Mattoon, IL: 1918 Amtrak/IC Passenger Station

(3D Satellite)

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The IC passenger station is alive and well as an Amtrak station, museum (that was closed the day of the week that I visited). gift shop, and office space. When I stopped to check out the IC freight house, a clerk recommended that I check out the passenger station as well. I'm glad I did.

After entering the station, you go down a set of stairs to...

...the waiting room. I wonder if they can move the benches to a storage room and put a DJ stand on the ticket boot for wedding receptions.

The tracks go through a rather deep cut. This view shows that downtown is at the same level as the station entrance.

On my way over to the station, I took a picture of the right side of the mural you see on the side of the building above. This must have been where the IC mainline crossed the Big Four before the IC mainline was placed in a cut. From the clothing and the street-running, I assume that this scene is from the 1800s.

The station had a parking lot on the east side of the station.

Update:
Thomas C. Gibbons posted three photos with the comment:

Here it comes. There it goes. I kind of remember taking these pictures of the City of New Orleans sometime during the 1960's as it arrived in Mattoon and then departed. The arriving picture is looking north from Broadway toward the New York Central bridge. The other is looking south from Charleston Avenue. They have been hiding in my computer for a long time. I have also included an attempt I once made to colorize one of them.

David Nisbet As a fireman in 1978 on #50 my engineer went thru those 30 MPH subways at 86 MPH, throttle buried, you didn't say a word back then.A hint for my BLE brothers.... he had emptied his thermos coming up Magnet hill.

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Bill Molony posted

Richard A. I. Carlson Very similar to the cuts at Paxton on the IC and Winnetka in the CNW/CNS&M. Same designs on the bridges and abutment walls.

Albert J Reinschmidt Was it ever really 4 track?

Bill Molony posted again

Steve Corn In Mattoon, as the photograph shows, we confusingly called this the subway, even though it's not an urban transit system.
Bill Molony posted again
David Daruszka The material excavated from the cut was used for track elevation during the IC electrification program.

Jim Arvites also posted
Postcard view from the steam era of Illinois Central Railroad passenger trains by the station platforms at the Mattoon, Illinois IC depot.
Jack Burke If you are ever near Mattoon, Illinois take a minute to see the station now. It has been beautifully restored to its IC heyday. It still functions as an Amtrak station. Rails and nearby yards are now CN. This station is the centerpiece of Mattoon's revitalized downtown. It is amazing, all the tile, all the brass, the posters, and even a history museum.
Dennis DeBruler And US-45 goes right past the former IC freight house: http://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/.../mattoon-il-ic...

Paul Jevert posted
I.C.R.R. Mattoon Illinois subway cut and Depot ! (1920)

Looking South. The Big Four overpass and depot are in the background.

Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook posted
In 1954 IC Mikado 1269 leads a freight past the depot at Mattoon, IL. The Mikado has long been scrapped but the depot still stands. Scanned from a duplicate negative in the collection of Cliff Downey.
Sam Yacono: NYC [Big Four] station looming above [left of the smokestack] and a water tank hiding behind the maples.
Paul Jevert shared
I.C. Mikado 2-8-2 # 1269 at Mattoon (1954)

Another photo taken from the depot looking north:

Thomas C. Gibbons posted
Just joined the group. Thanks for adding me. Here is one of my favorite old Mattoon pictures, which I have posted before in other places. If you have seen it before, sorry to make you look at it again. It is from sometime in the 1960's ... after the NYC cut back to 2 passenger trains and before the Penn Central merger. That westbound NYC train was being called the Knickerbocker at that time, I think. The other one is the southbound City of New Orleans.
Steve Corn shared
Larry Miller III also posted
Victor Jugo Tao shared

Steven Aroesty

Wonder if this was a coincidence or a planned meet—would have to pull the schedules to see?

Raymond Storey posted
Jerry Jewels When was the NYC line abandoned?
Bill Edrington Conrail abandoned the line between Pana and Paris in 1982. The track was pulled up the following year.
Thomas C. Gibbons The picture is looking north but it is the southbound City of New Orleans and the westbound train they were calling the Knickerbocker then. The line was double track then, and the 2nd track from the station was the southbound track. That is a picture I took in the mid 1960's.
Thomas C. Gibbons I think the grade separation was created in the 19 teens.

Steve Corn shared
Mattoon 1920s? Big 4 passenger train above, tail end of a southbound IC passenger train below.
Steve Corn Looking at this more closely, I wonder if the IC coach is part of a train? It's on a side track. The SB main is in the center of the photo.
Charlie DeWeese The coach appears to have a marker lamp on it, implying train.
Steve Corn One possibility is the coach is part of a train on the PD&E. I don't know that these trains used any 
other station after the main depot was built. Trains from Peoria or Evansville, if they used the depot in the main line, would have backed north into the station, but not on the main line?
Bill Edrington It's Mattoon, all right...although I never knew there was a covered stairway connecting the Big Four platform directly with the IC platform. Anybody know when that was removed?
Dennis DeBruler When did Big Four building their depot? Did they share the IC station before that? https://www.facebook.com/groups/161019811058897/permalink/290760874751456/

Before the IC lowered the tracks in town to improve their grades, the IC and NYC crossed at grade level.

