IC passenger train slammed into CB&Q freight south of Springfield, IL

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Lyon_Wonder

Member since
September 2005
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IC passenger train slammed into CB&Q freight south of Springfield, IL

Posted by Lyon_Wonder on Friday, August 7, 2009 5:44 PM

Yes, this accident happened just south of Lichfield, IL on August 7, Aug 7 of 1947 to be exact.

There’s several nice black and white photos of the accident with derailed passenger cars and what look like open-bay coal hoppers on the CB&Q.

The CB&Q track is the Beardstown-Centralia sub, and BNSF still hauls coal on this route. No photos of what engines were at the lead of the IC and CB&Q consists, though the article mentions a coal tender, which means a steam loco pulled the CB&Q freight. With the IC it’s probably a steam loco since, except for a handful of passenger engines, IC didn’t really dieselize until the mid-1950s. The CB&Q did have EMD FTs and F2s in 1947, with brand-new F3s arriving that year. They still had plenty of steam in 1947 though.

http://blogs.sj-r.com/behindthecurtain/index.php/2009/08/06/trainwreck/

"An Illinois Central passenger train traveling from St. Louis to Chicago, with a stop planned in Springfield, went through a caution signal and slammed into a Chicago, Burlington and Quincy freight train two miles south of Litchfield this date in 1947. Twenty-five people were injured, none seriously.

The Green Diamond, as the train was known, was traveling at 70 m.p.h. when it ripped into the freight train at a point where the two lines cross. Two passenger cars and a baggage car derailed and overturned. The crash occurred at 11:15 a.m.; the train was due in Springfield at noon.

The Illinois State Journal reported that the “Diamond” struck the west-bound freight just behind the coal tender, smashing a box car, derailing the engine and causing five coal cars to overturn. None of the train crewmen were injured."