Nostalgia & History > Original IC from Freeport to Centralia

When did the Illinois Central abandon its original mainline from Freeport to Centralia?  What was the motivation for closing this line?  Would this line be productive as part of the today's IC?

I can't give an exact date but it was gone from Freeport, Illinois when the Chicago Central began operations in December of 1985. Some portions are still in service as switching leads etc.

Dave



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/18 19:37 by GBW309.

would of been a good route for grain/ethanol unot trains to bypass Chicago.
JC

Posted from Android

JasonCNW Wrote:
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> would of been a good route for grain/ethanol unot
> trains to bypass Chicago.
> JC
>
> Posted from Android

They made an agreement with the BNSF to haul that business on its line from Dubuque to Centrailia, IL.  It's more efficient to concentrate the traffic on a single line.  

The "Charter Line" as it was called when I worked for the ICG had outlived its usefulness.  It really helped develop Illinois, but things change and it was no longer needed.

Greyhounds Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JasonCNW Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > would of been a good route for grain/ethanol
> unot
> > trains to bypass Chicago.
> > JC
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> They made an agreement with the BNSF to haul that
> business on its line from Dubuque to Centrailia,
> IL.  It's more efficient to concentrate the
> traffic on a single line.  
>
> The "Charter Line" as it was called when I worked
> for the ICG had outlived its usefulness.  It
> really helped develop Illinois, but things change
> and it was no longer needed.

And had lost most of its local business too.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

GBW309 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't give an exact date but it was gone from
> Freeport, Illinois when the Chicago Central began
> operations in December of 1985. Some portions are
> still in service as switching leads etc.

The original Freeport-Centralia IC main (also known as the "Charter Line" or by most railroaders as "The Gruber") was shut down in pieces from south to north during the early 80s. IIRC correctly it was first severed south of Clinton, then Bloomington-Heyworth (IL) was next in late 1982 or early 1983. For a year or two service between Freeport and Bloomington was maintained by two locals that worked to LaSalle Mon-Wed-Fri and returned Tues-Thurs-Sat.

By early 1985 the line south of the cement plant at Oglesby was embargoed and in abandonment proceedings, leaving only Freeport to LaSalle (with the occasional trip over to the cement plant in Oglesby) with any train service at all, the thrice-weekly local. The last remaining customer of any significance was Motor Wheel Corp. in Mendota, which made automobile wheels and rims.

The sale of the Iowa Division to Jack Haley's CC&P would have left the Freeport-LaSalle operation isolated from the ICG, so the last train operated the Saturday before the CC&P takeover (December 21, 1985) and the line was officially abandoned in 1986.

This left the shortline LaSalle & Bureau County with no active connection to the general system. They used a portion of the ICG in LaSalle during March 1986 to reach CSX's New Rock Subdivision (ex-Rock Island) to clear its line of storage cars and equipment bedfore they, too, filed for abandonment.

Supposedly, Haley had originally wanted to buy Freeport-Clinton as part of the CC&P package, but truth be told, ICG had absolutely NO intentions of letting Jack Haley (or anyone else) get hold of the Freeport-Clinton line. That would have allowed CC&P to short-haul (or completely cut out) the ICG on export grain or other traffic moving south, traffic the ICG wanted to make absolutely sure continued to come to them at Chicago.

Here are three from a chase of "The Gruber" north from LaSalle I made near the end in August 1985:

1. Paducah-rebuilt Geep 8081 and Centralia-built caboose 199680 sit outside the abandoned stone enginehouse in LaSalle waiting for their crew to arrive.

2. 8081 switches the Motor Wheel plant in Mendota. This was about a block north of the CB&Q depot, now the Mendota Railroad Museum. The small disturbance in the driveway to the right of the locomotive's pilot is where the Milwuakee Road's line from Janesville, WI once crossed the driveway and joined the IC to cross the CB&Q main line (at "IC" Tower) before splitting off south of the interlocking to head southwest to Ladd, IL.

3. Crossing the Rock River northbound at Dixon, IL. The IC yard and freight office are south of the bridge, about where the caboose would be here. The joint IC-C&NW industrial lead known as "The Sandusky" ran along the opposite bank of the river and passes under the IC main at the south end of trhe bridge.

It's all crap now....sigh.

NZ    

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/18 22:19 by NebraskaZephyr.

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