#c420

Unmistakably Alco

The image was made on a humid day about five miles south-east of Charleston, Illinois. We're standing along one of the several routes owned by the Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation—this particular line was once the Nickel Plate Road.

Number 332, working for the Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation, is an Alco C420. Discerning the lineage of this locomotive was interesting: to begin with, the gray color made me think of the Louisville & Nashville.

Indeed the engine ran for the L&N as number 1332. [It seems that IHRC simply removed the “1” to create a new number: 332.] But the story goes on: the bell on the nose is a tip-off that this locomotive once labored for the Monon (subsumed into the L&N in 1971). The Alco C420 was purchased new for the Hoosier Line in August of 1967 and worked with the number of 515.

Unmistakably Alco

Number 332, working for the Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation, is an Alco C420. Discerning the lineage of this locomotive was fun: to begin with, the gray color made me think of the Louisville & Nashville.

Indeed the engine ran for for the L&N as number 1332. [It seems that IHRC simply removed the "1" to create a new number: 332.] But the story goes on: the bell on the nose is a tip-off that this locomotive once ran for the Monon, which was subsumed into the L&N in 1971. The C420 was purchased new for the Hoosier Line in August of 1967 and ran with the number of 515.

Alco on Point

Here’s a southbound train at the south end of McDoel Yard, in Bloomington, Indiana. The line is former Monon, but Louisville & Nashville at the time. The lead unit is an Alco C420 that was built in June of 1964.

Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation

This line is of the former Nickle Plate, a portion of which, between Neoga and Metcalf, Illinois, was owned by the Eastern Illinois Railroad Company, which contracted with the Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation to operate in the late 1980s. IHRC operated several disjointed lines in the Midwest, but is now defunct.

The locomotive is an Alco C420 that was built in 1967 as Monon 515; it became L&N 1332, and later IHRC 332. I think it’s funny to note that the “1” was simply removed from the number board when going from L&N to IHRC. And I may be wrong, but it’s my understanding that the bell on the nose is a tip-off that the unit is ex-Monon.

The location where the engine is resting is Charleston, Illinois, while the action shot was taken somewhere nearby—on a humid, summer day.