19-03-27c VIDEOS: Lincoln Corridor

Amtrak's Lincoln Corridor is part of an Illinois State project to create a 110mph high speed train service between St Louis and Chicago with travel times in the 3-4 hour range.  Flat and straight the line's main issue are grade crossings, a single track layout with passing sidings and rural communities with a rather lax attitude towards rail safety.  The following videos capture the section of the line between Joliet and Dwight, throughout the Springfield terminal area and then southern end of the line from Alton to the start of the Terminal Railroad at WR Tower.  Generally note the concrete ties, anti-personnel fencing in  built up areas, elaborate grade crossing protections and high/higher speed turnouts on new and extended passing sidings.

In the first pair of videos we have a rear view from the back of Amtrak Train #21, the Texas Eagle, as it runs from the station stop at Joliet to just north of the town of Dwight, which is a stop for Lincoln Service trains.  Note METRA's recently closed UD tower, which is being converted into a museum, and the new island platform at Joliet, as well as the entrance to UP's Global Four intermodal facility.



The last time I traveled this route back in 2005 it was somewhat of a backwater as UP had a second, more preferred line between Saint Louis and Chicago.  B&O CPL signals were still present, sidings were far apart with slow entrance and exit speeds.  Today over a billion dollars in state funding has completely rebuilt the line, but the 110mph speeds have yet to be achieved in regular service.



Here we see one of the slower parts of the line where it picks its way through downtown Springfield, IL, the state capitol.  At about 5:10 in the video was the location of the old RIDGLEY tower, which, at the time of its closure in 2010, featured the last mechanically operated switch points in North America.  The tower was demolished shortly after its closing.  After the station stop the train slowly moves out of the city before running a couple of miles on NS Springfield-Hannibal District.



The southern end of the corridor past Alton (or Chicago and Alton fame) was the last to be rebuilt with WANN interlocking and it's CPLs and LENOX tower being closed only in 2018.  There is still some hints of old school railroading in the layouts like the split single track mains and the outside single slip switches at WOODRIVER interlocking.  Note the bright new CPLs at LENOX along with the closed tower and the NS traffic on their adjacent line.



Finally our train enters TRRA trackage at WR TOWER.  The interlocking contains some poor man's single slip switches, but the tower itself was demolished decades ago.



Hope your all enjoyed this abbreviated tour of the Lincoln Corridor.  Next week I'll be back with some photos on the old MoPac Texas Eagle route in the Big State of Texas.