Chicago and Eastern Illinois

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

There is a current thread on the C&EI doodlebug passenger service which ran in the 50’s. It has been an interesting conversation which has opened my eyes to the C&EI. I grew up in Southern Illinois, between 2 lines of C&EI, so it never really was a railroad of interest to me.

However, I must ask this question. Was there a more functional regional railroad?

Take a look at it route structure. There wasnt much fat on the bone.

The line ran down the eastern edge of Illinois. At Woodland Jct the line split, one line continuing to Danville, Terre Haute, and the terminus at Evansville. The other line ran from Woodland Jct to the division point of Villa Grove and then it split again at Findlay. One line continued to St. Louis, the other to Chaffee, Mo. There were a couple of branch lines, but even these were strategic…tapping into coal reserves mainly.

So, I ask you to consider the case for the Chicago and Eastern Illinois. Was there another mid 20th century regional railroad that is as a system as important as this one?

I will now shift to the present. Consider the mainline from Chicago south to Woodland Jct…a busy joint mainline for UP and CSX. The line to Evansville is CSX’s main artery to the south. The UP side serves two functions St. Louis and a St. Louis bypass.

Hot southwestern traffic can bypass St. Louis. Coal from PR can move via Kansas City to St Louis and up the line, as can other manifest traffic.

There is not much of the original line which is not in service today, which is a strong indicator of the value of this line.

Also interesting is how the line “wishbones” at Woodland Jct and at Findlay, thus concentrating traffic over one route.

All in all, I would say the C&EI was a pretty valuable property.

Which other mid 20th century regionals would you nominate for MVP (most valuable property)?

ed

2

RF&P would be another consideration, although it was less a regional than the ultimate bridge line. Potomac Yard may be gone, but the rest of the line is intact as a part of CSX.

3

That is a great one. Probably even more valuable than C&EI.

As I was thinking after I originally posted, I came up with several other points about the C&EI:

  1. It’s route today is integral in the flow of freight bypassing Chicago. CN and UP interchange at Kinmundy, CSX and UP at Salem/St. Elmo, NS at Sidney. Those are trains that stay out of the spaghetti bowl of Chicago or St. Louis.

  2. I dont think it has any grades to speak of.

  3. Mostly single track CTC and fairly high speeds.

  4. The Chicago Yard is pretty well located (Yard Center).

I dont think the line originates much business. Nate had indicated when he was at Danville they switched quite a bit of agricultural, but I dont think elsewhere it is a big revenue producer. Perhaps Chicago Heights. Dont know about Southern Illinois grain or coal tho.

Does anyone know any good books on the line?

ed

4

ed

Looks like you might find something at the C&EI Historical Society site.

http://www.ceihs.org/index.html

I think they suggest some reading.

5

My nomination for another MVP would be the Spokane, Portland & Seattle which handled trains of both the GN and NP in the pacific northwest. The Florida East Coast might be another candidate.

6

Ed-
Funny, you should bring this up as I’ve been getting interested in the C&EI lately myself. The C&EI was rather interesting and definitely served a vital artery to souther Illinois rail transport.

Still, if we are including current short lines in the mix I nominate the Midwest’s steel pipeline, the Indiana Harbor Belt. The IHB still holds an important place in Chicagoland as well as in my heart.

Mike

7

SP&S would definately get some votes.

Mike, the IHB is really valuable, not only as a steel hauler, but as a tollroad, if you will thru Chicago. They pretty much have it all, except speed. Lots of local work, transfers, heavy manifests and coal trains, plus intermodal. They have two important yards…Blue Island and Gibson, which is flat switched to make up auto trains.

I just finished a book on the Wabash. While on a per mileage basis, they would not be as valuable as CEI, SPS, IHB, and RF&P, they had some really strong things going for them:

  1. Service to these major rail terminals: Buffalo, Detroit, Toledo, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha. They were unusual in that they crossed the Mississippi River. Granted their service to Omaha wasnt top notch…and I doubt if their Buffalo service was much to write home about, but that is quite a roster of points served.
  2. Not only did they serve the above points, but they had the ability to AVOID Chicago and St. Louis on east/west traffic. How valuable is that today?
  3. A major yard (not hump) at the X point in the system…Decatur. How flexible is that? Decatur can classify trains for St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit and other points.
  4. Chicago going east was weak…that is where the NKP came in, but the Chicago - Toledo line could have been built to higher standards if necessary, thus connecting Chicago and Detroit at Montpelier.
  5. There were few branchlines. The lines to Des Moines, Keokuk, and Streator were not that big.
  6. The line was mainly single track, and then CTC was added.

The Wabash obviously became a very valuable property (V V P) of the NW and then the NS. Not quite MVP, but pretty high on the list.

ed