I had a little idea to go back and detail one of the more interesting pieces of railroad I've devised, which is the Western Illinois & Iowa's River Subdivision, connecting Evansville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. The line covers roughly 127 miles between the two cities, and at this time (1993) saw bridge traffic from Burlington Northern, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific. Up until the BNSF merger and the UP's acquisition of SP, the east end of the WI&I saw lots of bridge traffic, but that traffic is gone today with the exception of some UP run-thru's on the Illinois Division.
The River Subdivision was also fairly unique, as it was littered with semaphores at the time. Any control point or intermediate that didn't have semaphores had US&S searchlights, as was the WI&I standard for many years. Below is a listing of all signals from west to east, followed by the train list as of June 1, 1993.
*Locations in bold denote semaphore signals*
*Locations with stars (*) denote hot box/dragging equipment detectors*
*Control points are marked with the "CP" indication*
--END SOUTHERN SUBDIVISON, BEGIN RIVER SUBDIVISION--
CP Wood – Milepost 127.1
Harvey – Milepost 125.6
Afton – Milepost 122.3
*Painesville – Milepost 119.8*
CP W.E. Hilliard – Milepost 117.9
CP E.E. Hilliard – Milepost 116.3
Curtis – Milepost 114.4
Umber – Milepost 112.6
Walter – Milepost 109.2
Oakwood – Milepost 105.9
*Harmarsville – Milepost 102.8*
Judd’s Landing – Milepost 100.5
Vandalia – Milepost 97.6
Holdton – Milepost 93.5
Nix – Milepost 90.2
CP BX Tower – Milepost 89.1
-Connection with CSX Blanchard Branch
Limeville - Milepost 88.5
CP W.E. BX Siding – Milepost 87.3
CP E.E. BX Siding – Milepost 85.1
Grovemount – Milepost 82.2
CP BA Tower – Milepost 79.3
-Diamond and connection with K&I
Acton – Milepost 76.0
Harper – Milepost 73.5
DJ Tower – Milepost 70.5
-Diamond and connection with BGS Millville District
CP W.E. Hartstown – Milepost 69.1
CP E.E. Hartstown – Milepost 67.9
CP HR Tower – Milepost 67.3
-Diamond and connection with BGS Hartstown Branch
Kirkland - Milepost 65.9
Rayburn - Milepost 64.7
CP W.E. Altamont – Milepost 63.8
CP E.E. Altamont – Milepost 61.2
*Carbon Curve – Milepost 58.2*
*Loudon – Milepost 54.5*
Wahlton – Milepost 50.3
*Quincy – Milepost 46.1*
*CP W.E. Harper – Milepost 44.7*
*CP E.E. Harper – Milepost 42.4*
Suffolk – Milepost 39.3
Riverview – Milepost 35.8
*South Jackson – Milepost 31.4*
Morris Sag – Milepost 27.2
*Franklin – Milepost 23.7*
CP W.E. Ashlie – Milepost 21.6
*CP E.E. Ashlie – Milepost 19.2*
Devard – Milepost 17.8
Farm - Milepost 14.9
*Vergo – Milepost 12.3*
*CP MO Tower – Milepost 11.6*
-Diamond with BGS Louisville District
Alexis – Milepost 8.1
CP Millard – Milepost 6.7
-West end of double track in Louisville
CP Oak Street – Milepost 4.4
CP CS Tower – Milepost 3.5
-Connection to CSX Louisville Cutoff, used for transfer traffic
Jonesboro - Milepost 2.3
CP Cooper – Milepost 1.0
--END RIVER SUBDIVISION, BEGIN ACKERVILLE YARD LIMITS—
At the time, the WI&I had yet to convert their system-wide symbol system to the numerical system they use today. Up until 1996, they used a lettering system very similar to Conrail.
--More to come when I have time--
WI&I River Subdivision in 1993
WI&I River Subdivision in 1993
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Re: WI&I River Subdivision in 1993
Train Listing
Amtrak 34 (Eastbound River City) – Makes station stops in Evansville, Oakwood, Davis Junction, Ashlie and Louisville. Scheduled to depart from Evansville by 04:00. Usually runs 30-90 minutes late due to traffic west of Evansville.
Amtrak 35 (Westbound River City) – Makes station stops in Louisville, Ashlie, Davis Junction, Oakwood and Evansville. Scheduled to depart from Louisville by 18:30. Usually runs on time.
Q-BNCS - Eastbound Burlington Northern run-thru freight to CSX in Louisville. At the time, this train originated in Galesburg, Illinois, and ran down to Peoria for the connection to the WI&I. The train then became the Q-BNCS, using the Peoria Subdivision between Peoria and Carbondale, then heading east toward Louisville on the Southern and River Subdivisions. The train was mostly made up of forest products from the northwest, and general merchandise from across the BN system. 95% of this train went directly to CSX for a run to the southeast, while the rest stayed with the WI&I for interchange to the Kentucky & Indiana RR. This train did not have a counterpart and usually ran four or five times a week. The BN power often relayed on M-LOPR, the Louisville to Peoria freight.
Q-SPLO - Eastbound Southern Pacific run-thru freight to Ackerville Yard in Louisville. At the time, the train originated in Roseville, California, and was handed off to the WI&I in St. Louis, where it became the Q-SPLO for the trip over the Southern Division of the WI&I. Once in Louisville, the train was broken apart as some traffic went to CSX and NS, while the rest stayed with the WI&I. It was made up of products from the northwest and northern California. The counterpart was the Q-LOSP which returned to the SP via the same routing.
