The Clues:
This city had its name in a early 2-footer in the eastern part of the state. It was suppost to be halfway between two points, but ended up as the southern terminus. Over the years the line fragmented, with the section between Brocton and Sidell lasting the longest. The line started in Danville, and never made the Ohio River.
Good Luck to all who attempt!
Is the town still served by an eastern class 1, and also had another central class 1, of which a short spur still exists ?
It is still served by a class 1, but there is another railline through there, but there is another line that is not a spur (could be a shortline)
Okay, I was thinking it was Olney.
Is it in the industrial area, way up north?
Hey Dale…that’s my hometown, or at least close to it!
The old PDE ran thru it and was abandoned. The IC line from Mattoon has been lifted except for a couple of miles thru town to serve a couple of industries and a grain elevator. CSX main to St. Louis ex B&O still serves it.
ed
My Great-grandfather was born in Olney, but it was the original one in Buckinghamshire across the pond.
This one kinda failed, the answer was Olney, but I misread my maps on what railroads go through there. The railroad name wes the Danville, Olney, & Ohio River.
Delmar:
Oh crazy one, are you sure there was a railraod by that name going thru there? I lived in a little town 7 miles north (Dundas) and there was the IC line that came from Mattoon and also a line from Danville…but I didnt know it was of that name.
Where did you find the map?
ed
Ah-ha.
At first I thought you were looking at the Nickel Plate line through Sidell, and then I remembered your 4th Where is it.
I’m not sure when Indiana Hi-Rail stopped serving Olney, it must have been in the late 1990s.
The line was pulled up in 1996. A sad day.
The real interesting thing about that little railroad was how much the townfolks identified with it. Remember, this was (is) a town of 100 people. As a kid, when the local came thru we stopped and watched it.
We walked the tracks…hunting rabbits, trapping critters, fishing in the creek, or best of all picking mushrooms in the spring. Sometimes we just walked. About a quarter of a mile south of town was a big woods. Another half mile was Long Branch Creek. After church after lunch we would walk…and throw rocks in the creek, or shoot the BB gun at empty cans.
Today the tracks are gone and the ROW is being reclaimed by nature. No Trespassing signs tell us we can no longer take a Sunday afternoon walk. It is now a “hunting club”.
As a kid I would roll my eyes when dad talked of taking the train to Olney for high school in the late 1920’s. If he stayed for a basketball game, he would walk home…7 miles up the track and then another mile to his house. He told lots of stories about the trains, the tracks and growing up. I see the same look in my boy’s eyes sometimes when I tell them my stories, but it really is a shame they cannot build their bank of memories.
ed
I wonder what the line would be like if it still existed. I may hafta make a paint shceme (sp?) for it.
Crazy is correct, except we are talking 3 ft gage instead of two foot and the NG only got to Willow Hill. (They standard gaged in summer of 1881 and built into Olney in 1882) The E-W IC line you speak of is the ill-fated Springfield, Effingham and SouthEastern RR which is now the west end of INRD…Cloverleaf (TC&SL) set out for Mattoon but changed their alignment at Charleston and went further north & west (eventually became NKP…DO&OR and SE&SE crossed at Willow Hill…
That is interesting. Time to get the maps out. [8D]
Including the ones from the early 1900’s!
Here is somthing of interest, altough its not high quality:
