Members Keith Kittinger, Rick Bivins, Steve Miller, and Will Kling visited the HO layout of Mark
Nolan, near Nashville, TN, last month for an operating session. Mark models the Illinois Central on
his 3-level layout. Thanks to Will King for the photos.
by Gary Ostlund
The railroads were big on paperwork. This story is taken from the book: “Blow the Whistle Softly” an anthology by the late Ruth Eckes, a friend of mine in Federal Way, Washington. She published a series of six books, all short stories by railroaders from all around the country. Ruth graduated from HS in 1944, went to the Northern Pacific Railway telegraph-operators school in Jamestown, ND. Her first assignment as a full-fledged telegrapher was at Kanaskat, Washington, way up in the Cascade Mountains. There was an outhouse, no running water or electricity. Ruth was 17 years old. Ten Blackbirds, by Bill Harshfield – Maple Valley, Washington.
Accident reports to “railroad brass” sometimes required “word pictures” to get the point across to them. The following section foreman story is an example: A section foreman, while going to work one morning, derailed his track motor car causing quite a lot of damage to the “speeder.”* He made out the required customary accident reports in detail explaining the cause, any injuries – if any, the amount damage, what could have been done to prevent the accident, etc. He then sent it to the superintendent’s office. By return mail he received a very caustic note telling him his report was entirely too long, and for him to fill out a new, much shorter one. This he did, and here was his report: “Ten blackbirds were sitting on the rail, nine flew away. One was a rock”.
* speeder is another name for motor car, a picture (above) I took of Roger Sackett of Renton, Washington. In 1987, we took a ride on his Speeder on the former Milwaukee Road in the Snoqualmie Pass area. The majority of the former Milwaukee right-of-way is now a deluxe hiking and biking trail. Today you can trek safely from Seattle to the Idaho border, with occasional breaks. These “Speeders” as they were called, have not been used by the railroads for many years, and their disposal created a whole new railfan hobby.
In this case, Sackett purchased this unit from a scrapper. It had no engine but otherwise was in good condition. He mounted a Briggs & Stratton with some creative bicycle type chain drive and Wahlah. Those handles sticking out from the front, slide to the rear and made it possible for a worker to lift the unit off the rails from the front or rear. The short wheel-base creates a very low center-of-gravity, and with little effort you can wheel-barrow the Speeder away from the track for a passing train. The railroads had designated places for such removal, called “Set-offs,” where wooden planks permanently secured to the ties, between the rails, to create a relatively even surface and a platform of sorts extended away from the active rails. Or you could use a highway crossing like we did numerous times. Roger is using a come-along to literally drag the Speeder around the errant log.
The Milwaukee line across the Cascades had been closed since 1980. We successfully got the speeder past this obstruction, only to find another around the next curve. Hah. We turned around and went back and beyond where we “set-on.” And enjoyed the day. Speeder enthusiasts have their own organization called NARCOA, (North American Rail Car Operators Association). You can barely see the baseplate of a scissors jack under the rig. He can wind it down and do a U-turn, anywhere.
By William Farrell
On December 21st the Western Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in conjunction with Golden Ticket Theaters held a community event for the children of Madisonville, Kentucky. All children 12 years old and under were allowed into the theater free for a special showing of the Christmas classic movie, “The Polar Express”.
With the cooperation of the Hopkins County School system all second graders in the county received a ticket to the movie for December 21. In the information that was sent home from school was the date and time of the shows. The show was open to any child with or without a ticket. Just like in the movie the children were asked to wear their pajamas to the theater. In fact, the theater manager encouraged her staff to wear their pajamas to work that evening.
Our chapter has several members that have strange resemblance to some of the chapters in the movie. We were able to provide a Santa Claus, conductor, engineer, firemen, and a great looking waiter. We had a hobo but unfortunately the covid bug had him at home. Oh, I almost forgot and one large elf. The chapter had two Polar Express back drops hanging in the theater lobby. Parent of the children were
encouraged to take pictures of their child with one or all the characters provided by our chapter. That seemed to be a big hit with the parents and the children who were attending. The truth is I think the chapter members who were dressed in costume had more fun than the people attending the show. Two of the wives of members baked cookies and in between shows we partied in the lobby of the theater.
After the movie was over and as the children exited the show, they were offered an inch and a half sleigh bell if they believed. At this point each child had an opportunity to sit with Santa and talk briefly. This became another photo opt. for the parents, in fact some of the parents got to sit with the big man in red too.
The manager of the Golden Ticket Theater (Madisonville) said the event was a success and would like to do this event again next year. Some of the chapter members have already started planning on how to improve the event and make it better for December of 2025.