Q-LOSP - Westbound counterpart to the Q-SPLO with run-thru freight for the SP. The train ran via Evansville, Carbondale and St. Louis for the return to SP rails, and returned to Roseville, California. The SP power from Q-SPLO usually relayed back home on this train. This train also handled the returning traffic from the UP run-thru freight and would also relay the UP power to St. Louis.
Q-UPLO - Eastbound Union Pacific run-thru freight to Ackerville Yard in Louisville. This train originated in El Paso, Texas, and was handed off to the WI&I in St. Louis. This train handled products from the west end of the UP system, as well as Mexican export traffic for the eastern U.S. This train had no counterpart and usually ran two or three times a week. The UP power often relayed on the Q-LOSP.
Q-DMLO - Eastbound high-priorty forwarding train from Des Moines to Louisville. It ran via Quincy, St. Louis and Evansville. The train ran daily and was mostly made up of containers and auto traffic. The counterpart was the Q-LODM.
Q-LODM - Westbound high-priority forwarding train from Louisville to Des Moines. Ran via the same routing as the Q-DMLO and was made up of mostly the same traffic.
M-SLLO - Eastbound general merchandise from St. Louis to Louisville. The train ran daily and often had multiple sections. The train was nicknamed "The St. Louis Slug" due to its regular lengthiness and lateness. Counterpart was the M-LOSL
M-CHLO - Eastbound general merchandise from Chicago to Louisville. Ran via Peoria, Carbondale and Evansville. Could run anywhere from four to six times a week. Counterpart was the M-LOCH.
M-LOPE - Westbound general merchandise from Louisville to Peoria. Ran via Evansville and Carbondale. Usually ran five times a week. Counterpart was the M-PELO.
Extra trains always ran with engine numbers for symbols. For example, "Extra BN 7834 East" could have been used on any of the Powder River Basin coal trains bound for the massive power plant in Suffolk. The PRB trains usually ran 5-6 times a week. Grain trains, auto trains, stone trains, phosphate trains and sulfur trains also would have used extra symbols. On a typical day, the River Subdivision saw 15-20 movements in a 24 hour period.
Amtrak 34 (Eastbound River City) – Makes station stops in Evansville, Oakwood, Davis Junction, Ashlie and Louisville. Scheduled to depart from Evansville by 04:00. Usually runs 30-90 minutes late due to traffic west of Evansville.
Amtrak 35 (Westbound River City) – Makes station stops in Louisville, Ashlie, Davis Junction, Oakwood and Evansville. Scheduled to depart from Louisville by 18:30. Usually runs on time.
Q-BNCS - Eastbound Burlington Northern run-thru freight to CSX in Louisville. At the time, this train originated in Galesburg, Illinois, and ran down to Peoria for the connection to the WI&I. The train then became the Q-BNCS, using the Peoria Subdivision between Peoria and Carbondale, then heading east toward Louisville on the Southern and River Subdivisions. The train was mostly made up of forest products from the northwest, and general merchandise from across the BN system. 95% of this train went directly to CSX for a run to the southeast, while the rest stayed with the WI&I for interchange to the Kentucky & Indiana RR. This train did not have a counterpart and usually ran four or five times a week. The BN power often relayed on M-LOPR, the Louisville to Peoria freight.
Q-SPLO - Eastbound Southern Pacific run-thru freight to Ackerville Yard in Louisville. At the time, the train originated in Roseville, California, and was handed off to the WI&I in St. Louis, where it became the Q-SPLO for the trip over the Southern Division of the WI&I. Once in Louisville, the train was broken apart as some traffic went to CSX and NS, while the rest stayed with the WI&I. It was made up of products from the northwest and northern California. The counterpart was the Q-LOSP which returned to the SP via the same routing.
Q-LOSP - Westbound counterpart to the Q-SPLO with run-thru freight for the SP. The train ran via Evansville, Carbondale and St. Louis for the return to SP rails, and returned to Roseville, California. The SP power from Q-SPLO usually relayed back home on this train. This train also handled the returning traffic from the UP run-thru freight and would also relay the UP power to St. Louis.
Q-UPLO - Eastbound Union Pacific run-thru freight to Ackerville Yard in Louisville. This train originated in El Paso, Texas, and was handed off to the WI&I in St. Louis. This train handled products from the west end of the UP system, as well as Mexican export traffic for the eastern U.S. This train had no counterpart and usually ran two or three times a week. The UP power often relayed on the Q-LOSP.
Q-DMLO - Eastbound high-priorty forwarding train from Des Moines to Louisville. It ran via Quincy, St. Louis and Evansville. The train ran daily and was mostly made up of containers and auto traffic. The counterpart was the Q-LODM.
Q-LODM - Westbound high-priority forwarding train from Louisville to Des Moines. Ran via the same routing as the Q-DMLO and was made up of mostly the same traffic.
M-SLLO - Eastbound general merchandise from St. Louis to Louisville. The train ran daily and often had multiple sections. The train was nicknamed "The St. Louis Slug" due to its regular lengthiness and lateness. Counterpart was the M-LOSL
M-CHLO - Eastbound general merchandise from Chicago to Louisville. Ran via Peoria, Carbondale and Evansville. Could run anywhere from four to six times a week. Counterpart was the M-LOCH.
M-LOPE - Westbound general merchandise from Louisville to Peoria. Ran via Evansville and Carbondale. Usually ran five times a week. Counterpart was the M-PELO.
Extra trains always ran with engine numbers for symbols. For example, "Extra BN 7834 East" could have been used on any of the Powder River Basin coal trains bound for the massive power plant in Suffolk. The PRB trains usually ran 5-6 times a week. Grain trains, auto trains, stone trains, phosphate trains and sulfur trains also would have used extra symbols. On a typical day, the River Subdivision saw 15-20 movements in a 24 hour period.
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