One of my favorite past times with my three-year old daughter is to watch train videos on YouTube. There were three pretty good videos of the ICG’s Sparta division, which leads me to a few questions:
(1) Does anyone know why the ICG decided to eventually abandoned this line in favor of the IC’s line into Saint Louis. This month’s Trains’ map of the month showed that the Sparta division, ex GM&O had the more traffic of the two.
(2) What was traffic like on this line after the merger, say post 1975? I assume there were a few coal mines?
(3) My current maps show about a 100-mile segment of this line still exists. What is this line used for? How does the IC currently access it?
I can’t speak to the traffic questions, but looking at my 1978 St Louis Division Condensed Profile, I can make a guess about why the Sparta District was reduced in use compared to the St Louis District to Centralia District for the same end points.
Sparta District:
Cairo Jct, MP 496.6 to E. St Louis, MP 644.4. 147.8 miles on jointed rail, mostly mixed 112 and 115#, with heavy grades up to 2%, numerous curves of 2, 3 and 4 degrees and higher, single track. ( My SPV Railroad Atlas indicates that the track west of about Baldwin, MP 600 to ESL has been abandoned.)
St Louis/Centralia Districts:
E St Louis, MP 0.0 to Du Quion, MP 70.0. 70 miles on mixed 112/115# welded rail, grades less than 1%, curves no more than 2 degrees, single track
Du Quion, MP 287.6 to Cairo Jct, MP 361.6. 74 miles on 115# mostly welded rail, few if any grades over 1%, some curves up to 4 degrees, double track
Total distance 144 miles on better track. So just from an operating characteristics standpoint, the GM&O route doesn’t compare too well.
The icg used that line steady for coal train use with a mixed freight and a intermodel train til ( my dates may be off some ) 1988 then it went all coal trains til 1993 ish when the river king mine in freeburg, il closed . this line from est.st.louis to sparta had several weak spots and derailments was a common thing the pull thru belleville was a hard pull. they quit using the line for several years then the Unoin pacific went in and compleatly re-done it.around 2005 they hauled coal for a few years and this last year ive not seen any traffic on this line but it seems they are still using it as the rails are very shiny and they have rebuilt 2 bridges. they union pacific has leased most of the IC old coal lines in southern illinois.
Back in the years 1937 through 1960 when I was growing up in Pinckneyville, the line through Sparta belonged to the Missouri Pacific. A Doodlebug made a daily trip from Mount Vernon to Chester and return on that line, passing through Sparta and Pinckneyville.
From Chester a line ran along the Mississippi River up to Dupo, Illinois, where the MOP had a large yard. The tracks continued north from Dupo along the river, but I don’t remember how far.
At some point they crossed the Mississippi into Saint Louis because MOP passenger trains used to enter Union Station; probably on Eads Bridge.
Somewhere south of Chester the MOP crossed the Mississippi into Missouri. I think this crossing was in the vicinity of Cape Girardeau.
The MOP crossed the Thebes Bridge south of the Cape Girardeau area. This is the line that runs through north arkansas and thru Little Rock for now used by UP and Amtrak.
You wouldn’t know the Heggemier family from Pinckneyville, would you? I used to work with a Dan Heggemier from Pinckneyville in the late 70’s, early 80’s. Just asking.
The ex-GM&O line from Cairo to E. St. Louis became redundant as a through route after the IC-GM&O merger. Trains using this line crossed the Ohio River on the IC bridge at Cairo then ran through Sparta to E. St. Louis. (For bonus points, what famous film used the depot at Sparta as its starting and ending points.)
The alternative was to use the IC main line from Cairo to Du Quoin, then a 73 mile long (or so) “branch” to E. St. Louis. The IC main wasn’t going away so it made sense to ditch as much of the the GM&O as possible and save the maintenance/ownership/operating costs. (hauling the coal was still desireable) It was also benificial to concentrate the traffic into one yard in E. St. Louis
The GM&O line was originally built as the narrow gauge Cairo & St. Louis starting in 1871. Its principal traffic was always coal. When the Mobile & Ohio reached the Ohio it looked to the C&St.L as a way to get to St. Louis. It bought the line, standard gauged it, and used it as a through route. This was no longer needed after the IC merger.
