Illinois Central's Path of Survival | Success, Mistakes, and Merging | History in the Dark

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

I grew up with the Illinois Central Railroad in Bardwell and Paducah Kentucky from 84 to 05 I miss the main line of mid America and thanks Darkness for covering the Illinois Central. The reason ICG dropped the gulf from the name was because they had sold most of the former Gulf mobile and Ohio

[@0fficialdregs]

heck yeah :D

[@Firecatns1]

My Great Grandfather, who was a conductor on the IC,was born in Paducah.

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

@@Firecatns1 my childhood friends grandfather who lived right across the street from me worked for the IC until about 1980 (medical retirement), he worked on the Kentucky division.

[@wesw9586]

Grandad was a welder for the IC. My mom still tells stories of him having a pass for unlimited rides but it didn't cover the Panama Limited or the City of New Orleans. I live near the Champaign CN yard now. You can still see standard cab SD7os in IC black running on the main if you get a little lucky. This is my favorite railroad of all times. Thanks for the video!

[@danielbackley9301]

The SD-70s running in 2-3 unit sets in IC BLACK are very common on freights between Markham and Omaha (IOWA DIVISION ). I see them almost every day on the St. Charles Air Line here in Chicago.

[@jameskubajak9628]

My father wrote an article for the Illinois Central Historical Society (ICHS) magazine called the Green Diamond. It was about the history of the small farming town of Patoka, IL and its relationship with the IC's original main line (to Galena, which is now abandoned). My mother's side of the family lives in that neck of the woods!😊 However, the reason why the Canadian National is the only thing you got wrong! (Don't worry, the Chicago Tribune got this wrong too!) The CN wasn't a scheduled railroad since they handed their passenger trains to VIA Rail Canada! Because they started pursuing intermodal traffic, they started to look into scheduled railroading again. So, the IC was considered as a supreme example of that! In fact, once the buyout was approved, that management team for the IC started working for the CN. So in a sense, the IC still exists. They are operating a much bigger railroad: the Canadian National!🌎

[@Pensyfan19]

Two things that make the IC particularly interesting is that they also operated a subsidiary before being acquired named the Chicago Central that operated their services in Iowa and Omaha with a beautiful red livery, and some CN engines still have IC lettering to this day, even some new build engines such as Dash 9s. Keep up the great work, and I always appreciate how you focus on the business aspects of these railroads instead of just rolling stock.

[@danielbackley9301]

Chicago Central wasn't owned by IC it was the name chosen by the new owners of the Iowa Division after ICG sold in back in the 80s.

[@0fficialdregs]

that is weird because my model railroad is called the Chicago Central & Illinois Railroad lol

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

@@danielbackley9301 the Illinois Central bought the CC&PRR in the 90's the only part of the old Illinois Central that was missing at the time of the CN merger was the Kentucky division

[@vincentberkan605]

The last steam locomotive to operate on the Illinois Central Railroad was 2-8-2 No. 1518. Built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1923. It ran on the IC until the line dieselized in 1960. In 1964, she was donated to the City of Paducah, KY where she continues to sit today.

[@poowg2657]

My great grandfather was an engineer on IC for many years. According to my grandmother he loved the union but hated the railroad. Most old railroaders I've talked to had the same feelings. Excellent video, liked it much!

[@ItsMoonheart]

Illinois Central will forever hold a place in my heart even tho they were gone before I came around, the legacy they still have in my area is HUGE, almost everyone I know that models has at least one set of Illinois Central stuff to run even if they don't typically run that era or railroad and people still talk about it in a fond light.

[@0fficialdregs]

same

[@caneycreekwoodcarver]

My great uncle worked for the Illinois central RR. I still have have his retirement gold watch. Thanks for the video.

[@Firecatns1]

My Great Grandfather was a conductor on the Illinois Central, and his father was an Engineer. I have fond memories of my childhood in Memphis, and Granddaddy telling me about his experiences on the rails.

