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Photos & Videos Photos Great Passenger Trains Illinois Central Railroad: passenger trains

Illinois Central Railroad: passenger trains

By Angela Cotey | July 12, 2021

View images of passenger service on the "Main Line of Mid-America"

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a diesel passenger train
IC's Hawkeye
Sioux City–Chicago Hawkeye at 21st Street, Chicago, July 1948.
Robert Milner
a diesel passenger train
a diesel passenger train on a bridge crossing water
IC's Seminole

Chicago–Jacksonville Seminole near Alexander City, Ala., on Central of Georgia, Oct. 13, 1965.
David W. Salter

a diesel passenger train on a bridge crossing water
a conducter looking down the aisle on a passenger train
IC parlor car 3351

Parlor car 3351, a modernized 1920s heavyweight car.
Illinois Central

a conducter looking down the aisle on a passenger train
a diesel passenger train
IC's City of Miami
E6 4000 with Chicago–Miami City of Miami, 1940.
Classic Trains coll.
a diesel passenger train
a steam passenger train
IC's Sinnissippi

Chicago–Freeport, Ill., Sinnissippi at 21st Street, Chicago, 1947.
Milton B. Nafus

a steam passenger train
a passenger train parked at a station at night
IC’s Central Station, Chicago
Heavyweight Pullmans at Central Station, Chicago, August 1946.
Curtis Thatcher
a passenger train parked at a station at night
three trains with New Orleans in the background
IC streamliners and electrics
Chicago–New Orleans City of New Orleans (left), suburban electric M.U.’s (center), and an unidentified intercity train at 35th Street, Chicago, 1947.
Illinois Central
three trains with New Orleans in the background
a diesel passenger train with a crew disembarking and embarking
IC’s City of New Orleans
Chicago–New Orleans City of New Orleans changing crews at Memphis, Aug. 1954.
James G. La Vake
a diesel passenger train with a crew disembarking and embarking
a passenger train by some buildings
IC’s City of New Orleans
Chicago–New Orleans City of New Orleans at Kankakee, Ill., July 1948.
Herbert R. Heath
a passenger train by some buildings
a diesel passenger train by a field
IC’s Land O’ Corn
Waterloo–Chicago Land O’ Corn near Hillside, Ill.
Bob Borcherding
a diesel passenger train by a field
a suburban electric car with buildings behind it
IC suburban electric train
Northbound suburban electric train, 53rd Street, Chicago.
Illinois Central
a suburban electric car with buildings behind it
A train operator climbing a ladder to enter a diesel
IC’s Panama Limited
New Orleans–New Orleans Panama Limited at New Orleans, May 25, 1949.
James G. La Vake
A train operator climbing a ladder to enter a diesel
a steam passenger train leaving a station
IC’s Panama Limited
Chicago–New Orleans Panama Limited departing Chicago.
Richard Luryman
a steam passenger train leaving a station
A couple of women looking out the back of an observation car

IC’s Panama Limited

Chicago–New Orleans Panama Limited observation car
A couple of women looking out the back of an observation car
a steam passerger train on a winter day
IC’s Louisiane
Chicago–New Orleans Louisiane, Brookhaven, Miss., Jan. 31, 1949.
Whitbeck Studio
a steam passerger train on a winter day
A passenger car by a tall metal box that's spraying water onto it
IC’s Panama Limited
New Orleans–Chicago Panama Limited cars being washed, New Orleans, 1951.
Ray C. Meates
A passenger car by a tall metal box that's spraying water onto it
A couple of women laying in their beds talking through an open partition
IC postwar sleeping car

Adjoining double bedrooms with partition open.
Illinois Central

A couple of women laying in their beds talking through an open partition
a diesel passenger train in front of buildings
IC’s Panama Limited
Chicago–New Orleans Panama Limited at Chicago, mid-1950s.
Illinois Central
a diesel passenger train in front of buildings
a diesel passenger train in front of some buildings
IC’s Green Diamond
St. Louis–Chicago Green Diamond south of 47th Street, Chicago, mid-1930s.
Philip Korst Jr.
a diesel passenger train in front of some buildings
a steam passenger train
IC’s Fast Mail
Chicago–New Orleans Fast Mail southbound at Centralia, Ill., July 1946.
Henry J. McCord
a steam passenger train
People in a restaurant diner car
IC restaurant-lunch counter car
Chicago–New Orleans City of New Orleans, early 1940s.
Illinois Central
People in a restaurant diner car
a diesel passenger train with buildings in the background
IC’s Panama Limited
Chicago–New Orleans Panama Limited observation car.
Classic Trains coll.
a diesel passenger train with buildings in the background
a steam passenger train
IC’s Panama Limited
Chicago–New Orleans Panama Limited, 20th Street, Chicago, 1916.
Illinois Central
a steam passenger train

All through July 2021, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the style, heritage, and grit that was the IC.

Please enjoy an image gallery of Illinois Central Railroad passenger trains, originally published in July 2018.

Only from Classic Trains!

6 thoughts on “Illinois Central Railroad: passenger trains”

  1. Jim Uttley

    Yes, thank you for passenger train image gallery.
    Photo 22 is titled Observation Car, but it is not shown in photo. Anybody know what is the train and where???

    Reply

  2. The Panama Limited was the Nation’s BEST Passenger Train!!! Miss it and its Chocolate Brown and Orange Passenger Cars!!! What a Beauty!!!

    Reply

  3. Lots of us miss the Old IC and it’s Passenger Trains.

    Although the City of New,Orleans is more famous thanks to Steve Goldman’s song, the Panama Ltd.,with its Outstanding Diner, is the one those of us privilged enough to have ridden it miss the most!

    Reply

  4. Having grown up in Chicago and St. Louis and living for years in New Orleans, I’ve always had affection for the old IC, including the suburban commuter MUs. I had a bittersweet experience as a passenger on the Panama Limited’s last run from the Crescent City to Memphis where I was then stationed at Millington Naval Air Station. Thanks for the wonderful images.

    Reply
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