Jackson, TN: IC Roundhouse, Freight House and IC+GM&O Union Station

IC Roundhouse: (Satellite, the green vegetation rectangles mark the pits in the roundhouse foundation.)

Depot: (Satellite, it was at the east end of Depot St. between the abandoned IC and the WTNN/GM&O tracks)

Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook posted

With her safety valves blowing a huge plume of steam, IC 4-8-2 2450 leads the northbound "Seminole" past the IC's freight house in Jackson, TN, in 1950. Today's train is running in multiple sections, with this section consisting of seven head-end cars and a single coach. IC's roundhouse is off to the right.

Until 1958 the IC and GM&O shared a union station on the north side of Jackson. After GM&O's "Gulf Coast Rebel" made its last overnight run on October 13-14, 1958, the IC moved its passenger operations into the IC freight house. IC's passenger trains continued to call at the freight house.

Photographer unknown, Cliff Downey collection.

They left a RR crane in the weeds!

3D Satellite

The roundhouse foundation agrees with the topo, but Cliff's photo shows more tracks than the topo does. The north/south classification yard at the bottom extends further south. Note the "Union Sta" in the top center. In the lower-right corner is GM&O's Iselin Yard. That yard still exists and is now owned by the West Tennessee Railroad.

1950 Jackson South Quad @ 1:24,000

 

Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook posted
Jackson, TN, Dec. 4, 1911. Wooden ramps were cheap to build and were widely used across the country during the early 1900's. A handful of hoppers were shoved up the ramp and carefully parked at the top (be sure to tie down those handbrakes!). On this ramp at Jackson, TN, the coal would dump onto a conveyor, which delivered the coal to a chute on either side of the tower, and the coal was then dumped into the tender. Some wooden ramps had multiple chutes; coal was dumped directly from the hopper into the tender. IC photo, Cliff Downey coll.

Bill Neill posted

Here's another occupational hazard for operators handing up train orders.  Look at the operator handing up to the head end of the IC passenger train as a freight train approaches from the opposite direction.

Given that the operator has two more sets of orders to deliver to the passenger train, he'll be literally trapped between the two trains.  And, given the physical position of the fireman or brakeman on the freight train, I have to wonder if he's going to p/u orders here, also.  If so, the opr will be truly vulnerable.

[Bill should have read the text he copy&pasted below because the freight train is not moving.]

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Here's additional text accompanying the photo in its original posting:

An IC company photographer climbed atop a baggage car in 1950 to capture this view of the southbound "City of Miami" snaking around a curve on the south side of Jackson, TN. A pair of E7A's are pulling the train, which is about to cross Sycamore Street. IC's Mississippi Division was headquartered in the large white building to the right, and an operator has come out to hand up train orders to the engine crew. At the I.C. Cafe, on the left side of the photo, a small group of men are watching the action.

Meanwhile, a northbound freight powered by 2-8-2 1375 has stopped short of the crossing and is waiting for the "City" to clear. 1375's tender had been filled to the brim at IC's Jackson roundhouse, which is behind the photographer and on the west side of the tracks.

The division office still stands, and now houses a public defender's office, but otherwise everything that is railroad-related in this photo is long gone. Mikado 1375 was retired in 1959 and scrapped. In the mid-1960's the U.S. 45 Bypass was built around the west side of Jackson, with an overpass over the IC tracks. The bypass was built roughly 25 yards north of the division office. The "City of Miami" quit running in 1971 when Amtrak took over IC's intercity passenger service. and those E7A's have long since been scrapped. The roundhouse was torn down in the late 1960's/early 1970's, but the foundation can clearly be see in satellite photos.

In 1988 the ICG sold its Fulton, KY-Birmingham, AL line to Norfolk Southern. Traffic on this route was moved onto other tracks through Jackson, and the tracks in this photo have been pulled up.