First train for terminal

Finishing touches on a new multi-million rail terminal were being completed last week when the first train arrived at the facility northwest of Polo.

Gary Bocker, owner of the Bocker Ruff LLC grain terminal, said the first train pulled in around 7 a.m. on May 26.

Before any grain would be poured into a rail car, the employees at the facility had to complete a mandatory safety course.

George Ferris, a retired Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) employee, was hired as a contractor through NARS (National Academy of Railroad Science) to run the course.

"Don't step on the rails - ever," said Ferris to to the workers. "Cross the tracks at least 25 feet in front of the engine."

The safety course included both classroom work and hands on experience with the train.

"Our employees will be operating the train when it is being loaded," said Bocker. "We expect to finish loading  a train in about eight hours."

Even the owner of the facility was required to complete the training.

When Ferris showed the employees the proper technique of climbing the ladder on the side of a train car in order to set the brake, Bocker was one of the first to try it.

"Always radio the engineer before you go between rail cars," said Ferris. "Remember safety not speed."

Once the initial hands on demonstration was finished, the first corn was loaded onto a rail car.

"The corn is sampled on the first floor, and an operator on the second floor fills the train," said Bocker. "There are also backup systems in the main office."

For the first train car, workers were on hand to make sure the chute to fill the car was at the proper height and the rubber skirt was attached properly.

Workers also adjusted the conveyer belts used to transport the grain to the filling chute.

Once the first couple of cars were filled, the speed to fill each car increased.

Bocker, who has owned and operated Bocker Grain Inc. north of Polo for 40 years, teamed up with Consolidated Grain and Barge Co., and Ruff Brothers Grain Company, Toluca, approximately four years ago to build the area's only rail terminal especially for corn.

Early in the planning process, the cost of the facility was estimated at approximately $14 million.

The facility, with three 400,000 bushel bins and one 150,000 bushel bin, is on U.S. 52 near the T-intersection with Ill. 26.

The four towering grain bins have been full of corn since last fall, just waiting for the railroad spur to be completed across the field from the nearby BNSF tracks.

The spur curves up from the railroad to the loading area near the bins and then back down to the tracks, where the trains will take their loads of corn south to Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico.

The looped track will be large enough for a train with 110 grain cars and four engines.

Planning for the rail terminal began about four years ago when Bocker and Jesse Ruff chose a location and worked out the details for the business.

Construction was slated to begin in 2009, but various delays postponed the groundbreaking to 2010.

Wet weather last spring caused construction delays, as crews, heavy equipment, and semis bringing materials to the job site had to deal with melting snow, pouring rain, mud, and standing water.

Getting ready to lay the railroad tracks was no small project.

"Getting the dirt moved was the big thing," Bocker said.

Because the spur must be on level ground for loading cars, 16 to 18 feet of earth had to be removed from one area and then that much added in another spot.

The ground had to be built up a few inches at a time and then worked done. The area had to be dry as well before the tracks could be laid.

All the operations at the grain terminal will be controlled by computers inside a small office building.

The terminal will employ four or five people full-time and that many more when trains are being loaded.

Another small building nearby will house a federal inspector who will go over random samples taken from each train car to make sure the grain being loaded meets several quality requirements.

Bocker said the bins were filled soon after the facility opened for business last October.

The corn in them came mostly from elevators in Wisconsin.

"Because of the early harvest, the season was almost over when we opened. Wisconsin was running out of elevator space, and we were paying more than they were up there," Bocker said.

He hopes to start buying grain again once the bins start emptying out.

Farmers interested in selling corn at the terminal should visit the Bocker Ruff Grain website at www.bockerruff.com or by calling 815-946-2033.

The facility superintendent is Paul Behrends and the merchandiser is Alicia Ackerman.

Bocker said he anticipates his customers will be local farmers who will save transportation costs by having the rail terminal so close to home rather than taking the corn to the Illinois River.

"We hope they can make at least 10 cents more for a bushel of corn," he said