[@DennisMurphey]

Well that was fun I also grew up in Central Illinois, My cousins would ride the Green Diamond From Chicago to visit there farm Cousin. In the 50s I recall seeing a Steam engine hauling coal or scrap metal heading north. Billowing black smoke and steam roaring past us at a crossing gate with a long trail of freight cars. We used to count the cars on the long trains and once i got up to 99 and just stopped. I had a friend who's Dad worked in the tower. I would see him take down a mail bag and pick one up off the ground after the train screamed by. Today I am retired but i built a few model engines from memory. I have two E8 Diesels in Chocolate and Orange, a GP20 in IC Gulf Orange and White, an Atlantic converted to a 2 3 2 Baldwin switcher as a Illinois Traction line, and my favorite M1 4 8 2 Mountain Copied from the Real One in Centralia on Display. Your video brought back a lot of great memories, thanks, Dennis

[@bunderwood2000]

Still live in the shadow of the Illinois Central tracks, and remember those orange and white engines. Thanks for remembering the IC.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

The Illinois Central ran through trains from Chicago to Florida to compete with other railroads doing the same. The trains would run on the IC to their Birmingham, AL branch, where the Central of Georgia Railway (a longtime affiliate by way of Harriman) would carry the train across the Chattahoochee River into Columbus, GA (making this route the only major long-distance route to go through the city). From there it would continue to Albany, where the Atlantic Coast Line would bring the train through Waycross into Florida. After Jacksonville, the route would either follow the Florida East Coast to Miami or the ACL to cities on the gulf coast. Among the trains to run on this route were the _Seminole_ and the _City of Miami_ (the latter being one of three competing Chicago-Florida streamliners introduced in 1941, the others being the _South Wind_ and _Dixie Flagler_ ). As far as I can gather, while the _Seminole_ had a daily schedule, the _City of Miami_ was never as frequent (same as competing streamliners). Central of Georgia E8s 811 and 812, numbered after their E7 fleet (801-810) were painted in IC livery and pulled long-distance trains from Chicago, showing the cooperation between the two companies. As passenger rail declined in America, the _City of Miami_ was discontinued when Amtrak began operations, making it the last train to serve both Columbus and Albany, GA. The _Seminole_ would continue, having previously been truncated to an Illinois-only train, and survives now with Amtrak’s service between Chicago and Carbondale, IL.

[@DivergingClear]

For those that are interested, the majority of the color I.C. footage came from the Green Frog two-DVD "Illinois Central" program. The film was shot by Jerry Carson. Additional color footage is from old railroad P.R. films. The black & white film footage was shot at Carbondale, Illinois, in 1938. A copy of this came into our possession thanks to the late owner of "Sound Core Music" in Carbondale while we were working on a film for the Station Carbondale depot museum. This footage also appears in our DVD "60 Years Along the Illinois Central." One omission, if not an outright error, is that the I.C. was not just built southward. Construction began at Cairo (pronounced locally like Care-Oh) and worked northward. The Chicago Branch was built southward from Chicago, while crews worked northward from Branch Junction north of Centralia, Illinois. The crews completed the line at Mason, Illinois, which was named for I.C. chief engineer Col. Roswell B. Mason. A marker stands at the town today. One historical oddity is the town of Mattoon. A wager was placed between the I.C. and the predecessor of the Big Four that the first railroad to reach the town would get to name it. I.C. crews arrived first, and the I.C. named the town for the other railroad's chief engineer in thanks for the inspiration to make the I.C. crews work harder to win the bet.

[@crystalrock18]

One of my ancestors (H H Hunnewell) was an investor to this railroad and there is a town named his honor in Missouri.

[@frankwurth5375]

