In the East Central Illinois city of Bloomington lies several abandoned lines of various railroads. The few that come to mind are Illinois Terminal, Nickel Plate and even Conrail had a line. The Illinois Terminal street running tracks even cross old Nickel Plate and that diamond still remains in a street of all places.
Illinois Terminal tracks, Madison Street, Bloomington, Illinois:
History on the Illinois Terminal tracks:
In the early 1900's a popular method of transportation for a time was the Interurban Railway. The street cars provided easy transportation between neighborhoods and several cities. They were more quiet and didnt have the soot, ect that came with Steam engine run trains.
Bloomington's first full service of this line dates back to 1906 when its line from here to Decatur was completed. The following year in 1907 the Bloomington to Peoria section was completed and opened for service. The IT didnt build a line to bypass downtown Bloomington and some tracks can still be seen. The cars would travel along Market Street then turn onto North Madison Street before heading into the downtown as well as the Warehouse district. The passenger depot was at 220 North Madison Street which the building was torn down in December 2014.
The IT abandoned the Bloomington tracks in February 1953. The railroad however did continue as a freight railroad afterwards until 1982 in other cities. A freight derailment in 1977 over the Mackinaw River helped financially hurt the railroad and years later ceased as it became Norfolk & Western.
Source:
https://www.mchistory.org/research/illinois-terminal-raiload/index.php
P&E/NYC/PC/Conrail freight house & track:
P&E/Conrail ROW, abandoned 1984, now part is a trail:
Peoria & Eastern, The Big Four,New York Central, Penn Central, Conrail:
Some pictures are of the old NYC freight house. The trail was the ROW on the west part of Bloomington that would have headed out towards Pekin.
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western ( IB&W) originally built the line through Bloomington but due to financial issues went into receivership and became the Peoria & Eastern Railway. P&E would later become under the control of the Big Four Railroad then New York Central. New York Central merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 to become Penn Central. PC would only last 8 years til going bankrupt and became Conrail in 1976.
Conrail quit using the line through Bloomington in 1984. Track west of Bloomington to Pekin was removed in 1986. Track through Bloomington in 1988 and some is now a trail.
Source: David Jordan, Wikipedia
Nickel Plate Railroad/ Norfork & Western Industrial spur track:
Nickel Plate Railroad ran through Bloomington and had an industrial spur off Madison Street. The railroad merged along with the Wabash and some others with the Norfolk and Western on October 16, 1964.
This industrial spurs last train was probably by 1970.
Source: Wikipedia & David Jordan.
Also in Bloomington of railroad interest is a display in Miller Park not far from the Zoo.
Nickel Plate Locomotive 639.
Built: by Lima Locomotive Works in 1923.
Donated by: Nickel Plate Railroad on November 1, 1959.
Caboose: Southern Pacific added to display in 1996 by the Central Illinois Railroad Club.
My pictures from 2017 of the display:
Also of interest is the Chicago & Alton Railroad freight house near the current Union Pacific yard in Bloomington.
The Alton Railroad changed names multiple times originally Alton & Sangamon Railroad being charted in 1847 and line extended to Bloomington in 1854.
Over the years it was Chicago & Alton Railroad from 1906-1931. The freight house was built during its time and moved by mule to its current location in 1926.
It was the Alton Railroad, a subsidiary of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from 1931-1947.
In 1947 til 1972 the line was under Gulf, Mobile & Ohio ownership then from 1972-1987 the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.
Pictures 2017:
Last but not least that I have pictured below is the Illinois Central Railroad industrial track running to the Eureka Company and Thor Company. The tracks were abandoned in October 1983.
Thanks to historian David Jordan on some information and also showing me most of these locations as I'm not familiar with Bloomington as much.
