Bill Goben posted two photos with the comment: "The old Depot moved to the North. So the New Passenger Station and Division Offices could be built, In Champaign, Illinois. The New Station was dedicated, on August 9, 1924."
Paul Jones Both are stil there?
Bill Goben Yes
Paul Jones Been a while since i went thru that part of the city thought they both were still standing sith new transportation center to the south of them.
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| Jim Arvites posted Postcard view of the Illinois Central's "City of Miami" making a station stop at the Champaign, Illinois depot late 1940's. Jerry Coleman This terminal in Champaign has been restored and houses some great restaurants and shops. David DeTar  It was fun selling tickets and making out reports for the Chief Dispatcher J W Jerew way back in the days when it housed the dispatcher's offices as well as the district officials. |
This was probably the base photo for the above colorization. The artist simply painted out the cars and people to make the job easier.
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| Samuel Thompson posted Illinois Central Railroad depot, Champaign, Illinois. The train in the background is the "City of Miami". The seven car, all-coach train (sleepers were not added until 1949) entered service in 1940. The train was delivered in a unique orange, scarlett, and palm green paint scheme. Scanned from a print stamped with "Illinois Central Railroad" on the back. No date given but the photo was taken either late 1946 or early 1947. In mid-1946 the train was repainted (one car at a time) into the chocolate brown and orange paint scheme introduced by the "Panama Limited's" E6A's of 1942. The train derailed just outside Champaign, Illinois on April 19, 1947. E6A 4000 was scrapped afterwards and baggage/dorm/coach 1900 "Bougainvillea" was damaged but repaired and put back in service. This photo was turned into a postcard by Curt Teich. Illinois Central Railroad photograph. Samuel Thompson collection. Jon Roma: This building was not only Champaign's passenger station, but it served as IC's Illinois Division headquarters. There was a restaurant run by IC's dining car department on the south side of the ground floor of the building – the side facing the photographer. The second floor housed clerks, engineers and draftsmen, train dispatchers, the superintendent, and other officers. The third floor was a records room. The building still stands, though is no longer owned by the railroad. In addition to offices upstairs and businesses on the first floor, the latter including a barber shop and a very good Mexican restaurant. The building at far left was the previous (1899) passenger station; it previously occupied the space where the 1924 depot and headquarters are in this photo, and was moved during the construction of the latter. It became a freight depot and was derelict for nearly 40 years before it had extensive renovations and became a popular BBQ restaurant. Kevin Endres: Jon Roma To follow up. This station was replaced by an all modes "Illinois Terminal" which provided MTD bus services, and intercity/state bus services along with taxi and train services. MTD also provided transportation to and from Willard Airport. There are currently working on plans to expand the current facility which is just south of Chester street (photo lower-right) and University Avenue (street with taxi with light colored top).Jon Roma: The newish multimodal "Illinois Terminal" that Kevin Endres mentioned stands out of frame to the right of this photo. I am fortunate to live in a community where multimodal public transit is valued. Our bus system (the MTD that Kevin mentioned is excellent, and the city's largest employer (University of Illinois) showed foresight in reaching a contract with the MTD that subsidizes bus service for students, faculty, and staff rather than building more parking lots in the scarce open space on campus.Now if only Amtrak's train frequency to and from Chicago was better and more reliable.... Kevin Endres: Jon Roma Yes, I was part of the team that did the design work for the current facility (outside of the building). And yes, it's one of the best transportation systems (MTD) in the nation. Emanuel Collier: Is this the east side of the tracks? Samuel Thompson shared |
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| Dennis DeBruler replied to Emanuel's question No. The west side. The train has to be southbound. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ss2xMXpmh... |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Samuel's post Thanks to the parking lot, I can catch part of the depot on the left and the Illinois Terminal on the right. I'm glad to see that the new building doesn't look like an Amshack. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCND7tB... |
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| William Shapotkin posted An undated postcard view (artist's rendering -- NOT a photograph) of the Champaign, IL IC station (2nd (?)). Although still standing, it is no longer used as a transportation facility -- Amtrak trains as well as local and intercity buses stop at a new facility (one block south (?)) called "Illinois Terminal." Orientation is looking N-N/E. Wm Shapotkin Collection. |
