The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the

Central United States The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern and Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the U.S. Census' definition of the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions ...

, with its primary routes connecting

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, with

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Mobile, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

(1870). There was a significant branch to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

(1899), west of

Fort Dodge, Iowa Fort Dodge is a city in, and the county seat of, Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, a decrease from 25,136 in 2000. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North C ...

, and another branch reaching

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

(1877), starting from

Cherokee, Iowa Cherokee is a city in Cherokee County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,199 at the 2020 Census, down from 5,369 in 2000. It is the county seat of Cherokee County. History Cherokee was laid out as a town in 1870, and was named for the ...

. The Sioux Falls branch has been abandoned in its entirety. The

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

acquired control of the IC in 1998, and merged its operations in 1999. Illinois Central continues to exist as a

paper railroad In the United States, a paper railroad is a company in the railroad business that exists "on paper only": as a legal entity which does not own any track, locomotives, or rolling stock. In the early days of railroad construction, paper railroads h ...

History

The IC was one of the oldest

Class I railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

s in the United States. The company was incorporated by the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1 ...

on January 16, 1836. Within a few months Rep.

Zadok Casey Zadok Casey (March 7, 1796 – September 4, 1862) was an Politics of the United States, American politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Illinois and founded the city of Mount Vernon, Illi ...

(D-Illinois) introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives authorizing a

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

to the company to construct a line from the mouth of the Ohio River to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and on to

Galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cry ...

. Federal support, however, was not approved until 1850, when U.S. President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...

signed a land grant for the construction of the railroad. The Illinois Central was the first land-grant railroad in the United States. Illinois Central Railway Ad 1870

The Illinois Central was chartered by the Illinois General Assembly on February 10, 1851.Steamtown National Historic Site,
Illinois Central Railroad number 790
' . Retrieved February 10, 2006. Senator

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which was ...

and later President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

were both Illinois Central men who lobbied for it. Douglas owned land near the terminal in Chicago. Lincoln was a lawyer for the railroad. Illinois legislators appointed

Samuel D. Lockwood Samuel Drake Lockwood (August 2, 1789 – April 23, 1874) was an Illinois lawyer and politician who served as the state's Illinois Attorney General, Attorney General, Illinois Secretary of State, Secretary of State, Justice of the Supreme Court ...

, recently retired from the Illinois Supreme Court (who may have given both lawyers the oral examination before admitting them to the Illinois bar), as a trustee on the new railroad's board to guard the public's interest. Lockwood, who would serve more than two decades until his death, had overseen federal land monies shortly after Illinois' statehood, then helped oversee early construction of the recently completed

Illinois and Michigan Canal The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. In Illinois, it ran from the Chicago River in Bridgeport, Chicago to the Illinois River at LaSalle-Peru. The canal crossed the Chicago P ...

. Upon its completion in 1856, the IC was the longest railroad in the world. Its main line went from

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( ) is the southernmost city in Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County. The city is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Fort Defiance, a Civil War camp, was built here in 1862 by Union General Ulysse ...

, at the southern tip of the state, to

, in the northwest corner. A branch line went from

Centralia Centralia may refer to: Places Australia * Central Australia, sometimes called "Centralia" Canada * Centralia, Ontario ** RCAF Station Centralia, a former Royal Canadian Air Force training base ** Centralia (Essery Field) Aerodrome United State ...

(named for the railroad), to the rapidly growing city of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. In Chicago its tracks were laid along the shore of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that ...

and on an offshore causeway downtown, but land-filling and natural deposition have moved the present-day shore to the east. Track from Centralia, Il north to Freeport, Il was abandoned in the 90s, as traffic to Galena was routed via Chicago, then to Galena and vice versa. Following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

, in 1867 the Illinois Central extended its track into

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. During the 1870s and 1880s, the IC acquired and expanded railroads in the southern United States. IC lines crisscrossed the state of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

and went as far as

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

, in the east. In the 1880s, northern lines were built to

Dodgeville, Wisconsin Dodgeville is a city in and the county seat of Iowa County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,984 at the 2020 census, making it the county's most populous city. Dodgeville is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. His ...