Yeah, you kinda hit on the good times of the IC. But we are on one of the IC mainlines through southern Ill. You left out the connection with Peabody Coal, big in this area , once. Peabody did have some financial interest in the lC. Things got so bad here that they were having derailments weekly! The roadbed was allowed to get so bad that in many paces the rails were spread enough that the car wheels were actually running inside the rail and on the ties. At some road crossings, the car undercarriage would get caught on the road filler planks! It got so bad after 2 major derailments in less than a week in the Belleville area that the ICC stepped in and shut them down till the track was in a safe condition as per their inspection! The buyout happened within weeks after that. The new owners did major upgrades that would allow their larger motive power to access the line. Today we see BNSF and CN and UP, all on the line! The track today is in the best condition it's ever been in. IC, like most midwestern roads used smaller power compared to what we see today. The units now on line are some of the largest anywhere. As a kid in the 60s, E. St. Louis was a major rail hub (till the area got so bad with crime and vandalism) We had the GMO and the L&N and the IL Terminal RR, all running in the area on their own line! Now their all gone. I well remember the last days of passenger service through here, one of the names I recall was the Humming Bird, and THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. One of those had a major collision just south of Belleville when the Passenger train ran a closed block and smashed into the side of the freight that was already there! Around 1963? It took most of a week for the total clean up! I think the head end crew on the passenger were killed. First time I ever saw one of those big hook cranes close up.

[@0fficialdregs]

ILLINOIS! ILLINOIS! ILLINOIS! ILLINOIS! ILLINOIS! MY FAVORITE RAILROAD WITH CNW AND SP AFTERWARDS

[@haydendegrow945]

Believe it or not, Darkness, Illinois central actually still exists... in a way. They do exist on paper, as CN considers them a subsidiary that is technically separate from them. If you watch CN grain trains go by (which I do on a regular basis thanks to where my apartment is located), a lot of the blank gray hopper cars actually are labelled as IC, which is Illinois Central. Plus, there are HUNDREDS of former Illinois Central and Illinois Central Gulf painted cars across the CN network. They still TECHNICALLY live, but not as an actual railway.... Just, on paper... I've done just as much research on IC for my Canadian Railroading book as you probably did for this video. Thanks for sharing this, though! I loved listening to this!

[@wesw9586]

The 1000 class SD70 standard cabs in their glorious Death Star paint still run up and down the main. I have seen acouple in Champaign in the last few months. I have seen via KZbin they do a bunch of work in Centralia and Chicagoland. I hear tell they work ore in the old Bessemer and Lake Eerie territory too.

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

Those covered hoppers are actually still in original IC paint

[@gregrowe1168]

I live about a block away from the main line here in Southern Illinois. You still see a lot of Illinois Central units being used. They used to lease out a lot of locomotives from other railroads too. You’d see CSX, Up, BNSF, NS etc. Was indeed a very colorful railroad for a long time. Now it’s pretty much CN and the occasional black IC units. And the few daily Amtrak trains that come through.

[@IllinoisCentral]

I fought to have that put in wikipedia and got banned for arguing with a mod

[@chooch1995]

No, the IC doesn’t still exist as a subsidiary company. It was fully merged into the Canadian National in 1999. It is not technically separate from them. Just because you can still find reporting marks on rolling stock doesn’t mean that these companies still exist. There are plenty of C&NW reporting marks ( even CMO ) being used ( even applied to new cars ) on the Union Pacific.

[@paulboger3101]

I love your attitude and videos reflect that!! Keep up the good work!!! A fan from Australia!!!!!

[@brianentwistle145]

Awesome. Grew up along the Iowa Division of the IC. (The division that would become the Chicago Central and Pacific). Very young my father would take me for walks by the Freeport engine house. As a teenager I lived out in a rural area with 3 crossings with in a mile of my house. Many days and nights hearing 4 to 6 CC&P diesels throttle through the corn fields.( A lot of 1st and 2nd generation 4 axle power). Even when IC took back over it was still a great place to be. Every now and then when I'm back in the area I still see a black "Deathstar" logo IC unit that has evaded the paint shop.

[@novastardom2689]

I still don't get the Chicago Central and Pacific Name... like why pacific when it never reached the pacific ocean

[@brianentwistle145]

@@novastardom2689 If I can recall. It implied more direct interchanges to railroads west, not necessarily an ambition to stretch to the west coast.

[@J50Fan20]

Im so friggin excited RN I remember seeing an IC coal train pass through my local train station

[@joshuabessire9169]

Was it down around the corner, half a mile from here?

[@J50Fan20]

@@joshuabessire9169 it was ,a metra station actually. the rails were elevated thanks to the soil beneath it. i remember everythng on that coal train was from the IC.

[@105C09]

Wonderful series. Blessings.

