Yesterday was a busy day in Centralia!

[Anonymous]

My Pop retired from the IC at Centralia/ Wamac, in the 70s, mostly worked at Bluford though, where most of my memories come from, late 50s- early 70s.

[Anonymous]

Cool. just think- 8 years ago that would have been IC running through Centrailia.

[jkubajakiii]

MP173,
I was just by there yesterday, or at least close enough to see the old roundhouse, sandtower and coaling tower!

[Anonymous]

Sure brings back memories, but of a much earlier era! My dad was a Railway Express driver, so I spent a lot of time in and around the IC passenger station, and had a lot of bacon and eggs with him in the tiny restaurant at the north end of the station during the 1940's. Earlier, he had been the Southeastern Express (Southern Ry.) agent with an office just north of the Sou pass station and probably about just under where the McCord St overpass is now.
I remember my dad occasionally working express off the 'Mike & Ike' doodlebug and also telling me later about working the late shift and hearing the German POW's on prisoner trains singing military and nazi songs.
The best memories of Centralia railroading I have are of visiting the IC roundhouse during the summer of 1954. We had long since moved away, but my dad still new a lot of the local people, so he contacted a hostler who got us into the roundhouse on a Sunday afternoon. Naturally the hostler let us walk all the way around and out to the turntable pit, etc. But the real capper was being allowed up into the cab of a 2600-class 4-8-2 that had just finished getting the full treatment (Class 5?) which also meant a full repaint including the driver tires painted white -- just like an AF model loco!
Well, it gets better! Under the hostler's coaching, I got to move this loco off the turntable and down to the coal chute and penstock. Of course, the hostler did the spotting for this, but he also let me ring the bell and blow the whistle, when needed.
Not sure anymore, but I believe that it might have been the same weekend that we got into the much smaller 'Q' roundhouse at the NW edge of town and into the cab of a 2-8-4 or a 2-10-4 while a hostler was starting to lay in kindling and oily waste in the firebox to get a fire going.
The worst part of all this is that sometime after getting married and making our first big move, all the b&w pictures and their negatives from those two roundhouse visits got lost!

[jkubajakiii]

Ed:
I have been to the WAMAC yards as of yet. I originally though they were gone, but I found out otherwise. I'll let you know if the coaling tower is still the, though I doubt it.
[:)]

[wabash1]

i know it as the gut line . tunnels still there.

[MP173]

Rat hole is the NS line south from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, so named because of all the tunnels that were on the line, prior to the "daylighting" of the tunnels in the 60's.

It is a pretty good stretch of railroad, what used to be the heart of the Southern, at least for freight operations. I was down in Lexington, Ky last summer and went exploring south and spent the day at High Bridge and the vicinity. Good action.

ed

[wabash1]

where is the rat hole or maybe what is it

[MP173]

James:

Sounds like it was a pretty good day. Is the coal tower still on the grounds down at the former IC shops?

Gots good memories of spending a couple of afternoons in Centralia back in the 70's. But, back then there was even more as the Missouri -Illinois RR ran thru town and I got a pic of MoPac geeps.

ed

[jkubajakiii]

[:0] That's right folks, you heard is here first! After my last posted topic, I saw a lot of action for a Sunday! I usually leave the library to see the northbound Illini come into town. But yesterday, at the same time it was pulling in on track 2 (the station track), a southbound mixed freight was highballing it on track 1. Because there was an empty platform inbetween the two tracks, the pass/pick-up was made possible.
But that was only the half of it! On the heels of the Illini (probably tucked in a siding south of Calumet Street crossing), was a northbound grain-train! The crew was buying their time because they were so close to Amtrak. However, after a while, SLACK-BANG!, the throttle was cranked up a notch (or two) and started to puck up speed!
And if that wasn't enough, a Norfolk Southern train bound for the "Rathole" (persumably) showed up after the IC mainline was cleared! Since the NS and the BNSF uses same track from the McCord Street overpass until after the diamond crossing twelve blocks later, a BNSF coal drag from the Powder River Basin was on its heels. But this train continued down the Burlington's Southwest gateway to a power plant I yet to know about.
Well, what do you think?[:)][:D][8D]