, and

. Further expansion continued into the early twentieth century. The Illinois Central, and the other "Harriman lines" owned by

E.H. Harriman Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive. Early life Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergyma ...

by the 20th century, became the target of the

Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911 The Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911 was a labor action in the United States of a number of railroad workers unions against the Illinois Central Railroad, beginning on September 30, 1911. The strike was marked by its violence in numerous ...

. Although marked by violence and sabotage in the south, midwest, and western states, the strike was effectively over in a few months. The railroads simply hired replacements, among them African-American strikebreakers, and withstood diminishing union pressure. The strike was eventually called off in 1915. The totals above do not include the Waterloo RR, Batesville Southwestern, Peabody Short Line or CofG and its subsidiaries. On December 31, 1925, IC/Y&MV/G&SI operated 6,562 route-miles on 11,030 miles of track; A&V and VS&P added 330 route-miles and 491 track-miles. At the end of 1970, IC operated 6,761 miles of road and 11,159 of track. In 1960, the railroad retired its last steam locomotive,

2-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and two trailing wheel ...

Mikado #1518. On August 31, 1962, the railroad was incorporated as Illinois Central Industries, Inc. ICI acquired Abex Corporation (formerly American Brake Shoe and Foundry Co.) in 1968.

Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (1972–1988)

On August 10, 1972, the Illinois Central Railroad merged with the

Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illinois. From its two ...

to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad . On October 30 that year the

Illinois Central Gulf commuter rail crash A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago occurred during the cloudy morning rush hour on October 30, 1972, and was the worst such crash in Chicago's history. Illinois Central Gulf Train 416, made up of newly purchased Highliners, overshot ...

, the company's deadliest, occurred. At the end of 1980, ICG operated 8,366 miles of railroad on 13,532 miles of track; that year it reported 33,276 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 323 million passenger-miles. Later in that decade, the railroad spun off most of its east–west lines and many of its redundant north–south lines, including much of the former GM&O. Most of these lines were bought by other railroads, including entirely new railroads such as the

Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway The Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway (CM&W) was a Class II railroad that operated in the midwest of the United States between 1987 and 1989. Never financially stable, less than a year after it was created it was bankrupt and sold off its lin ...

Paducah and Louisville Railway The Paducah & Louisville Railway is a Class II railroad that operates freight service between Paducah and Louisville, Kentucky. The line is located entirely within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The line was purchased from Illinois Central Gul ...

Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad The Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad (Chicago Central & Pacific Railroad) is part of the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), which is owned by the Canadian National Railway (CN) through the Grand Trunk Corporation. Operationally, the Chicago Cen ...

and

MidSouth Rail Corporation The MidSouth Rail Corporation is a railroad line operated by Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) as a result of the January 1, 1994, acquisition; KCS began operating over MidSouth's line on January 11, 1994. The line ran from Shreveport, Louisi ...

. In 1988, the railroad's then-parent company IC Industries spun off its remaining rail assets and changed its name to Whitman Corporation. Whitman's businesses included Pepsi bottling, Hussman commercial refrigeration, Midas auto repair, and Pet Company, makers of Old El Paso, Progresso, and Whitman Chocolates food products. By 2000 Whitman had sold off all of its non-bottling interests, purchased Minnesota-based bottler

PepsiAmericas PepsiAmericas, Inc. was the world's second-largest bottler of Pepsi-Cola products, under contract with product owner PepsiCo. PepsiAmericas also held contracts to produce beverages for Dr Pepper Snapple Group and smaller regional brands. PepsiA ...

and assumed the acquired company's name. On February 29, 1988, the newly separated ICG dropped the "Gulf" from its name and again became the Illinois Central Railroad.

Canadian National Railway (1998–present)

On February 11, 1998, the IC was purchased for about $2.4 billion in cash and shares by

(CN). Integration of operations began July 1, 1999.