NRHS Western Kentucky Chapter Membership: I am looking for photos of the Tradewater Railway, Western Kentucky Railway, Fredonia Valley, and/or Illinois Central (Gulf) related to the railroad line between Princeton, Kentucky and Henderson, Kentucky via Sturgis, Blackford, Providence, etc. The line was leased by P&L from Princeton to Blackford between 1990 and 1994.
While I have photos from the normal venues (Trains magazine, our chapter website/archives, newspapers.com, Flickr, Facebook, RRpicturearchives, Railpictures, etc.), but I’m looking for any photos take by our membership and are willing to scan/share. Primarily interested in 1970s/1980s diesel era, but steam is welcomed as well.
Anything from the collection of Rob Stubblefield, Dennis Carnal, Jerry Mart and/or Wallace
Henderson would be greatly welcomed and appreciated.
This is in reference to a personal research project only – no magazine or book publication –
just my own interest in this line.
Many thanks in advance. Chris Dees
Most of my memories of the Hook & Eye revolve around Ellijay, Georgia, a small hamlet on the Coosawattee River valley, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, in Gilmer County. The Coosawattee begins in Ellijay, formed but the merging of the Cartecay and Ellijay rivers behind my uncle Bob’s office of Thomas Oil. The L&N reached Ellijay and points north via their branch line beginning at Elizabeth (Marietta), GA, Cobb County. It was a winding and hilly route which ultimately was it’s undoing with the new line located a few miles to the west following US hwy 411 from Cartersville, GA, to Knoxville, TN.
My earliest memories stem from short stops my mother would make for me if we happened to catch the northbound afternoon freight coming across Hwy 52, in East Ellijay. Back then there were a couple of industries to switch: West Pulpwood, and LP gas storage facility, Garland Lumber, and a team track with a conveyor unloader under the track for sand, coal, gravel, etc. I’ve been told there was once an oil transfer station north of the depot where oil from tankers were emptied by gravity to trucks on a lower level road. I remember F units and early GPs, all 4 axle due to the weight and curve restrictions on the line. In my teen years, after CSX took over, trains ran only as needed from the south (Tate), and often arrived in the middle of the night. I occasionally made it to the depot to watch the night switching and the turnaround maneuvers needed to get the train headed back south. Next month, I’ll talk about those specific moves and sitting aboard the caboose while the front end crew handled the switching.
Thanks for the memories! Bill Thomas
What a chance of a lifetime. While riding a dome on a Canadian National Turbotrain newsman Ernie Lee caught this action on December 10th, 1968. Memo to self, “always have your camera ready.” The train was making 60MPH near Kingston, Ontario when it struck a stalled truck. And the rest is history.
Lee was a London (Ont) Free Press photographer and as you can imagine, gained international coverage with this picture. The image was one among the 100 greatest railroad photos, featured in a special edition titled the same. The special edition was a collection from the pages of TRAINS Magazine, 1940 -2008.
Not noted in the captioning was the fate of the driver, front end train crew or the condition of the rolling stock. My guess is that the driver, since the truck was stalled, had the opportunity to be away from harm. Cannot be so sure for the train crew. Submitted by Gary Ostlund.
Since photo submissions were extra short this month, I decided to go back in my picture stash for some favorites from over the past few years.
Some of my most enjoyable moments were spent in the backyard of our Lakewood home here in Madisonville. We moved in the late summer of 2003 and by 2005 I had a train running. I was inspired by Bob McCracken and Rex Easterly, both former WKNRHS Members. Other former and current members are seen in these shots.
Jimmie Burden was not a member of our chapter, but if you knew him, you soon learned he had a fascination with Lionel operating accessories. When my sons were younger, we were annually invited over to Jimmie’s home to witness a symphony of moving parts set up on his laundry room floor.
The winners for our September 2024 photo contest were Ricky Bivins 1st Place and Chris Dees for 2nd! Congratulations Bill and our next contest runs the month of January 2025! Entries due to Jim Pearson by midnight on Febuary 7th, 2025.
Our 2025 Chapter Calendars will be available for Purchase/Order at our November meeting and available for pickup at our December Christmas Party.
