The SPCSL, Southern Pacific’s Chicago to St. Louis Line

Pre-merger, all Southern Pacific action: On the Belt Railway of Chicago, Illinois Central and the SPCSL between Joliet and St. Louis. We’ll see D&RGW GP-40s in local switching, SPCSL’s Bloomington Yard, taconite ore trains and SP bay window cabooses. We’ll cross both the Kankakee and MIssissippi Rivers. See the SP’s Mississippi crossing aboard Amtrak.

The SPCSL was a paper subsidiary of Southern Pacific formed to own the Chicago to St. Louis line of the bankrupt Chicago, Missouri & Western (former Alton Railroad). Trackage rights and ownership from Joliet to St. Louis made possible the SP’s hundred-year goal of direct access to the Windy City.

This is vintage nineties footage, shot using nineties equipment. It is not as sharp as programs shot today. Still, these are interesting scenes, many not covered elsewhere, and the narration is informative and top notch.