Illinois Central 6052 south leads the return leg of the Peoria Local at Pekin, Illinois. STEVE SMEDLEY PHOTO

Illinois Central 6052 south leads the return leg of the Peoria Local at Green Valley, Illinois. With a 14 car train climbing out of the Mackinaw River bottoms, Green Valley will be left in the du... (more)

It was almost an afterthought to turn and photograph this last movement at dusk in October of 1976, as two Louisville & Nashville U30 C's, with caboose 6370 in trail, hammer across the IHB and Che... (more)

NS train 145 heads west at Harristown, Illinois on a warm fall afternoon. STEVE SMEDLEY

Business car IDAHO brings up the rear as the Union Pacific special clears Illinois Route 10, East of Mason City, Illinois. The Wednesday leg of UP's engineering special saw the train run later ov... (more)

Union Pacific special rolls along in the Mackinaw River bottoms, south of South Pekin, Illinois on its way to a crew change. The Wednesday leg of UP's engineering special saw the train run later o... (more)

Toledo, Peoria & Western's local works west at Cruger siding west of Eureka, Illinois with a mixed bag of manifest cars bound for the East Peoria, Illinois yards. The GP20R's were good for putting... (more)

Milwaukee Road 94A north is busting through small drifts with three A units, and two former Southern SD24's, as the train works its way back North from Mendota on January 11, 1979. The crew came s... (more)

Milwaukee Road 187 North is rolling through Clinton, Iowa, with the rear of its train just clearing the Chicago & NorthWestern Railway as the train passes a car dealership. STEVE SMEDLEY

Milwaukee Road 183 west, the 226 train, has two spotless SD40-2's for power, trailed by a filthy Milwaukee Road FP7 96C still in yellow passenger service colors. The 96C might look filthy, but its... (more)

Milwaukee Road 63A south brings a train into Bensenville on a bitter cold February 1977 afternoon. The cooling water is freezing on the outside of the FP7 as the crew nears the yards here. STEVE S... (more)

With a full moon rising in the eastern sky, the CNIC engineer on BNSF 8975, an SD70MAC AC, walks to the cab after putting together the Heyworth Grain train on Tuesday March 25, 2008. The CNIC crew... (more)

The Atlantic Coast Line E3A 501 passes the former Milwaukee Road depot, westbound in Black Earth, Wisconsin. The late Glen Monhart, an EMD employee and collector of older motive power, ran his en... (more)

Its a sweltering August evening, as Southern Pacific 7493 south departs Bloomington, Illinois. Everything but the track in this photo is gone. Union Depot, the Front Street overpass, and BN Target... (more)

A short South Local rolls North at Shirley, Illinois in between Amtrak trains Friday morning. STEVE SMEDLEY PHOTO