Gulf, Mobile & Ohio

Excepting one memorable afternoon in August, 1971 at Joliet IL, when I was "armed" only with an old Instamatic camera, I never got to spend time on the GM&O before Illinois Central purchased it in 1972, to become Illinois Central "Gulf." Fortunately, however, the fledgling ICG, struggling to stay afloat throughout the 70's, had more pressing issues to deal with than making wholesale changes to ex GM&O equipment. Although Chicago and "GeeMo" territory were a distant journey for a 20-something guy from eastern Michigan without much money, I did manage to get on the railroad a couple of times in the years immediately following the merger. A transfer to Blue Island IL in 1977 brought the short lived opportunity to photograph the ex GM&O's Chicago-Joliet commuter train, locally nicknamed "The Plug" in its very last summer of operation prior to upgraded equipment being assigned to it by the new Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). Amazingly, this train was still operating with the same, unaltered GM&O equipment it had utilized prior to 1972, fully five years after the ICG takeover. Today, after several different operators and even a division of ownership between Union Pacific and Canadian National, the former GM&O Chicago-St. Louis main line remains as Amtrak's core route between the two cities, and is identified as a future high speed passenger rail corridor by the Department of Transportation. I hope you enjoy these glimpses of the GM&O, a little ragged, but still hanging in there, as it appeared in the 70's.