CONO, Illini, Saluki out of CHI, and stop at Cairo?

[ParanoidAndroid]

How do these trains get out of/into CUS? Looking on Google Earth, I'm thinking that they back out of the station, turn west, go back, then turn eastwards then down the Electric line to Homewood & beyond?

Also, why did the CONO stop stopping at Cairo IL? They could just build a ramp & stairs up to a platform on the . . . I think it's called a levy? We don't have those things where I live.

Or, cut up some trees near Future City (just north of Cairo) and set up a station there?

 

[railiner]

They utilize tracks known as the St. Charles Air Line which connects with the BNSF at its west end, with the CN at its east end, more or less parallel to 16th Street, pretty much like you can see on the map...

I too wonder why the CONO doesn't stop at Cairo anymore (they used to actually stop at North Cairo). When I traveled on a pass, a few times a rode 59 from Chicago to Cairo, and then 58 back up to Chicago, just to save the expense of getting a hotel in Chicago...If 59 was delayed, I could hop off at Carbondale instead...

 

[fairviewroad]

Not sure why service was stopped at Cairo, but according to Trainweb, service ended there nearly 30 years ago. Regardless of the reasons why they stopped, this recent NPR story might shed some light on why service is highly unlikely to ever resume.

"People come through Cairo and say 'wow,' " says Phillip Matthews, a pastor and community activist.

In the past three decades, his hometown lost half its population. Alexander County is not only the poorest county in Illinois; it's also one of the fastest depopulating counties in the United States.

In Cairo, weeds creep up through the cracks in the old brick streets. Whole city blocks are condemned."I've watched for 40 years this city decline," Matthews says, on a recent tour.

Read or listen to the whole story. It's pretty bleak. I'm not sure that a once-a-day train that would stop at around 2:00 a.m. in either direction would really make a difference. If you could convince the state to extend the state-supported trains from Carbondale south to Cairo, that might be more meaningful, but it would probably not make sense from an operational/financial perspective. Basically, as far as the state of Illinois is concerned, Cairo is in the "deep south" and may as well merge with Kentucky.

 

[grover5995]

They utilize tracks known as the St. Charles Air Line which connects with the BNSF at its west end, with the CN at its east end, more or less parallel to 16th Street, pretty much like you can see on the map...

I too wonder why the CONO doesn't stop at Cairo anymore (they used to actually stop at North Cairo). When I traveled on a pass, a few times a rode 59 from Chicago to Cairo, and then 58 back up to Chicago, just to save the expense of getting a hotel in Chicago...If 59 was delayed, I could hop off at Carbondale instead...

There is a proposal to build a direct connection from CUS to the St. Charles Air Line which would provide easier access to the former IC Lakefront line for AMTRAK trains to Carbondale and beyond. This would be part of a Crosstown Chicago plan that would provide express service from Hyde Park-McCormick Place-CUS-O'Hare Airport using existing tracks on METRA Electric and North Central lines.

 

[railiner]

That is a sad story...and the station depicted in that link does indeed look bleak...especially in the light of day.

When I turned around there a couple of times, it was under the cover of nightfall...

 

[WoodyinNYC]

The goal in this neck of the woods should be corridor service to Memphis. Extend one of the Illinois-state-supported trains 420 miles south, to provide a day train where the City of New Orleans moves at night.

(This added train would be a godsend for anyone still living in Cairo, even if they had to drive 30 miles to get to a station.)

But don't count on any help from Tennessee or Kentucky to double service and ridership CHI-Memphis, or, because of the hateful 750-mile rule, any help from Amtrak either.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Extending the Illinois-sponsored trains from Carbondale to Cairo is a totally ridiculous idea. Carbondale is a fairly good size place with a large state university. Cairo is just a dying town with hardly any reason for anybody to live there. As far as extending the Illini or Saluki to Memphis, let Tennessee and Kentucky come up with some cash and it could be done.

 

[UserNameRequired]

Not sure why service was stopped at Cairo, but according to Trainweb, service ended there nearly 30 years ago. Regardless of the reasons why they stopped, this recent NPR story might shed some light on why service is highly unlikely to ever resume.


