Mid-American

          Issue 2
Issue (2007:2):
     The Land O' Corn: A Languished Luminary
            by John D. Mummert
     Metra's South Chicago Branch
            by William O'Hara III
     The Paducah & Illinois Railroad: A Bridge
                too Far?--Part 2
            by Pat McDurmon

Issue 2: Don Lewis: President's Page:

    In this issue, we feature an article by John Mummert on the Chicago-Waterloo Land O' Corn, focusing on its final years of operation---although we also get an overview of the train's earlier history. The Land O' Corn is a particularly pertinent topic right now, as there are efforts under way to restore Amtrak service along the original Land O' Corn route as far as Dubuque. Read this wonderful article, and then write your state representative and senator if you are from Illinois! Although we would hope that the original name might be revived if service were to return---as it did once before when Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation offered Black Hawk service between Chicago and Dubuque from 1974 to 1981---the Black Hawk name would likely be chosen again. But to us, passenger service along the route will always carry the spirit of the Land O' Corn.
    Through the courtesy of Mr. Aubrey Olson of Freeport, Ill., the ICRHA has acquired access to 13 very large erection and section drawings of IC steam locomotives. The oldest locomotive depicted is of a 2-6-0 Mogul built in 1890, whilst the oldest drawings are dated September 1945, these being of a 2800-series 2-10-2 "Central"-type (a "Santa Fe" on other roads). All but three are pristine blueprints and were given to Mr. Olson (you modelers may know Aubrey through his company, Caboose Hobbies) by the estate of his longtime friend, John Gerbode. Mr. Gerbode received them from Mr. Clarence Burlingame, freight agent at Freeport long ago. The old manilla envelope containing this large stack of documents reveals that they were sent to Freeport by J. A. Welch, General Superintendent of Motive Power, via company mail in a baggage car on one of the Iowa Division passenger trains, not by U.S. postage nor REA. ICRHA Publications Director Mike Schafer has offered to looking into having Northern Illinois University's Imaging Department scan them to digital files to enable more widespread availability for study. A big "Thank you!" goes out to Mr. Olson. The Mid-American will keep the membership apprised of progress in this regard.
    We are all indebted to the Illinois Central Historical Society Green Diamond staff in general and to the Reverend Dr. R. Milton Winter in particular for the superb three-part series on the IC Dayliner City of New Orleans that has just concluded with the September 2007 issue, No. 82. You may wish to acquire copies of issues 80-82 and enjoy a splendid story with lots of interesting historical notes and photos. Thank you, Milton Winter!
    Please remember that you can always contact us to offer ways in which we can improve the magazine, and your enjoyment of it.

    ---Don Lewis
    President

Issue 2: Paul Burgess: From the Cab:

    If there is one constant I have found in my many trackside talks with railfans, it is that regardless of what road the person may be a particular fan of, there is always some wistful, never-to-be-regained moment: a paint scheme, or operation, or locomotive, that has passed and will never come again. I am sure I say much the same things---in fact I know I do. Just the other day, I was explicating to yet another patient victim, for what must be the thousandth time, my boyhood haunting of Homewood Tower. It still stands, but is automated now, and locked up. No smiling faces, no instructive operators. If only, if only... Sigh.
    Well, enough already! Change is a constancy in human life, whether it is the grayer and perhaps less svelte image that stares back at you in the morning mirror (guilty here, on both counts!), or the fact that your childhood railroad is different from what it once was. The fact is, that short of the ability to re-organize the universe to our liking (note to readers: anyone possessing this ability, please contact your editor immediately), we can either deal with it---or not. The world will go on changing, regardless of how we decide to face it.
    This second issue of The Mid-American faces change head on. Our Illinois Central has changed, and we are going to spend part of this issue looking at some of the ways that that has happened. Your editor contributes a piece about the ongoing repaint program based at Woodcrest Shops, which is giving fresh faces and new life to venerable IC locomotives and other equipment. Part Two of Colonel Pat McDurmon's wonderful piece on the Paducah & Illinois wraps up the story of that great southern bridge, and from way out in the East, Will O'Hara contributes a fine piece on Metra's ex-Illinois Central South Chicago branch of the famed Electric District, wired in 1926 and to this day still the only heavy electric commuter rail system west of the Allegheny Mountains. Will's article features the fine imagery of transit photographers extraordinaire George Chiasson, Norman Carlson, and Lou Gerard, who graciously allowed Will and ICRHA to sample their exhaustive archives to document his article photographically. Look for more of their collaboration in the future. A very special thank you must also go out to Mr. Carlson (who, by the way, also serves as editor of First & Fastest, the wonderful and professionally produced magazine of the Shore Line Interurban Historical Society), who was kind enough to provide his significant expertise in Chicago-area electric railway operations to your editor, to make sure we got the "t's" crossed and "i's" dotted in this piece. Thanks, Norm.
    Lest ye worry, don't! There is plenty of classic IC coverage coming down the pike as well, as Reverend John Mummert rounds out this issue with a look at the Land O' Corn, IC's sole streamliner of the Iowa Division, a train near and dear to the heart of Mid-American associate editor and art director Mike Schafer.
    On an unrelated matter, I had the opportunity to meet a number of you during the Homewood Rail Heritage Weekend held May 19-20, 2007. I want to thank you all for your enthusiastic support and the great ideas you brought to Mike and me for the future of your magazine. Be assured, we will take them all to heart, and we look forward to your submissions and feedback to help us move our Association forward. Keep it coming!

    ---Paul Burgess
    Editor