[@robinforrest7680]

I guess they didn’t get any cash from British railway entrepreneurs in 1851 because in GB we were in the middle of « railway mania » and there were plenty of investment opportunities at home! Excellent as always! I know very little about US railroads ( I’m a GWR/BR western region man!) so thanks for these videos which I really appreciate !

[@specialed6357]

You should keep doing these rail company videos. Please do the following, even if it is all one video and not really in depth, though Soo Line should probably be in it's own video. Wisconsin Central Railroad (1871-1899) Wisconsin Central Railway (1897-1954) Soo Line Railroad (1961-1990) Wisconsin Central Ltd (1987-2001) and ones they bought like in 1993 the Wisconsin Central also acquired the Green Bay and Western Railroad and the Fox River Valley Railroad.

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

And ICRR #1518 a 2-8-2 is in Paducah Kentucky

[@kristoffermangila]

About IC reaquiring their old lines in the late 80s and 90s, one line they weren't able to get back was the line to St. Louis. MidSouth Rail, a regional railroad, operated that line in the 90s. That railroad didn't want to go back to IC. Fortunately for them, another railroad came along and offered them a better deal. They accepted the offer, and the rest was history. The railroad that "snatched" the old IC line to St. Louis? K C S.

[@willwozniak2826]

They also screwed themselves by abandoning the original main.....The Charter line.

[@glenbard657]

The MidSouth never went to St. Louis.

[@IllinoisCentral]

The only ice line to chicago was from the gmo

[@aidanmfeeneycomposer8737]

Out of curiosity, would you be able to talk about the Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend Railroad (now the South Shore Line and South Shore Freight) at some point? It's always been basically in my backyard, and I've always been fascinated by it. It's one of the last (if not THE last) interurban railroads that still exists and, as a connection to this video, they leased trackage rights from Illinois Central to reach the Chicago Loop (which they continue to do with Metra). Also, their orange and mahogany paint scheme is just gorgeous!

[@sirrliv]

Funnily enough, this episode premiers just one day before Machine Rail releases their Illinois Central 1500 Class Mikado pack for Train Simulator Classic. Many of the archive clips used feature the 1500's as they made up the backbone of IC's freight haulage fleet from the 1920's to the end of steam.

[@joelchristensen9503]

Canadien National still have IC reporting marks on many locos. It's still exists as a subsidiary.

[@IllinoisCentral]

Canadian*

[@QuadMochaMatti]

@@IllinoisCentral No wonder the quebecois hate everyone.

[@frostedfruitloopssss]

I still see a decent amount of former IC diesel power in Chicago. Mostly sd40s and spartan cab sd70s. Occasionally I'll see them paired with another CN subsidiary power; grand trunk/ grand trunk western.

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

From 1925 the 1927 the Illinois Central built the Edgewood cut off the Paducah Kentucky locomotive shops. The Paducah shops are created with being one of the reasons IC didn't enter bankruptcy during the great depression. Two great Sources of information about the pre ICG Illinois Central are the books the Paducah gateway and Jim Boyd's Illinois Central Monday morning rails

[@crookedbird6589]

The IC was the first land grant rr. This was granted by the federal government. Chicago was not seen as being very important at the time. There were many foreign investors. some of the town's are named after them . The IC was at one time the longest RR in the world. Abraham Lincon was a lawyer for the IC and was the highest pay corporate lawyer in the world at the time. Samuel Clemens( Mark Twain) was a river boat captain for the IC pre-Civil war when the IC ended at Cairo. A lot of the Civil war generals were officials in the IC. The IC moved thirty percent of the supply for the war. The IC had the longest bridge in the world at one time at Caro IL. The father of the Sullavain brothers of Waterloo Iowa worked for the IC. The three Brothers killed on a ships in the Pacific in ww2. The Chicago branch between Champaign and Branch juct was 110 mph running throw the 50 and 60s.When the IC was taken over by CN most of the top officials went from IC to the same positions at CN. Oh, and Casey Jones the famous engineer worked for the IC.

