Southern Illinois Railway & Power

Southern Illinois Railway & Power

by Stephen M. Scalzo

Headline image: One of the 1913 SIR&P combines, either 53 or 54, is at the north end of the line at Eldorado, probably sometime in the 1920s. All photos are from the Stephen Scalzo Collection of the Illinois Railway Museum except where noted.

The Saline County Traction Company was incorporated on September 18, 1908, to build an interurban system in the Harrisburg, Illinois, area, and during 1910, plans were drawn up to build 15 miles of trackage. The Southern Illinois Railway & Power Company was incorporated on April 26, 1912, with $2,500 of capital, and acquired the Saline County Traction Company. Mr. John Beggs had organized the company, and became the president when interurban service began.

The electric railway, connecting Eldorado in the northeast section and Carrier Mills in the southwest section of Saline County, was the only interurban ever to be operated in southeastern Illinois. Harrisburg was the county seat for Saline County. The interurban was designed for and serviced mining villages and the municipalities of Eldorado, Wasson, Muddy, Harrisburg, Dorrisville, Ledford, and Carrier Mills; within that area there were 12 deep shaft coal mines. In addition to passenger traffic, the interurban planned from the start to share in the hauling of coal, which was estimated to run as high as five million tons per year. Because the interurban was able to develop considerable carload freight business, primarily in coal, the system outlasted most of its fellows.

Early on, freight service was handled by freight motor 40, shown here in a 1913 builder's photo. The car was fitted with 27MCB trucks and Type M control; the underbody object underneath the word "Illinois" may be a dynamotor to generate 600-volt power for the control system.

By September 12, 1912, all the franchises were secured for the right-of-way. Construction began in October on the grading for the trackage. M.C. Conners and Company was the contractor for the electrical system and the powerhouse at Muddy. The line was single track throughout, using 70-pound rail, but was of heavy construction, with long turnouts to accommodate the freight operation and steam railroad operating practices being followed.

The interurban cars built in 1913 for the SIR&P were handsome, if not ornate. The passenger doors, at opposite corners, were unusually wide, even on coaches 50-51.

On July 4 and 5, 1913, steam construction locomotives were used (because the powerhouse was not completed) to pull passenger cars between Harrisburg and Eldorado as a preview of the new system. Two 1250 KVA Curtis turbo-generators with a 35 KW turbo-driven exciter and 50-KW motor generator set, two 300 KW motor generator sets, three 250 KW water cooled transformers, and switchboard apparatus from General Electric were installed in the powerhouse. That equipment supplied 1200 volt DC power to the overhead for the interurban and commercial power to the surrounding area.

One of the arch-roof combines, either 53 or 54, loads at the south end of the line next to the Odd Fellows hall in Carrier Mills. This view looks east from Main Street down Walnut Street - today known, appropriately, as Carline Street.

Four interurban cars and one trailer arrived in August 11, and on September 5, the first electric operation took place between Harrisburg and Eldorado. Electric operations to Carrier Mills began in October. Freight service began shortly thereafter, which was handled by an electric locomotive, 16 gondolas, and five cinder cars. Interchange freight service was established with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and the Illinois Central Railroad in Eldorado.

Harrisburg was the center of the interurban business, which moved into and out of the city in both directions, rather than through from Eldorado and Carrier Mills. The company operated 17-20 daily interurban passenger trains on hourly headways, usually handled by two interurban cars. Early morning interurbans connected with steam road passenger trains at Eldorado by which passengers went to St. Louis, and the morning and afternoon interurbans hauled trailers to handle miners to and from their work. Extra interurban cars were required for Saturday evening shoppers into Harrisburg. The interurban system owned three motor and two trailer interurbans, and later purchased two more motorized interurbans from the Central Illinois Traction Company.

Combines 55 and 56, the two cars purchased from Central Illinois Traction in 1924, are shown next to the Eldorado station. Beyond the rear car was the interchange with the Louisville & Nashville.

Passenger traffic proved fairly good and plans were developed for a $3 million expansion of trackage from Harrisburg west through Marion to Carbondale and south to Rosiclare. On April 26, 1917, the Central Illinois Public Service Company (a Middle West Utilities Company) purchased the system with an eye to using the railway's power plant to supplement its electricity needs. The plant was enlarged twice by the CIPS before it was replaced by larger, more modern generating stations built in other areas.

Steeplecab 45, a secondhand purchase originally built for service along the Welland Canal in Ontario, is in charge of a freight train at the powerhouse in Muddy.

