Once upon a time, the New York Central called itself “The Water Level Route” due to its following the Hudson River to the Big Apple. In truth, many railroads could use the same slogan; after all, following a river often was the easiest way to construct a railroad with easy grades.
One such line operates down the east side of the Mississippi River valley through southern Illinois. Originally built by the Missouri Pacific, today’s Chester Subdivision of the Union Pacific is a fast freight conduit linking eastern markets and the Midwest with the Gulf Coast, Texas and Mexico. The mainline from Chicago joins the Chester Sub at Gorham, eighty miles south of East St. Louis.
The line passes through mostly rural farm country; much of it in the flood plain of Old Man River and still potentially vulnerable to extreme flooding events despite the series of levies devised to keep the Mississippi in check. There have been some close calls where the line was nearly inundated in 1994 and 2019, but this water level route has proved to be a reliable and vital link to today’s transportation system.
South and east of the river town of Grand Tower, a southbound doublestack train passes and old barn nestled in a field of soybeans. Farmers in the region often alternate crops, growing beans one year and corn the next.