1st Place West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS September 2024 Photo Contest – A northbound mixed freight with CN power leading the way crosses over West Broadway Street in Madisonville, Ky on the CSX Henderson Subdivision, on September 12th, 2023. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
2nd Place West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS September 2024 Photo Contest – Held Up At Horicon – Wisconsin & Southern SD40-2 4219, GP59 5906 and another GP59 await tomorrow morning’s early call for train HJ-1 (Horicon to Janesville) at the company’s Horicon, Wisconsin engine facility. 4219 began life as a standard SD40 prior to her rebuild. – Photographed September 03, 2024 by Chris Dees
West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS September 2024 Photo Contest – A southbound mixed freight heads through downtown Mortons Gap, Ky on the CSX Henderson Subdivision, on September 3rd, 2023. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS September 2024 Photo Contest – A Streetcar Named Desire – On September 06, 2024, Kenosha, Wisconsin Transit Authority (KTA) streetcar 4616 awaits the first run of the day. The KTA runs a two-mile loop through downtown Kenosha, stopping on demand for citizens running errands or tourists enjoying the sights and sounds along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The 4616’s yellow colors pay homage to The Cincinnati Street Railway system. – Photo by Chris Dees
Story By Chris Dees; Photo by Adam Elias
The Illinois Central Railroad’s original line between Cairo and Freeport Illinois, via Centralia
was completed in September 1856. As the railroad grew and traffic developed, the original “Old
Main” or “Gruber Line” segment north of Centralia via Decatur and Bloomington-Normal (referred
to officially in ICG timetables as the Amboy District) lost its original significance as the primary
mainline between New Orleans and Chicago grew rapidly.
The fate of the original IC main was in question as the flurry of spinoffs, sales and abandonments
by the Illinois Central Gulf in the early 1980s came to pass. Long gone were the good old days
recalled by Jim Boyd in his book “Monday Morning Rails”. Relegated and downgraded to secondary
main status, the additional (and substantial) existing state tax burden from the original land grant
legislation for the route slowly choked the Gruber to death.
Eventually, Illinois Central Gulf was granted a certificate of abandonment by the Interstate
Commerce Commission with date of formal discontinuance of service to be effective May 10, 1985.
However, the Gruber would not give up the ghost just yet. Just like the Windy City’s White Sox and
Cubs, it would take more than three strikes to call this deal out.
The first suitor was the Prairie Central Railway, which at the time was operating the former
Wabash Valley Railroad (Conrail route) from Decatur southeast to Paris, with an extension to Mount
Carmel. Always a precarious operation, numerous derailments and disagreement with Illinois
Central Gulf regarding trackage rights into Decatur soured any chance for PACY to purchase the
line. The Interstate Commerce Commission found PACY to not be financially responsible in its bid
for the Freeport line, and the resulting 1985 PACY bankruptcy did not help matters.
Second up was the Freeport & El Paso Railroad, formed to purchase the 121.18 mile route
between Freeport, Illinois (MP934.18) and El Paso, Illinois (MP 813.). In the July 1, 1983 ruling by
the Interstate Commerce Commission, F&EP’s offer was found to be bona fide and the new
company to be financially responsible. ICG and F&EP entered into a contract and the planned sale
was approved September 21, 1983. However, the deal quickly unraveled and on May 10, 1984, the
Interstate Commerce Commission vacated its earlier ruling, voiding the sale because F&EP had
failed to obtain proper title insurance and the $150,000 earnest payment bounced like a rubber ball.
Then came a railroad with reporting marks of a classic 1980s muscle car, the IROC, or Illinois &
Rock River Railroad Company. Incorporated on July 13, 1984 by two former Rock Island railroad
executives, a short line consultant, and a railroad construction contractor, the IROC filed ICC Docket
No. 30638 on March 11, 1985 just two months before the targeted abandonment by ICG. Business
plans of the IROC were supported by several on-line grain elevators, Motor Wheel in Mendota, and
Lonestar Cement in Oglesby. Additional plans were in the works to construct a rail-barge
transloading facility on the Illinois River at La Salle, near the massive Illinois River bridge (which
still stands and has rail service today). Purchase price was set at $3.027 million.
But like the first two offers, IROC’s plans were soon scuttled – this time by unhappy unions and
their lawyers. On March 29, 1985, the Railway Labor Executives Association filed a letter of
opposition with the ICC regarding the sale. Not to be left out, the United Transportation Union filed a follow-up formal protest on April 19, 1985. With time running out on the abandonment authority’s
expiration date of May 10, 1985, the ensuing litigation tied up IROC efforts in courts instead of out
on the rails building the business plan. Opportunity loss from the 1985 grain harvest eventually
resulted in IROC calling it quits without ever turning a steel wheel on steel rail. And although new
regional Chicago Central & Pacific attempted negotiations to purchase the line from Freeport south
to Oglesby (location of the Lonestar Cement facility), Illinois Central Gulf could not settle on a
purchase price and the Gruber was gone.
Luckily today there are some short segments of the Gruber between Centralia and Freeport still
in operation.
Buzzi Unichem still operates over the large Illinois River bridge between LaSalle and Oglesby to
serve the cement facility in Oglesby and interchange with Iowa Interstate.
A short segment of trackage is utilized daily by ICG successor in the Decatur terminal area.
South of Decatur, the Decatur Junction operates between Elwin and Assumption and it the
location of a nicely restored depot.
