Neilson Junction: BNSF/CB&Q vs. UP/C&EI

(Satellite)

Normally, the title would begin with the town that the junction is in. But southern Illinois is such a wilderness, that two railroads joined, but no town ever developed at that junction.

Not only is the West Vienna Tower gone, the junction is gone because UP has abandoned all of its C&EI trackage that was south of there including a bridge I studied. It now uses the BNSF route to access the Joppa Power Plant branch.

Edward Bridges posted three pictures with the comment:

Neilson Junction, junction point of the Union Pacific's former Chicago & Eastern Illinois with the BNSF's former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. This junction is 8 miles south of Marion, Illinois. This junction was unique because from 1911-1989, it was guarded entirely by semaphore signals.
The tower was built in 1911 by the C&EI, demolished by UP in 1989. Between myself and two other friends, we saved quite a few things from this tower, to include both signs, plant timer, number fobs from all the levers as well as the framed manipulation (shown in last image). I was given the manipulation by the fellow who was the signal foreman who closed the tower almost 25 years after he took it down from the tower when he saw this picture.
First two images by Edward Bridges, last image by the late Brian Shafer.

1

2

3

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The C&EI is on the east side and was easy to find because of the fresh ballast. The CB&Q on the west side was harder to find because its grey ballast blends in with the farm fields. I put a red rectangle around the tower's location.

Stephen N. Brannon posted
Here is C&EI Neilson Tower out in the "boonies" several miles south of Marion, Illinois where the CB&Q line south from Centralia and Herrin to Metropolis and via the jointly owned P&I to Paducah, Kentucky gained trackage rights on the C&EI 15.8 miles south to WV Tower West Vienna. Photo looks southward along the CB&Q. Switch was to the siding where helper engines sometimes helped heavy soundbound CB&Q coal trains over Goreville Hill. CB&Q was a major supplier of coal for the TVA power plant just across the Metropolis Bridge over the Ohio River at Chiles, Kentucky. C&EI on the other side of the Tower. CB&Q and C&EI also exchanged coal loads and empties at Goreville since C&EI served the EEI power plant at Joppa, Illinois.
Richard Fiedler shared

Edward Bridges commented on Richard's share
I happen to own the old manipulation board from Neilson Junction tower, along with the foot pedal from underneath the desk among other artifacts from that tower when it was demolished in April 1989.
[If you know what a "manipulation board" is, please leave a comment.]
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Historical Society shared