Bill Molony posted
The Illinois Central's tracks ran north and south through Mattoon, and they were crossed in Mattoon by the tracks of the Big Four running east and west, as shown in this vintage post card picture.
Matt McClure Looks like IC has the right of way.

Bill Molony posted

This is a Post Card picture of the Union Station and Essex House at Mattoon, Illinois. Undated, but circa 1910.

Mattoon was located at the intersection of the Illinois Central and the CCC&StL or "Big Four".

From the Blackhawk collection.

Andy Zukowski posted
Million Dollar Subway of the Illinois Central Railroad in Mattoon, Illinois 1914.

Sam Yacono: NYC on top.

Matt McClure commented on the first posting [This is why I now include the link of the post. I now have no idea what was the "first posting."]

Ray Hamilton posted
Steve Corn shared
Construction of the "subway" in Mattoon, 1914. The bridge in the background is the Big 4 (NYC) Indianapolis-St. Louis line. The man at the right is standing at the site of the soon to be built IC Depot.

Doug Shook posted
1914, looking NW across the Big Four bridge. I think this fellow is standing about where the ICRR station would soon be built. I fiddled with this pic in editing and now you can see the guy's eyes. It's a great pic!
Paul Jevert shared
I.C. digging the Mattoon, Ill. cut under the Big 4 R.R.   (1914)
Quite an Engineering feat and project like the Paxton Cut about the same date.

Mattoon Illinois Central Depot posted
from Ray Hamilton
Paul Jevert shared
Big 4 passenger train crossing I.C. at Mattoon, Ill. while I.C. grade separation and cut is under construction. (1914)

 

Mattoon Illinois Central Depot posted
Paul Jevert shared
Mattoon existing High level track to move I.C. Traffic during Subway Cut project (1914)

David Cantrell posted two photos with the comment: "Mattoon, IL subway construction - first train through.   --Illinois Central Magazine."

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[I wonder were that grain elevator that is left of center in the backround used to be.]
Paul Jevert shared

I need to remember this viewpoint if I visit this town again.

Jim Pearson Photography posted

Amtrak 393 pulls into the old Illinois Central Depot in downtown Mattoon, Illinois

Amtrak 393 (The Illini) pulls into the old Illinois Central (IC) Depot in downtown Mattoon, Illinois with 4623 leading the Wednesday evening southbound train from Chicago to Carbondale, Illinois bathed in Infrared light on the CN Champaign Subdivision.

According to Wikipedia, The Mattoon station is housed in the former Illinois Central Railroad Depot. The depot was completed in 1918 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. At its height, the building housed a power plant, mail room, luggage room, and restaurant, in addition to the main hall where passengers waited to board trains. As many as ten trains a day departed the depot in the 1950s.

During 2010, a $3 million restoration project, paid for from a mix of private, state, and federal funding, was undertaken, replacing paint, flooring, and other interior fixtures.

The station currently serves as a stop for the Illini, Saluki, and City of New Orleans passenger trains. The tracks themselves, formerly part of the Illinois Central Railroad, are now owned by the Canadian National Railway (CN). Freight trains run by CN pass through frequently.

Jim Pearson Photography

https://fineartamerica.com/.../1-amtrak-393-pulls-into...

Thomas French: As member of the project committee, I wish I could tell you that it took us only a year to restore the depot. In fact, it took us a decade, from 2001-2011 to do that. Part of that was due to having just missed the 2000 transportation bill and having to wait until 2005 for the next one. The remainder of the time was having to source the matching funds and the city holding onto the funds earmarked for the depot until it was almost too late to use them.

 

Mattoon Illinois Central Depot posted
Paul Jevert shared
I.C. contractors steam shovel moving soil & rocks out of cut at Mattoon during $1 Million subway project under Big 4 R.R. crossing in 1914.

Mattoon Illinois Central Depot posted
Engineering News (from Rick Ralston)
Paul Jevert shared

Joe Bateman posted eight photos with the comment: "The Illinois Central depot in Mattoon, Illinois today."

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Chris Suerdieck commented on Joe's post
Building was begun on December 14, 1916 and opened to the first passenger train on January 21, 1918. Stoolman & Company from Champaign, IL built the Depot.

Highball Local Rail Photos & More posted

On their maiden voyage since being painted, CN 1776 & 2026 lead train Z194 south past the beautiful Illinois Central station at Mattoon, IL.

These two locomotives were painted to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America. I personally think they look fantastic! Here’s to hoping other Class I railroads follow suit.

3/5/26

Richard Fiedler shared

Lauren Bruett Mabbs shared

[See also Markham Yard and Manteno.]

This article is titled "Mattoon's extensive rail history," but all seven photos at the top are of this station. (source)

Mattoon, IL: IC Freight House

Update: Rick Ralston has a Facebook Album that includes quite a few pictures from 1914.

