I am looking for information on the now defunct N-S B&O Route through Southern IL. This train route ran from Shawneetown to (as far as I can tell) Springfield. I know it went through Fairfield, Cisne, and Flora, IL as well. Does anyone have any way to get the businesses it stopped at during the 20's-30's? It was discontinued around 1987 (they may have even stopped using it as early as the 70's) and I can find no information about it.
The branch ran from Shawneeton throught Flora to Beardstown after passing through Springfield. Most of the traffic on the branch was seasonal grain loading.
I have a long time interest in this branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that ran from Beardstown via Flora to Shawneetown, IL. It connected with the mainline to St. Louis in Flora, IL. Daily passenger service ran from Flora to Shawneetown and from Flora to Beardstown, IL; Springfield, IL was the largest city on the route. The maps indicate there was a connection with the Indianapolis Division of the B&O in Springfield. I recently purchased an April 26, 1964 time table 79 for the St. Louis Division which indicates "westward" service on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and "eastward" service on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between Flora and Beardstown. I put "westward" and "eastward" in quotes because these are the designations in the time table, however the route had a more north-south orientation than east-west. It connected the Illinois River on the north end with the Ohio River on the south end. To my knowledge most of the track was removed several years ago. I visited my home village of Beecher City, IL one of the villages that formed when the railroad was completed in 1871. All track was gone as far as I could see; the same was true for Holliday and Cowden, IL, the next stops to the north. An article is being written about the line for The Baltimore and Ohio Historical Society quarterly magazine, The Sentinel, however, I have no current estimate of when it will be published. I believe there are forms available that list the customers. From personal experince, I know that grain was one of the major commodities and it served many rural elevators. I understand that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad purchased the railroads that consituted the route from the earlier developers, so there is a pre-B&O ownership history of the line as well.
