Train first 41

NG502058

Train first 41

Steam Locomotive

The Illinois Division headquarters are, very fittingly, located in the depot at Mattoon. This windswept town of 17,500 population, smack in the middle on the central Illinois prairie, is at near dead-center on the main line between Indianapolis and St. Louis. A strong northerly crosswind was blowing on the winter day in 1954 when this picture was made. As a result, the 5441 on the run to St. Louis with First no. 41 had to do a lot more work than a seven car train normally required. The roof of the depot looms above and beyond the train. The main line of the Illinois Central is crossed on an overpass in the vicinity of the waterplug; the IC station is just south of the overpass and adjacent to the NYC structure. The Central, incidentally, was the last steam-user of all the roads entering St. Louis Union Station. Regular steam assignments west of Indianapolis on no's. 407, 473, 446, and 472 were terminated in April, 1954, after numerous harassments, among which were water shortages at Mattoon and west, curtailed steam facilities on the TRRA at St. Louis, and restrictions on J-3 power over Merchants Bridge. Nevertheless, a pair of J-1s was kept at Mattoon for protection even after passenger service was for all intents and purposes dieselized, and, as noted in the introduction, it was not until February, 1956, that the final steam run was made into St. Louis.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Winter, 1954

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4-6-4

497

J-3a

#5441

Alco-Schen

Mattoon, IL