illinoiscentral
SARM Volunteer
SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY, SO LITTLE OPTIMISM...
It's a warm and breezy spring 2014 morning as CSX Q247 zips through the industrial west side of Salem, Illinois at Hotze Road. A signal maintainer is about to do his daily work after Q247 clears on these fairly new Safetran signals that replaced aging B&O Color Position Lights just a few years ago. Lots of industry has sprang up here in the small town of Salem in the last decade, but, Interstate 57 here has been the beneficiary of industrial traffic rather than the former B&O mainline to St. Louis. The 247 will knock the rust of these aging rails for today, and it won't be until later this evening when Q204 comes through that they'll be shined again. These are the only regular trains right now across the entire Illinois Subdivision, and in less than 12 months, these rails will be idle with an uncertain future. Roughly 20 years prior, optimism was strong around here after CSX's decision to end a practice of dual corridors between it's former L&N St. Louis Division and the Illinois Sub. Now it seems as if the B&O's days are quite limited as well.
...and time marches on.
Cheers, Woody
Cheers, Woody