Found this while scanning Columbus & Greenville photos- it's a shot I took of a southbound Illinois Central freight train banging across the CAGY diamonds and passing the IC depot. The line is the Yazoo Valley main, which runs in the flat Delta country (home of cotton, catfish, rice, and the blues). Most IC traffic ran over this line to the exclusion of a parallel line 30 miles or so east (used by a couple of locals as well as Amtrak's City of New Orleans) which has a more hogback-type profile. Photo was taken in mid-September 1994 in Greenwood, MS. As much as I'm not a fan of black diesels, this final scheme beats the orange-white-crud-rust colors used by ICG.
Well, just for fun, I pulled out my 1959 Official Guide. Located Greenwood. IC sure had enough north-south lines in Mississippi! What is most interesting to note, is that the line you mention to the east, is shown with more emphasis. I wonder if it was more important at one time? Or was this method of drawing a map used to illustrate more for purposes of promoting passenger trains back then? Boxcab E50
My guess was that the highlited line was used as a route for the passenger trains. Nowadays, the freights all go by the Yazoo line due to its flatter profile (gotta remember, IC never was one for dynamic brakes on its diesels). Speaking of IC diesels, here's another one: Shot the same day as the IC thru freight above, GP11 8707 heads south with a local. This diesel was rebuilt by ICG's Paducah (KY) shops around 1980-1982.
