Illinois Central Monday Mornin’ Rails,
Life Along the Main Line of Mid-America
by: Jim Boyd
Andover Junction Publishers, 1994
It took me over ten years, but I finally purchased Jim Boyd’s memoirs of the Illinois Central. I am glad I waited all these years, because like a good bottle of wine, this book aged quite well. I am not sure if I would have enjoyed the book when published in 1994, it has taken a series of events in my life, including the abandonment of MY Illinois Central branch line to realize how fleeting life is and how valuable good memories can be as we advance in age.
Boyd traces the Illinois Central Railroad’s involvement with his own life from the early days in Dixon, Il in the late 40’s and 50’s. We are treated to Boyd’s stunning black and white photography of the hometown branchline, but more importantly we are the recipients of his written word, which along with the photographs give us a bird’s eye view of the Illinois Central in transition. One can almost hear the steam whistle’s thru Dixon, as an engineer “gang’s up” his signals.
College days in Champaign, Il (University of Illinois) are covered as Boyd and friends chase steam, mostly on the Illinois Central. We are led thru the IC’s purchase of turbocharged diesels and are a party to their passenger fleet. The photograph of train 108 street running thru Murphysboro, Illinois; while taken on a grey cloudy day is priceless.
We witness IC’s conversion from black to orange/white. For some of us, who only saw the faded, dirty orange and white units, it is a treat to see freshly painted units. That is about the only positive thing I have to say about the orange paint scheme. The Paducah rebuilds are discussed, as are the Alco’s and GE units that were purchased. Oh the times were a changin.
In 1967 Boyd took a job with EMD as a “field instructor” which entailed delivering new units to railroads. The book now turns to the southern part of the Illinois Cent
I saw my first IC train in El Paso, IL on that line through Dixon. It was, IIRC, typical Illinois late winter with wide open fields that allowed you to see the entire train of 80 or so cars from a long way a way. Five black Geeps with Green Diamonds made a wonderous sight.
When I went to work for the ICG one of my first assignments was to work on abandonments. We never considered that line to be a “branch”. It was the original main line - properly known as “The Charter Line” . The IC was literally the “Central” railroad of the state and its original line ran pretty much down the center from Freeport on the northern border to Cairo on the southern tip. Until Illinois got a new State Constitution around 1970 the govenor sat on the railroad’s board of directors as the railroad was in the Illinois Constitution.
Today, I-39 paralells much of the abandoned “Charter LIne”. Whenever I drive I-39 I have a tendancy to think of those black Geeps with Green Diamonds.
What happened to the traffic on that line? It sounds as if there was quite a bit at one time. Was it used as a “shortcut” on Iowa grain to the port and then re-routed? In fact, it seems there has been an enormous drop off also on the Iowa line. Boyd talked that there was an average of 6-8 freight trains daily, now I believe it is only 1 each way.
Of course, the UP’s direct line to Chicago took care of most of it.
Did you work on the abandonment of the IC’s Mattoon - Evansville line?
Very little information exists for the 90’s in this book, as this book was a look at the IC and Boyd’s interwoven relationship. This is not a history book per se, although there is quite a bit to be gleaned from reading it. The book does touch very briefly with what happened to the IC parts, such as the Iowa Division (this was written before IC repurchased the line), but for the most part you can gather more information on the IC’s 1990’s elsewhere.
I need to add the book was originally priced in the $50 - 60 range. I picked this up for $19…a BARGAIN. I picked it up thru Historical Rail, a railroad book company.
Ed:
Like you, I grew up along the Illinois Central, but in Memphis, Tn. Along the freight bypass line through the East part of town. Where as children hear the large steam engines whistling for crossings in the area, and steam engines working under a strain as they pulled heavy freight up the slight incline in the area were apart of the daily sounds. My experiences delt with the IC in Memphis, and South [below the Magnolia Curtain]. This was back when it was the double tracked “Mainline of Mid-America” where fast freights and faster passenger trains ruled. When tales of the “City” and the “Panama” going through Mississippi Delta communities “so fast that the train was through town before the hammer on the gong at the crossing only got to a half-cocked position” ; “So fast they would suck the trash out of the ditches on both sides of the line” It wasquite a railroad with a lore, and heros all its own .
Sam
Well, IIRC, north of Clinton it was part of the Iowa Division.
The Iowa Division’s traffic base was 1) Meat, and 2) UP interchange. By the 1960’s both we going away. The meat was going over the road and the UP was favoring other routs, primarily the C&NW.
This was before my time, but in the deep bowls of the Northwestern University Transportaion Library there was a copy of “The Iowa Experiment”. The railroad proposed a plan to get its business back by offering better service by running more frequent, faster trains.
They wanted (gasp!) three person crews on these trains. The number of trains operated would have been increased, including the trains operated on the old “Charter Line” through Dixon.
Firemen would have been promoted to engineers and brakement/flagmen would have been promoted to conductor. This would have hurt the unions that represented the brakement/flagmen/firemen, but helped their members. Not wanting to loose their own cushy jobs, the heads of these unions blocked the proposal. Despite the fact that this meant lower pay and layoffs to the people they claimed to represent.
We tried to work on developing traffic on the Iowa Division. But we were using four crews (some of which still had a fireman) to move a train 500 miles - there just wasn’t anyway we were going to compete for that meat with
Interesting observations. My how things changed when UP and CNW hooked up. Do you recall the interchange UP did with each of the Omaha - Chicago carriers in say…1965 (on a percentage basis)? The Rock had some, as did IC, no doubt CNW had quite a bit, and perhaps even MILW. What about the CBQ and the Chicago Great Western?
My travels over the years have taken me to Dubuque for business and I have always been intrigued by the Iowa Division, in whatever form of ownership it has been under. It seems as if it has been well maintained, but there simply are very few trains!
I recall several years ago when IC repurchased it, I got a big SEC type document outlining the purchase and all the details involved. Unfortunately, I threw it away (but thankfully didnt sell the stock!). It would make interesting reading now. I always thought the line, particularly from Dubuque to Chciago would see more traffic, but CN purchased WC and the western Canadian traffic went that way rather than on the BN.
Regarding lunch…that must have been quite a stipulation in their contract. I remember back in the 70’s seeing the operator at Effingham hand up lunch to crews. I even have a couple of pictures of it.