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    Illinois Central Railroad: Wrecks, Derailments, and Floods
    Illinois Central Railroad: Wrecks, Derailments, and Floods
    Illinois Central Railroad: Wrecks, Derailments, and Floods
    Ebook185 pages1 hour

    Illinois Central Railroad: Wrecks, Derailments, and Floods

    By Clifford J. Downey

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    About this ebook

    With roots dating back to 1851, the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) transported millions of passengers and countless tons of freight. Most trips were completed without incident. However, there were occasional mishaps, including derailments and collisions with other trains or highway vehicles. Most accidents were minor, while others made the national news, such as the October 30, 1972, collision of two commuter trains in Chicago that killed 45 passengers. The IC frequently had to deal with flooding, for the railroad ran in close proximity to several major rivers. In January and February 1937, much of the southern half of the railroad was shut down because of flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This book depicts many of the accidents that have taken place along the Illinois Central through the years. The photographs are drawn from numerous sources, including the railroad's own photographers, amateur photographers, and photography studios.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateAug 10, 2016
    ISBN9781439656761
    Illinois Central Railroad: Wrecks, Derailments, and Floods
    Author

    Clifford J. Downey

    Clifford J. Downey has had an interest in the Illinois Central Railroad since he was a teenager growing up in western Kentucky during the 1980s. He has published six books and dozens of articles, mostly on the IC. Downey is a certified surgical technologist and lives in Memphis, Tennessee, with his wife, Jolinne.

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      Book preview

      Illinois Central Railroad - Clifford J. Downey

      Central.

      INTRODUCTION

      A book on train wrecks? Why would anyone write a book about train wrecks? Doesn’t this guy know that people are hurt or killed in train wrecks?

      When I announced plans for this particular book, most folks were supportive, even enthusiastic. However, I did hear from several individuals who were skeptical. A couple of folks told me they were firmly against the book and thought it would be purely sensationalistic.

      Because there are some folks who have asked, and may yet ask, Why would anyone write a book about train wrecks, please let me explain. Back in 1974, when I was six years old, my parents moved to Pembroke, Kentucky. Our house was about 300 feet from a busy main line operated by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. My bedroom was on the second floor, and I had a good vantage point to see both southbound and northbound trains as they rumbled through town.

      For several years I just watched trains. But then in 1983, when I was 15 years old, I started photographing trains passing through town. And with help from my parents, I traveled to other towns in western Kentucky to photograph trains. I had my first train photograph published at age 16 and along the way became an avid fan of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.

      The Illinois Central Gulf (ICG) was a relatively young railroad. ICG was formed on August 10, 1972, when the Illinois Central (IC) Railroad merged with smaller rival Gulf Mobile & Ohio (GM&O) Railroad plus two short line railroads in Mississippi. Both the IC and GM&O had rich histories. IC’s roots dated back to February 10, 1851, when the road was chartered in Illinois. By 1900, the road had expanded west to Iowa and south to New Orleans. The GM&O’s roots dated back to 1848. Like the IC, the GM&O stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest.

      In addition to reading every article and book I could find on the IC and ICG, I began talking to railroad employees. Many of them had worked in the railroad industry for 30 years or more and were willing to talk about their careers. Almost without exception, their stories were entertaining and informative.

      I quickly learned that working on the railroad was often dangerous and difficult. Without exception, every locomotive engineer I have interviewed has had several near misses at grade crossing, and many engineers have been in at least one grade crossing accident involving serious injuries and/or fatalities.

      Of course, grade crossing collisions are just one type of accident that can happen on the railroad. There are also derailments, washouts, fires, and collisions between trains. Crime is a serious problem in many urban areas. I have talked to several employees who admitted they carry firearms to work. These men and women pack heat even though it is against company policy and they may be fired if caught.

      As I listened to these stories, a common thread developed. Many railroaders wanted their stories, both good and bad, to be preserved. With this in mind, the idea of writing a book about IC/ICG wrecks came to mind. I spent a lot of time debating whether to write this book because I knew some folks would think it was sensationalistic. After a great deal of debate and prayer, I decided to proceed. However, I was determined to approach the subject in a historical manner and avoid speculation, rumors, finger pointing, and gossip. I am not trained in the science of investigating rail accidents. Thus, when writing about the cause of an accident, I have limited my remarks to those facts outlined in newspaper articles, company reports, and reports by investigating bodies like the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

      Furthermore, this book is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all IC/ICG accidents. Such a book would take years to write and would fill numerous volumes! Instead, it is intended as a pictorial history of selected accidents from the early 1900s through the early 1970s.

      In order to keep things organized, the book is divided into nine chapters. The first chapter is titled An Ounce of Prevention and was intentionally put at the front of the book. The IC, like most railroads, invested heavily in technology and training to prevent accidents from ever happening.

      Chapter two focuses on derailments, which are perhaps the most common type of accidents in the railroad industry. As with all rail accidents, there are many different causes for derailments, including broken rails, track that is out of gauge (i.e., too wide or too narrow between the rails), and shifting cargo that causes a car to tip over. And there are some causes that defy belief. On page 26 there are two photographs of the Panama Limited taken in 1937 after the train struck a cow and derailed.

      Collisions between two trains is the subject of chapter three. These types of accidents tend to generate the greatest concern within the railroad industry. Train operations on the IC/ICG were governed by rule books and employee timetables. Each of these documents were chock full of rules, and most of those rules were intended to prevent a collision. When a collision occurs between two trains, investigators almost immediately look to see if a rules violation occurred.

      Floods are the topic of chapter four. Several segments of the IC ran in close proximity to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and their tributaries. This made the railroad vulnerable to flooding, especially in the springtime. During most years flooding was a minor nuisance, but occasionally, it was downright catastrophic. In 1912 and 1927, the lower Mississippi River was hit by devastating floods. Both of these floods killed hundreds of people and caused millions of dollars in property damage. The IC sustained considerable losses during these floods.

      One of the greatest floods in US history was the 1937 flood along the Ohio River Valley. Numerous railroads were hit hard by this flood, but the IC was probably hit the hardest. The IC’s busy Kentucky Division between Louisville and Paducah, which supplied much

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