A new era was dawning for the recently reorganized Illinois Central Railroad, following many years of bankruptcy conditions under the name Illinois Central Gulf. It is May of 1987, and the Illinois Central has already gone back to using it's original name. Along with the changes came a new color scheme on freight cars and cabooses as well as a new A,T & T stle of corporate logo. Fans of the Sci Fi movie series "Star Wars" called it the "Death Star" logo.
This was the last "New" era for the Illinois Central, as it would be absorbed in a 1999 merger with the Canadian National Railroad. In 1986 and 87, several former pre 1972 lines acquired from the merger wit the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad were sold off to several new regional and short line railroads. ( Mostly in the south.)
The former Illinois Central owned Iowa Division Mainlime was reacquired too from 1985 spin off regional railroad Chicago, Central & Pacific. It was a new begining for an old railroad in the city of Chicago, and other parts of the system too.
No comments:
Post a Comment