Pictures of the Wabash Railroad
Wabash Steel Caboose 2834, Photo copyright by Richard Skagenburg 1995
This Wabash steel caboose is owned by the Monticello Railroad Museum in Monticello, Illinois. After extensive restoration, it was placed into service at the museum in October of 1995. Special ceremonies commemorating the restoration of the caboose were held in October, 1995 as part of the annual meeting of the Wabash Historical Society in Monticello.
Wabash F7 #1189 Photo copyright by Richard Skagenburg, Monticello, Illinois
Wabash 1189 was acquired by the Monticello Railroad Museum in the 1980's. 1189 and 1189A, which were in service in the St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada division, were the last two F-7's ordered by Wabash before converting entirely to road switchers. They were also the last two units built by GMD for the Canadian Market. (This information comes from page 13 ofWabash in Color by David Sweetland, copyright 1991.) It has undergone extensive restoration. Much of the work has been done by museum volunteers, however the Norfolk & Western (now Norfolk & Southern) has contributed some very expensive parts and work. In addition to seeing regular service on the trackage owned by the museum, this unit is also leased regularly by the Norfolk & Western for special holiday runs over their trackage during the Christmas season. Because of this, the unit has been upgraded (at N&W expense) to meet current FTC requirements for an over-the-road passenger diesel. For a modest fee, visitors to the museum are able to ride in the cab behind the engineer on its regular week-end runs. Also, at various times during the year, museum members and supporters can sign up for an hour's worth of instruction and actually operate the unit on a portion of the museums trackage.
In the above photo, 1189 is facing west on the west end of the museum trackage. While most of the museum's trackage is made up of abandoned Illinois Terminal trackage, this particular section was part of an Illinois Central spur. The interchange trackage with the Illinois Terminal line is to the east (behind) the train. Trackage veering off to the right from the north end of the interchange with the Wabash (now N&S) mainline from Decatur to Chicago, which passes over #1189 on the viaduct
Photograph copyright by Fred Lux, 1997
This apparently restored Wabash Box Car was sitting on the storage tracks at the Monticello Railroad Museum. More information will be posted about the car as it is found.
New Year's Day Wreck 1931 Photo copyrighted by Wilma Francis Lux
On New Year's morning, 1931, old "Number 13", fast Chicago to St. Louis night pullman train left the tracks at Bement. The above picture shows the remains of Wabash J-2 class 4-6-2 #684. The Wabash mainline to Chicago joins the mainline to Detroit at Bement. It appears that the train entered the curve into the Bement switch too fast. The Bement passenger station was destroyed by a fire resulting from the accident Miraculously, no one else was killed in the wreck. My aunt, who was 13 at the time, had received a Kodak Brownie camera and a roll of film as a Christmas present. This was the last picture on that roll of film. A detailed account of the accident appeared in the Thursday, January 8, 1931 edition of the Piatt County Republican. The locomotive was apparently rebuilt after the wreck. A picture of Wabash J-2 #684 pulling a string of varnish in 1948 can be found in the book "Wabash", by Donald J. Heimburger, page 76. I can find no indication that the number 684 was assigned to more than one locomotive.
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