Illinois Central Railroad: Locomotives

4-8-2 steam locomotive No. 2604

Illinois Central 2604, seen at Centralia, Ill., in mid-1958, was one of 20 freight 4-8-2s built from scratch by the road’s Paducah Shops during 1942–43. They were IC’s last new steam engines.

Photograph by R. R. Wallin

Electro-Motive E6 diesel locomotive No. 4001B

Although slow to dieselize road freights, Illinois Central acquired diesels for switching, transfer, and passenger service before World War II. Its five E6A units of 1940–41 were for the Panama Limited (two pairs) and a single unit for the every-third-day City of Miami. Two of the units are between Panama runs at New Orleans in October 1943.

Photograph by R. H. Kindig

4-6-2 steam locomotive No. 2034

Rebuilt at Paducah with low (61-inch) drivers for freight service, Illinois Central 4-6-2 2034 switches a branchline freight at Graymont, Ill., a few miles west of Pontiac, in October 1957.

Photograph by M. L. Powell

Electro-Motive SW7 diesel locomotives 1219 and 1206

Engines 1219 and 1206, two of Illinois Central’s 50 SW7 switchers, all built in 1950, work at Homewood, Ill., in October 1960.

Photograph by J. David Ingles

2-10-2 steam locomotive No. 2811

Engine 2811 was one of 125 “Central” types (as IC called the 2-10-2) built by Lima in 1921–23 as Nos. 2901–3025. Paducah rebuilt 20 in late 1944 with new boilers, renumbering them 2800–2819. The 2811 is at Carbondale in August 1957.

Photograph by R. R. Wallin

Electro-Motive SD70 diesel locomotive No. 1005

Illinois Central’s last new power was a group of 40 SD70s constructed between 1995 and ’99. They were among the last standard-cab freight locomotives to be built.

Photograph by Aaron Ryherd

2-8-4 steam locomotive No. 8015

Illinois Central was an early customer for Lima’s landmark 2-8-4 design, ordering 50 at the conclusion of the A-1 demonstrator’s visit to the system (IC also bought the A-1 itself). Numbered in the 7000 series upon delivery in 1926, the Berkshires were renumbered to the 8000s when IC rebuilt them beginning in 1939.

Classic Trains collection

Electro-Motive GP9 diesel locomotives 9075 and 9051

Illinois Central didn’t begin buying freight diesels in quantity until 1950, just after the cab-unit era had peaked. Its bread-and-butter diesel freight power was a fleet of more than 500 GP7, GP9, and GP18 road-switchers. GP9s 9075 and 9051 rest at Homewood, Ill., in late 1961.

Photograph by J. David Ingles

Electro-Motive E8 diesel locomotive No. 4027

E8 4027, one of Illinois Central’s nearly 60 E6, E7, E8, and E9 passenger diesels, is at St. Louis in late 1966. It wears a variant of the road’s passenger livery in which the orange area is deeper than normal.

Photograph by Walt Peters

0-8-0 steam locomotive No. 3530

The largest group in Illinois Central’s fleet of 135 0-8-0s was a series of 55, Nos. 3500–3554, built by Baldwin in the 1920s. The 3530 simmers at Centralia in November 1957.

Photograph by M. L. Powell