Last Trains on Union Pacific's Madison Subdivision / CNW SI Line (St. Louis - Springfield, Illinois)

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• published: 07 Jan 2015
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HISTORY: Union Pacific acquired the former Chicago & Northwestern’s "SI Line" between St. Louis and Nelson, IL, as part of its merger with CNW in 1995. UP quickly renamed the SI Line the “Madison Subdivision,” and for the following three years, the company actually routed significant train traffic over the route, mainly empty coal and grain trains headed to Nelson to access the ex-CNW Chicago - Omaha racetrack. Following UP’s merger with the Southern Pacific system in 1996, it inherited a third parallel route – known as the SPCSL – between St. Louis and northern Illinois. Although the Madison Sub featured solid infrastructure and generally high speed running, with its lack of sidings and no signalized traffic control system, the Madison Sub quickly came under the scrutiny of UP's operating department. The specific portion of this line that they sought to eliminate because of duplication was between Madison, IL, (near St. Louis) and Springfield, as they determined the Madison Sub's traffic could be absorbed into the SPCSL route. At Springfield, in order for trains using the SPCSL to access the Madison Sub, UP built a connection from the SPCSL to the Illinois & Midland Railway and then obtained trackage rights to run over the I&M; for a few miles to a point just northeast of Cantrall, IL, known as “Barr”. Construction for the new connections began in 1996 and by 1998, UP had received permission from the STB to abandon the Madison Sub between Madison and Barr. Time had run out for traffic running between St. Louis and Springfield, and the last train just a few days after Halloween 1998. Almost as a grand finale of sorts, up to the last day, ironically, train traffic using this line was heavier than it had ever been. Almost immediately after the last train, UP began lifting the welded rail from the north end between Springfield and Hamel. The rest of the line from Hamel on south through Edwardsville and Glen Carbon remained for another year before UP finally backed a rail train up and began pulling up the south end. Minus a small stub that exists up near Girard, IL, to serve a coal mine, there is nothing left. Portions of the right-of-way have been converted to a bike trail and now a community college occupies the entire scene in clip #2. Using Google Maps "satellite view" using the locations mentioned above will give you a good idea of the drastic changes that took place in a rather short period of time - it truly is a railroad basically erased off the face of the earth. Enjoy this historic video, and thank you for watching. Regards, -Scott Nauert LOCATION INFORMATION: Here is just a sampling of what a few days spent trackside on this route’s deathbed were like – a busy, high-speed mainline. The first train is a northbound empty Cargill grain shuttle, with its engines passing under UP’s Pana Sub at Worden, IL. I am standing at the Possum Hill Road crossing, the location of the hotbox detector at milepost 123. An NS train pacing this guy through town on the NS Brooklyn District (St. Louis - Decatur, IL) can be heard in the distance; I really wish I could’ve gotten the two in the video at the same time as it was definitely one of the last times this would ever happen. The second train is a northbound empty coal drag taken from Wolf St. crossing (Wolf St. & S. Fillmore) in downtown Edwardsville; the scene starts out with the engines crossing Route 159 at the base of the Le Claire water tower, site of the former interlocking tower for the CNW, Nickel Plate, and Illinois Terminal; the Nickel Plate was ripped up about the same time the CNW through here was, the Illinois Terminal was gone by the mid-80s. Today, the Lewis and Clark Community College occupies this entire scene. The third train is a northbound empty coal bucket and was taken from Hillsboro Ave. in downtown Edwardsville. Engines are first seen crossing the intersection of E. Schwartz & S. Brown Ave, then the gates can be seen dropping for IL Route 157. From there, Jason Winter and I headed to Staunton Rd. / County Rd. 51 in Hamel, IL, to see the same train again. The following morning, I caught a northbound coal empty seen rolling through downtown Glen Carbon, IL, with an SD90MAC leading. Shortly after, UP sent a Southern Pacific engine up to Edwardsville to remove the passenger cars from Les Kasten’s Illinois Transit Assembly Corp. railcar refurbishing facility (now known as Mid America Railcar) in preparation for the line's abandonment. The special train is first seen crossing Route 159 in Edwardsville and then again in Glen Carbon. Right behind him is a southbound empty coal train with Southern Pacific units cruising through Glen Carbon.