Locomotives

File:Locomotive ICRR LOC det.8d23306.jpg, An IC steam locomotive taking on coal at a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

rail yard in November 1942 File:Illinois Central 1234 (SW9) crossing B&O - C&EI crossing at Tuscola, IL on switching run. Tower is a C&EI tower. May 7, 1966 (27111081984).jpg, IC 1234, an

EMD SW9 The EMD SW9 is a model of diesel switcher locomotives built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between November 1950 and December 1953. Additional SW9s were built by General Motors Diesel in Ontario Canada from December 1950 to March 19 ...

, switching at

Tuscola, Illinois Tuscola is a city in Douglas County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,480 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Douglas County. Geography Tuscola is located at (39.797682, -88.281564). According to the 2010 census, Tusc ...

in 1966 File:Illinois Central diesel.jpg, A preserved Illinois Central

EMD GP11 The EMD GP11 is a four-axle diesel locomotive rebuilt by the Illinois Central Railroad's Paducah shops. It is very similar in appearance to the GP8 and GP10. The Illinois Central Railroad began its GP11 rebuilding program in 1978. All units we ...

locomotive on static display in downtown

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson and Williamson Counties, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". The city developed from 1853 because of the stimulation of railroad construction into the ...

File:Foreign Power on NS (4599474599).jpg, Illinois Central 1018, an

EMD SD70 The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel in response to the GE Dash 9-44CW. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 units have been produced; most of these are th ...

, leads a

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

mixed freight File:IC 3115.jpg, IC 3115, an EMD GP40R, sitting in

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha. History The area that ...

Passenger train service

Illinois Central was the major carrier of passengers on its Chicago-to-New Orleans mainline and between Chicago and St. Louis. IC also ran passengers on its Chicago-to-Omaha line, though it was never among the top performers on this route. Illinois Central's largest passenger terminal,

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, stood at 12th Street east of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Due to the railroad's north-south route from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, Illinois Central passenger trains were one means of transport during the

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Great Migration of the 1920s. Illinois Central's most famous train was the ''

Panama Limited The ''Panama Limited'' was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three yea ...

'', a premier all-Pullman car service between Chicago and New Orleans, with a section breaking off at Carbondale to serve St. Louis. In 1949, it added a daytime all-coach companion, the ''

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

section breaking off at

Fulton, Kentucky Fulton is a home rule-class city in Fulton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,357 at the 2020 census, down from 2,445 at the 2010 census. It was once known as the "Banana Capital of the World", because 70% of imported banana ...

. In 1967, due to losses incurred by the operation of the train, the Illinois Central combined the Panama Limited with a coach-only train called the ''

Magnolia Star The ''Panama Limited'' was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three yea ...

''. On May 1, 1971, Amtrak took over intercity rail service. It retained service over the IC mainline, but dropped the ''Panama Limited'' in favor of the ''City of New Orleans.'' However, since it did not connect with any other trains in either New Orleans or Chicago, Amtrak moved the route to an overnight schedule and brought back the ''Panama Limited'' name. However, it restored the ''City of New Orleans'' name in 1981, while retaining the overnight schedule. This was to capitalize on the popularity of a song about the train written by

Steve Goodman Steven Benjamin Goodman (July 25, 1948 – September 20, 1984) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song " City of New Orleans", which was recorded by Arlo Guthrie and many others including John Denve ...

and performed by

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. G ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

's recording of the song was #1 on the Hot Country Charts in 1984. Illinois Central ran several other trains along the main route including ''The Creole'' and ''The Louisiane''. The ''

Green Diamond The ''Green Diamond'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Illinois Central Railroad between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. It operated from 1936 until 1968. It was the Illinois Central's first streamliner. Initially i ...

'' was the Illinois Central's premier train between Chicago, Springfield and St. Louis. Other important trains included the ''Hawkeye'' which ran daily between Chicago and Sioux City and the ''

City of Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

'' eventually running every other day between Chicago and Miami via the Atlantic Coast Line, the

Central of Georgia Railroad Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a ...

. The Illinois Central was also a major operator of commuter trains in the Chicago area, operating what eventually became the "IC Electric" line from Randolph Street Terminal in downtown Chicago to the southeast suburbs. In 1987, IC sold this line to

Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. ...