[@raymondpaller6475]

Casey Jones? What about the hick Illinois lawyer named A. Lincoln ---- he was on retainer and tried some of their cases, especially involving property taxes. Illinois Central and Burlington both ran 'em fast on flat ground, until one day the Q had the Naperville collision, and the feds suggested laying off some of the top end speed for everybody was in order.

[@mikewild4504]

I think William B. Johnson , who succeeded Wayne Johnson ( no relation) instituted the new paint scheme (orange & white) along with locomotive rebuilt program. 2nd. Point the ICG reverted back to the Illinois Central because very of the GM&O still existed in the new IC.

[@mariovieira838]

IC was simply one of the best in their business. For instance, in passenger service, IC was one of the very few companies wich de facto had a maximum authrorised speed of 100 Mph (sometimes, when delays occurred some "informally" higher values would be reached. I've read about some trains really doing a lot of rie scorching in the vicinity of 110 Mph, perfectly doable since the Railroad had their E units geared for 117 Mph). And indeed they run fast. I've seen, on an Official Guide, published schedules in wich the travel time between two stops (between Centralia and Carbondale, I think, but I'm citing without seeing the doc) would imply an average speed of more than 80 Mph. Another detail of the vídeo, at the end of it, there are images of a train hauled by a steam engine with Inox cars. I suppose it's a New York Central train, since NYC trains, on the Chicago to Indianapolis/Cincinnati would use IC from Chicago to Kankakee. In the Windy City, these trains even used the IC station as their terminal

[@sp786fanboy9]

You need to make another list of locomotives that were almost preserved, but were scrapped. If you can’t think of any candidates, there were Illinois Central 2613, Chesapeake and Ohio 1189, Central of Georgia 451, and GWR 2861

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

Paducah Kentucky tried to save 2613 because she was built in the Paducah Kentucky shops

[@DaimosZ]

@@imlary9701 2613 ran farewell to steam excursions on the IC, as well as a centennial train for the Louisville and Nashville. The Kentucky Railroad Museum tried to save 2613 due to her construction in Paducah, Kentucky however the IC offered her for an amount the museum couldn't afford, so she was unceremoniously scrapped in 1961 though her tender somehow lasted until 2011, when it too was scrapped 50 years after the fact.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

451 would have been an excellent locomotive for the state of Georgia to preserve, as an example of the CG’s class of 4-8-4s.

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

@@DaimosZ the city it self also tried to save her that's why we got 1518 because we couldn't raise the money she would bring as scrap

[@DaimosZ]

@@DiamondKingStudios indeed

[@alexanderditlevsen7357]

Love your videos and nice to hear about more american steam locomotives i know alt about them Even tho im not American

[@Malama_Ki]

Jerry Clower and Highball brought me here.

[@railfanmaximstill7279]

That Branch to Omaha is still used by CN Today. Though only 1 train runs on it it's the CN Omaha Local

[@larrylawson5172]

Dear Darkness, two minor points but important none the less. Cairo is pronounced "Karo" like the syrup and Mobile as in Gulf, Mobile and Ohio is pronounced "Mo-beal" The second syllable is dominate. Not like Mobil as in the oil company. Thanks

[@joshuabessire9169]

We need a companion episode on the Southern Central. Their freights had to keep on pushing mama you know they're running late.

[@rclark316]

My great grandfather worked for icrr after wwii until the sold out he and his brother where higher ups and even had there own private train cars

[@FrankMosch-n4k]

The I'll central is one railroad I thought would ever go down anyway I remember the orange/white livery. They changed to black& white like the norkfourth southern. I don,t know what happens but the Canadian national took over. Having said that CN also took over the J, ie Elgin, Joliet and eastern railway, I remember the pumpkin orange SD- 38- 6 axil locos rated at about 2.500hp Mabie more I've been to these single tracks it was a cool low key cute railroad, not quite the horse power like BN or Santa,Fe, but it was still cool. Anyway the call it the J , reason why is it starts in Joliet arc,s around kind of in a half bend and end,s up in wakegan IL. It's called the outer belt line. I've got 2 SD-38-2s in pumpkin orange paint scheme 6 axil Mello cool rail road sorry to see them gone....

[@solarflare623]

Could you talk about the great western?

