Clinton, IL: IC Coaling Tower, Roundhouse, Railyard and Office

(Satellite)

McLean County Museum of History posted
llinois Central's Clinton roundhouse
August 1934
Here's a spectacular view of the Illinois Central Railroad's roundhouse and rail yard on the east edge of Clinton. At the time, the DeWitt County seat served as headquarters for the IC's Springfield Division. This aerial likely came from The Pantagraph's news-gathering plane known as "Scoop."Jacob Hortenstine shared

Andy Zukowski posted
From the Don Morice collection, here is a shot he took of the Clinton,Illinois, Illinois Central Roundhouse in the Summer of 1956.
Billy Irvin: It was definitely in its twilight then. In the next few years they would begin tearing the entire complex down. A small wedge of the roundhouse would survive through the 70s. Now the only thing left is the old reservoir and it was mostly filled in with rubble from the buildings. Even a majority of the tracks are gone.🥲

Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook posted

IC 4-8-2 2520 is seen at Clinton, IL, circa 1954. As was customary with the 2500's, number 2520 was accompanied by an auxiliary water car.

2520 was built at Paducah in April, 1938, by mating the boiler from 2-10-2 2958 to a new frame. The locomotive was retired in Oct., 1960, and later scrapped.

Photographer unknown, Cliff Downey collection.

Given the coaling tower in the background, this town was worth investigating. The land scar of the roundhouse looks like it was close to a 360-degree roundhouse.

This town had three railroad routes through it. Unfortunately for the town, they were all owned by Illinois Central. So the town did not get the benefit of competitive rates that multiple railroads would normally provide. The east/west Chicago, Havana, and Western is gone. The north/south charter (Gruber) route still exists on the north side to Heyworth. That remnant and the southwest/northeast route between Gilman and Springfield are now owned by Canadian National. The Tate & Lyle grain elevator in Heyworth is the reason the Gruber line is abandoned only on the south side of town.

Aban RR Map

As expected, the railyard has a small fraction of the tracks that it used to have.

1941 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The coaling tower has the "pointed shadow" near the lower-left corner. You can see a cut of coal cars waiting to be unloaded.

1941 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Update:

Chris Buchanan posted
Here’s a picture of the locomotive shops in Clinton, IL that we’re flooded in May 8, 1961.

Chris Buchanan posted
A schematic of the IC shops and trackage on the eastern side of the diamond in Clinton, IL

Jon Roma posted three photos with the comment:

We've recently had several conversations featuring talking Clinton, Illinois – the headquarters of IC's Springfield Division. In 1959, this division was merged into the Illinois Division, which was headquartered at Champaign, some 40 miles east.
These undated photographs were exposed in the camera of John W. Barriger III from the rear observation car of a southbound train, headed toward St. Louis.
With IC tracks extending north, northeast, east, south, southwest, and west, the IC had a big presence in Clinton in the steam era, but there's not much left of the IC's presence today, though CN still runs a couple local freights that originate at Clinton.
The large building on the right side in the second and third images was the passenger station and division headquarters; this building was torn down about 1985.
The original pictures reside in the Mercantile Library of the University of Missouri at St. Louis.

Isaac Fabris Sadly, there is only one train called out of Clinton these days, but it's sporadic and mostly nocturnal. An occasional grain train will be routed to the new ITB, and there's an few detours every year, but traffic is sparse for the old Gilman District.

[The comments also discuss snowplow trains and Barriger's camera.]
 

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Roger Kujawa posted two images with the comment: "Illinois Central office at Clinton, Illinois. Clinton was quite the junction in its day with 6 IC lines and the ITS ran through town."

Roger Kujawa shared

Billy Irvin: A booming place indeed. To visit Clinton now it is hard to tell it was anything but a tiny whistle stop.

Roger Kujawa shared

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Craig Homberg commented on Roger's second share
Sanborn Map Company, Jan 1916