 The Meadowlark in 1957, after a Budd Rail Diesel Car replaced the streamlined equipment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| First service | October 6, 1946 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last service | January 5, 1962 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former operator(s) | Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Meadowlark was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad between Chicago, Illinois and Cypress, Illinois. It operated from 1946 to 1962. The Meadowlark was the C&EI's last train to Southern Illinois.
History
The Meadowlark was one of two new streamliners introduced by the C&EI in late 1946, the other being the short-lived Whippoorwill which served Evansville, Indiana. The C&EI billed the train as a "Chicago-liner" and promised "quieter, smoother, roomier lounge-car luxury." The new streamliner made the 345-mile (555 km) journey from Chicago to Cypress, Illinois in seven hours. The train departed Cypress at 5:15 AM, arriving at Chicago's Dearborn Station at 12:25 PM. Five hours later the train began the journey back to Cypress, arriving after midnight. Writing in 2006, railroad historian Joe Welsh called the Meadowlark "inviting" while noting that the destination of Cypress was "obscure." On the train's first anniversary the C&EI claimed total ridership of 150,000 passengers and that the train had "girdled the globe 10 times in her daily travels."
In the early 1950s the Meadowlark continued south to Joppa, on the Ohio River, but by the middle of the decade it was cut back to West Vienna, Illinois, 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Cypress. The C&EI discontinued the Meadowlark altogether on January 5, 1962, ending the railroad's service to Southern Illinois.
Equipment
Pullman-Standard delivered four cars for the original Meadowlark: a baggage/mail/grill car (the Sparhawk Inn) and three 60-seat coaches. In 1956 the C&EI replaced the streamlined equipment with a Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC). In a 1957 company publication C&EI touted the "comfort and speed" of the RDC and touted its suitability for operation in "sparsely settled areas." While the language echoed earlier advertisements, the downgrade was obvious.
Notes
- Trains 1946, p. 16
- Welsh, Boyd & Howes 2006, p. 68
- Chicago Heights Star 1947, p. 13
- Timetable 1953
- Vandervoort2
- Sanders 2008, p. 121
- Gassen 1993
- Vandervoort
- Vandervoort2
- Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad 1957, pp. 6–7
References
- "The Meadowlark". Chicago Heights Star. October 14, 1947.
- "The Meadowlark". Trains. 7 (1). November 1946.
- Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (September 27, 1953). "Time Tables".
- Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (1957). This is the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (PDF).
- Gassen, Dan (July 19, 1993), "The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad" (PDF), Central States Challenger Special, St. Louis Chapter, National Railway Historical Society
- Sanders, Craig (2008). Mattoon and Charleston Area Railroads. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-5228-6.
- Vandervoort, Bill. "America's Streamliners: Chicago & Eastern Illinois". Chicago Railfan. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
- Vandervoort, Bill. "America's Streamliners: Louisville & Nashville/Chicago & Eastern Illinois". Chicago Railfan. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
- Welsh, Joe; Boyd, Jim; Howes, William F. Jr. (2006). The American Railroad: Working for the Nation. St. Paul, MN: MBI. ISBN 9780760316313. OCLC 62892045.
External links
| Named trains of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad | |
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