, who operates it as the

Metra Electric District The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Station), in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs. As of 2018, it is the fifth ...

. It still operates out of what is now

Millennium Station Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Terminal; sometimes called Randolph Street station or Randolph/South Water Street station) is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metra ...

, which is still called "Randolph Street Terminal" by many longtime Chicago-area residents. In honor of the ''Panama Limited,'' the Electric District appears as "Panama Orange" on Metra system maps and timetables. Additionally, the IC operated a second commuter line out of Chicago (the

West Line West Line or Westline may refer to: * West Line, Chennai Suburban, a railway line in India * West Line, Missouri, a village in Cass County, USA * West Line (C-Train), a railway line in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * West Line Historic District (Aus ...

) which served Chicago's western suburbs. Unlike the electrified commuter service, the West Line did not generate much traffic and was eliminated in 1931. Amtrak presently runs three trains daily over this route, the ''

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

''Illini'' and ''Saluki'' between Chicago and Carbondale. Another Illinois corridor service is planned for the former ''Black Hawk'' route between Chicago, Rockford and Dubuque. Amtrak, at the state of Illinois' request, did a feasibility study to reinstate the ''Black Hawk'' route to Rockford and Dubuque. Initial capital costs range from $32 million to $55 million, depending on the route. Once in operation, the service would require roughly $5 million a year in subsidies from the state. On December 10, 2010, IDOT announced the route choice for the resumption of service to begin in 2014 going over mostly CN railway.

Illinois Central named trains

Company officers

Presidents of the Illinois Central Railroad have included: *

Sidney Breese Sidney Breese (July 15, 1800 – June 27, 1878), a lawyer, soldier, author and jurist born in New York, became an early Illinois pioneer and represented the state in the United States Senate as well as served as Chief Justice of the Illinois ...

, Father of the Illinois Central Railroad * Robert Schuyler, 1851–1853 * William P. Burrall, 1853–1854 *

John N. A. Griswold John Noble Alsop Griswold (May 29, 1822 – September 18, 1909) was an American China trade merchant, industrialist, and diplomat. Early life Griswold was born in New York City on May 29, 1822. He was the son of George Griswold (1777–1859), wh ...

, 1855 *

William H. Osborn William Henry Osborn (December 21, 1820 – March 2, 1894) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was a railroad tycoon who, as head of the Illinois Central Railroad and later the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad, became o ...

, 1855–1865 * John M. Douglas, 1865–1871, 1875–1876 * John Newell, 1871–1874 *

Wilson G. Hunt ''Wilson G. Hunt'' was a steamboat that ran in the early days of steam navigation on Puget Sound and Sacramento, Fraser, and Columbia Rivers. She was generally known as the ''Hunt'' during her years of operation. She had a long career on the we ...

, 1874–1875 * William K. Ackerman, 1876–1883 * James C. Clarke, 1883–1887 *

Stuyvesant Fish Stuyvesant Fish (June 24, 1851 – April 10, 1923) was an American businessman and member of the Fish family who served as president of the Illinois Central Railroad. He owned grand residences in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, entertai ...

, 1887–1906 *

James Theodore Harahan James Theodore Harahan (1841–1912) was an American businessman. He was the president of the Illinois Central Railroad from 1906 to 1911. Early life Harahan was born on January 12, 1841 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the son of Thomas Harahan and Ann ...

, 1906–1911 * Charles H. Markham, 1911–1918 * Charles A. Peabody, 1918–1919 * Charles H. Markham, 1919–1926 * Lawrence A. Downs, 1926–1938 * John L. Beven, 1938–1945 *

Wayne A. Johnston Wayne A. Johnston (November 19, 1897 - December 1967) was president of Illinois Central Railroad (IC) from 1945 to 1966. When he stepped down from the presidency of the railroad, he was named Chairman of the Board for IC, a position he held for a ye ...

, 1945–1966 (chairman of Illinois Central Industries to 1967) * William B. Johnson, 1967–1969 (chairman of IC Industries to 1987) *

Alan Stephenson Boyd Alan Stephenson Boyd (July 20, 1922October 18, 2020) was an American attorney and transportation executive who led several large corporations and also served the U.S. Government in various transportation-related positions. He was the first Unit ...

