Nostalgia & History > Switching Saturday: Alton & Southern at Mitchell, Illinois

On a grungy Saturday in March, 2015, I was making the circuit of railfan spots on "the east side",  as we railfans in St. Louis  called it, or "Metro East" as it was to the media. Those terms referred to the Illinois communities that face St. Louis, Missouri directly across the Mississippi. And which then as now hold a major portion of the area's railroading.

A regular spot to check for action was Alton & Southern's small yard at Mitchell, Illinois, near the junction of I-270 and Ill. 203. What followed was a pleasant interlude watching the A&S' road job, seldom seen by me.  It switched industries along that belt-line railroad from the big Gateway Yard in East St. Louis all the way to the end of A&S track at Lennox Tower in Mitchell.  And now it also did its work for the lumberyard adjacent to A&S' small Mitchell Yard.

It was nothing fancy or particularly special, just a few basic moves to fetch an empty boxcar and leave a loaded centerbeam flat.

But the sky was brightening, the power was interesting, and there was a bonus visitor from BNSF parked and waiting for a new crew and further movement on to wherever. And for a while on that March 14, with a very faint promise of springtime in the chill breeze, watching the routine business of ordinary railroading set things right in the world for just a while. No St. Pat's weekend party was needed. At least until evening. In those happier times....

MC

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/22 06:00 by ironmtn.

---

---

---

ABOVE:

1) Arriving from the south into Mitchell Yard with a good-sized train. I-270 crosses overhead in the distance. The yard is at the very northern end of the A&S, and historically in recent years has served as more an an interchange and recrew point for full road trains for Class One roads than as a switching interchange yard.  Those road trains had used the A&S as a belt line around the tangled and congested railroad plant in Metro East. 

Lennox Tower (as A&S spelled its name - it has also been spelled "Lenox" with one "n" by some) and its junction is ahead out of view to the right about 1/4 mile. Direct connections were made there to the NS Brooklyn District (ex-Wabash), UP Pana Sub (ex-NYC with C&EI trackage rights), UP Springfield Sub (ex-GM&O, used by Amtrak to Chicago) and KCS (mixed heritage including ex-NYC). Those excellent connections have always been bread-and-butter to the A&S. Both for loose car interchange back in earlier times, and as a through belt route for run-through freights in the last few decades.

2) Alton & Southern 2000, a sharp-looking GP38-2 in its yellow-and-blue livery, with the "buzzsaw and bar" logo which acknowledges the joint ownership for many years by Missouri Pacific and Chicago & North Western. The four separate exhaust stacks mirror part-owner MoPac's practice for many of its non-turbocharged units. The blue on the engine is not quite as dark as the traditional MP "Jenks Blue", and the lighter shade looks good with the UP Armour Yellow. In an interesting juxtaposition from earlier in its life, the 2000 had worn the lighter C&NW yellow together with the deeper MP Jenks Blue. There are photos of it in that livery online.

Railroad executive C. Wayne Calder is honored with his name in script lettering on the side of the cab.

3) GP38 leaser GMTX 2288 was an interesting surprise. It was Penn Central 8034 in an earlier life, built in 1972.

BELOW:

4) Pulling ahead with the loaded centerbeam flat to clear the switch to the lumberyard, cross Chain of Rocks Rd. (old Bypass US 66), and to move toward the junction at Lennox (although the junction home signal and switch was not reached). I believe that the solar panel powered small switch position indicators mounted on the switch stand.

5) The centerbeam was shoved back into the lumberyard to grab an empty Railbox boxcar, which was then pulled out and tacked back onto the train, replacing the centerbeam on its north end. The crew then shoved in again and spotted the centerbeam in the lumberyard, then came out and ran around the train south under I-270.  They soon pulled southward, headed back to A&S' big Gateway Yard in East St. Louis, now with the GATX unit leading.

6) The bonus visitor, BNSF SD70MAC 9629, looking sharp in its Grinstein-era livery, leads a train of freshly painted, perhaps even brand-new, BNSF ACF Centerflow covered hoppers. The 9629 was unoccupied and the train was tied down, waiting for a fresh crew. Crew changes like this were common here, particularly on run-through freights that had used A&S as an eastern belt line around the St. Louis railroad complex.

The fire-hose-like tube on the ground was connected to an adjacent air compressor. It split and ran to several points in the small yard to supply yard air for the use of any interchange cuts that were tied down there.

All photos are from the shoulder of the adjacent public Engineers Rd., which runs alongside the yard. The road is so named because it leads back to the local heavy equipment operating engineers union hall nearby.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/22 05:55 by ironmtn.

---

---

---

BELOW:

7) Map of the A&S showing connecting railroads from the May, 1960 Official Railway Guide. The railroad's big central classification yards in East St. Louis were called Davis Yards at this date, later to be renamed as Gateway Yard. My collection.

8) A simplified, more stylized map of the A&S showing connections from the Nov. 1964 Official Railway Guide. My collection.

9) Cover of the A&S Employee Timetable No. 2, Nov. 1, 1988.  The cover is in the format that had been in use for some years by Missouri Pacific. My collection.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/22 06:07 by ironmtn.

---

---

---

BELOW:

10) Page 1 of the A&S Employee Timetable No. 2, Nov. 1, 1988. Like the cover, this interior page is in the former Missouri Pacific's format. This one page gives all of the basic operational details for the entire railroad.

The remaining seven pages consist of five pages of Special Instructions; a one-page Notice to All Hours of Service Employees concerning drugs and drug testing; and one page of images of Roadway Signs.

Thanks for looking, and taking this quick tour of a portion of the Alton & Southern Railway.

MC

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/22 06:06 by ironmtn.

---

Great post adding the information1

Bob

Enjoyed all this material about a road I knew little about.  Must admit that when I first looked at photo #1 I thought it was a CNW unit: colors and shape of the logo.

Great job setting the scene. Much appreciated by me.

Always liked taking oil trains in there from Beardstown. Man if you didn’t get that train spotted just right when you tied it down, expect a call from the A&S. Shame they tore Lennox down.

Posted from iPhone