Big4: Big Four Timetable including Map, an Overview

DeBruler

Big Four is the nickname for the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway

Big Four was controlled by NYC and eventually owned by NYC.

History by Classic Streamliners

Brian Carson posted

Ron Anderson asked on a post concerning the Big Four Depot in Bloomington, IL as to why it was named the Big Four. The answers are worth repeating:

Comments on a post by Bill Molony

Bill Edrington posted four pictures with the comment:

Excerpts from an 1895 Big Four public timetable, including schedules of passenger trains between Indianapolis and St. Louis. The "Short Line" between Hillsboro and Lenox Tower (Mitchell) didn't open until 1904, so at this time all trains ran via Litchfield, Gillespie, Bunker Hill and East Alton on what later became known as the "Old Line". I grew up hearing stories about the "Knickerbocker" and the "Mattoon Accommodations" from my great uncle, who was born in Litchfield in 1888, and I have fond memories of trains on both the Old Line and the Short Line.

Bill Edrington The number of through trains on the Big Four was even more impressive from the 1920s through the early-to-mid-1950s, although the all-stops "accommodation trains" began to disappear fairly early because of competition from interurban lines and private automobiles.
Jacob Hortenstine Litchfield was once home to the Big Four car shops if memory serves me right was moved toMattoon after shortline nuilt
Bill Edrington The car shop was actually moved to Mattoon in 1871, after the Indianapolis & St. Louis had built its line from Indianapolis to Terre Haute, took over the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute, and established Mattoon as the crew change point roughly halfway between Indianapolis and St. Louis. David Settlemire bought the shop building in Litchfield and operated it as the Litchfield Car Works for a number of years, before shutting it down and moving the business to Mt. Vernon.

It always struck me that Big Four got the little railroads that NYC or PRR did not snarf up.

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Note the Kankakee & Seneca route and their use of the IC tracks to access the Chicago market. This clearly shows the Egyptian Line from Cairo to Danville with continuation on NYC tracks to the Chicago market. And the little branch to Vincennes that has the Wabash Cannonball Bridge.

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Bill Edrington posted
I've noticed that several members of this group have recently viewed some photos of the Big Four "Chicago East" line that I posted back in November 2017. Since that time, a group devoted specifically to the former Big Four lines has been formed and is very active. I'd encourage NYC fans who are interested in the Big Four to join: Fans of the New York Central's Big Four Lines.
[Unfortunately, the resolution of these maps is "almost readable." But you can see the routes.]

Raymond Barr posted two images with the comment: "Here are a couple of blueprint-type schematics done in the early 1950s by the New York Central Railroad of its SALINE COUNTY coal mine customers."

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