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| LJ Bootsie posted Illinois Central Railroad Depot Champaign, Illinois May 15, 1903. Image credit, Champaign County History Museum. Jon Roma: This station served Champaign until 1924. By then, it lacked the capacity to handle traffic to and from the growing University of Illinois populace. The replacement building dedicated in 1924 is a new three-story structure that served as passenger station and Illinois Division headquarters. That station served Amtrak until 1999 when it was replaced by a multimodal transportation center across the street that serves the local mass transit district, Amtrak, and intercity buses. Both former IC structures are still in use. The 1924 depot has a good Mexican restaurants, a barber shop, and other businesses on the ground floor, and office space on the second and third floor. The depot pictured in this post was moved in 1924 to clear the way for construction of the replacement depot/division headquarters building. It was disconnected from its foundation, placed on rollers, and rolled several hundred feet by a team of two horses – while still in service. The utilities had been connected to flexible hoses that allowed the station to remain in use while it was relocated. This structure is now a popular barbecue joint. The parking lot for this restaurant stands on land once occupied by the IC's four-track coach yard. In pre-Amtrak days, coaches were often added to northbound trains and removed from southbound trains to accommodate U of I student traffic. A pair of Champaign-Chicago Amtrak trains used this coach yard during a brief period during the Eighties. |
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Larry Foht posted Illinois Central Railroad Depot And Train Champaign Illinois Larry Foht collection : Shawn Alan Martin: This is the original station where the Black Dog restaurant is located. What year was this taken? Larry Foht: Shawn Alan Martin this photo is on a post card that was mailed in 1918. |
I'm passing through Champaigne on the City this morning. Are there really four stations? From south to north, it appears to be: 1. modern Amtrak station; 2. Similar size older large station [68+ Photos]; 3. Much older single-level station; 4. Freight station on 45-degree angle.Skip Luke Yes. New, 1920s depot, old single story depot, and freight station.
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| John DuFrane posted this building still stands downtown Champaign [Street View I hope it is now leased so that the building remains viable.] |
While looking for the freight house, I noticed that the base of the water tower made it into the 21st Century.
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| Jon Roma posted Here's a neat item from my collection that's almost 112 years old. This is an excursion ticket for fans of University of Illinois football to travel by rail to a match between Illinois and Purdue in West Lafayette on Saturday, November 14, 1908. The routing itself is interesting: IC from Champaign to Paxton, and Lake Erie & Western (later Nickel Plate) from Paxton to Lafayette, with a same-day return by the reverse route. The ticket is printed in the orange and blue colors of the U of I. This ticket was originally a four-stub affair – one stub to be lifted by a trainman on each leg of the trip going and returning, plus the top portion to be retained by the customer as a receipt. For some reason, the two stubs for the return portion of the trip didn't get lifted; it may be a safe assumption that the passenger found another way to return to Champaign-Urbana. In 1908, the IC and LE&W lines crossed at grade, and the crossing was protected by an interlocking plant. Paxton is the highest point on the IC's Chicago-New Orleans main line, and was the ruling grade of the Chicago District. The grade was significant enough that some trains needed helper engines to get trains over the top. This impediment was eliminated by a grade separation project during the Charles Markham presidency of the IC in the Roaring Twenties. This project lowered the IC tracks below grade level through Paxton. The Paxton grade reduction project eliminated the interlocking tower at Paxton, but the interchange remained for many more years. The soil excavated from Paxton for the was used as fill for a track elevation project taking place in Champaign a the same time. That project eliminated nearly all grade crossings with city streets within the city limits. On the subject of special trains, I will interject that the IC seldom failed to exploit the opportunity of capturing special traffic. For many years starting at least as early as the Twenties, IC ran numerous specials from Chicago and other points to Champaign for Illini home football games. I have an IC office file that documents ten special trains whose consists comprised 137 passenger cars' worth of riders (including the Wolverines team and staff) to the 1947 Michigan-Illinois game in Champaign. Numerous student specials for the U of I, Eastern Illinois University (Charleston/Mattoon), and SIU (Carbondale) were run at the beginning of the fall and spring semester as well as Thanksgiving week and spring break. IC ran specials to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and even ran specials (or at least extra cars on regular trains) for area high schools' senior proms (with baggage cars serving as dance floors), and they ran extra cars for younger students for a day's field trip to the big city. For the football fans among us, the game of November 14, 1908 resulted in a 15-6 victory for Illinois over the Purdue Boilermakers. This extended the Illini's winning streak to three games. They ended the 1908 season with a 5-1-1 record. Purdue's loss snapped a four-game winning streak, and the Boilermakers ended the 1908 season with a 4-3 record. Matt McClure Hilarious with the absurd "University of Purdue!" Back when the Big Ten (Western Conference) was: -University of Chicago -Purdue University -University of Illinois -University of Wisconsin -University of Michigan -University of Iowa -University of Minnesota -Indiana University -Northwestern University Years before Ohio SU asked to join and 42 years before Michigan State joined, much less PSU, MD, RU, UN. |
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