EXPLORING THE FORGOTTEN RAILS IN MY HOMETOWN -- Here's a look around at the Big 4/NYC yard in Cairo, Illinois this weekend. The 2.5 miles of trackage around town is owned by Pioneer Rail Corp, but there's no longer any on-line customers to serve and Pioneer has only used Cairo for car storage the past few years, and even that business seems to be non-existent lately. At one time in its history, Cairo was served by FIVE class 1 railroads -- IC, GM&O, Big 4/NYC, MOP and Cotton Belt!
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| 1: Looking north out of the yard -- building in the distance was built in the 1980s for a car cleaning company that was in business for about 15 years |
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| 2: Looking south into the yard -- the distinctive switch stand has either fallen over from neglect or vandalism |
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| 3: Another view looking south into the yard |
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| 4: Closer view of the large shed for the now-defunct car cleaning operation |
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| 5: A view of some of the concrete platforms that were constructed in the late 1980s for use by the car cleaning operation -- mainly covered hoppers and tank cars. |
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| 6: A close-up view of the switch stand, complete with "CCC&STL" Big 4 markings -- the switch stand is probably 100 years old, if not older! |
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| 7: Another switch stand in the yard |
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| 8: Don't think anyone will be calling anytime soon |
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