Photography

With power acquired from sister railroad Wisconsin and Southern, a loaded grain train crests a steep hill on DRIE’s former Nickle Plate “Cloverleaf” route south of Charleston, IL, November 2023

Foggy nights are some of the most dangerous for drivers, but the railroads move on regardless as a DREI local trots north near Brocton, IL, January 2024.

Still in the Illinois Central’s “Death Star” paint scheme, a northbound races north near Arcola, IL, October 2024.

An Amtrak “Saluki” service passenger train between Chicago and Carbondale flies by the town of Pesotum, IL at 80mph, October 2024.

When completed in 1907 by the Wabash Railroad, the bridge spanning what would become Lake Decatur was one of the longest reinforced concrete structures in the world. Today it still stands in use on Norfolk Southern, as seen here with NS’s Nickel Plate heritage unit gliding over it westbound into Decatur, IL, October 2024.

The Illinois Central lives on in the form of a fleet of EMD SD70 locomotives, which Canadian National has retained in their original IC colors, spare for the yellow stripe around the frame. A pair of which are seen south of Tuscola near Galton, IL, July 2024.