Vandalia Railroad serves a few industrial customers on a short spur at Illinois’s first capital city
and the railroad’s namesake city of Vandalia.
And just north of Centralia, an asphalt plant is served on a few hundred feet of the southernmost
section of the old Gruber.
But perhaps the favorite portion to railfans is the segment between Heyworth and Clinton
operated by the Illinois Terminal Belt Railroad serving several grain elevators with Paducah rebuilt
GP10s just like us old guys remember. Yes, some forty years since its abandonment, new railfans can
still get a glimpse of what the Gruber used to look like – four stack exhaust belching out along the
prairie as seen in the accompanying photo at Wapella, IL on August 25, 2023.
The Union Pacific’s eastbound City of Portland is about 30-miles
upriver from The Dalles. In another couple hours those three units will use all their power to
propel the train up and over the Blue Mountains. Passengers will detrain in Chicago the
second morning.
One would expect these train picture stories to be about the railroad or trains. But what
are those white structures at the tip of the pointers..? The US Coast Guard calls them “Range
Dayboards.” These Aids, which are usually shore-mounted come in pairs to help the vessel
operator maintain a straight and safe course within a navigable channel. Each member of the
pair is separated from the next in distance and elevation, with the one in front shorter than
the rear one. When the two appear to be vertically stacked, the vessel is on the range line,
and the center of the channel. If you look closely there is a red vertical line on both
Dayboards. A perfectly straight single red-line has the vessel dead-center, mid channel.
In this scene, the Dayboards guide marine traffic going downstream. A skipper would
view these markers from his position far out of the picture to the right (upstream). A green
buoy will guide him (her) in making a safe turn to starboard (right) and on down-river. Not
visible, but most likely there is another pair of dayboards downstream on the far shore.
In darkness red lights provide the same message. Dayboards are found not only in rivers,
rather they mark the safe course when entering many harbors, particularly entrances to rivers
and bays when entering or exiting the ocean.
Photo by Peter Cox in 1966
Burlington Junction Railway Alco C415 center cab number 702 sits at Quincy, Illinois on the afternoon of October 15, 2024. The rare bird began her career on the Southern Pacific. – Photo by Chris Dees.
Rust in Peace – Former Chicago and Northwestern GP40 5515 is seen at Burlington, Iowa on October 15, 2024, on a yard track of the Burlington Junction Railway. – Photo by Chris Dees.
Rain into an old friend in San Jose, IL this afternoon. She now works for Encompass Grain and Rail at their grain elevator. Fromer IC 2035 – Photo by Chris Dees
A Streetcar Named Kenosha – Kenosha Transit System number 4616 is ready to depart on its two mile trek around downtown Kenosha on the morning of September 6, 2024. – Photo by Chris Dees
Union Pacific 4-8-8- 4 number 4017 is safe and sound under the roof at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin on September 3, 2024. Her sister number 4014 was steaming through Nebraska and Iowa on the same date during her 2024 tour. – Photo by Chris Dees
Holding at Horicon – Three Wisconsin & Southern Diesels are holding at the company’s Horicon, Wisconsin yard on September 3, 2024. – Photo by Chris Dees
E is for Excellent – Big E, Little E…. What Begins with E? This E-unit, CN number 103, which served on Illinois Central’s Executive Fleet, now resides at The National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Photographed on September 3, 2024 by Chris Dees
The winners for our July 2024 photo contest were Bill Grady 1st Place and Bill Grady for 2nd! Congratulations Bill and our next contest runs the month of September 2024! Entries due to Jim Pearson by midnight on October 7th.
The winners for our May 2024 photo contest were Ricky Bivins for 1st Place and Bill Grady for 2nd! Congratulations to you both and our next contest runs the month of July 2024! Entries due to Jim Pearson by midnight on August 7th.
Stevens Pass in Washington State provides great vistas for the railfan, whether on the east slopes like
this scene, or up the west side. This is former Great Northern mainline with a westbound freight looping along Nason Creek through Gaynor Tunnel. The 8-mile Cascade Tunnel is about a mile ahead. Noted
northwest railfan Ben Bachman captured this stunning shot from a switchback laden US Forest Service trail leading to Rock Lake in 1995.
In 2001 yours truly attempted the same. Needless to say Ben had a better camera, with much better results. The exercise and fresh air was nice. But not all was lost, I spent the night very near trackside in the trees just across the bridge in the upper left of this scene. This was one of those camp trips where sleep is sporadic. Hot coffee and a bacon and cheese omelet soothed things nicely in the morning. In over reaction to 911 the Burlington Northern Santa Fe has blocked access to the well hidden road leading down to my semi-private campsite. Nothing stays the same. Pacific Rail News May 1996.