Read or listen to the whole story. It's pretty bleak. I'm not sure that a once-a-day train that would stop at around 2:00 a.m. in either direction would really make a difference. If you could convince the state to extend the state-supported trains from Carbondale south to Cairo, that might be more meaningful, but it would probably not make sense from an operational/financial perspective. Basically, as far as the state of Illinois is concerned, Cairo is in the "deep south" and may as well merge with Kentucky.

We visited Cairo earlier this week. A very unique place. Trainwebs coordinates for the torn down station put It behind the high school. The route for the CONO puts it on the rails on top of the levy. How did the train route work when there was a stop, did they switch the train down to ground level for where the station was, or did riders have to walk up the levy somehow?

 

[UserNameRequired]

Oh I found North Cairo, IL that has better coordinates. It was even north of Future City, at what looks like some train yard at the end of Kessler Rd., at more of a ground level location. We stayed at the Quality Inn a few blocks away. Dollar General seems to about be the only game in town.

 

[Anderson]

Not sure why service was stopped at Cairo, but according to Trainweb, service ended there nearly 30 years ago. Regardless of the reasons why they stopped, this recent NPR story might shed some light on why service is highly unlikely to ever resume.


Read or listen to the whole story. It's pretty bleak. I'm not sure that a once-a-day train that would stop at around 2:00 a.m. in either direction would really make a difference. If you could convince the state to extend the state-supported trains from Carbondale south to Cairo, that might be more meaningful, but it would probably not make sense from an operational/financial perspective. Basically, as far as the state of Illinois is concerned, Cairo is in the "deep south" and may as well merge with Kentucky.

There's been some suggestion of extending one half of the Illini/Saluki pair (the trains that go south in the morning and north in the evening) to Memphis a la the original CONO. If this were to happen, such a stop might make more sense (as might one or two others in KY/TN).

 

[railiner]

Oh I found North Cairo, IL that has better coordinates. It was even north of Future City, at what looks like some train yard at the end of Kessler Rd., at more of a ground level location. We stayed at the Quality Inn a few blocks away. Dollar General seems to about be the only game in town.

This was it...
http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/cairo.htm

 

[UserNameRequired]

This was it...
http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/cairo.htm

Yes, that was the site I had the problem with and confused me, the coordinates from that page did not have enough accuracy and places the old station behind the high school instead of further north in the train yard where it makes sense and likely really was.

 

[Brian_tampa]

I rode the CONO back in the summer of 1982 and later in summer 1988. The '82 trip was memorable because I spent most of the time between Memphis and Homewood in the dome car. Very neat to see the signals at night on what was then double track between the two places except for the Ohio River crossing and down to Fulton.

Yes the Cairo station stop was in what appeared to be a freight yard. Back then I remember they had what appeared to be a local freight tied up in the yard in the very early morning hours. Probably some local businesses there in Cairo.

Also I was able to experience the 90 or 100 mph running north of Champaign. It was cool to fly by traffic on parallel I-57 in the morning (back when 55mph was the speed limit) . Those were the good old days for Amtrak's version of the CONO! I believe there still was alot of jointed rail along the whole route and many center sidings still in use in Illinois. Too bad EH Harrison had to ruin the old ICRR.

I still have the Amtrak national timetable from 1982.

 

[Steve4031]

I thing the 100 mph speed limits were discontinued in the 70s after the derailment at Tonti, Il.

 

[railiner]

I thing the 100 mph speed limits were discontinued in the 70s after the derailment at Tonti, Il.

I recall riding the Amtrak Illini from Decatur to Chicago, back in the early '80's, and hearing the Conductor announcing that we were now traveling at 100 mph after we left the Norfolk Southern (former Wabash-N&W) tracks at Tolono, IL onto the ICG mainline.

 

[Brian_tampa]

I need to dig out my old notes for every station stop time on the 1982 train ride. I recorded the arrival and departure times for all stops I was awake for. I don't recall if south of Champaign was faster than north, but I do know it was fast compared to now at 79mph. Does anyone have an ICG timetable for the Illinois subdivisions from that time around 1982?