Nostalgia & History > Paducah Geeps - The Rumble And The Roar

A previous thread got me to thinking about the sounds of the Illinois Central / Illinois Central Gulf Paducah rebuilt GP8's, GP10's and GP11's.

I've been working recently to get my audio work in order; no small task as I started playing with tape recorders when I was ten. To date I have made 3408 recordings with a running time of 15 DAYS since I made my first recordings of Crab Orchard & Egyptian 2-8-0 #17 on July 22, 1983. Holy crap, I didn't realize it was THAT much! Thanks to the iTunes software for the stats... I think.

Back to the topic at hand, by 1989 I was making stereo recordings that hold up fairly well today. With my hometown of Carbondale, Illinois, being a point on the Illinois Central Gulf, Paducah Geeps were quite common when I was young. I didn't get as much material of them as I now wish I did, but I did get some. Here are some clips of the recordings I have been cleaning up, editing and archiving.

The sounds open on the hill between Makanda and Cobden on the Centralia District as a pair of GP8's lead southbound local #93 up the grade. This was a location I did a series of recordings at over a space of four years, as I knew the owner of the property bordering the tracks and I would camp with friends atop the cut on the east side of the railroad. I later found out this exact same location was used for a well known ICRR publicity photo taken when the orange and white image was introduced (the photo is included below).

The next audio clip is of GP10 #8049 switching at Carbondale's North Yard. While Paducah Geeps were frequently assigned, I generally didn't do a lot of sound work here; the proximity of U.S. 51 made getting clean recordings problematic at best.

The third clip is of a southbound freight passing through Carbondale on a March morning in 1990. Some mornings I would get the feeling I should take my sound gear when it was time to head to school, and when I got that feeling for some reason I was almost never wrong. To avoid an hour long bus ride, I'd ride with my father whose route to work took him about five blocks from the high school. Crossing the tracks and seeing a headlight on the horizon, I head back to the tracks rather than to school. I'd get my recording and/or photos, and still make it to class on time. My morning railfan activities never did make me late.

The fourth clip is of a GP11 charging out of Carbondale with the local to DuQuoin on the morning of April 16, 1991. I'd spent the night in a tent in the brush off the trail to a farmer's field making recordings, and this was the last recording I made before packing my gear on the bicycle and heading for home.

The fifth clip is of another GP11, this one pulling a long string of covered hoppers off a track at North Yard. Though that part isn't presented here, the cut of cars proved to be too much and the locomotive stalled. They had to back up and get a better run at it, making it on the second attempt.

The last clip was made during another night where I was using a tent in as a temporary recording studio in May, 1992. Not long after I set up shop, southbound intermodal train I-11 passed with one of the usual 3100 series GP40's leading a GP10. The Paducah Geeps were rare on the intermodal trains, but they would grab one in a pinch.

A couple of the photos in the slideshow accompanying the sounds were taken while the recordings were being made and are so labeled. The remainder are from slides and negatives in my collection. I took a few, while most are from the camera of George Redmond. A couple of shots are by John Carpenter, and several are by unknown photographers.

You may note that the first photo in the slideshow was taken from the same vantage point as the ICRR publicity photo taken over 20 years earlier. This is a pure coincidence, as it was only a couple of years later that I saw the ICRR photo on the cover of an old Illinois Central Historical Society calendar and exclaimed "Hey! That's our spot!"

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Mary, this is outstanding - you've written a symphony in the key of G!

Steve Zahn
Glenview, IL

Nothing better in diesel world than the sound of a non turbo 567 wound up tight.

Thank you very much for posting Mary! Brings back great memories!

Posted from iPhone

Sounds great, thank you for posting this! In the 80's - 90's I had NS and CR running behind my house. I made some recordings, but they are on cassette. I have a good one of 4 CR GP38's grinding up the hill late at night on the COHY. I noticed that the units with the 4-stack modification were even louder than those with 2 stacks. Someday I hope to get these converted so I can post them.

Fantastic. Audio recordings are an unrecognized portion of the hobby it seems. Hope to hear more from you.

Thank you! Music to my ears...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Thank you so much for sharing your efforts. It takes me back over thirty years ago when I was an undergrad at Bloomington, IN. the ICG line to Indianapolis ran just south of the wing of my dorm and most nights I could hear the music of three or four Paducah Geeps heading west thru campus. Your recordings bring it all back.

Thanks for recording and sharing these memories. Like CF7's, Paducah Geeps are best appreciated in the audio realm. Those new-castings P5's aren't the most melodious of horns, but even they set off a twinge of sentimental remembrance after not hearing one for a long time.

Thanks for sharing some interesting shots with your audio work. The 7702 was the only Paducah Geep I remember with the large lettering on the long hood. Great to see shots at Effingham depot, Centralia coaling tower and roundhouse, Dillinger's crossing, the signal bridge at Carbondale, the IC 6071, as well as the comparison shot with PR image. So those two pictures were taken between MP 316.5 and MP 319.5? Thanks again for sharing your work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/18 13:34 by IC1038west.

Wonderful stuff, Mary, it sure brings back the memories of the sight, smell and sound of what we always called "Hillbillies" up north on the IC.

brighteyes

IC1038west Wrote
-------------------------------
> So those two pictures were
> taken between MP 316.5 and MP 319.5? Thanks again
> for sharing your work.

The location is about 319.3. Passed it barely an hour and a half ago in the cab of AMTK 82 on northbound 58.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

MaryMcPherson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> IC1038west Wrote
> -------------------------------
> > So those two pictures were
> > taken between MP 316.5 and MP 319.5?

> The location is about 319.3.

Mystery solved. I had originally thought that the location was between the rock outcrop at MP 314, where the carrier did some PR shots with passenger trains at one time, and Boskydell road at MP 312. But the parallel creek wouldn't have allowed a similar image to the MP 319.3 location.
Again, great shots and audio.

IC1038west Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MaryMcPherson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > IC1038west Wrote
> > -------------------------------
> > > So those two pictures were
> > > taken between MP 316.5 and MP 319.5?
>
> > The location is about 319.3.
>
> Mystery solved. I had originally thought that
> the location was between the rock outcrop at MP
> 314, where the carrier did some PR shots with
> passenger trains at one time, and Boskydell road
> at MP 312. But the parallel creek wouldn't have
> allowed a similar image to the MP 319.3 location.
> Again, great shots and audio.


Thanks!

I still get a kick out of passing that location when I'm in the cab. I can just picture what the engineers saw thirty years ago passing by as a couple of teenage kids were sitting on those rocks watching the show.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions