Nostalgia & History > 3 Illinois Central Shots From the 60s by Roger Puta

1. IC E7A 4007 with Train #8, the Creole, awaiting the highball at Memphis Tennessee Central Station on April 16, 1963.

2. IC Observation on Train 5, the Panama Limited - Magnolia Star at New Orleans, LA, Union Terminal on November 22, 1967.

3. IC Train 53 the City of Miami led by E-unit 4040 approaching AX Tower north of Manteno, IL on July 22, 1962. I bet your first reaction to this photo was the same as mine -- I hope he took one with the train closer. But then I realized, no, it's really great just like it is. And no closer one found yet.

Enjoy,
Mary Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/17 18:58 by MartyBernard.

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Is that the Rock's RDC car on the left in picture 1 ?


That jointed rail in photo 3 looks nice and straight.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/17 19:10 by Englewood.

Interesting that E7 4007 has E8 style number housing.

I was thinking the same thing. Those were fixtures of the Rock's trains to/from Memphis.

- Jeff Carlson

Englewood Wrote:
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> Is that the Rock's RDC car on the left in picture
> 1 ?
>
>
> That jointed rail in photo 3 looks nice and
> straight.

My first reaction to that third photo was "I wonder how fast she is going? I know the IC used to really move those trains on the tangent tracks in Illinois.

Nice shots! 1st shot. Old IC RR Memphis based T&E crews, worked to and from Cairo, IL.

2nd shot. Old IC RR Macomb, MS based train crews worked Macomb-New Orleans-Canton-Macomb. Macomb, MS based engine crews worked to and from New Orleans.

3rd shot. IC RR Chicago based T&E crews on the old IC City of Miami, worked to and from Champaign, IL.

tomstp Wrote:
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> Interesting that E7 4007 has E8 style number
> housing.


The IC did a lot of custom modifications to their E units over the years, often in the name of standardization and upgrading to match the latest E-unit models. As part of a post-war batch of 11 new E7As and three E7Bs, #4007 was delivered from EMD in September, 1946 with the then-standard E7 smaller square number boards on the sides of the nose. These were replaced by the IC with the larger E8-style number boards, matching later E-units and no doubt more convenient when running in TT&TO territory. The IC did the same number board relocation to their E6s, but it wasn't as seamless, due to the E6 nose contours being significantly different than the E7/E8/E9s.

<https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4249778,4249880#msg-4249880&gt;

The original classification lights that were integral to the as-delivered number boards got moved as well so they are now in the usual E8/E9 location. And the relocated classification lights now have the small visor the IC favored on all their first-generation diesels.

- Norm

Thank you very much for sharing Roger's image at AX interlocker (MP 46.2-MP 46.5) at Manteno. My old track charts indicate AX was equipped with a Saxby Farmer Electro Mechanical package, 36 lever frame, 30 working levers, 6 spare slots. At the time of Mr. Puta's photograph, the IC was a 3 track main from Monee, MP 34.2, to Otto, MP 60.3. The passenger train was on main 1, the west or southbound track. Main 1 was signaled for southbound movement only, main 2 was signaled for north and southbound movements and main 3 signaled northbound only.

Main 3 through Manteno was on short time; the IC eliminated Main 3 from Stuenkel , MP 31.6, to just north of Indian Oaks, MP 49.6, in 1964, converting the remaining two tracks to bi-directional CTC. To backtrack a little, the AX image has two interlocker exit signals (northbound) on mains 2 and 3 on signal bridge 46.2. I am guessing that this was because ABS resumed for both of these mains from signal bridge 46.2 northward. Sorry, not patchwork signal system expert, just a guess. Thank you much for sharing this special photograph of the triple main Illinois Central.

IC1038west.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/17 06:40 by IC1038west.