Nostalgia & History > Carbondale, The Railroad And The Old Depot

I've made a few posts in recent months about the work I've been doing with the Station Carbondale Museum located in the former Illinois Central passenger station in Carbondale, Illinois.

The first project was a DVD for the museum called "Carbondale, The Railroad And The Old Depot." The initial plan was for the show to play in the museum for visitors to see when stopping by. However there were only a couple of shots and photographs that had to be okayed by copyright holders, and they gave their consent to using the DVD to raise funds for the museum. I'm volunteering my time and equipment on keeping the museum stocked with copies of the DVD; I won't make a dime from it.

I've taken the first several minutes of the show to put on the website and the Facebook page, and I figured it might be of interest here.

The museum's website is www.stationcarbondale.org and its Facebook handle is StationCarbondaleMuseum. I'll likely continue posting updates to the Facebook page after I'm no longer working with the museum on a day to day basis.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/18 06:52 by MaryMcPherson.

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I must admit that while I was shooting several of the scenes at the beginning of the show, I was barely mobile. I'll always remember hobbling around with a cane in one hand and the tripod slung over the shoulder with the other. Fortunately, much better now!

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Great video

Glad that you are better, now Mary.

Your thread and the video bring back pleasant memories of a 1988 trip. I rode the southbound City of New Orleans from Chicago to Carbondale. At Carbondale, I found a diner which was open all night, had a meal and then boarded the northbound City back to Chicago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/18 20:27 by RuleG.

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Glad that you are better, now Mary.
>
> Your thread and the video bring back pleasant
> memories of a 1988 trip. I rode the southbound
> City of New Orleans from Chicago to Carbondale.
> At Carbondale, I found a dinner which was open all
> night, had a meal and then boarded the northbound
> City back to Chicago.

Thanks! Still in P.T. but hoping to get back to the real job soon.

That would have been The Corner Diner at College and Illinois. I have fond memories of that place, which was always open during my late night train watching activities when I had my first apartment not far from there only three years after your trip.

One day a deer managed to wander into downtown Carbondale and as so easily happens with them, it got spooked... and ran right through a plate glass window into the Corner Diner. I always got a mental image of a couple sitting there and a deer landing on the table in front of them... "Ummmm.... Waiter, the venison is a little undercooked!"

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

MaryMcPherson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks! Still in P.T. but hoping to get back to
> the real job soon.
>
> That would have been The Corner Diner at College
> and Illinois. I have fond memories of that place,
> which was always open during my late night train
> watching activities when I had my first apartment
> not far from there only three years after your
> trip.
>
> One day a deer managed to wander into downtown
> Carbondale and as so easily happens with them, it
> got spooked... and ran right through a plate glass
> window into the Corner Diner. I always got a
> mental image of a couple sitting there and a deer
> landing on the table in front of them...
> "Ummmm.... Waiter, the venison is a little
> undercooked!"


LOL! Amusing image.

Thanks for letting me know about the Corner Diner. I looked it up on the Internet and was happy to know it continues to be in business.

Sorry to let you know, but the Corner Diner is no more. It changed ownership, and the new owners ended the 24/7 hours. They went to a breakfast/lunch schedule, closing in the early afternoon. Then they sold out altogether. It's now the "Jewel Of India."

Carbondale doesn't have quite the night life it did back in the 1990s. Back then, Pagliai's Pizza down the street from the Amshack had a walk up window where a couple of bucks would get you a monster slice that was open until around 3am. Then you had the Corner Diner another block down, and Winston with his bagel cart.

It was the perfect setting for an 18 year old learning to play guitar to sit on the loading dock of the old glove factory to strum along and watch trains. It sometimes could get quite entertaining with the bars letting out just as southbound 59 was switching out a Carbondale coach and switching in the River Cities coach from Kansas City and St. Louis. How no drunk kids ever got run over is beyond me, and many a night the cops had to be called in to guard the College Street crossing.

The hours after midnight could get quite busy on the I.C. back then. You had 359 arriving from Kansas City, shortly followed by 59. Then you had intermodal trains I-01, I-02 and I-12. Then came northbound 58, which would cut off the locomotive and baggage car and swing over to the Rock Track to pick up a coach. While that was going on, 358's engine would back down and grab the first coach off of 58. Before long, 358 would depart and 58 would be back together. Then 58 would depart 10 or 15 minutes behind 358. 358 would run ahead of 58 to Centralia, where it would get on Norfolk Southern to St. Louis.

I'd love a chance to back there and see that show one more time!

These days the only thing downtown that stays open much past the bars' closing time is a Jimmy John's that stays open until 3am. Even the McDonalds at the edge of town quit staying open 24/7. A Denny's and a Steak & Shake at opposite ends of town are the whole ball game after 3am, and the Steak & Shake shuts down the drive-thru.

One thing that has not changed: drunk college guys peeing in the parking lot between the bars and the tracks at closing time. More than a few sleeping car passengers have been treated to THAT show if they looked out the window in Carbondale.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/18 04:08 by MaryMcPherson.