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Brunel gauge time

[@ChargerusPrime]

Time to do a video on CPKC darkness.

[@aaronjohnson9108]

Do the Santa Fe please!

[@BigNate5404]

Can you talk about the Boston and Maine? They have an interesting story.

[@Indy500huskfolf]

Think you could do a video on Southern Pacific? I noticed their story doesn't get told much

[@alexanderditlevsen7357]

History in the dark it would be cool if you talked about more trains from my country Denmark

[@richardjayroe8922]

Don't forget that the last group of engines bought by the ICRR still wears their original livery and are not repainted

[@blainenodes8182]

Enjoy your knowledge/ posts...how about the Chicago great Western,👍 MN 🥶

[@kristoffermangila]

Yes, CGW... that railroad famous for their massive F-unit lashups - I mean, how many railroads deploy an A-B-B-B-A set of Fs on a manifest freight?

[@JarradBruessel32]

IC 201 (formerly 213, 221 and 1401) was built in May 1880 and was a 2-4-4T and it was kept in Owatonna Minnesota on outside display and was well cared for by the former owner of the Owatonna Tool Company. It was paired with a caboose as well. It stayed in Owatonna from 1975 until 2002 when it was moved to the Illinois Railroad Museum who for some stupid reason replaced her diamond shaped stack with a cylinder shaped stack which she only had for a few years and wasn't her original shape either so it makes no sense to change her smoke stack to a shape that wasn't her original shape. When she was 213 she had been using both. When she was 1401 she had the diamond shape. When she was 201 she had the diamond shape. So it makes no sense to change it to match her sisters when she rarely had it and quite honestly it made her stand out more. Also they are keeping her original square shaped light when her sisters had rounded shaped lights. So again makes no sense to try making her look like her sisters in the stack but not with her light. The diamond shaped stack was in good shape.

[@kelvintorrence5994]

Ilike the i.c.g ,and see some of the engines around my house since c.n. owes them and keeps their other take over companys in their original road colors.

[@derekthelehighvalleyfoamer4427]

How about you talk about you either talk about the Burlington Northern *or* one of their predecessors (Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Burlington Route, or even Frisco) next? I know High Iron already made a video about that, but I’m curious as to how you’d pull that off yourself. After all, I dare say that BN was the exact opposite of Penn Central: a well-thought out merger with less parallel routes. Plus, they took over railroads that traveled across the western part of the US, as opposed to the east.

[@danielbackley9301]

Yep! A merger 100 years in the making . And involved RRs they were all owned by the same 2 companies Great Northern and Northern Pacific.

[@kristoffermangila]

You could also see the BN merger as the ultimate legacy of James J. Hill, because all of railroads involved were controlled by Hill at one point in their history.

[@Firecatns1]

I'd definitely love to hear more about Frisco.

[@harrisonallen651]

One of the luckiest railroad companies in America to survive hard times like the Great Depression and the boom of World War 2.

[@samueldjohnson]

He should talk about Rio Grande next

[@pennworld]

Ever think about doing a video on the Illinois Terminal Railroad?

[@Joeybagofdonuts76]

How do you do a video on the ICC and not mention the most famous US steam locomotive engineer? (Casey Jones)

[@zavencornelius7022]

For your next video of fall flag railroads you should do the grand trunk western railroad

[@derekthelehighvalleyfoamer4427]

The GTW still exists, just as a paper company.

[@danielbackley9301]

@@derekthelehighvalleyfoamer4427 Yes another part of Canadian National only a much older part as the ownership goes back to the 1910s.

[@wedge471]

Maybe a lowered flag railroad would be a better descriptor than fallen?

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

Could you do the history of Kansas City Southern?

[@danielcobbins8861]

That would be a good one, as of last April, CP Rail merged with it. It is now CPKC.

[@dcwarr14]

They still reach Council Bluffs, IA, but I think they abandoned their bridge to Omaha. (at least officially, it has been decaying since the 80's anyway)

[@railfanmaximstill7279]

Trackage Rights into West Council Bluffs yard

[@danhoyland142]

Boston & Maine Boston & Maine Boston & maine, next please!!