, 1969–1972 * William J Taylor, 1976–1983 * Harry J Bruce, 1983–1990 *

Edward L. Moyers Edward L. Moyers, Jr. (October 3, 1928 – June 5, 2006) was an American railroad executive of the 20th century. He served as president and CEO of several railroads including MidSouth Rail, Illinois Central Railroad and Southern Pacific Rail ...

, 1990–1993 *

E. Hunter Harrison Ewing Hunter Harrison (November 7, 1944 – December 16, 2017) was a railway executive who served as the CEO of Illinois Central Railroad (IC), Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), and CSX Corporation. He died on Decemb ...

, 1993–1998

Preservation

Some historic equipment owned and used by Illinois Central can be found in museums across the United States, including: *

201 Year 201 ( CCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Fabianus and Arrius (or, less frequently, year 954 ''Ab urbe condit ...

, a 2-4-4 tank locomotive that participated in the "Wheels A-Rolling" pageant at the

Chicago Railroad Fair The Chicago Railroad Fair was an event organized to celebrate and commemorate 100 years of railroad history west of Chicago, Illinois. It was held in Chicago in 1948 and 1949 along the shore of Lake Michigan and is often referred to as "the last ...

. Preserved on static display at

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

. * 764, a 651 class

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels ...

donated to the

National Museum of Transportation The National Museum of Transportation (NMOT) is a private, 42-acre transportation museum in the Kirkwood suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1944, it restores, preserves, and displays a wide variety of vehicles spanning 15 decades of Amer ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

in 1956. *

790 __NOTOC__ Year 790 ( DCCXC) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 790 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

. Preserved on static display at

Steamtown National Historic Site Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is bui ...

, believed to be in good condition that restoration to operations is feasible. * 1518. A 1500 series

Mikado on static display in

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Miss ...

. It was built by the

Lima Locomotive Works Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...

in 1923 and was the last steam locomotive to run on the IC in 1960. * 2500. A 2500 class

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known ...

preserved on static display in th
Age of Steam Memorial
in

Centralia, Illinois Centralia is a city in Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Illinois with the largest portion in Marion County. The city is the largest in three of the counties; Clinton, Marion, and Washington, but is not a ...

. * 2542. A 2500 class

preserved on static display at

McComb, Mississippi McComb is a city in Pike County, Mississippi, United States. The city is approximately south of Jackson. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 12,790. It is the principal city of the McComb, Mississippi Micropolitan Statis ...

. * A yard office and unique coal-fueling tower remain at the Illinois Central yards in

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...

. * IC 8408 GP10 locomotive/IC 9426 caboose static display Homewood, IL * IC-333, a

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangement ...

steam engine, and several passenger cars are on display just outside the historic

Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Company Depot Baton Rouge station is a historic train station located at 100 South River Road in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was built for the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad which got absorbed by the Illinois Central Railroad. The station was a st ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

. * Illinois Central

GP11 The EMD GP11 is a four-axle diesel locomotive rebuilt by the Illinois Central Railroad's Paducah shops. It is very similar in appearance to the GP8 and GP10. The Illinois Central Railroad began its GP11 rebuilding program in 1978. All units we ...

#8701, along with an IC caboose, preserved on static display at the Carbondale passenger station in

. * Illinois Central

#8733 preserved at the

Monticello Railway Museum The Monticello Railway Museum ( initialized MRYM, reporting mark MRMZ) is a non-profit railroad museum located in Monticello, Illinois, about 18 miles west of Champaign, IL. It is home to over 100 pieces of railroad equipment, including several re ...

Monticello, Illinois Monticello ( ) is a city in Piatt County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,941 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Piatt County. Geography Monticello is located at (40.028092, −88.573003). According to the 2010 census ...

. * An Illinois Central caboose and banana car are preserved at the Casey Jones Railroad Museum in

Water Valley, Mississippi Water Valley is a city in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 3,392 at the 2010 census. It is the larger of two county seats in the rural county, and at one time was the center of railroad shops. Geography According ...

