Eastern Railroad Discussion > Signal Sunday: The Bridges of Gorham in the Golden Hour

Gorham, Illinois is a small village near the Mississippi River in southwestern Illinois, about 75 miles southeast of St. Louis. Long an important railroad junction, Union Pacific’s ex-MoPac double-track Chester Sub from East St. Louis is joined there by the ex-MP and ex-C&EI Mt. Vernon Sub that heads northeastward toward Chicago.

The junction is a big mainline wye, with the junction and its associated crossovers protected by classic Missouri Pacific signal bridges at both its north and south ends on the Chester Sub. It’s probably the best grouping of extant former MoPac signal bridges and signal heads anywhere, all visible and readily accessible for photos from public roads. Busy with lots of traffic on both lines – coal, grain, stacks, oil, manifests – Gorham is a great location to see many trains amidst the older types of signals that are increasingly all too far and few between. All images taken last Friday evening, July 19, 2014.

MC
Columbia, Missouri



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/14 07:16 by ironmtn.

---

---

---

1) A southbound manifest with CSX power off the Mt. Vernon Sub via the wye’s southeast leg heads under the signal bridge south of the wye. This is a control point known as Chap, the nickname of Camille Chappuis, a colorful and legendary MP dispatcher on the traffic-saturated Chester Sub during World War II. 7:40 pm CDT.

2) Trailing the lead CSX unit in the beautiful light of the Golden Hour was this C40-8, UP 9150.

Standing on the road next to the crossovers at Chap you also get to hear the almost two-second echo of the diesel horns as their sound reverberates off the face of Fountain Bluff, located just to the southwest. A forested promontory, towering up to about 300 feet above the otherwise tabletop-flat floodplain of the Mississippi, the bluff is an isolated section of the Southern Illinois hills just to the east. The Mississippi flowed around it island-like on either side at one time or another in the geologic past. Today, the Mississippi runs hard on its its west face, squeezed between Fountain Bluff and the bluffs over on the Missouri side. A former IC line, the "Mud Line" from Carbondale to Grand Tower and on southward, once also ran on the Mississippi's east bank beneath the bluff. Today the Big Muddy River occupies a portion of the Mississippi's former channel in the floodplain about a mile to the east of Fountain Bluff.

3) Auto racks snake through the crossover between the two main tracks of the Chester Sub at Chap. The signal cantilever is of a design that was common on the Missouri Pacific.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/14 07:14 by ironmtn.

4) The last autorack in the train moves southward at Chap, bathed in the golden light of the approaching sunset.

5) Earlier this short local, somewhat overpowered with three GP40’s, nosed under the cantilever at Chap. 7:29 pm CDT.

6) After the long manifest had passed, it wasn’t long before a horn to the east signaled the approach of another train off the Mt. Vernon Sub. This coal train came around the wye’s northeast leg to head northward on the Chester Sub. It passes here under the signal bridge just north of the village of Gorham, and near the W. Gorham Rd. grade crossing. This was my first visit to Gorham in quite some time, and I had often in the past heard rumors that the northeast leg of the wye, used several times by UP steam excursions to turn, was to be removed. Well, it’s still there, and busy. Two coal trains, one southbound and one northbound, used it to move between the Chester and Mt. Vernon Subs during the two hours I was there. 7:53 pm CDT.

---

---

---

7) Dusk’s subtle light silhouettes the quintessentially Missouri Pacific signal bridge north of town, near the W. Gorham Rd. grade crossing. MP signal bridges, always painted aluminum, typically had a shallower truss over the track than on other railroads, with the signals atop the truss rather than within it. Multiple signal heads mounted on side arms off a mast topped with a stylish finial, as here, were common MoPac practice. Only the currently-mandated full hoods over the lenses represent non-MP practice. 7:59 pm CDT.

8) A dramatic sunset over the Chester Sub at 8:08 pm, framed by the signal bridge at W. Gorham Road just north of town. The PTC antenna stands as a harbinger of the future, and perhaps a sign that the days of this and the other Bridges of Gorham may, sadly, be numbered.

---

---

Thank you for the very informative post of an area I have never seen. Your last picture of the sunset is awesome.
John

Thanks for showing all the shots and the excellent narrative. Neat signal bridge.
Brian Stevens

Really enjoyed your series of interesting pictures and information. It made me feel like I wised I was there.

Larry

Great shots, Mark! I'd like to get back down that way myself someday.

Speaking of signal hoods, since it is Signal Sunday, here's a close-up shot of Signal 886 at Chap, IL, not far from where you were, on March 2, 1982, with signal hoods as MoPac intended. And yes, for those who feel a need to chime in about trespassing, I was on company business at the time I was up there.

---

Fantastic little essay! I'm really liking the composition & texture of #6! IOTD???

Lance (is a guided tour available... ;^)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/14 09:53 by santafe199.

mopac1978 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Speaking of signal hoods, since it is Signal
> Sunday, here's a close-up shot of Signal 886 at
> Chap, IL, not far from where you were, on March 2,
> 1982, with signal hoods as MoPac intended. And
> yes, for those who feel a need to chime in about
> trespassing, I was on company business at the time
> I was up there.

Thanks, Mark, for sharing this terrific shot of an "insider view" of a classic MP signal bridge. Really neat to see the details of how those signals were mounted on the masts, and it adds a lot to the thread to be able to see them. Not a view I'd ever had the opportunity to see before. Much appreciated.

MC
Columbia, Missouri

Real "eye candy" those photos are. Outstanding in every way.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Glad to know that you enjoyed the images and the commentary. If you can, make a trip to Gorham and the nearby area. You'll enjoy it.

MC
Columbia, Missouri

Nice work! I can't believe how good that UP C40-8 still looks.

Chris

The GRS D Head signals seen in the closeup have long been replaced. Those hooded signals on the bridges now are the same Safetran tri-lights that you see at every control point being re-signaled today. UP did this over 10 years ago.

That being said, the outward appearance from the front of the bridges is relatively unchanged since Mo-Pac put them up, and I hope they don't put them down on the ground and do away with the bridges.

Having grown up in a town that used to be covered with cantilevers and bridges topped with D heads and G heads, it's sad to see those boring new ones in their place.

Pump

Great job. I visit Gorham quite frequently when I'm down in Carbondale for school.

Lewis M.
Carbondale, IL

I appreciate the kind comments from everyone, and the honor of Image of the Day. I'm pleased that I was able to share with you all the experience of a neat evening at a special railroad location. Who knows, maybe we'll meet at Gorham some day.

MC
Columbia, Missouri