I received some much needed downtime this weekend and got to go look at trains in Illinois. I focused my exploration on Jacksonville and Roodhouse, mainly on the ex-Alton, GM&O, ICG, (regional carrier whose name escapes me at the moment), Gateway Western, KCS.
Does anyone know anything about KCS’s branch line to Jacksonville, Illinois? I noticed there was a chemical plant in Jacksonville on the line with several GATX hoppers in it. Is that the only thing keeping the line alive or is there interchange with BNSF and/or NS in Jacksonville? How often does the line see trains, and are they very long? Although the line was clearly still used, it did not look like it was in the greatest of shape. Also, I did not notice any sort of a yard for interchange or other Jacksonville business.
Secondly, does the line from Roodhouse to Springfield get much traffic? I want to say I once saw where KCS does its Chicago interchange with the IC in Springfield. I once saw a 100 car double box car train on this line, which would suggest as much. But, then again, it was pulled by a pair of switch engines. The line to Springfield was certainly in better shape than the line to Jacsonville. But, I don’t expect heavy coal to be moving over it any time soon . . . Does anyone know what the traffic density of this line is? Are there any major customers east of Roodhouse other than the IC interchange?
In sharp contrast to above, the Kansas City and Saint Louis extensions of this line looked like they were in excellent shape and well traveled.
Up until the line was truncanted in the mid-1980, the former Alton/GM&O/ICG track in Jacksonville went all the way to Bloomington, IL The ICG wasn’t exactly one of the more sucessful railroads, having scaled back significatly by the late 1980s. At one time, the GM&O even offered interurban passanger service on this track until discontinnued in the early 1960s. The former Alton railroad station in Jacksonville was rennovated sometime around 1990 and is used as an Italian restaurant called Lonzerotti’s.
Is the restaurant any good? My wife wanted to stop there. As she is Italian–not simply Italian-American–I was concerned that it would not meet with her high standards. But, we were close to stopping.
Do you have any idea what the traffic is like for this line?
Well, it wasn’t exactly interurban service…It was an old dudlebug that ran each way between Bloomington, IL and Kansas City six days per week.
That chemical plant in Jacksonville is what saved the line north from Roodhouse to Jacksonville. For years freight service on the line between Bloomington and Roodhouse had been operated (using GM&O F units!) with one train per day, six days per week. They went south one day and came back north the next.
The ICG lost a bridge south of Mason City and began operating the line with turns out of Bloomington and Roodhouse to avoid the expense of repairing a bridge on a hopeless line. The line had little traffic and even smaller prospects to develp any traffic. It was a “Poster Line” for branch line abandonment. But that chemical plant saved part of it.
As a note to how things changed with paved roads and the canalization of the Illinois River, Mason City once had a C&A roundhouse.