Other than a few scraggly trees and old code line poles, the landscape around Risk, Illinois, is pretty flat and bare. With 25 empty potash cars in tow, Bloomer Line GP10's 7591 and 7504 head south towards the Norfolk Southern interchange in Gibson City.
Photos showing the railroad pole lines. The pole line used four basic electrical circuits - telegraph, telephone, signaling, and power. Modern technologies of fiber optics, microwave, radio, satellite, and computers have been replacing the pole lines.