T minus 2 days
A look back to last month and the final Springfield Turn under the Kansas City Southern corporate name. It has long been a once a week spin between Murrayville and Springfield. Always been on my short list of Illinois-flavored things to check out, but of course I had to wait til the last possible minute to check it out.
This section of the Alton has always had an unremarked history. Alton to Springfield was one of the earlier railroads in the state, completed in the 1850s. Further to the west the Jack line between Bloomington and Roodhouse was in operation by the 1860s. The present day 40-ish mile Springfield Sub wasn't built by the Alton til 1906. This linked the two railroads between Iles on the east to Murrayville on the west.
Time marches on for this small piece of railroad most Wednesdays as the usual haul is only a handful of cars to and from the CN/IC interchange in Springfield as well as the Chicago and Illinois Midland. Grain thought seems to be a common occurance out here, as the ADM elevator at Curran sees a decent amount of traffic. This final version of the turn had 25 empties east and 25 loads west, rounding out some photo opportunites for a normally bitesized train.
T minus 2 days
A look back to last month and the final Springfield Turn under the Kansas City Southern corporate name. It has long been a once a week spin between Murrayville and Springfield. Always been on my short list of Illinois-flavored things to check out, but of course I had to wait til the last possible minute to check it out.
This section of the Alton has always had an unremarked history. Alton to Springfield was one of the earlier railroads in the state, completed in the 1850s. Further to the west the Jack line between Bloomington and Roodhouse was in operation by the 1860s. The present day 40-ish mile Springfield Sub wasn't built by the Alton til 1906. This linked the two railroads between Iles on the east to Murrayville on the west.
Time marches on for this small piece of railroad most Wednesdays as the usual haul is only a handful of cars to and from the CN/IC interchange in Springfield as well as the Chicago and Illinois Midland. Grain thought seems to be a common occurance out here, as the ADM elevator at Curran sees a decent amount of traffic. This final version of the turn had 25 empties east and 25 loads west, rounding out some photo opportunites for a normally bitesized train.