CN, NS, BNSF and Amtrak at Centralia, Illinois

Small town railroad crossings that haven’t lost their trains or tracks to the mega-merger movement often have a unique and enduring character. Centralia in south central Illinois, fifty-five miles east of St. Louis, is one of those places and has long been a favorite place to watch trains by nearby fans. The names of the railroads may have changed but the trains of four railroads including Amtrak run side by side through the center of town just as they have for decades.

The former Illinois Central, Chicago to New Orleans main line, now operated by Canadian National, the former Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy or Burlington, now BNSF route to the coal fields of southern Illinois and Paducah, Kentucky, and the former Southern Railway line to St. Louis, now Norfolk Southern, parallel each other through the center of this town of 13,000. And the trains of Amtrak’s Chicago to Carbondale mini-corridor stop here also. “CN, NS, BNSF, and Amtrak at Centralia, IL” shows all the trains for twenty-four hours through Centralia, Illinois in May of 2013.