Photo Gallery 1 – Railroads in the old days

: When built by Brooks in 1899, this locomotive was billed as the largest locomotive in the world. She was the I.C.’s only 4-8-0, and was built for the hills between Carbondale and Cairo. Unfortunately, her firebox was too small for her boiler and she would remain a lone experimental engine.

: The other of the two experimental engines purchased for the southern Illinois hills in 1899, Rogers built #639 suffered from the same undersized firebox as #640 and her design would not be repeated. Like #640, she had a propensity for running out of steam.

: This photo was taken in July, 1905, and shows 2-6-0 #1879 at Vergennes, Illinois, on the line between Carbondale and Pinckneyville. This engine was built by Pittsburgh in 1890 as St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute #26, and came to the I.C. when that railroad was acquired in 1896.

: This postcard view shows the Carbondale passenger station not long after it opened. Note the wooden platforms alongside the tracks. These would soon be replaced with the brick platforms that remain in place today.

: Locomotive #1902 stands by at the station in Carbondale sometime after 1906. The locomotive was built in 1888, and in this scene was preparing to leave town with a train to St. Louis.

: This locomotive was built for the I.C. by Hinkley in 1888, and was photographed at Tutwiler, Mississippi, in 1915.

: This postcard not only shows the St. Louis Division office after it had been expanded a second time, but also shows how the railroad maintained the lot south of the building as a park. This area is mostly a parking lot today.

: This view shows the area near the roundhouse in June, 1921. The roundhouse is just out of frame to the left, and the machine shop can be seen to the upper right. With trains running in six directions from Carbondale, workers had their hands full in keeping the locomotives in top notch condition.

: Into the late fifties, steam locomotives were maintained at Carbondale for branch line trains and runs into the coal fields. Two Mikados stand by alongside the machine shop in this view.

: 0-8-0 switcher #3549 spent a number of years assigned to Carbondale, and is seen here switching passenger cars downtown at the depot.

: The 3500 class 0-8-0 switchers were found all over the I.C. system, and a number of them finished up their careers in Carbondale. In this scene, #3553 is seen near the roundhouse on May 3, 1955.

: Mikado #1344 is seen parked on one of the fan tracks across the turntable from the roundhouse on October 14, 1956. Two sister engines can be seen inside the roundhouse in the background.

: A mechanic is working on 0-8-0 switcher #3553 near the roundhouse in this 1957 scene. Another 3500 awaits her next job nearby.

: Diesels of the GP9 model were mostly used in freight service, but the I.C. had several that were equipped for use on passenger trains. This one had just arrived from St. Louis with train 201 on February 24, 1957.

: The big 2600 class Mountain type locomotives were considered the best steam locomotives the I.C. ever owned. On October 2, 1957, #2613 was standing by in Carbondale after being serviced. She was working local freights between Centralia, Carbondale and Cairo. She would go on to become the last steam locomotive to operate on the I.C. exactly three years later.

: The big coal towers in the Carbondale yard were still in use fueling steam locomotives in January, 1959, but they would be out of a job by April.

: Smoke coming from the smoke jacks atop the roundhouse show that a few steam locomotives were running in January, 1959, but there were far more locomotives stored outside. They have one last trip to make… dead in tow to the scrap lines at Paducah.

: E8a diesel #4027 stands by in front of the Carbondale station on an afternoon in January, 1959. She will soon be headed out of town for St. Louis.

: Southbound #25, the Southern Express, rounds the curve at Boskydell just south of Carbondale.

: The Illinois Central would be running intercity passenger trains for another eight months when this shot was taken as the southbound City Of New Orleans stopped in Carbondale in September, 1970.