| Posted by Diesel on December 28, 2008 | |
Awesome picture for us Proviso nostalgia fans
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It's also awesome for we budding railfans who entered elementary school in the mid-60s and are just old enough to remember these NYC (and PC) diesels at work all around the "other" NYC junction in and around Paris, IL. (Mid-eastern part of the state near the Indiana line, where the New York Central "Egyptian" line from Chicago to hydrocarbon-rich deep south Illinois (a.k.a. "Little Egypt", at the Mississippi/Ohio delta) crossed the NYC ex-"Big Four" line between New York/Buffalo/Cleveland and Terre Haute to St. Louis.)
And remember the NYC diesels picture here creeping between the "mounds" created by old strip-coal-mines south of Danville on their way south. Or tiptoeing across the U.S. Highway 36 bridge near the "forest" (rare in central Illinois) east of my Grandpa's cabinette motel outside Chrisman. Or switching the big Illinois Cereal Mills plant at Paris. Or making the old Eisner's supermarket shake as they roared at slow speed bringing freight from Ohio, Pennsylvania and the American Northeast through Mattoon, IL west toward St. Louis. Or making my uncle's relatives' house shake in their little neighborhood in Lawrenceville not far from the oil refineries. Or momentarily drowning out the noise of the stock car races and making nearly everyone turn and stare at the big amber headlight passing the racetrack just east of Charleston, IL as they were ramping up out town of eastward to Terre Haute. Or all the wonderful multi-colored boxcars they brought that would temporarily fill the yards on the east side of Mattoon.
The New York Central and later Penn Central brought a LOT of memories for "downstate" railroaders as well.
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