Steam & Excursion > Centralia, Illinois, in December, 1956

December 4, 1956.

Dieselization may be coming, but it's a long way from here.  Or at least on the other side of town, where the Southern Railway's St. Louis line hasn't seen steam for several years.

A visit to the Illinois Central engine terminal at Centralia, Illinois, finds not a diesel to be had.  Sure, the distant blaring horns can be heard as a Southern Railway freight passes through town and chocolate and orange E-Units lead the passenger trains past the terminal.  But for the moment, a truce with the invading army from LaGrange seems to have been found as the photographer wanders the property.  Standing by are Mikado #1526 and 0-8-0 #3544, with Mountain #2500 not far away.

In a few years, #2500 become one of only three big I.C. engines to survive.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Love it Mary.  Keep them coming!   Who shot them?

Am wild about engine terminal shots.  thanks Mary.

Wow! Great stuff! Thanx Mary! I can almost hear the crunch of cinders under my boots and smell the coal smoke as I walk around that yard taking it all in!

First-class photos. Your commentary makes them come alive.
Bob

Many of Mary's posts bring me back.....to a trip up the IC in '54 on the Louisianne, a secondary passenger train pass holders (my dad) could ride.  
It was quite the trip.....in '54 segregation was in full flow, and was extremely ugly to this 12 year old.  I remember the crew running black passengers out of our "white" coach at the beginning of the trip to Chicago.
It was a busy double track main back then.....this being from recall, corrections are welcome......it seemed all the many passenger trains were diesel hauled, whereas all the freight was steam powered.
The 1954 IC was a very impressive piece of railroad.  Thanks for your many reminders.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

In 1954, you're right: passenger trains were mostly diesel hauled and freight was mostly steam.  GP7's were arriving at that point, and there were a few secondary passenger assignments that still drew steam (Carbondale-St. Louis connections and the Kentucky Cardinal come to mind).

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Good job Mary!  My best friend, now deceased, was all ate up with IC and it bled over to me.  He was Pres of the ICHS until he passed.  Miss the hell out of him.  He also fired 1522 for me at times.

So Mary...what ever happened to that I.C. 0-8-0  that I saw live in the yards at Stone Mountain, in Georgia?

Keystone1 Wrote:
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> So Mary...what ever happened to that I.C. 0-8-0
>  that I saw live in the yards at Stone Mountain,
> in Georgia?

Not 100% sure it's the same one, but there is one that ended up in Spencer in the guise of a Southern engine.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Oh...       picture?

It's cool how IC stuck with steam for road freight power so long that not only did they miss F units entirely (IC never owned an F; ICG did, via the merger) but they only caught the tail end of GP7 production so most of the old Geeps were GP9s.