From: roma@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Jon Roma)
Subject: Thebes, Illinois (was Re: Track spirals)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 08:27:34 GMT

R.Todd.Minsk@dartmouth.edu (R. Todd Minsk) writes:

>There are also some spirals used to gain elevation for crossing major
>bridges.  I have a circa-1950 track chart for the Chicago & Eastern
>Illinois (later Missouri Pacific, now Union Pacific) showing a spiral
>for the Mississippi bridge between Thebes, Illinois and Illmo,
>Missouri. Without checking, I think the spiral is on the Illinois side.

The spiral is indeed on the Illinois side.  The track arrangement at
Thebes was definitely one of the more unusual I've encountered.  The
lines serving Thebes were as follows:

(1)	The double-track Missouri Pacific (Chester Subdivision) main from
	St. Louis enters Thebes in the river valley from the north and
	exits Thebes via the bridge over the Mississippi.  This line was
	built in the early years of this century as a low-grade bypass for
	the MP's hilly De Soto Subdivision from St. Louis to Poplar Bluff,
	MO.

(2)	The MP had a line diverging from the Chester Sub main running
	south through the river valley do the confluence of the Ohio
	and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo, IL, some 40 miles downriver
	from Thebes.

(3)	The Illinois Central (Murphysboro District) from Murphysboro, IL
	(actually Texas Jct.) entered from the north in the river valley.
	Running on a less favorable alignment than the parallel MP,
	the IC's line was dubbed the ``Mud Line'' due to frequent
	flooding and nearly perpetual dampness.

(4)	The Chicago & Eastern Illinois (C&EI) line from Chicago entered
	Thebes from the south on an alignment roughly parallel to the MP
	line in (2) above.  C&EI's line dovetailed with the IC line in (3)
	above in the center of Thebes.  A wye was in service at the junction
	and the tail of the wye led to the MP's Chester Sub and thence to
	Thebes Bridge.  Following C&EI's control by the Frisco, C&EI gained
	trackage rights on the bridge to connect with its parent road on
	the opposite side of the river, running as far as Chaffee, MO.

	Within the Thebes area on the Illinois side, IC had trackage rights
	on the C&EI to a point a few miles south of Thebes where an IC line
	to Cairo diverged from the C&EI.  The union station in Thebes was
	on C&EI property but the jointly-used yards in Thebes were IC
	property.

Here's a very crude diagram of the basic track arrangement at Thebes:

          IC |             | | MP (StLIM&S)
 (to M'boro) |             | | (to St. Louis)
             |             | |
             +             | |
             |\            | |
             | \           | |
             |  \          | |
             |   +------   | |
             |  /       \  | |
             | /         \ | |
             |/           \| |
             +             | |
             |             * * Beginning of SI&MB trackage
Thebes Union |             | |
     Station *             | | 
   (IC-C&EI) |             | | MP Station
             |             | +
             |            / /|
             |           / / |
SI&MB        |          / /  |
-----------------------  /   |
------------------------+    |
Thebes       |           \   |
Bridge       |            \  |
(to Illmo,   |              \|
MO)          |               +
             |               |
             |               |
             |               |
        C&EI |               | MP (StLIM&S)
  to Chicago |               | to Cairo


An interesting quirk is that C&EI passenger trains for Chicago left Thebes
following the river to the SOUTH.  This is one example of timetable
direction running opposite to the compass.  Of course the C&EI worked
its way to the east and then eventually northward after it left the river
valley.

IC ran passenger service in both directions from Thebes, allowing one to
reach IC's main line via two circuitous routes.

MP's Chester Sub hosts the St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt) for
the entire distance from E. St. Louis to Thebes.  The bridge itself is
jointly owned but is operated by Cotton Belt.  Cotton Belt trackage proper
begins at Illmo on the Missouri side and MP has tenant rights from Illmo to
Dexter, MO.  This arrangement dates back to the construction of the bridge
in the first decade of this century when both MP and Cotton Belt were
owned by Gould interests.

It seems rather odd from a 1990's context that a out-of-the-way town
like Thebes could be such a focal point for so many lines.  But in the
days when bridges over the Mississippi were few and far between, Thebes
(and Cairo as well) assumed importance as locations where freight and
passengers were ferried over the Mississippi.

As time passed, Thebes' importance dwindled.  IC's line south to Cairo
was pulled up during the Depression since alternate routes were available.
The remainder of IC's ``Mud Line'' from Murphysboro was abandoned in the
1960's as far north as the power station in Grand Tower.  MP gained
control of the C&EI in the mid-1960's and, having numerous better routes
from Chicago, downgraded and eventually abandoned the old C&EI main.
Likewise, as Cairo's significance dwindled, the MP line from Thebes to
Cairo was taken out of service in the seventies.

All that remains in Thebes is the MP's high-speed Chester Sub, now owned
by Union Pacific and used by UP and SP (Cotton Belt) under the joint
track arrangement.

I regret never seeing Thebes in its prime, or at least before most of the
trackage was ripped up.  By the time I got there in the early 1980's,
there was little trace of what must have been a fairly important rail
center.  The town -- which never could have had more than a few hundered
people -- itself is nearly non-existant and it's difficult to imagine what
once was.
-- 
Jon Roma
Computing and Communications Services Office,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Internet:  roma@uiuc.edu      	UUCP:      uunet!uiucuxc!uiuc.edu!roma
Newsgroups: rec.railroad