The Recordings of Jim Adams, Volume 1 Illinois Central: 1958-1958
Jim Adams was an employee in
the shops of the Illinois Central Railroad at Centralia, Illinois. He used his unparalleled access as a railroad
insider to document the last days of the steam locomotives he loved, taking his
reel to reel tape recorder trackside and into the cabs of locomotives. In this volume, we present recordings made on
the Illinois Central in late 1958 and January, 1959, just as some of the
railroad’s best locomotives were working their final months.
We ride the cab of an 0-8-0
doing local chores in Centralia, hear a 2-8-2 Mikado doing yard work, and hear
both 4-8-2 and 2-10-2 locomotives working on coal trains. It’s railroading as it was,
just before complete dieselization.
Track 1 - Introduction
Track 2-3 – In the cab of 0-8-0 #3511 as it finishes switching
chores in downtown Centralia and then heads to B-Yard. - 28:43
Track 6-7 – Paducah built 4-8-2 #2604 accelerates from a stop
with a coal train at DuBois, Illinois.
- 2:46
Track 8-9 – 4-8-2 #2613 tops Irvington Hill and highballs
through Richview, Illinois. - 2:07
Track 10-11 – #2604 on a northbound coal train north of DuQuoin,
Illinois. - 1:35
Track 12-13 – 2-10-2 #2807 moves light in Paducah’s South Yard,
the engineer laying on the whistle for the microphone. - 1:16
Track 14-15 – Departing Paducah, #2807 is heard whistling in the
distance. A diesel pulls up, stops, and
then rolls away from the microphone.
Then #2807 opens up as the rear of the train clears the yard and marches
out of town in an explosion of stack talk.
- 5:11
Track 16-17 – West of Paducah, #2807 heads toward the power plant
at Chiles, Kentucky, with its coal train.
- 2:48
Track 18-19 – Having delivered loads to the power plant, #2807
finishes putting a string of loads together and departs for Paducah. - 10:30
Track 20-21 – This could have been the last time an I.C. engine
blew her whistle on I.C. property. In
1961, 4-8-2 #2614 was being readied to be hauled away from the Centralia
roundhouse to be taken to Paducah and the scrapper’s torch. Before leaving the building, the boiler was
charged with compressed air. Her turbogenerator
was started, the bell rung, and she blew her whistle one last time. -
7:40
65 Minutes (61 minutes of recordings with 4 minutes of descriptive
narration between recordings)