. * An Illinois Central caboose is privately owned and preserved in

Raymond, Mississippi Raymond is a city in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,933; in 2020, its population was 1,960. Raymond is one of two county seats of Hinds County (along with Jackson) and is the home of th ...

at the old train depot in the center of the town. *IC combine #892, IC Day Coaches 2920 2855 2612, IC Business Car #7, IC 10-6 sleeper #3531 "Council Bluffs", IC Dorm-baggage #1906, IC #518 (MAIL STORAGE),IC Panama Limited Observation "Gulfport", ICG cement hopper #100040, IC #65018, IC bridge crane #X238,IC #X1957 Boxcar, IC #X2000 Idler Flat, IC #'s X4342 and X4352 tenders, IC X9151 Jordan Spreader, and IC cabooses 9926 9831 9880. All of which are restored and displayed at the Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello Illinois. *Illinois Central SD40X #6071 (Ex-Gulf, Mobile and Ohio) at the Monticello Railway Museum in Monticello, Illinois *Illinois Central Gulf GP8 #7738 at the

Bluegrass Railroad Museum The Bluegrass Railroad and Museum is a railroad museum and heritage railroad in Versailles, Kentucky, United States. Operating out of the Woodford County Park, the Railroad offers 11-mile round trip excursions through the horse farms of Kentucky ...

Versailles, Kentucky Versailles () is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 9,316 according to 2017 cen ...

*1974 Illinois Central Gulf caboose (199422) in service as IRM 9422 at the

Indiana Railway Museum The Indiana Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in French Lick, Indiana, United States, dedicated to preserving and displaying artifacts related to the history of railroads in Indiana. History The Indiana Railway Museum was founded in ...

French Lick, Indiana French Lick is a town in French Lick Township, Orange County, Indiana. The population was 1,807 at the time of the 2010 census. In November 2006, the French Lick Resort Casino, the state's tenth casino in the modern legalized era, opened, drawing ...

. *Illinois Central caboose on historic main street in

Palestine, Illinois Palestine is a village in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,369 at the 2010 census, a 0.2 percent increase from 1,366 in 2000. Geography Palestine is located at (39.002214, -87.612110). According to the 2010 censu ...

. *An Illinois Central Caboose can be seen in

Grayville, Illinois Grayville is a city in Edwards and White counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 Census, the city's population was 1,666, reflecting a decrease of 59 (-3.4%) from the 1,725 in 2000. Grayville is the birthplace of naval hero James ...

. It has recently been painted into a generic red color.

Mississippi Central (1852–1878)

The original Mississippi Central line was chartered in 1852. Construction of the

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...

line began in 1853 and was completed in 1860, just prior to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

, from

Canton, Mississippi Canton is a city in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 13,189 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Madison County, and situated in the northern part of the metropolitan area surrounding the state capital, J ...

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackso ...

. The southern terminus of the line connected to the

New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad The New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern was a gauge railway originally commissioned by the State of Illinois, with both Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln being among its supporters in the 1851 Illinois Legislature. It connected Canton, ...

at Canton. It also connected to the

Memphis and Charleston Railroad The Memphis and Charleston Railroad, completed in 1857, was the first railroad in the United States to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. Chartered in 1846, the gauge railroad ran from Memphis, Tennessee to Stevenson, Alabama ...

Grand Junction, Tennessee Grand Junction is a city between the border of Hardeman and Fayette County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 325 at the 2010 census, and was estimated to be 303 in 2015. It has been called the " Bird Dog Capital of the World" and serv ...

and the

Mobile and Ohio Railroad The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile, ...

at Jackson, Tennessee. The Mississippi Central was the scene of several military actions from 1862–1863 and was severely damaged during the fighting. Company president,

Absolom M. West Absolom Madden West (1818 – September 30, 1894) was an American planter, Confederate militia general, state politician, railroad president and labor organizer. Born in Alabama, he became a plantation owner in Holmes County, Mississippi and ...

