Industrial History: C&NW over GM&O Bridge north of Nilwood, IL

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

C&NW over GM&O Bridge north of Nilwood, IL

(no Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

This bridge is another example that C&NW liked the otherwise rather rare double lattice bridge design.

The GM&O and what's left of the C&NW are now owned by UP.

Richard Koenig posted two photos with the comment:

Slingshot
Here’s a northbound Slingshot on the historical Alton (GM&O/ICG). This was designed to be a fast TOFC train between St. Louis and Chicago. I believe every time I saw this train it was powered by a single GM&O GP35—either in the black and white of the GM&O or new orange and white of the ICG, like this one.
The location is at a spot where the Chicago & North Western flies over—between Girard and Nilwood, in central Illinois.
Two images by Richard Koenig; taken May 21st 1977.

Bill Edrington: This location is known as Green Ridge. The CNW flew over the GM&O and Illinois Terminal main lines as well as Illinois Route 4 here. History repeats itself here, because when the UP abandoned the former CNW line between Green Ridge and Barr (near Athens), it reinstated a long-abandoned connection between the ex-CNW and ex-GM&O lines to allow coal trains from Monterey No. 1 Mine (now Shay Mine) to move north via Springfield. When the CNW’s coal mining subsidiary, Superior Coal Company, first sank coal mines around Benld (at Eagarville, Mt. Clare and Wilsonville) in the early 1900s, the CNW formed and built the Macoupin County Railway to connect those mines with GM&O predecessor Chicago & Alton at Green Ridge. The C&A handled the coal from Green Ridge north to Chicago or Peoria, where it was handed off to the CNW. After a few years of that operation, however, the CNW became dissatisfied with the C&A’s service and built its own line south from Peoria to Green Ridge (about 1913-1914, as I recall), and merged the Macoupin County Railway into the CNW. That’s when the flyover bridges at Green Ridge were constructed.

David Thompson: Thanks for sharing , having family who lived near Towanda growing up in the 1980's these where the only freights that I saw on a regular basis, typically a couple times a day. This would have to be confirmed, but I believe ICG had a ramp in Bloomington that Caterpillar would truck over trailers to send up to Chicago or down to St. Louis.. This seems like a market the big guys have just thrown in the towel. With the truck driver shortages it seems like it would work today but who am I to know.

David Jordan: David Thompson Caterpillar business went to a distribution center in Memphis. The Bloomington ramp opened November 19, 1980 with shippers like Caterpillar in mind, and replaced ICG's use of the P&PU-served ramp at Creve Coeur.