Decatur, IL: IC's Depot

(Satellite, it was in the southwest quadrant of the crossing)

An interesting tidbit in HauntedDecatur was that the first electrically lit business was Sullivan's saloon in 1883.

(Update: the predecessor Union Station was shared with Wabash.)

Bill Molony posted
This is what the Illinois Central's station in Decatur looked like in 1906.
Stuart Pearson: I LUV IT~~~~~~~Bill, or anyone else, what can you share as to What was ALL that Space used for?
David Daruszka: Waiting room(s), sometimes men's and women's waiting rooms were separate. Baggage room, freight room, perhaps a restaurant or coffee shop and a barber shop. Then there was the ticket office and the station master's office.
Bill Molony: Illinois Central lines radiated out from Decatur in five different directions, making it a popular location to change trains for through passengers.

Bill Molony posted
Picture postcard view of the Illinois Central station in Decatur - 1906.

Larry Senalik posted
Illinois Central Depot in Decatur Illinois from a postcard

The baggage room on the south end of the depot is still standing.

David Bowman posted
What better a winter day to show off this Historical Wabash scene in Decatur, Illinois. Can you hear that horn - “all aboard” - the release of brake - off to Chicago! (H-R Archive photo).
[The building in the northwest quadrant was a YMCA that was used by crews to sleep over. The building to the west (right) of the IC depot was the Wabash depot.]
Bruce Smith shared

This was torn down in 1951 because passenger service had ended, HauntedDecatur. Decatur was on the original charter route, not the "branch" to Chicago. The original route was completely abandoned by the 1980s.

Mike Isenberg posted
This early 20th century view in Decatur, IL. shows both the Wabash (with the tower) and the ICC (on the right) Stations.
[View would be looking a little west of North from near the IC tracks.]

Update: Christian Goepel posted a couple of photos of the depot and some of the comments provide new photos. Christian's comment:

While the handsome IC depot at Decatur, Illinois - where the Clinton, Peoria, and Decatur districts converged - sadly no longer exists, there are traces of its former footprint. Among them are the weed-grown brick platform and the depot's express building pictured here. The other picture captures what the IC depot footprint once looked like (from a framed picture hanging in the antique mall on the nearby Wabash depot).

Kirk Reynolds I don't think passenger traffic on IC's Clinton District alone could justify such a large station so maybe the additional traffic from the PD&E and Vandalia Line did.

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Kirk Reynolds commented on Christian's posting
Another postcard view, looking east on Cerro Gordo Street. Wabash depot on the left, now the antique mall. Date unknown.

Robert Daly posted
Postcard of the Wabash and IC stations at Decatur.
Jack Franklin shared

Kirk Reynolds commented on Christian's posting
This view is looking north. From left to right: Kraft Hotel, Wabash depot, Railroad YMCA in distance above horse and IC depot. 

Hearald-Review, 1951 (source)
[A collection of IC photos, but most of them are of people and crossings.]

Hearald-Review, 1942
H&R file photo 1-25-1942 The lithograph of the Illinois Central Station by Reginald Neal, head of Millikin University art dept., published in last Sunday's Herald and Review.

Hearald-Review, 1950
H&R file photo 9-15-1950 The Illinois Cnetral railroad is making plans to demolish this imposing structure located along the IC tracks and just east of the Wabash station. The building was erected in 1903; but has lost its usefulness during the recent years. It cost approximately $70,000 when it was built. Wayne A. Johnston, Chicago, president of the Illinois Central said the IC is studying plans for elimination of this building.
[I'm surprised that it was considered worthless by 1950. I would have expected a year closer to 1960. Did IC executives arrange for their passengers to use the Wabash Station?]

William A. Shaffer posted
Streamliner "Blue Bird" at Wabash Depot in Decatur, IL . (2.26.50)
(Photo by Decatur Herald & Review)
The "Blue Bird" is shown at Decatur, IL on its first day of service!Dennis DeBruler That is also a nice view of the IC Depot along the left side of the photo.

Mid-Century Decatur posted

The famous Illinois Central passenger train, "City of New Orleans," was immortalized in song by Arlo Guthrie in 1972. But the train was always scheduled through Champaign, not Decatur, so what is it doing here?

On July 25, 1947, thirty coal cars derailed, blocking the Illinois Central mainline, and causing the passenger train to divert through Decatur. The kids in the foreground are delighted. And that's the one and only time the famous train stopped in Decatur, 73 years ago today.

Sadly, with no passenger traffic scheduled through Decatur on the IC, the station would be razed in a few years. The only remnant of the station still standing is the Railway Express Office for package shipment, which was not owned by the IC. It is the building partially shown in the far left of the photo.

H&R file photo
[An H&R caption provides a location:
"H&R file photo 7-25-1947 The Illinois Central's City of New Orleans, all coach streamlined train from Chicaho to New Orleans, came through Decatur about 11 a.m. this morning. The train, along with other Illinois Central passenger trains, were being brought through Decatur because of the derailment of the 30 coal cars near Tuscola on the Illinois Central's main line."]
Louis Eagle Quint The train shown is Definetly the 1942 edition of the Panama Limited. Note the striping on the E units.
A detour via the “ old line” thru Decatur seems very possible. Curious if Tolono was set up for interchange between the Wabash main and the IC main- all four quadrants or???
David Bowman Yes... still is last time I was there.
[A comment on a share of this post indicated that the IC branch to Decatur had a lower speed limit. And, looking at a satellite image, they would have had to backup from the Champaign station stop to get onto that branch in Champaign.]

David Bowman commented on a post
H&R file photo 5-3-1944 The Illinois Central Wednesday morning detoured sever of its passenger trains and one fast freight run over the Wabash between Decatur and Tolono in order to get around a freight wreck on its main line at Tolono. The Panama Limited has been through Decatur before but it attracted the usual crowd of spectators as there are no other trains of this streamline type operating through Decatur. This picture was taken at the Illinois Central Station.
[Note the rear of this train curves to the right because it is on a connector from the Wabash.]

I noticed that these two "steamlined trains in Decatur" photos have different dates. According to a comment by Patrick Provart on a post, the 1947 City detoured through Clinton, so it stayed on IC tracks. That route indicates that the branch through Monticello must have already been really bad back in the 1940s. The 1944 City used the Wabash rather than any of IC's branches.

I wonder if some local passenger trains used the PD&E branch to get back to the Chicago mainline since they would be less concerned about speed and more concerned about serving stations along the route.

Map via David Cantrell

Decatur Historic District posted two photos with the comment: "A VERY RARE AND OLD VIEW of the #IllinoisCentral train line and #WabashDepot."
Kirk Reynolds The postcard is postmarked Feb. 3, 1900 and I'm glad to share it here. Thanks for the then and now views!

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