Every night when both trains are on time, or as the case may be equally late, Amtrak’s northbound and southbound “City Of New Orleans” meet at the tiny hamlet of Wetaug, Illinois.
This CD features the sounds of this train, both on board and alongside the former Illinois Central mainline in deep southern Illinois.
Today’s version of the one time Illinois Central streamliner usually features a single locomotive and seven Superliner passenger cars. Power is almost exclusively a General Electric P42 diesel, followed by a crew dorm, sleeper, diner, lounge car and three coaches.
Some tracks are recorded mere feet from the rails. Others find the microphones further away from the tracks to capture the sounds of the passing trains as part of the overall scene, such as with a very vocal mocking bird singing away next to a nearby farm house or as fish jump in a lake near the track.
As for the name… O. Winston Link once released an album entitled “2nd Pigeon And The Mocking Bird,” and the “City of New Orleans” has been nicknamed “The Chicken Bone” since the forties. So with a nod to the late Mr. Link, we present “The Chicken Bone And The Mocking Bird.”
Track Listing Track 1 - 4:06 - Departing the Champaign station stop, 5-24-2007 Track 2 - 6:26 - Amtrak 58 and 59 meet at Wetaug, Illinois, 6-19-2006 Track 3 - 1:54 - Amtrak 59, P42 #72, 7 Cars, just north of Dongola, Illinois, 5-27-07 Track 4 - 3:49 - Amtrak 58, just north of Dongola, Illinois, 5-27-2007 Track 5 - 2:30 - Amtrak 59, Engine 16, 7 Cars, Dongola, IL, 5-25-2007 Track 6 - 3:45 - Southbound Amtrak 59 near Cheshire Road, Dongola, IL - 10-1-2008 Track 7 - 3:46 - Southbound Amtrak 59 passes under US 51 near Cobden, IL - 10-1-2008 Track 8 - 2:06 - Amtrak 59 at Wetaug in the rain, 6-2-2006 Track 9 - 2:13 - Amtrak 58 in the rain at Wetaug, 6-2-2006 Track 10 - 6:56 - Amtrak 59 and 58 meet at Wetaug, 5-28-06 Track 11 - 5:06 - Amtrak 58 passes from the cemetery at Dongola, Illinois, 7-25-2009 Track 12 - 8:47 - Amtrak 59 north of Wetaug, Illinois, 7-31-2009 Track 13 - 5:24 - Amtrak 58 at Dongola, Illinois, 7-31-2009 Track 14 - 12:49 - Amtrak 59 and 58 from Dongola lake, 6-5-2006 Track 15 - 8:00 - The Mockingbird, 59 and 58 at Wetaug, 6-3-2006
