NorthAmericanInterlockings: photo
On Aug 6, 1947, an IC passenger train crashed into a CB&Q freight train.
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| Jacob Hortenstine posted Winston tower Jacob Hortenstine also posted Winston tower Litchfield Illinois crossing of the CB&Q WABASH & ICRR Bill Edrington Also the junction of the CB&Q and the L&M. L&M referred to it in timetables as "CB&Q Junction." Mark Egebrecht Litchfield once had 6 railroad lines: BIG FOUR, IC, CB&Q, WABASH, IT, and L&M. Does anyone know when the lines were abandoned and if a diagram exists of the track configuration? Bill Edrington The Big Four (originally Terre Haute & Alton) was the first railroad in Litchfield. It was abandoned by the NYC between Litchfield and East Alton in 1965. Service was discontinued between Litchfield and Hillsboro in 1973, but formal abandonment was in 1976, when the line was not included in the Conrail system. Track removal by the PC bankruptcy estate was in 1977. IT was built through Litchfield in 1907. It was abandoned between Litchfield and Hillsboro in 1933, and between Litchfield and Staunton in 1939. The L&M, which was acquired by CNW in 1958, was abandoned between CB&Q Junction (Winston) and Mt. Olive about 1961. The IC became ICG in 1972 when IC merged with GM&O. Its line between Farmersville and Glen Carbon, with trackage rights from Glen Carbon to Madison over CNW, was formally abandoned in 1981, but track was not removed until 1983 or 1984. The Wabash (now NS) and CB&Q (now BNSF) remain, along with a short stretch of the Big Four which extends west from a BNSF connection to the industrial park on the west side of town, operated by Respondek Railroad. NS currently has trackage rights over BNSF from Winston to Sorento to reach its old Clover Leaf (NKP) line in order to serve the Coffeen power plant and Deer Run mine. For a short time Litchfield was technically served by a seventh railroad: the Litchfield, Carrollton & Western, which operated from Columbiana (on the Illinois River opposite Kampsville) to Barnett, with trackage rights on the CB&Q from Barnett into Litchfield. The LC&W was reorganized as the Quincy, Carrollton & St. Louis, and was eventually acquired by the Chicago & Alton. I don't know when the trackage rights from Barnett to Litchfield were given up, but the C&A abandoned the line from Barnett to Carlinville in 1932. I don't have a diagram all of the lines, but I was born and raised in Litchfield and will be glad to try to answer any questions about its railroads. Jacob Hortenstine did the Big Four also have large shops at Litchfield until moved to Mattoon...........also was told that on south side of Litchfield was a track that linked industry with the east west roads. Bill Edrington Yes. The Terre Haute & Alton shops were originally located in Litchfield. The railroad originally planned to build them at Clyde (now Hornsby, between Litchfield and Gillespie), but the promoters of Litchfield offered free land and enticed the TH&A to locate its shops there. They were moved to Mattoon by successor road Indianapolis & St. Louis in 1871. This made sense for the railroad because Mattoon had become the I&StL's division point roughly halfway between Indianapolis and St. Louis. (I&StL became part of the CCC&StL (Big Four) in 1889.). The shops at Litchfield were sold and became the Litchfield Car Works, owned by David O. Settlemire, and built freight and horse-drawn street railway cars for a number of years before relocating to Mt. Vernon. The shops were located on the south side of the Big Four tracks between State and Jackson Streets, where the Brown Shoe plant and the Ray Schalk baseball field were later located. The Big Four crossed Litchfield from east to west, between Edwards and St. John Streets, while the IC ran north-south along Adams Street; the Wabash north-south along Washington Street (only for a short stretch by the depot); and the CB&Q north-south along Clinton Street. The Big Four crossed all three at grade, and had interchange tracks with all three. The IT came into town from Mt. Olive along the west side of South Clinton Street; then ran through some alleys up to Sargent Street, where it ran east, across the CB&Q, Wabash and IC to State Street. From there the IT interurban cars ran up State Street, crossing the Big Four and continuing north to make a loop around Library Park via Kirkham Street, Monroe Street, Union Avenue and State Street; then continued back down State Street all the way to Water Street on the south side of town, where they turned east and headed for Hillsboro, past the south side of the old American Radiator plant and then on private right-of-way through the country. Wabash and CB&Q had an interchange track which connected them north of West Union Avenue. American Radiator was served by a spur south off the Big Four on the southeast side of town, along McKinley Street. Otherwise, aside from the industrial park on the west side, I don't know of any other tracks, other than industrial sidings (mostly on the Big Four), in Litchfield. |
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| 1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
More information about the railroads leaving Winston towards the St. Louis area.
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| Bill Molony posted Wabash Railroad class P 4-6-4 Hudson-type #701 with the six cars of train #1, the westbound Wabash Cannon Ball, near Litchfield, Illinois, en-route from Detroit to St. Louis. The 701 was built in the Wabash's Decatur shops in November of 1943. Bill Edrington This was taken between Winston Tower (South Litchfield) and Mt. Olive. Route 66 and the old Illinois Traction right-of-way (Staunton-Hillsboro branch) are out of the photo to the left. To the right of the double-track Wabash main line is the parallel single-track IC Springfield District line, and to the right of the IC is the Litchfield & Madison, later merged into the C&NW. Counting the ITS, there were once four railroads paralleling each other side-by-side from Litchfield to Mt. Olive. Today, the only one that remains is the Wabash, reduced to single track when the NS installed CTC in the '80s. |
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| This photo has been moved to "Litchfield, IL: Winston Junction Tower, IC/CB&Q Wreck." |
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