NEWSLETTER

C&EI HS Fall Newsletter September 1, 2006

Notes by your President:

The Summer is well spent and it is time to get things going again. With this newsletter, if you were a member in 2005, you will receive the 2005 Flyer. It is another issue of the facts and figures that our late friend and historian, Harold R. Sampson kept tabs on when he was in retirement in Beecher, IL. We have saved this information for publication and now is the time to bring it to light. Harold went through all the back issues of the old timetables and found out things that were interesting and important to the history of the C&EI Railroad. Thanks to him we have lots of tid-bits about the development of the C&EI Railroad that would have been missed. If you were not a member in 2005 the issue is available from the Treasurer, Robert McQuown, just send him a check for $18.00 and he will mail you one. ($15.00 for the book and $3.00 postage. Get an order blank from last page and combine shipping with other books at the same time and save postage.)

WATSEKA DEPOT 100th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

October 7th, 2005 we will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the C&EI-TP&W Depot at Watseka. We have purchased a 3 Ft X 20 Ft. Banner that will be displayed for the next few months at the depot and the Watseka Union Depot Committee is planning a ceremony to take place at the Depot that day. We invite all those who have an interest in preserving the depot to come and join in the celebration. The depot has been our museum home for the past few years and we hope to improve on that record for many more years.

ANNUAL MEETING 2007

Next April 28th 2007 the C&EI Railroad Historical Society will be hosting our 25th Anniversary Meeting at the Danville Area Community College on east Main St. in Danville, Illinois. The college has generously donated the conference room in the Administration building for our meet. This is a beautiful setting and is an appropriate place for us to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. Make plans now to be there and help up celebrate.

The room is approximately 20 Feet wide and 60 Feet long with a beautiful foyer with seating for those who need to make phone calls or meet someone. More information on this as the date approaches. 2007 Calendar.

The 2007 calendar is being worked up and should be ready the first of October. If anyone has photographs that they would like to see in a future calendar get the original or a 300 dpi scan to the editor within the next few months.

THE C&EI ADDS RAIL CAPACITY

Wouldn't we all love to see that headline in the papers? In a way it is true, CSX Transportation has a capacity problem on the former C&EI between Woodland Junction and Evansville, and even further south to Jacksonville, Florida. Yes, there are too many trains for a single-track railroad.

In the late 1950's the C&EI installed CTC north of Clinton, Indiana and thus created a single-track railroad with passing sidings. The one thing they did was space them right and left long sidings. South of Clinton the sidings were shorter and spread out more. In today's railroading with longer trains and more of them this segment is having capacity problems of immense proportions.

Since 2002 my company, URS Corporation, has been designing capacity improvement projects for CSX on this corridor. I have seen parts of the former C&EI that I had never seen before, and unless you were a trainman on this line, you probably never saw them either.

In 2003 we added two tracks at Princeton for the Toyota auto plant. In 2004 we looked at 5 locations from north of Vincennes to Evansville. That inspection produced the 4-mile siding extension up to the Norfolk Southern crossing at Princeton. CSX now has 6 miles of double track with universal crossovers in the middle to expedite movements. In 2005 we designed new sidings at Carlisle, Hazleton and Smith (north of Vincennes), Indiana. These are 11,000-foot sidings and are under construction at this time. Completion is expected by the fall of this year. Design is just starting on extension of the Ingle siding on the north side of Evansville. This will give CSX 21,000 feet of two mains with universal crossovers in the middle. A second siding, 10,000 feet in length, is being designed north of Terre Haute at Atherton.

A third main track is planned for Danville and there is talk about putting the main back across NS that the L&N removed many years ago. This location is a major bottleneck for CSX. Final improvements on the line will be the upgrade of existing sidings with new rail/ties and making them fully signaled sidings, thus allowing faster moves in and through the siding.

Today there are some 25-30 trains a day north of Terre Haute, some 30-40 south of Terre Haute and 40-50 south of Vincennes. Coal is big on this line with two mines opening soon south of Vincennes. In addition western coal is coming via the B&O and Vincennes and off the UP/BNSF in the Chicago area.

When we started design of the siding at Haazleton last year we found ou the C&EI had purchased right of way and designed bridges for a new siding at our location. It never progressed beyond that point but they picked the right spot back then.

If only the "old heads" could see the C&EI now!

Rick Schroeder, President C&EI HS and Senior Project Manager, URS Corporation