funding will become available to build the trail anytime soon. Furthermore, that single weekly train trip would need to be replaced by multiple trucks, adding to the traffic in the area and causing more pollution.
Maybe someday the almost 150-year old tracks will make way for a manicured trail, connecting C-U to the open fields, forests, and swamps of Eastern Illinois, or maybe Solo will continue shipping their cups from Brookens to who-knows-where for the foreseeable future. Either way, I know I’d like to see that elusive train thunder down the tracks once before it’s gone.