Nostalgia & History > A cold November day on the Illinois Central

November 8, 1991, dawned with us finding a rare early dusting of snow in southern Illinois; a great excuse to get out and get trackside! Kurt Jensen was shooting video and I was taking still photos that day.

We weren't out long when Memphis to East St. Louis train MEES arrived. The brakeman was Kurt's cousin Bob Graff, who is now enjoying being gainfully unemployed (a.k.a. retired). They did some work at North Carbondale and by the time the train got to DuQuoin, the train's third unit had died. By the time they were ready to continue, Birmingham to St. Louis #124 had passed. #124 ran over the I.C. from Fulton, Kentucky, to Centralia, Illinois, from the mid eighties through the mid nineties.

Enjoy.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Oh my. Old school railroading! Love the crew commenting about where they are going and what they are doing. Very appreciated. Pure Illinois Central. Wow.

Good stuff! NS 123-124 ran between Fulton, Kentucky and Corinth, Mississippi via the NS 'IC Line' District now operated by the West Tennessee Railroad.

GREAT video!

A well deserved VOTD! And I especially appreciated the wink & nod (intentional or not) to us West coast guys with that L.A. SP8382 on the #124.
Nice guitar work as well!

Wow... Just sweet all the way around! And... you actually talked to an old head brakie who gave you the low-down on what they call today a "job briefing!" Lol! It didn't hurt that he's Kurt's cousin, either. Having rapport like that makes for very low-key, natural banter which the "once giants" of RR video makers like Pentrex could never achieve.

Sure miss those simpler times and thanks for bringing them back for all of us. I'll second the other poster on the guitarwork, too,,, just the right mix and worked well with the scenes!

BTW... is this available in one of your DVDs that you have for sale?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/15 15:20 by IC_2024.

IC_2024 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BTW... is this available in one of your DVDs that
> you have for sale?

Not yet. It will be in a release that is currently in production, a fourth volume in the ICG/IC series.

Thanks for the compliments on the guitar work, by the way. I need to compose some new bits for a show on 4501.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/15 16:32 by MaryMcPherson.

Great video, loved every minute of it!