[@jamesleyshon]

Please do the Rio grande

[@jamiecase249]

Have you done a video on the Reading Railroad

[@AaronJohnson-g9w]

Do the Santa Fe

[@joshatterberry2887]

Do the Missouri Kansas Texas railroad also known as the Katy

[@velezdragon3574]

Can you cover the ia and St. Louis railway please and it’s history in kirksville mo

[@velezdragon3574]

It’s a largely forgotten railroad that my parents remember being adbanndoned and rarely used our town tried to buy it and save it but amtrack refused

[@SimonTekConley]

I bet some hale guy will be happy to see this

[@Transit_Biker]

Another happy landing.

[@samblensdorf7384]

Not to mention that you can still see illinois

[@reidthenavyengineproductio7002]

Maybe Texas and Pacific?

[@kevwebb2637]

Personally, merging with Canadian National is a mistake. I think it be better to merge with a US based Railroad like Union Pacific for example.

[@oldclip70]

Illinois Central and Union Pacific were owned by Edward Harriman. Harriman/Brown Brothers had stocks and bonds of both companies. One of the reasons why Rock Island could not merge with UP was UP and IC were together. In addition, IC had a rail line to Omaha.

[@nicoferguson1215]

Hey, did you hear about the 4014 big boy pushing that stalled freight train up the hill, whilst still pulling its own passenger train? It's cousins, 844 and 3985 also did this, but it's still an interesting thing, a single steam engine succeeding where multiple diesel engines failed

[@masterskrain2630]

F.Y.I. "Cairo" Ill. is pronounced KAY-ro.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Used to that same mistake until my uncle, a Merchant Marine Academy graduate and former riverboat operator, corrected me once in a Zoom call.

[@AndrewTheRocketCityRailfan4014]

Do New York Central

[@joshuabessire9169]

I want that steam engine!

[@whitetailfox1]

What's all this locomotion?

[@ryadi1703]

Can you make a video about the Union Pasific ?😂😂😂 I know its a very big video but I know you can do that 😂😂

[@liamwright3037]

Ah, yes, Casey Jones Railroad

[@Ray.Tompkins.02]

10:13 *COUGH COUGH* Southern Pacific Santa Fe

[@johnchildress6717]

Gulf MOBEEL is the right pronunciation and Ohio

[@GhostKnight5]

Reading 2100 for a locomotive story?

[@kristoffermangila]

Make it the entire Reading 2100 class - its one of the great kitbash jobs ever!

[@jonathanpan6110]

Puzzling, no mention of Casey

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Didn’t he do a video on Casey Jones?

[@jonathanpan6110]

@@DiamondKingStudios Well, yeah, but still mention one of the greatest engineers here

[@DaveTheMovieGuy01]

December 23 is my birthday

[@rikkichunn8856]

Sorry, Cairo is not pronounced K-EYE-ro, as in Egypt. It's K-ARROW.

[@anthonyhunt701]

Cairo : KAY-ro

[@plisskenationbackfromthede3657]

No its ky-ro. No a sound. Like the one in egypt

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

It's not Cairo the I is silent you pronounce the a

[@NarodowyPolski1864]

Ok i was all ways asking. Why CN even bought IC i don't get it if CN stand's for Canadian National but why Bought an American Railroad this doesn't make any sense what's so ever well at least GT and CV make sense but WC and IC WHY you Canadians

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

1999

[@danielbackley9301]

MONEY!

[@wesw9586]

My question is why we Americans keep letting Canada buy our railroads?

[@NarodowyPolski1864]

Maybe because in 1998 Canadian National wanted to have a route to the gulf coast because it was more profitable so CN just throwed money at IC and aquiered them the same year and Especially CP with there merger with KCS to form CPKC now CP is now North American Railways get it

[@illinoiscentralrailroadfan6015]

@@NarodowyPolski1864 that's why E. Hunter Harrison pushed for the merger and that's why he became vice-president then president of Canadian National

[@0fficialdregs]

IC IC IC IC IC :D

[@alexanderditlevsen7357]

alot

[@PowerTrain611]

Capitalism is a dirty business.