The line was difficult to operate. It went over “Alto Pass”. Before I went to work for the ICG I never knew there was a “Pass” in Illinois. This difficulty of operation contributed to the desire to route all traffic possible away from the line.
The railroad seemed to find places like “Alto Pass” and build tracks there. The highest point in Illinois is Scales Mound near Dubuque. The IC built a railroad right over the top of it. It also found a place to build a mile long tunnel in Illinois. Who’d a thunk it?
As an aside, the MoP main line passenger trains didn’t run down the east side of the Missisippi. The MoP line south from E. St. Louis was a freight route (Cotton Belt had rights) that crossed the river at Thebes. Main lin
Furthermore, did you know the Herrin family? I believe the father was a minister in P’ville. His two sons became very good basketball coaches in Illinois. Ron Herrin coached at Olney and Benton. His brother Rich coached at Herrin and then at Southern Illinois University. Both were excellent men as well as excellent coaches.
Correction: Sparta, Ill. is located on what’s left of the Sparta Subdivision, then owned by the Missouri-Illinois Railroad. This Subdivision ran southwesterly from Salem, Ill. (the C.& E.I. + B.& O. connection) through Centralia (I.C. + Sou. + C.B.& Q.), Nashville (L.& N.), Sparta (G.M.& O.), Flinton (MoPac), and on to Kellogg Dock on the Mississippi River. The MoPac Pinckneyville Subdivision between Mount Vernon, Ill. and Chester had no direct physical connection with the Sparta Sub.
I once knew a Melbert T. Eggemeyer who worked as a brakeman with conductor Foster Kerr on the Pinckneyville Local. Both men were some pretty colorful characters.
Boy, you gotta be careful what to believe on these forums… wabash1 seems to be describing the former IC St Louis District, not the Sparta District, although most of the info is incorrect for either line. The IC line (today’s CN St Louis Subdivision) did not go to “all coal trains” in 1993, as there were 2 pair of freight / intermodal trains still on the route into the 2000’s, as well as other coal traffic, including UP haulage trains bound for Baldwin IL ( after they switched to western coal) and Paducah KY. Gradually CN lost the UP business but Baldwin trains now come up the St Louis Sub from Duquoin as they are recieved from BNSF in Centralia. CN also gave up the intermodal business in St Louis and shifted most of the manifest traffic. Today, a local operates from Duquoin to E st Louis and back 6 nights a week. Prairie State power plant will bring a new limestone/fly ash daily unit train along part of the route starting late 2011, and NS will start running a pair of trains along the line with their new trackage rights to Fulton KY beginning late 2011. Also, the UP has not “leased out” any old IC coal lines in southern IL… not sure where that comment came from.
As for the CN Sparta Sub, a local operates a few times a week along the remaining portion between Baldwin and Percy, and there are daily UP coal trains on their CN trackage rights through Sparta. CN has trackage rights from Sparta to Coulterville on UP. The route was abandoned south of Murphysboro early on in 1980 due to lack of online traffic and severe grades over Alto Pass. Most of the rest of the route was abandoned as traffic dried up, and IC gained the trackage rights over UP to Sparta to service the remaining business around there.
The UP line through Sparta was actually owned by the Missouri-Illinois RR at that time, before becoming part of MoPac. The Mt Vernon-Chester line through Pinckneyville (today’s UP Pinckneyville Subdivision) does not go through Sparta. These lines are not what the author of this thread is referring to.
Greyhound I will bite on your question, as I know exactly what movie featured Sparta, IL and the gm&o. It was a 1967 murder mystery entitled “In the Heat of the Night”, featuring the fictional Bill Gillespie, who was played by Rod Steiger. It was a story about a police chief from the Bronx, who ended up in a very racist Sparta, Missippi, which Sparta, IL filled in for.
The movie indeed was “In the Heat of the Night”. It was set in Mississippi, with Rod Steiger as the small-town police chief and Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs, a homicide detective from Philadelphia PA who was visiting family in that town when he was hauled in as a suspect in a murder case.