Steam & Excursion > Highballing out of the Windy City

Here we have a couple of photos of Illinois passenger trains south of Central Station in Chicago.  I'm sure the motion blur is accentuated by slow shutter speeds, but these guys are highballing out of the Windy City!

1.  It's August 29th, 1939, and southbound #1, The Creole, is headed south behind heavy Pacific #1176.  This train departed Chicago at 9am on a scheduled 24 hour, 15 minute run to New Orleans.  This train would be streamlined, dieselized, and renamed the City of New Orleans after the war.  It's schedule would also be considerably shortened to 15 hours and 55 minutes.

2.  On June 15th, 1940, westbound #27, The Sinnissippi, is underway on its journey to Waterloo, Iowa, with Mountain type #2453 on the point.  This train was scheduled to leave five minutes after The Creole, and just south of here would diverge from the southbound main to take to the St. Charles Air Line to reach the Iowa Division.  The run to Iowa was carded to take nine hours.  By 1945 it would be cut back to a three-hour run to Freeport, Illinois, and would be gone altogether by the mid-fifties.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

---

---

Good stuff! Your collection of steam images continues to be stellar!! 🤗

Posted from iPhone

Good looking passenger trains.

Posted from Android