Passenger Trains > Lincoln, IL depot restaurant and Amtrak station

On a trip to central Illinois last weekend, I took these pictures of the current situation at Lincoln, IL. on Saturday afternoon.  A site preparation/demolition contract for this site has been awarded to Spirtas Wrecking Co. of St. Louis as part of the Chicago-St. Louis HSR project.  Not sure what they'll be demolishing, but at the moment we have:

Photo 1 - The Amtrak waiting room
Photo 2 - The original Alton depot, formerly a (bankrupt) restaurant and now owned by the City.  You can just see the "sealed corridor" fence starting to encroach at the far left.
Photo 3 - A pair of cabooses of unknown ancestry that were part of the restaurant
More photos in  subsequent post.

As to the HSR project itself, bridge and culvert work to improve right-of-way drainage has resumed at many locations between Lincoln and Pontiac.  Not very noticeable to the passengers, but if you want to keep track in surface for 110 mph speeds on a line with heavy freight traffic, a dry subgrade is essential.  They're making up for probably 85 years of deferred maintenance and investment in bridges, culverts and ditching by the Alton, GM&O, ICG, CM&W, SP and UP (i.e., since the Great Depression started in 1930).  Work is also underway on a siding upgrade and extension at Ballard (north of Lexington, IL).
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/15 22:27 by illini73.

---

---

---

More photos from Lincoln, IL last Saturday (4/18):

Photo 4 - The restaurant also included two Illlinois Central passenger cars.  Parlor 3351 shown here was built for service between Jackson, MS and New Orleans on the Panama Limited.  Diner-counter-lounge 4202 (rebuilt from 22-roomette sleeper Flossmoor, nee NYC Chippewa Bay) is also on site enclosed by the restaurant building and not visible from the street.   Both cars were declared surplus by the City Council last fall - one rumor has them headed for that well-known collector of IC equipment, Ed Ellis of Iowa Pacific.
Photo 5 - IC 3351 has a beautiful pair of six-wheel, outside-swing-hanger, welded-pedestal trucks that wold go nicely under someone's heavyweight office car or PV.  You can also see that the asbestos covering the steam lines has never been removed, ahem.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/15 19:29 by illini73.

---

---

It seems the Amtrak station operations people haven't been to Lincoln for a while:

Photo 6 - The 2011 notice of schedule changes is still up (the schedules ARE current, though, and not posted anywhere else, either)
Photo 7 - The notice of 2013 service disruptions due to HSR construction is still up
Photo 8 - The notice of 2014 bustitutions is still up

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/15 22:16 by illini73.

---

---

---

My older brother had his prenuptual dinner here a few years back. I didn't take many photos because of a lack of camera and the need to be a groomsman for a weekend before a train fan. I did spend most of the time after the meal on the platform with my father and my brothers soon to be father in law. Thanks for the photos.

Traingeek087

The town is experiencing 'tough times'. Hope the depot  survives.

Would be a shame if they tore down the station.  Why not remodel it?

A depot of my childhood.  Boarded the GM&O many times to travel to St. Louis.

I was wondering about the six wheel trucks on the 3351.  Was this one of the cars that the IC rebuilt from heavyweights?  They had a number of these and they where difficult to distinguish from the actual post-war streamlined cars.

I lived in Lincoln for 9 months during 1973-74 (my first post-college job assignment) and the depot was a depot! That street behind the depot was alive with businesses and a bar or two (and before my time, some Illinois Termnal street running). Now things look boarded up. Sorry to hear the town has fallen on hard times, because it is a nice little town and I enjoyed my brief time there. There used to be several large employers that provided good jobs (including my employer, PPG Industries). Bet most, if not all, have closed.

Tom Y

 

Latebeans Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was wondering about the six wheel trucks on the 3351.  Was this one of the cars that the IC
> rebuilt from heavyweights?  They had a number of these and they where difficult to distinguish from
> the actual post-war streamlined cars.

3351 rebuilt at IC Burnside Shops (Chicago) in February, 1947 from heavyweight coach 3700.  A similar car (3350, Illini), was rebuilt about the same time to serve as the Chicago-Carbondale, IL parlor car.

Edit 4/25/2015 - Other sources indicate that the original heavyweight coach was 2176, rebuilt to 3700 Fulton in 1947, converted to 3351 Capitol Street in 1951.  OTOH, 3351 is reported assigned to the Panama Limited in 1950, so something (dates, nature of rebuild) in the car's provenance is not quite right yet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/15 21:12 by illini73.

They ARE remodeling it.  Getting the cars out is part of the remodel.  They did an RFP last fall looking for people to remove the cars, and I guess that would be us at Iowa Pacific.

P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Would be a shame if they tore down the station.
>  Why not remodel it?

The IC(G) deferred maintenance on the right-of way not the GM&O or the ALTON.

eee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They ARE remodeling it. Getting the cars out is
> part of the remodel. They did an RFP last fall
> looking for people to remove the cars, and I guess
> that would be us at Iowa Pacific.

I am glad to hear that Iowa Pacific will be acquiring the cars - too many preservable cars have been scrapped with the closing of railroad themed restaurants.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/15 09:42 by rrhistorian.

Do the cars have holes cut into the sides that attach to the building?  That typically has been what's happened to passenger cars placed into restaurants, such as the Skytop cars placed on the barge/restaurant Lansdowne, or the ex-ACL car placed in the Wide Track Diner in Pontiac, MI.  That's why these cars don't have a high survival rate once the restaurant closes.

Chris.

P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Would be a shame if they tore down the station.  Why not remodel it?

We are in the midst of a four step process to put the depot back in service:
1) Lincoln buys the depot using IDOT money (Inter-governmental agreement #1).  IDOT serves as buyer's agent for the transaction.  Completed 2014.
2) Passenger cars and cabooses are declared surplus propery by the City and sold (includes removal).  Iowa Pacific apparent high bidder.
3) Remainder of restaurant additions to be demolished by City using IDOT money (IGA #2), returning depot to 1911 configuration.  Contract for same awarded to Spirtas Wrecking Co. of St. Louis (presumably now waiting on completion of step 2).
4) Depot remodeled/rehabbed/restored/renovated (your choice) for use as Amtrak station using IDOT money (IGA #3 to be developed).  No RFP as yet.

There's also a step 3.5, involving installation of "sealed corridor" fencing and grade crossing warning upgrades sometime after the site is cleared of extraneous structures, but likely before the architects and builders get around to putting the depot back into service.

As to ctjacks's query about holes cut in the side of the cars, I seem to recall that there was a hole in the west side of 4202, though the restaurant structure is set up so you can enter either of the cars through its south end door.  It's been a long time since the restaurant has been in operation, so I'm not really sure of my memory on this point.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/15 19:31 by illini73.