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While driving north on US-45 through Mattoon, IL to break the monotony of the drive on I-57, I saw a re-purposed freight house. It is now Lake Land Florals. The two story part was the office housing the many clerks it would have taken to keep track of the less-than-carload-lot freight before computers were invented.

You can see where three of the doors were on the street side where trucks would dock.

On the other side is where the boxcars would be parked. The grassy area had a connection in the northeast quadrant between the IC mainline and IC/PD&E. It also had a small yard.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The freight house is in the upper-right corner of the aerial photo. As we saw with a GTW freight-house in Chicago, the boxcars are spotted up to three deep along the freight-house. It also appears the track-side loading dock extended further south from the building than the building is long.

A clerk in the floral shop explained that the green area on the floor was where the ACME Scale was. The pictures hanging from the ceiling are of the IC passenger station a few blocks to the north. The clerk also found a photo of what it looked like when they bought it to restore it. (Sorry that I did not notice the reflection when I took a picture of the photo.)

(Facebooked 20150924)

Update: Rick Ralston has a Facebook album that includes 6 photos of the interior that were taken in 1914. If you click the Shares link, you can see the 4 photos I added as comments.

Winter Garden, FL: Heritage Museum

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Winter Garden, FL, has preserved both of their depots. The Tavares & Gulf depot is now their railroad museum. And the 1918 Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) depot is now a more general history museum --- Winter Garden Heritage Museum. I learned about the Heritage Museum when I toured the railroad museum.

It should be of no surprise that there is a big exhibit concerning the growing and processing of oranges. But the topic that caught my eye was the tractors. The outside displays consisted of a Chessie System caboose, an old fire truck, a Fordson tractor, and a Fordson tractor built for use in an orchard.

Note the seat for the orchard version is further back so that it can be lower. And then a lot of shielding is added to keep the branches off the tractor. Inside they featured the Case logo.

Digitally zoomed in on the picture to the left

I was surprised to learn that the dealer, Hoyle Pounds, started out as a Ford dealer, both cars and tractors. He not only sold equipment, he helped improve it. The museum staffer, when I mentioned the Case display, explained that the owner of the dealership had invented rubber tires for tractors. The following explains that he refined farm implements as well as the tractor.

By 1926 Pounds moved to Winter Garden, established a business where he sold model-T Ford cars downstairs and repaired tractors upstairs. In 1928, Pounds developed and patented the first rubber tractor tires, earning his economic success and the nickname "Mr. Tractor." His innovation was important as roads were being built and tractors with the old metal wheels were outlawed because of the damage they could cause the roads. Rubber tires turned a harsh riding steel-wheeled tractor into a road friendly, smooth riding machine that pulled and traveled well both in and out of the field. Pounds cornered the market on rubber tractor tires until 1933. Several studies of the time showed that as much as a third less fuel and a fourth more work with low pressure rubber tires resulted when compared to steel lugs. He also added an extra gear to his tractors, which speeded them up from six mph to over 30 mph.

Pounds had a long career as an innovator. For decades Pounds was instrumental in designing and building fertilizer attachments, hedgers, sprayers, grove tractors, dusters and many other pieces of specialized grove equipment. Pounds also designed a lawn mower deck for his good friend and fishing buddy, Neil Smith, who was the creator of the Snapper lawn mowers. Although Smith initially kept the idea a secret, when the project was completed, the two men had made the first Snappin' Turtle lawn mower decks. When Smith completed building his lawn mowers, Pounds began to sell them at Pounds Motor Company. In 1959, he received a patent for a combined tree cultivator and fertilizer distributive. In 1980, in honor of his many contributions to the growing process, Pounds was inducted into Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame. (HallOfFame)

Heritage Museum

I'm embarrassed that I missed the display of the typewriter and adding machine. I had been looking for a typewriter so that I could take a picture of one for an article about the invention of the term "keyboarding" to replace the term "typing."

The ACL railroad was built by the Orange Belt Railway in 1886. Because of three devastating freezes during the 1980s, most of the farmers sold their land and replanted on cheaper and warmer land to the south. The railroad lost its primary shippers and was abandoned. Fortunately, the right-of-way was refurbished as a trail in 1994 and renovated as a streetscape in 2003. (wghf)

These photos were taken from the same spot looking in opposite directions down the street.

This graph shows the dramatic plunge of citrus acreage in the 1980s.

Winter Garden, FL: Central Florida Railroad Museum

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I visited Winter Garden because I had read about the Central Florida Railroad Museum.












One exhibit the docent who conducted a tour was particularly proud of was the collection of china and silverware that was used in railroad dining cars. The collection was created by Chapman S. Root and donated to this museum to preserve it. He made his millions in Terre Haute, IN, because his bottle making plant invented the iconic shape of the Coca-Cola bottle. But he built is mansion and lived in Florida. Another topic the docent spent some time explaining was the pushpole they have on exhibit.

Unfortunately, the tour did not include the outside exhibits. Probably because there was only one docent working the afternoon that I visited. So I was not able to get any pictures of the interior of the caboose. The T&G became part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad.

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A remnant of the Tavares & Gulf remains to the east of the depot and they do run some excursions.