Chillicothe station (Illinois) explained

Chillicothe, IL
Type:Former Amtrak and AT&SF station
Style:Amtrak
Style2:Amtrak old
Address:1831 North Santa Fe Avenue, Chillicothe, Illinois 61523
Coordinates:40.9297°N -89.4954°W
Structure:At-grade
Platform:1 side platform
Tracks:3
Closed:August 1, 1996[1]
Code:CIA[2]
Owned:BNSF Railway
Other Services Header:Former services
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Custom:
Shape:none
Marker:rail
Marker-Color:
  1. 888
Zoom:14

Chillicothe was an Amtrak stop in Chillicothe, Illinois; a suburb of Peoria. The station was a stop on the Southwest Chief between Chicago Union Station and Los Angeles Union Station before the opening of the Cameron Connector led to the train being rerouted between Galesburg and Chicago via the BNSF Railway's Mendota Subdivision in 1996.

History

Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe

The building used as the Amtrak station between 1971 to 1996 was the second structure in Chillicothe that the Santa Fe had used as a passenger station. The original depot was constructed in 1887 and was destroyed by fire on June 13, 1963. Operations were then transferred to the Santa Fe Clubhouse. Following the creation of Amtrak, the Santa Fe shared the building as a division headquarters for freight operations until 1991.[3]

Amtrak

Amtrak service at Chillicothe began on May 1, 1971 with the Chicago-Houston Texas Chief,[4] a service previously run by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. This route was renamed the Lone Star in 1974 and discontinued in 1979.[5]

For most of Amtrak's first quarter-century, it was Peoria's only link to the national rail system. The short-lived Prairie Marksman ran to East Peoria in 1980 and 1981.

Today

The station site, Streator and the Galesburg station are currently served by BNSF on their Chillicothe Subdivision.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: June 20, 1996. The Zephyr . Rex. Cherrington. Did Galesburg businessmen really need to pay to bring the Santa Fe Railway to Town?. January 5, 2020 .
  2. Web site: Amtrak Timetable - Effective April 14, 1996 . timetables.org . . January 5, 2020 . . 6 . April 14, 1996.
  3. News: Blankenburg . Eric . Santa Fe trains begin 'running through' . The Chillicothe Times Bulletin . August 28, 1991.
  4. Web site: timetables.org . Amtrak Timetables - Effective May 1, 1971 . January 5, 2020 . Amtrak . May 1, 1971 . Washington DC . 23.
  5. News: Lone Star is Near End of the Line . January 5, 2020 . The Ithaca Journal . October 9, 1979 . 26. Newspapers.com.