#bloomingtonil

Redbird in Bloomington

After the previous post, I wanted to track down an example of a GM&O SD40, which sported the nickname of "Redbird."

This one was found in Bloomington, Illinois, the town where a few of us would visit every so often in a hunt for GM&O F-units. This particular unit was built for the road in 1966.

Left Out in the Dark

GM&O F3A 800-B is posed just outside the engine house in Bloomington, Illinois—it would soon be retired from the Illinois Central Gulf. Some of the F-units were scrapped, but this particular unit lived on as a commuter engine, number 1103, for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

On the Chicago & Alton

I believe this is a northbound Amtrak Inter-American; the line is the Chicago & Alton/GM&O/ICG. It’s always nice to see color-position lights, this particular design endemic to the B&O and Alton.

The location is just south of Bloomington, Illinois, photographed from the I-55/I-74 overpass with Fox Creek Road in the distance.

Night into Dawn—Bloomington, Illinois

Bloomington was a haven for EMD F-units back in the mid- to late-1970s. I ventured over there from Indiana several times to shoot the "covered wagons" of the Gulf Mobile & Ohio, sometimes in the dark. The GM&O was part of the Illinois Central Gulf by that time, but engines weren't painted quickly after the merger took place in 1972, which was fabulous for railroad enthusiasts. [I believe two of the F3s did make it into the orange and white scheme of the ICG.]

We begin this little sequence of images with a view of number 810B: it's an F3 built in 1947. This unit would be upgraded to pull commuters for citizens of Boston, as MBTA 1111. [In the end, a few of these charismatic F-units went to Boston, a few others to Metro North, but I believe others were scrapped within a couple of years from the time of these photos being made.]

Despite the lure of the Fs, I was also attracted to this wonderful SD40, a so-called Redbird. This one was built in September of 1966. Lastly, number 811b is an EMD F7 built in 1949.

Caboose Hop

This is a southbound move on the Chicago & Alton, later GM&O, then ICG at the time of the photograph. I’m pretty certain the locale is Shirley, south of Bloomington, Illinois.

It’s interesting to note that all of the equipment here is of the GM&O, with the lead unit being former number 919, to go with Red Bird number 920 behind it, both EMD SD40s built in 1966. Bringing up the rear is an extended vision GM&O caboose.

Covered Wagon

Here’s a GM&O F3 in, you guessed it, Bloomington, Illinois, along the Alton. The poling pockets were idiosyncratic to the GM&O.