succeeded in repairing the damage and returning it to operating condition soon after the end of the War. By 1874, interchange traffic with the Illinois Central Railroad was important enough that the IC installed a Nutter hoist at

to interchange between its standard gauge equipment broad gauge used by the Mississippi Central. This allowed the trucks to be exchanged on 16-18

freight car A railroad car, railcar ( American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

s per hour, and one

Pullman car In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars that were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company (founded by George Pullman) from 1867 to December 31, 1968. Other uses Pullman also refers to ...

could be changed in 15 minutes.Edward Vernon, The Decline in Railroad Construction, Editorial
American Railroad Manual
New York, 1874; page li. The original Mississippi Central line was merged into the Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary

Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad The Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad was a 19th- and early-20th-century railway company in Kentucky in the United States. It operated from 1878, when it purchased the Central Mississippi, until 1951, when it was purchased by the Illin ...

in several transactions finally completed in 1878.

Mississippi Central (1897–1967)

A line started in 1897 as the "Pearl and Leaf Rivers Railroad" was built by the J.J. Newman Lumber Company from

Hattiesburg Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The city popu ...

, to Sumrall. In 1904 the name was changed to the Mississippi Central Railroad . In 1906 the Natchez and Eastern Railway was formed to build a rail line from Natchez to Brookhaven. In 1909 this line was absorbed by the Mississippi Central. For a short time during the 1920s, the line operated a service named "The Natchez Route", running trains from Natchez to Mobile, Alabama through trackage agreements with the

Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad was a railroad in the Southern United States. The first World War had forced government operation upon the company; and in 1919, when it became once more a free agent, it chose Isaac B. Tigrett to chart its ...

. At Natchez, freight cars were ferried across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

to connect with the

Louisiana and Arkansas Railway The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The railroad's main line extended 332 miles, from Hope, Arkansas to Shreveport and New Orleans. Branch lines served Vidalia, Louisi ...

to institute through traffic into Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1967 the property of the Mississippi Central was sold to the Illinois Central Railroad.

Moody's Transportation Manual Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides internation ...

(1975), p. xxx

References

* Stover, John F., Purdue University,
The Management of the Illinois Central Railroad in the 20th Century
' (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

). Retrieved February 9, 2006. * University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Archives,
Wayne A. Johnston Papers, 1945–1967
'. Retrieved February 9, 2006. *

External links

Official website, archived 1999

Illinois Central Historical SocietyIllinois Central Railroad On-LineSTB decision, docket number FD_33556_0
(granting CN control of the IC)
Illinois Central Railroad Company Archives
at

the Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...

Guide to the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. Memorabilia, 1857–1971. 5197. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University.

Illinois Central Railroad Collection
McLean County Museum of History
Guide to Tracy W. Simpson, Electrification Project : The Illinois Central Railroad Company Suburban Service at Chicago, Ill. 1909
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Illinois Central Railroad Railway companies established in 1851 Railway companies disestablished in 1972 Railway companies established in 1988 Canadian National Railway subsidiaries Predecessors of the Canadian National Railway Former Class I railroads in the United States Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area Rail lines receiving land grants Companies operating former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad lines Companies operating former Chicago and North Western Transportation Company lines Companies operating former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad lines Companies operating former Illinois Central Railroad lines Defunct companies based in Chicago Defunct Alabama railroads Defunct Arkansas railroads Defunct Illinois railroads Defunct Indiana railroads Defunct Iowa railroads Defunct Kentucky railroads Defunct Louisiana railroads Defunct Minnesota railroads Defunct Mississippi railroads Defunct Missouri railroads Defunct Nebraska railroads Defunct South Dakota railroads Defunct Tennessee railroads Defunct Wisconsin railroads Superfund sites in Tennessee Non-operating common carrier freight railroads in the United States 1851 establishments in Illinois American companies established in 1851 1998 mergers and acquisitions

History

Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (1972–1988)

Canadian National Railway (1998–present)

Locomotives

Passenger train service

Illinois Central named trains

Company officers

Preservation

Mississippi Central (1852–1878)

Mississippi Central (1897–1967)

See also

References

External links