Canadian National on the former Illinois Central

We visit the former Illinois Central Mainline of Mid-America. Today the Canadian National is the new owner of this line that reaches from Chicago to New Orleans. Our coverage on this program will begin at Homewood (Chicago) and end at Cairo Illinois. We’ll visit points of interest such as the Homewood Railfan Viewing Facility, Kankakee, Gilman, Champaign, Tolono, Tuscola, Matoon, Effingham, Kinmundy, Centralia, Carbondale, Cobden and finally Cairo.

See action of other railroads that cross the Canadian National such as the Norfolk-Southern at Tolono, the Union Pacific and CSX at Tuscola, CSX at Effingham, the BNSF and Norfolk- Southern at Centralia, and the Union Pacific at Kinmundy. At locations where other railroads intersect or cross the Canadian National, you’ll see aerial views of what the track arrangements look like. You will see many aerial views of trains recorded with both ground and aerial video cameras.

Since this freight line is also used by Amtrak, run-bys of the Amtrak Illini and Saluki can be seen in action between Homewood and Carbondale. At Homewood the electrified commuter train sets are seen running back and forth between University Park and Downtown Chicago.

Locomotive power includes: Canadian National, Grand Trunk, Union Pacific, Norfolk-Southern, BC Rail, Kansas City Southern, BNSF and CSX. You’ll see monster freight trains sometimes as long as 2 miles in length thread their way north and south on this ex-Illinois Central Mainline. Extras in this program include a slideshow of today’s Canadian National, an aerial view of the CN Centralia Locomotive facility and turntable, animated Google Earth Satellite Maps of many of the locations seen in this program.