Earnings increased from $78,867 ($4,787 freight) in 1914 to a peak of $208,964 ($48,215 freight) in 1921. However, the fortunes of the area were dependent almost entirely on coal, and when the Depression seriously affected the already declining coal industry of the area, the fate of the interurban was sealed. Automobiles and concrete highways arrived as coal mines began shutting down, a deadly combination for the interurban. The expansion plans were then dropped as unrealistic. The Harrisburg Bus Line began operating in 1921 to further erode ridership. By 1928, passenger service only earned $38,890 but cost $51,463 to operate. By 1931, earnings had declined to $46,300 (negative $20,483 net).

Combines 55 and 56, purchased secondhand from the Central Illinois Traction line between Mattoon and Charleston, are shown southbound at the carbarn approaching Harrisburg.

The company was authorized on November 25, 1931, to discontinue all passenger service between Eldorado and Carrier Mills. The company substituted its own buses to replace rail service. Interurban freight service continued until November 30, 1932, when all service was abandoned, and the entire line was dismantled for scrap. Because the interurban trackage paralleled the New York Central Railroad throughout, there was little economic need for retention of the interurban system.

This article was edited and laid out by Frank Hicks. Thanks to Ray and Julie Piesciuk and to Richard Schauer for making available the materials from the Stephen Scalzo Collection that were used to publish this history.

Click here for photos of SIR&P from the Krambles-Peterson Archive

Roster of Equipment

Passenger Equipment

Combine 54 in a 1913 builder's photo

Cars 50-51 - AR DE DT interurban coaches - American Car Co, 1913 (ord#980) - 49'2" long, 9'10" wide, 12'10" tall - 52 seats, Brill 27MCB2 trucks, 4 x GE 205 motors, Type M control - car 50 renumbered to 52 in 1917

Cars 53-54 - AR DE DT interurban combines - American Car Co, 1913 (ord#981) - 49'2" long, 9'10" wide, 12'10" tall - 48 seats, Brill 27MCB2 trucks, 4 x GE 205 motors, Type M control

Cars 55-56 - RR DE DT interurban combines - McGuire-Cummings, 1914 - 49' long - 52 seats, McGuire 70A trucks, 4 motors - former Central Illinois Traction 205 and 207, acquired 1924

Cars 100-101 - AR DE DT interurban coach trailers - American Car Co, 1913 (ord#982) - 48' long - 52 seats, Brill 27MCB2 trucks - car 100 retired March 1923

Car 110 - AR DE DT interurban trailer - McGuire-Cummings, 1919 - 68'6" long - 120 seats, McGuire trucks - photo makes it appear the car was built as a freight trailer, but accounts suggest it was - or could be - fitted with seating for 120 people

Freight and Non-Revenue Equipment

Car 40 - AR DE DT freight motor - American Car Co, 1913 (ord#983) - 48' long, 9' wide, 12'10" tall - Brill 27MCB2 trucks, 4 x GE 205 motors, Type M control

Locomotive 45 - steeplecab locomotive - National Car Co, 1918 - 41' long, 8'11" wide, 12'8" tall, 100,000# weight - arch bar trucks, 4 x GE 66B motors - former Hydro-Electric Power Commission (Canada), acquired 1921

Cars 801-820* - secondhand gondolas, acquired sometime after 1917

Car 1001 - line car, likely rebuilt from flat car, on property by 1917

Cars 1002-1006* - flat cars, 1002-1004 on property by 1917, 1005-1006 acquired thereafter, also listed as cinder cars

Car 1100 - line car

Car 1101 - flat car, rebuilt from wood gondola, on property by 1917

Car 1102 - wood gondola, on property by 1917

Cars 1103-1105 - steel hopper-bottom gondolas, on property by 1917

Cars 1201-1202 - wood boxcars, on property by 1917

* = capable of use in interchange service

AR = arched roof

DE = double-ended

DT = double-truck

RR = railroad roof

This view of the carbarn (which still stands today) is looking northwest and shows unpowered line car 1100 on the left, a 51-52 series coach poking out the door of the barn, and to the right an 801-series gondola coupled to a flat car.

Route Map

Click here for a map of the SIR&P created and hosted by the Southern Illinois Railroads website

For as few structures as the SIR&P had, a surprising number still exist. These include:

• The Eldorado station, at Locust and Veterans Streets
• The Harrisburg car barn, on Jackson Street north of Towle
• The Harrisburg station and freight house, at Jackson and Logan, complete with the dispatcher's bay window

Click here to return to the Scalzo History Collection index page