Steam & Excursion > A Sad Day at Centralia

These negatives were discovered in a small box full of this-n-that with the Jim Adams collection.  Not sorted in with the rest of the photography, the negatives were in the original envelope they came in when they were developed.  These photos appear to have been unknown, and there were no prints; it was just an unexpected roll of film documenting a single event.  There was no information or date with these photos, but there is another series of photos showing a similar occurrence with 4-8-2 #2614 in the summer of 1961.  Given this, it is a safe bet that this series was also taken about the same time.

By the summer of 1961, steam had been parked on the Illinois Central for over a year.  The last confirmed operations had been out of Paducah, Kentucky, as late a April of 1960.  Yes, there were a couple of excursions with 4-8-2 #2613 in May and October, but we are not counting those.  In Illinois, the end came a year earlier than Paducah.  Locals between Centralia, Carbondale and Cairo, along with branch line and mine runs out of Centralia and Carbondale were dieselized by March of 1959, and the last 0-8-0 switchers had been sidelined in April.

Paducah-rebuild 4-8-2 #2527 was probably the last of the 2500 class to run in Illinois, having been used on mine runs from Centralia into January of 1959.  After her last run, she was pulled into the roundhouse and parked there in case a recall to service would come.  It never did.  Now, nearly two-and-a-half years later, the time has come to clear her stall and move her out to the dead line.

1.  "Torpedo" GP9 9042 has grabbed ahold of the big 4-8-2 and partially towed her out of the roundhouse.  As you can see here, the turntable is nowhere near long enough for a Geep and one of the IC's Mountains to fit together.  The Centralia roundhouse was a full circle, and the run-through tracks didn't line up with the stalls the steamers were parked in.  The diesel got the move started, and then the boiler was charged with house air to move herself the rest of the way.

2.  The diesel has moved on and #2527 sits half in and half out of the roundhouse.

3.  Photographer Jim Adams has walked back into the roundhouse as #2527 is prepared to move on her own.

Part 1 of 3

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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4.  Mr. Adams has climbed up into the cab.  With what a future image suggests, this shot proved there is no fire in the firebox.

5.  The running gear on the engineer's side of the big Mountain-type.

6.  The operator lines up the turntable when things are ready.

Part 2 of 3...

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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7.  The throttle is opened and air rushes through the locomotive's piping, blasting the leftover grime and grit from the last fire out of the locomotive.  If we didn't know better, we would think she was actually under steam.

8.  Now on the turntable.

9.  The locomotive eases ahead and toward pass-through stall.  She will shortly be joining her sisters out in the dead line near the coal tower south of the roundhouse.

It was a sad day for steam fans at Centralia.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Did boilers usually have a fitting to connect an air hose?
Wonder how much pressure they would need in the boiler.

timz Wrote:
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> Did boilers usually have a fitting to connect an
> air hose?

I don't know about a fitting, but I'm sure there are several places something could be rigged.  The photos with the locomotive on the turntable appear to show a hose running up to the top of the boiler.

> Wonder how much pressure they would need in the
> boiler.

Mr. Adams made a recording the date #2614 (the tender of which appears here) was moved out the same way.  The whistle was blown several times, and it sure sounded weak.  Some of that was the fact that it was air rather than steam, but I'm sure it wasn't at the full operating pressure around 250psi.  Using the boiler akin to a compressed air tank should have been plenty for a short couple of moves.

Thinking about it, I wonder if that air line rigged on the engineer's side was to provide air for the engine brake.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/25 15:26 by MaryMcPherson.

Maybe 20-30 psi in the boiler would have been enough.
Wonder how long it would take to get to that pressure.

There's a question: if the boiler was full of air,
how many cylinderfuls was that?

timz Wrote:
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> Maybe 20-30 psi in the boiler would have been
> enough.

A lot more than that!

> Wonder how long it would take to get to that
> pressure.

Depends on the capacity of the house supply, i.e. the capacity of the house air compressor.

Only speculation.


> There's a question: if the boiler was full of
> air,
> how many cylinderfuls was that?

I've moved 1522 on 125 psi air. Pumped the main air reservoirs first. We used air to use the atomizer and blower for fireups also.

An old railroader told me that the different sound from an air powered chime whistle was due to the change in resonance from steam power.

MaryMcPherson Wrote:
  The whistle was blown several times,
> and it sure sounded weak.  Some of that was the
> fact that it was air rather than steam, but I'm
> sure it wasn't at the full operating pressure
> around 250psi.  Using the boiler akin to a
> compressed air tank should have been plenty for a
> short couple of moves.
>
> Thinking about it, I wonder if that air line
> rigged on the engineer's side was to provide air
> for the engine brake.

So 2614 was parked in the next stall.  Do you know if they got her out the same way?

elueck Wrote:
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> So 2614 was parked in the next stall.  Do you
> know if they got her out the same way?

I indicated as such above.  Mr. Adams made sound recordings the day they did it.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Soory,  I was so enamored with the photos and the rest of the story, that I missed that part of the sentence.   Thank you for posting!

We put air in T&P 610 to move it and we had a large dual diesel air compressor.  We got it up to about 70 lbs and put it in reverse and started moving it.  It had taken several hours to get to that pressure.  When we started moving it the air gauge showed quick movement to zero after moving about 80-90 ft.  We let the gov't switch engine put it back in the storage bldg. Our choice since we didn't want to hang around for hours to get the pressure up again..

Mary - enjoyed your captions and the photos !