Towns and Nature: Sparta, IL: M&O Art Gallery/Depot and Train Orders "Iron Man"

(Satellite, it is several blocks west of downtown.)

Street View, Jun 2023

Patrick Provart shared Randy Herndon's posting, June 1972

Randy's comment:

Many people know this as the Misselhorn Art gallery but this was actually a photo of my dad , Herb Herndon, take at the GM&O Depot where he worked for almost 40 years. The photo was taken in June of 1972. I had many adventures play all around the depot and hanging out while they made In the Heat of The Night.

I have learned that the equipment to hold the train orders is called the "Iron Man" and that crews prefer it to hoops held by the agents/operators because they are a more consistent, steady target. Also notice the design of this iron man --- he higher hoop for the engineer and the lower hoop for the conductor. They are both turned down so that it is easier for the agent to load the prongs with the triangle of cord that holds the orders. Then the agent can turn the wheel to raise the hoops to crew height. You can see an arrow in the top rail that should be aligned with the mast to place the hoop at the correct engineer's height.

You can also see the base of the train orders signal mast and the tip of the semaphore blade. It is strange to see train order equipment still installed at a depot in the 1970s. I think that means the GM&O would still be "dark." That is, no CTC controlled signals have been installed trackside.

Roger Holmes posted

For whatever reason, I did not publish this article after I wrote it. During the same week, I came across this posting. Roger's comment:

Peoria bound train at the BN Target sometime after the merger which would place this in the early 1980's. I know that the Conrail tracks were taken out in 1988.

Since I don't know where "BN Target" is, I was going to skip this posting. But then I noticed the "iron man" on the right. Notice that it doesn't have any hoops in it, just the wheels to raise and lower the hoops.

Mike Finney posted

Then I came across this picture. Now I understand that the operator can string the twine with the orders in the comfort of the tower. All he had to do outside is stick the pole in the wheel and turn the wheel. One of the comments is of interest:

Alan Culley Handled those many times. The guys at 3rd Street in Marion had to stand along the track and hold it up. N&W moved fairly slow thru there though.

Daniel S. Dawdy caught an IC engineer reaching out to grab his orders in 1989 at TY Tower (cwrr).

Andy Zukowski posted

Kankakee Norm: In the Heat of the Night ...

Tony Nickle: Kankakee Norm that was Sparta Mississippi.

Kevin Bauza: Tony Nickle Mostly filmed at Sparta, IL.

Norm Anderson: "Sparta, Mississippi" was a fictional town. But even in the mid-1960s, Mr. Poitier felt that it was too risky to make a film like that one in the Deep South. So the exteriors were filmed in and around Sparta, Illinois instead.

Peter George commented on Andy's post
This is a “still” from the 1967 film In The Heat Of The Night at the same depot shown above. There is actually lots of great train action in the movie of long gone locomotives and RR companies. Besides GMO locomotives in the Sparta Depot scenes and in a scene where the Deputies are chasing a suspect along the edge of the Mississippi River there are a pair of MoPac GP35’s pulling a high speed freight. That was filmed at Chester Illinois about 20 miles from Sparta,.

Peter George commented on Andy's post
Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger

Bobby Jr Kerrry commented on Andy's post

Justin gregory commented on Adny's post

Steven Hooker posted two photos with the comment: "The Gulf, Mobile, & Ohio RR Depot in Sparta Illinois still exists today. The first photo is from 1975 and the second photo is from 2022. It is currently being used as the Misselhorn Art Gallery. Sparta is in Southern Illinois and about 50 miles Southeast of St Louis."

Bob Venditti: Doubled for Sparta, Mississippi in the 1967 film ‘In The Heat Of The Night’. Except for some quick tense filming in Dyersburg, TN, none of the shooting could take place in the south, so rural Illinois was chosen.