Litchfield and Madison Railway

[gabe]

One of my favorite now-defunct short line railroads was the Litchfield and Madison Railway. It went from Madison Illinois to Litchfield Illinois. There is a great website, that includes a lot of detail about this railroad.

However, there is so much more I would like to learn if anyone has knowledge.

(1) It more or less went under in 1958, when it was merged into the CNW. It was primarily a bridge line that received traffic from the CNW in Benld, Illinois and from the IC, Wabash, and Burlington in Litchfield Illinois.

What I can't figure out is why it went under in 1958, prior to deregulation. It would seem to me that bridge traffic in 1958 was as lucrative as ever.

I know it also had a lot of coal traffic that may have dried up, put even as late as 1958, I believe there were still a lot of coal mines in the area the L&M served.

(2) What was the CNW traffic on the L&M like prior to the merger?

(3) Was there a yard for it in Litchfield? I know it had trackage rights on the Burlington about a mile before Litchfield.

(4) Did the CNW continue local service from Benld to Litchfield some time after the merger?

Thanks for any help. I am still baffled as to why this line failed in 1958. Were it 1980 when it went under, I could really understand it.

Gabe

[nanaimo73]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

(4) Did the CNW continue local service from Benld to Litchfield some time after the merger?

Litchfield to Mount Olive was abandoned in 1961, and Mount Olive to DeCamp was abandoned in 1970. That line was used by IC, but they also had a parallel line (?). Before WW2 it looks like there were 4 parallel lines from Mount Olive to Litchfield, Illinois Terminal, Wabash, L&M and IC. Do you know if they would have been in sight of each other ?


The Benld to DeCamp line was sold to NS during 1999.
Those Coffeen coal trains start out from the Monterey mines
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=12&Z=16&X=316&Y=5428&W=1&qs=%7cbenld%7c%7c
on former Illinois Terminal track, then C&NW, then L&M, then Wabash, then CB&Q and finally NKP. Six fallen flags in 60 miles.

[Kevin C. Smith]

I don't think it went under so much as the C&NW just decided to finally buy it up and own the entire route. C&NWHS members will correct me if I'm wrong.

[PFlyer]

Per the "Chicago and North Western Historical Society" website:  

• 1949 The L&M is at low ebb. The property is disintegrating. There are only two steam locomotives operating, where there were once more than six. Revenues are very weak.
• 1958 The C&NW takes over the L&M, effective January 2, 1958. 

I became interested in learning about the L&M after noticing the logo outline of the C&NW on an abandonded plate-girder bridge adjacent and parallel to the Nickel Plate Trail outside of Glen Carbon, IL visible from Rt.-159.  My major breakthrough came from "Trackside around St. Louis 1952-1959 with Jim Ozment" (by James Sandrin, 2000, Morning Sun Books) who wrote:  the "Nickel Plate ran parallel to the L&M (C&NW) and Illinois Central from Edwardsville and Glen Carbon to its yard in Madison."

[nyc#25]

A little trivia. The L&M received the very last order of

ALCO RS3s in 1956.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

"The Litchfield & Madison - southern extension of C&NW's Southern District", by Abbey, Wallace W., from Trains, April 1952, pg. 20

["Magazine Index" 'keywords': Illinois L&M shortline ]

[Deggesty]

Yes, Paul, that was in the only issue I ever bought at a newstand, and the account intrigued me. I do have every issue since that one.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Wow !  My collection doesn't start until the early 1960's - subscription started mid-1965.

- Paul North.

[Deggesty]

Paul, I was only 16 at the time. The previous summer, my brother who was only about  15 months older than I took a trip over the Southern--Charlotte-Atlanta-New Orleans-Chattanooga-Atlanta-Charlotte, and I was really thrilled with travel by train. Somehow, I managed to scrape up the cost of a year's subscription, and kept that up.

That trip would not be allowed by Amtrak even if it had service Birmingham-Chattanooga-Atlanta, for we had no adult to put us on or meet us at most of the stations, we changed trains, and spent three nights onboard. The only question I remember being asked was by the conductor out of Birmingham who took our New Orleans-Chattanooga pass: "Are you two twins?"

[jeffhergert]

The good news is that a caboose from the L&M survives at the Boone & Scenic Valley RR.  The bad news is, well, take a look at the picture.  It's rotting away on a back track full of other historic equipment suffering the same condition. 

I'm not sure how old the picture is, but I'm afraid it's in worse shape now.  I haven't seen the caboose in person in years.

http://cencalrails.railfan.net/l&m9srk.jpg

Jeff